What makes a driver great?

[Merlin5]

These quotes below are true imo and got me thinking.

Jenson Is good but not great.

Jenson isn't as good as a Vettel, Alonso or Hamilton

In a way, Jensen is actually better than 'good' since we know he won a WDC. Some might say to win a WDC it would take a great driver. But he only won once and that was after many years of being in the sport. So to me, he's not quite great, but he's very, very good. At the moment, Lewis is similar until he can win a second WDC. These drivers are absolutely amazing to us of course, but alongside the drivers I mention below, they seem to be in a slightly different league.

What is it that makes the difference between a Vettel, an Alonso, a Senna that not only win multiple championships, but also early on in their careers, and a Button or Hamilton? We must be talking minutia details here. Is it being more aggressive, is it taking more risks, is it better hand and foot to eye coordination, is it a better brain? Do the lesser drivers simply play it too safe? Is it just down to bad luck, cars breaking down, or something else? Are some drivers just born with greatness whilst others just aren't?

Discuss if you will

 

[Merlin5]

1) Speed
2) Luck

That is all.

You can be the fastest driver ever but if you don't get in the right car at the right time you don't win anything. Hamilton's been in the wrong team the last 3 years, so has Alonso. It's very hard to predict 1 or 2 years ahead what the right team is (who'd have though mercedes would be faster than mclaren this year?) so it's really just luck.

So this means Webber really does have a slower car than Vettel and it has nothing to do with Vettel being a better driver? I don't completely buy it. If Vettel swapped cars with Webber, I still think Vettel would beat him.

 

[Merlin5]

Why did you ignore speed? Webber is slower than vettel, like button was slower than hamilton and massa slower than alonso.

Every dog has his day of course but they are just not as fast over a season in different conditions and on different types of track.

I didn't ignore speed. That's why I said I think Vettel would beat Webber in either redbull car, because I believe Vettel has that extra je ne sais quoi where he can pull all the stops out and somehow find the extra bit of grunt needed to win.

You seemed to be saying that it's all about the car. Maybe I misunderstood you?