Greatness is not the same as excellence. There may today be a better admiral in the Royal Navy than Horatio Nelson, but there will never be a greater admiral. Greatness can only flower at certain times, had Shakespeare been born fifty years earlier, or later, we would not have the canon because there was no theatre before 1576 and the theatre was banned, 1642-1660.

Michael Schumacher is as good a Formula One driver that has ever been, but he cannot prove himself in sports cars. Sports car racing is anyway different today to when it embraced the Mille Miglia, the Targa Florio and when the Tourist Trophy was run over narrow country lanes in Northern Ireland. One driver won all three races in a single year, his name is Stirling Moss.

I am surprised that nobody has mentioned Mario Andretti who set pole in his first Formula One race, took the World Championship and 12 F1 wins, was Indycar Champion four times and won seven World Sports Car Championship races. That has the stamp of greatness in my book.

In the 1950s, sports car racing was central to any driver's career, but neither Fangio (three WSCC wins) nor Ascari (two WSCC wins) were really at home in sports cars, while Moss won the Tourist Trophy seven times. He also took a hat-trick in the Nürburgring 1000 Kms and was superb in rallies.

Incidentally, Fangio always acknowledged Ascari as his master.

Had Alain Prost driven under the present points system for all of his career, he would have won six World Championships to Senna's two. Graham Hill would have won three Championships, but at the expense of John Surtees.

Nobody except Jim Clark won a Grand Prix in a Lotus 25 or 33 and, of the 23 World Championship wins taken by the Coventry Climax 1.5-litre V8 series of engines, Clark took 19. He also proved himself in sports cars, rally cars, saloons, everything.

Michael Schumacher may be superb in rally cars, but we will probably never know.

The editor asked us to name out top ten Formula One drivers so that rules out Nuvolari, Varzi, Carraciola, Fagioli, Rosemeyer and Lang. It should also rule out Ascari since he won his Championship 1952-3 when the Championship was run to Formula Two, but we will include him for convenience. Sir Stirling remains my candidate for the greatest of all, but since the rules of the game call for Formula One drivers.

My Top Ten is:

1. Alain Prost.

2. Jim Clark.

3. Michael Schumacher.

4. Ayrton Senna.

5. Stirling Moss.

6. Jackie Stewart.

7. Alberto Ascari.

8. Mario Andretti.

9. Juan-Manuel Fangio.

10. Niki Lauda.

Were I to compile my greatest ten, the list would read: