In earlier rounds of the tournament, Michael Schumacher beat the late champions Niki Lauda, Ayrton Senna and Juan Manuel Fangio as well as team founder Enzo Ferrari. [Photo: Formula One]
Seven-time world champion and Ferrari great Michael Schumacher was on Wednesday named the most influential person in Formula One history after a vote by fans on the sport’s official website.
Schumacher beat former commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone with 61% of the vote in a head-to-head final.
The result was revealed on the 70th anniversary of the first world championship grand prix at Silverstone in 1950.
“Ten days ago we embarked on a quest to find the most influential person in Formula 1 history.
“We began by asking an expert panel to come up with 32 names of those people who have had a big influence on the sport in some way during its 70-year existence.
[Photo: Formula One]
“We started with eight names in each of our four categories of drivers, team bosses, technical innovators and game-changers (see all 32 names in the tournament graphic below) then over a series of rounds we asked you to vote on them head-to-head until we whittled that 32 down to just two names: Bernie Ecclestone and Michael Schumacher.