El volante no se mancha (SPA-ENG)

The steering wheel does not get dirty

It was Saturday, November 10, 2001, when in a Bombonera packed with fans and supporters who had come to see the farewell match that Club Atlético Boca Juniors was organizing for Diego Armando Maradona, the honoree, standing in front of the microphones, uttered a phrase that became famous: "the ball doesn't get dirty."

With that remark, and in front of so many people present, he gave unequivocal signs of his self-perception of his tumultuous life and of his unconditional love for the sport for which he gave and received everything.

Perhaps he should have broadened the concept to clearly state that sport is managed by men who make mistakes, intentionally or unintentionally, and taint everything they touch.

Those who have tainted motorsports, in this case Formula One, are those at Liberty Media, the company that acquired the commercial rights to the F1 championship starting in 2017, and they did so precisely when the highest category of motorsports celebrates its 75th anniversary.

As part of the commemorative celebrations for the 75th anniversary of the first F1 world championship, the company has officially released a list of the 75 best things that happened during those three-quarters of a century: best drivers, teams, cars, inventions, and personalities.

The list of the 20 best drivers first generated expectations and then a huge stir, not so much for those named but for those forgotten, or rather, those discarded and left aside.

Precisely in 2025, when measurements and statistics dominate all sports, they could easily have been used as a basis for the list of the 20 best, but no, it was "handpicked," as is so often the case with these things. Someone arbitrarily decides, this one yes, that one no.

It's certainly difficult to choose 20 from among the 778 drivers who have participated in at least one race in the category; however, many of us believe that some names have been omitted that couldn't be missed—not many, but some.

As I said, among the 20 there are some less justifiable presences and some notable absences, of course there are those who are obviously above average: Schumacher, Hamilton and Fangio could not be missed, as well as Alain Prost, then come Senna, Jackie Steward and Jack Brabham, three three-time champions that nobody would leave out, but precisely in this segment, that of the three-time champions, the name of Nelson Piquet was omitted, then most of those who have obtained two and one championship are mentioned, there are even two drivers who have not won a single one.

Regarding the latter, who are none other than Gilles Villeneuve and Stirling Moss, they have many merits, although others have achieved more victories and haven't been champions either, such as Reutemann, for example, who has twice the number of race wins the Canadian has.

Piquet's absence is unprecedented, as is that of Emerson Fittipaldi or Mika Häkkinen, both two-time champions in the category. What were the selection criteria? I don't know, obviously not the number of tournaments won. If it had been a matter of quantity, and 20 weren't enough to include everyone, they could easily have stretched the number to 25. Who was stopping them? No one, and no one, was involved in the decision to compile that list.

Some have tried to excuse Piquet's overly talkative and controversial statements that marked his public life, including his fight with Eliseo Zalazar at the 1982 German Grand Prix, where the Brazilian attacked the Chilean, blaming him for his off-track performance. The 2008 incident in Singapore was also recalled, where his son, Nelsinho, intentionally crashed his car to favor his teammate Fernando Alonso, who thus won that year's championship. For that incident, then-chief engineer Pat Symonds was banned for five years, and Renault team principal Flavio Briatore was banned for life, though he has since been pardoned and has returned to the forefront of the sport.

The most suspicious believe the trigger was a statement Piquet made in 2022 when he called Lewis Hamilton a "negrinho," a phrase considered discriminatory and racist, something that today has all of humanity, and especially the sport, on edge. Piquet apologized for it, but it seems it wasn't enough.

Now, Piquet's performance may not have been the best on and off the court, like Maradona's. That doesn't prevent us from recognizing that he was one of the best and deserves that distinction beyond any subjective considerations, like Maradona; the numbers speak for themselves: three championships, 23 wins, and 60 podiums in 203 Grand Prix.

Let's put Piquet aside for a moment, assuming his behavior could be the reason for his absence from the list. What can we say about Häkkinen or Fittipaldi?

The one who has no problem with the Piquet surname is Max Verstappen. He's in a relationship with Kelly, the daughter of the aforementioned, and is expecting the happy couple's first child. The heir will have plenty of F1 driving genes. Let's hope that in 20 or 30 years, we'll see a descendant of Piquet whom Formula One considers worthy of a place among the greats.

The history of Formula One has been marred by a list that could have been omitted, controversial even though it was published without a specific order, surely to avoid further controversy.