In Formula One, it can take rather a lot to impress people. Take the Villeneuves, for example. Father Gilles drove like a magician but crashed a lot and never won the World Championship. His son, Jacques, smashed rather fewer cars, nearly won the title in his first season in Grand Prix racing and then became champion the next year. But ask anybody in Formula One who they regard as the greater talent and they will tell you it was Gilles. More charismatic, friendlier and, so common consent has it, faster.
The bottom line is that a world title will gain you immortality in the record books, but it won't always impress everyone within the sport. Denny Hulme got one; Stirling Moss didn't. Who would you rather be compared to?
Micheal Schumacher will be remembered in a similar class to Senna, but what about Alonso?