The Greatest Non-Champions

The history of Formula One is littered with drivers who, for one reason or another, were supremely talented but nonetheless failed to secure a world championship. For some, the right opportunities simply didn’t come their way; for others, their careers were curtailed by injury or even death before they had a chance to fulfil their talents; for others, it was a case of simple bad luck.

In this post, I’m going to rate the top five drivers in what I consider to be two highly distinct categories of non-champions – those that enjoyed a full career, and left the sport through choice, and those whose injuries or fatalities cut their career short.

So, here we go, beginning with the former category:

5. Jacky Ickx (B, 1966-79, 8 wins)

Although more famous for his exploits in endurance racing, motor racing fans sometimes have a habit of forgetting what a formidable F1 driver Ickx was during the late 60s and early 70s. His first full season came with Ferrari in 1968, where he showed well against more experienced teammate Chris Amon. He secured a (admittedly distant) runner-up position in the championship to Jackie Stewart whilst driving for Brabham the following season, and a return to Ferrari in 1970 yielded more success: after Jochen Rindt’s fatal accident at Monza that season, Ickx came within five points of denying the Austrian a posthumous title, a feat he may have achieved if not for a mechanical failure whilst vying for the lead at the same race. That season proved to be the zenith of his single-sater career, taking just two more wins for Ferrari before establishing himself as an endurance racing powerhouse.

4. Gerhard Berger (A, 1984-97, 10 wins)

One of the best-loved figures in the paddock and a member of the exclusive ‘200 starts’ club, Berger was able to compete with the best of them on his day. He is perhaps best remembered for being Ayrton Senna’s wingman during their years as McLaren teammates, and although he was usually outclassed by the Brazilian, he was still able to register three wins and four pole positions during his tenure at the Woking outfit. Prior to that, he took the Benetton team’s first ever Grand Prix win in 1986, and was able to firmly establish the upper hand over Ferrari teammate Michele Alboreto over the course of the next two seasons. After his foray into McLaren, he often outperformed the highly-rated Jean Alesi during their time as teammates at Ferrari and Benetton, taking two memorable wins at Hockenheim in 1994 and 1997 – the latter of which he achieved in spite of the recent death of his father.

3. Dan Gurney (US, 1959-70, 4 wins)

Often hailed as the only driver that Jim Clark truly feared, Gurney was perhaps the most dangerous of the breed of US drivers that surfaced in the sport in the early 60s despite never finishing in the top three of the championship. His breakthrough came in 1961 when he was selected to drive for the new works Porsche team, and he was close to securing the marque’s first win at Reims before sealing the deal the following year at Rouen. Porsche’s subsequent withdrawal from the sport saw Gurney defect to Brabham, and the American secured that team’s first win too in 1964, again at Rouen. Two years later, Gurney founded his own team – Anglo-American Racers – and took the breathtaking Eagle chassis to a famous victory at Spa in 1967. Perhaps his biggest contribution to the sport however was, upon his Le Mans victory the same year, establishing the now-ubiquitous ritual of spraying champagne on the podium.

2. Carlos Reutemann (RA, 1972-82, 12 wins)

One of the sport’s leading lights of the 70s and early 80s, Reutemann’s failure to win the F1 title remains a great mystery of the sport. The Argentine made his title credentials immediately obvious by taking pole position in front of his home crowd at Buenos Aires on his debut for Brabham in 1972, although it would be another two years before he took his first win at Kyalami. Further victories for Brabham and Ferrari followed, but it was his stint with Williams for which Reutemann is best remembered. His relationship with teammate Alan Jones broke down in 1981 when Reutemann disobeyed team orders at Brazil to win from Jones, who therefore refused to support his teammate’s title tilt at the season finale in Vegas. Starting from pole, Reutemann inexplicably had a terrible race, finishing a lap down and thus losing the title to Nelson Piquet by a single point whilst Jones won the race. Reutemann quit the sport just two races into the 1982 season following a dispute with Frank Williams.

1. Stirling Moss (GB, 1951-61, 16 wins)

Moss is living proof that you don’t necessarily need to have a world championship to your name to be considered the greatest of your era. This was a mantle bestowed upon him after the retirement of Juan Manuel Fangio, having already established himself as the biggest threat to ‘El Maestro’. Driving for Vanwall, with whom he had won three races the previous year, Moss duly won a further four races in 1958 but nonetheless conceded the title to Mike Hawthorn, in part due to his sportsmanlike defence of a rules trangression at Porto on the part of the Ferrari driver. That would be the last time Moss would find himself in championship contention, but he still scored a number of memorable victories thereafter for the privateer Rob Walker concern, the last of which came at the Nurburgring in 1961 before a testing crash brought a temporary halt to a glittering, multi-discipline career that officially lasted all the way until last year.

Other drivers I considered in this category included Riccardo Patrese, Jean Alesi, David Coulthard, Rubens Barrichello, Juan Pablo Montoya, Tony Brooks, Jose Froilan Gonzalez and Michele Alboreto.

Without further ado, let’s move on to the category for those whose careers were tragically cut short:

5. Stefan Bellof (D, 1984-85, 0 wins)

He may have started just 20 Grand Prix, but the speed and flair he showed in them prior to his death in a sports car race at Spa in 1985 suggests that Bellof would have been Germany’s first world champion had he lived. The 1984 Monaco Grand Prix is best remembered for a then-rookie  Ayrton Senna’s rapid pursuit of Alain Prost in torrential conditions, but it’s all too easy to overlook the fact that Bellof was quickly catching both as the red flags were shown. Although that particular result along with numerous other points finishes were removed from the record books after his Tyrrell team was disqualifed from the entire 1984 season for using lead ballast in their fuel,  the talent he had demonstrated that year as well as in 1985, most notably at Detroit, attracted an offer from Ferrari for the 1986 season. Had this move come off, who knows what Bellof may have achieved during the remainder of his career?

4. Didier Pironi (F, 1978-82, 3 wins)

Whilst Gilles Villeneuve is understandably billed as the man who should have won the 1982 championship, his Ferrari teammate Pironi is the man who would have won that year’s title if not for a career-ending incident at Hockenheim. The Frenchman showed sufficient promise in two seasons with Tyrrell, which included two podium finishes, for Guy Ligier to sign him for the 1980 season; Pironi took his maiden win that year at Spa in commanding fashion, prompting Ferrari to snap him up for 1981. After playing a suborbinate role to Villeneuve that year, the Canadian was furious with Pironi at Imola in 1982 when, in a race that was handed to Ferrari thanks to a FOCA boycott and Renault unreliability, the latter broke what Villeneuve perceived to be team instructions to hold position. Pironi became title favourite after his teammate’s untimely death two weeks later at Zolder, and surely would have beaten Alain Prost to the mantle of France’s first F1 champion before fate intervened at Hockenheim.

3. François Cevert (F, 1970-73, 1 win)

Remembered primarily as Jackie Stewart’s protégé during his championship years at Tyrrell, Cevert was ready to inherit the position of team leader from the outgoing Stewart before he was sadly killed during practice for the final race of 1973 at Watkins Glen. The Scot recommended that Ken Tyrrell select Cevert to replace the retiring Johnny Servoz-Gavin in 1970 on the strength of his performances in F2, and under the tutelage of Stewart his performances seemingly began to improve by the race to the point where he was every bit as quick as his teacher. In spite of this, Cevert remained an obedient number two to Stewart right until the Scot decided to retire at the end of 1973. Alas, the talented Frenchman’s unfortunate passing, which incidentally occured at the circuit where he took his only Grand Prix win in 1971, surely robbed the sport of a future champion.

2. Ronnie Peterson (S, 1970-1978, 10 wins)

Peterson’s incredible swashbuckling style behind the wheel made the ‘Super Swede’ a joy to watch - his disregard for mechanical sympathy arguably cost him the chance to win a championship, but his fans probably remember him all the more fondly for that fact. He first rose to prominence driving for March, with whom he claimed the runner-up spot in the championship in 1971, in only his second full season. However, Peterson wouldn’t win a race until switching to Lotus machinery in 1973, but poor reliability cost him a title chance both that year and the next. A return to March and a season with Tyrrell failed to bear fruit, leading to a return to Lotus alongside Mario Andretti in 1978. He won two races despite his number two status, and had been offered a McLaren drive for the following year before he was killed in a multi-car pile-up at the very start of that year’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

1. Gilles Villeneuve (CDN, 1977-82, 6 wins)

You wouldn’t know it from a simple glance at the record books, but Villeneuve Sr. is held in similar esteem to many of the more ‘obvious’ all-time greats of the sport. Though he didn’t have a full career in which to demonstrate his greatness, his absolutely scinitillating ability combined with Ferrari’s competitiveness in 1982 makes it more than likely he would have set the record straight that season if not for his fatal accident in qualifying at Zolder, which many put down to his agitation at teammate Pironi’s actions at the previous race at Imola (see above). He may also have won the title in 1979 for the Italian team, often showing greater speed than more experienced teammate Jody Scheckter, but opted to play a support role to the South African, who declared the Canadian ‘the fastest driver in the history of motor racing’ after his death. Had Villeneuve enjoyed a full innings, the statistics may well have borne that particular assertion out.

Other drivers I considered in this category included Peter Collins, Wolfgang von Trips, Clay Regazzoni, Elio de Angelis, Jean Behra, Carlos Pace, The Rodriguez Brothers and Lorenzo Bandini.