The Championship of Championships | |
by Justin Wood, England |
Following on from a recent Atlas contribution, which tried to make comparisons across the years fairer by weighting each race by how many races there were in a season, I thought it might be a good comparison if we looked at one season of F1 as one race, and awarded 10 points for a win, 6 for second, etc. and compare the resulting points. This I did, and came out with the following results.
While it still isn't a way to compare, for example, Fangio vs. Prost equally, it does give an idea of how drivers fared when not grabbing all the glory as a Champion driver, how drivers compared to their peers in a season, and also who was consistently highly placed in each season. Personally, I don't think there are many great surprises in this list but you may feel differently. I think it is a good indication of who the best drivers are/ were (well, point scorers were at least), but obviously it has it's drawbacks. Is finishing second twice really worth more than winning once? Any list that has Frentzen on an equal footing as Gilles Villeneuve is asking for trouble...
(NB If there was a tie for, eg, second place at the end of a season, I awarded 6 points to both drivers, then 4 for fourth, 3 for fifth etc and so on. I also ignored the Indy Car drivers who featured in the early tables of the World Drivers Championship, and concentrated solely on F1 drivers. All final tables used from 1950 to 1997)
RANK |
DRIVER |
POINTS |
1 |
ALAIN PROST |
69 |
2 |
JUAN MANUEL FANGIO |
62 |
3 |
AYRTON SENNA |
55 |
4 |
NELSON PIQUET |
48 |
= |
JACKIE STEWART |
48 |
6 |
NIKI LAUDA |
45 |
7 |
GRAHAM HILL |
42 |
8 |
JACK BRABHAM |
39 |
9 |
JIM CLARK |
36 |
= |
STIRLING MOSS |
36 |
11 |
NIGEL MANSELL |
35 |
12 |
EMERSON FITTIPALDI |
34 |
13 |
MICHAEL SCHUMACHER |
31 |
14 |
ALBERTO ASCARI |
28 |
= |
JOHN SURTEES |
28 |
16 |
DAMON HILL |
26 |
= |
DENNY HULME |
26 |
18 |
GIUSEPPE FARINA |
25 |
19 |
GERHARD BERGER |
24 |
= |
JODY SCHECKTER |
24 |
21 |
MIKE HAWTHORN |
23 |
= |
CARLOS REUTEMANN |
23 |
23 |
JACKY ICKX |
21 |
= |
BRUCE McLAREN |
21 |
25 |
ALAN JONES |
18 |
= |
RONNIE PETERSON |
18 |
= |
ALAN JONES |
18 |
28 |
RICCARDO PATRESE |
17 |
= |
JOCHEN RINDT |
17 |
= |
KEKE ROSBERG |
17 |
31 |
PHIL HILL |
16 |
= |
JACQUES VILLENEUVE |
16 |
33 |
MARIO ANDRETTI |
15 |
= |
DAN GURNEY |
15 |
= |
JAMES HUNT |
15 |
36 |
RENE ARNOUX |
14 |
37 |
MICHELE ALBERETO |
12 |
= |
JEAN ALESI |
12 |
= |
TONY BROOKS |
12 |
= |
RICHIE GINTHER |
12 |
41 |
JOSE FROILAN GONZALEZ |
11 |
42 |
JACQUES LAFFITE |
9 |
= |
MAURICE TRINTIGNANT |
9 |
= |
JOHN WATSON |
9 |
45 |
FRANCOIS CEVERT |
8 |
= |
DAVID COULTHARD |
8 |
= |
MIKA HAKKINEN |
8 |
= |
DIDIER PIRONI |
8 |
49 |
THIERRY BOUTSEN |
7 |
= |
WOLFGANG VON TRIPS |
7 |
51 |
ELIO DE ANGELIS |
6 |
= |
EUGENIO CASTELLOTTI |
6 |
= |
PETER COLLINS |
6 |
= |
PATRICK DEPALLIER |
6 |
= |
HEINZ HARALD FRENTZEN |
6 |
= |
PIERO TARUFFI |
6 |
= |
GILLES VILLENEUVE |
6 |
58 |
INNES IRELAND |
5 |
= |
LUIGI MUSSO |
5 |
= |
LUIGI VILLORESI |
5 |
61 |
CHRIS AMON |
4 |
= |
LORENZO BANDINI |
4 |
= |
LUIGI FAGIOLI |
4 |
= |
PEDRO RODRIGUEZ |
4 |
= |
PATRICK TAMBAY |
4 |
66 |
JEAN BEHRA |
3 |
= |
RUDI FISCHER |
3 |
= |
JOHNNY HERBERT |
3 |
= |
STEFAN JOHANSSON |
3 |
= |
LOUIS ROSIER |
3 |
= |
ROY SALVADORI |
3 |
= |
HARRY SCHELL |
3 |
= |
JO SIFFERT |
3 |
74 |
JEAN-PIERRE BELTOISE |
2 |
= |
EDDIE IRVINE |
2 |
= |
KARL KLING |
2 |
= |
ROBERT MANZON |
2 |
= |
PETER REVSON |
2 |
79 |
RUBENS BARRICHELLO |
1 |
= |
PRINCE BIRA |
1 |
= |
MARTIN BRUNDLE |
1 |
= |
EDDIE CHEEVER |
1 |
= |
JACK FAIRMAN |
1 |
= |
GIANCARLO FISICHELLA |
1 |
= |
PAUL FRERE |
1 |
= |
OLIVIER GENDEBIEN |
1 |
= |
FRANCESCO GODIA |
1 |
= |
MASTEN GREGORY |
1 |
= |
HANS HERRMANN |
1 |
= |
JOCHEN MASS |
1 |
= |
ALESSANDRO NANNINI |
1 |
= |
CARLOS PACE |
1 |
Of course, Michael Schumacher would have been up there in 9th, had he not had his second place taken away from him at the end of 1997.
Mario Andretti and James Hunt are the lowest Championship winning drivers, with Stirling Moss then Gerhard Berger the highest placed drivers never to have been World Champion.
I also did the same for the Constructors Championship - no prizes for guessing who came first!
RANK |
CONSTRUCTOR |
POINTS |
1 |
FERRARI |
210 |
2 |
LOTUS |
154 |
3 |
McLAREN |
151 |
4 |
WILLIAMS |
139 |
5 |
BRABHAM |
82 |
6 |
BRM |
58 |
7 |
COOPER |
50 |
= |
TYRELL |
50 |
9 |
BENETTON |
49 |
10 |
LIGIER / PROST |
25 |
11 |
RENAULT |
21 |
12 |
MATRA |
17 |
13 |
MARCH |
14 |
14 |
VANWALL |
10 |
15 |
JORDAN |
7 |
16 |
PORSCHE |
6 |
17 |
HONDA |
5 |
= |
WOLF |
5 |
19 |
ARROWS |
4 |
= |
HESKETH |
4 |
= |
LOLA |
4 |
= |
SURTEES |
4 |
23 |
MASERATI |
2 |
= |
PENSKE |
2 |
= |
SHADOW |
2 |
26 |
ALFA ROMEO |
1 |
= |
BRP |
1 |
= |
EAGLE |
1 |
= |
SAUBER |
1 |
This makes Minardi and Stewart the only current teams not to appear on this list. Stewart are only in their second year of trying, but Minardi have yet to finish in the top six constructors, despite coming into F1 before Jordan and Sauber.
If the current Constructors Championship stays as it is, McLaren will have to win every Championship until 2004 with Ferrari coming outside the top six for McLaren to catch the scarlet team!
Justin Wood lives in Manchester, England and has been an F1 nut ever since watching the nail-biter between Prost and Piquet at Kyalami in 1983. When not watching F1 and adding up it's numbers he works at the University of Manchester.