36 world championships, 391 race wins: F1′s greats meet in Bahrain (Pictures)
Don't bother looking for Raikkonen and Piquet - they missed the event
The Bahrain Grand Prix organisers brought together 18 of the 20 living F1 champions for a special event to mark the 60th anniversary of the world championship last weekend.
Between them these 18 drivers won 36 world titles and 391 races – that’s almost half the 821 F1 championship races since 1950.
The oldest of the living champions is Australian Sir Jack Brabham. He won the first of his three world championships in 1959, then aged 33. Now 83, and not in great health, he still made it to Bahrain for the event – which is more than can be said for some of the younger successors to his crown.
Four of the 18 are still racing in F1 and may yet add to their successes. They’re in impressive company, as the record of their achievements below shows (click the drivers’ names for their biographies):
| Name | Champion in | Wins | Poles | F’laps | Starts |
| Alain Prost | 1985, 1986, 1989, 1993 | 51 | 33 | 41 | 199 |
| Alan Jones | 1980 | 12 | 6 | 13 | 116 |
| Nigel Mansell | 1992 | 31 | 32 | 30 | 187 |
| Mika Hakkinen | 1998, 1999 | 20 | 26 | 25 | 161 |
| Jacques Villeneuve | 1997 | 11 | 13 | 9 | 163 |
| Keke Rosberg | 1982 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 114 |
| Jody Scheckter | 1979 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 111 |
| Michael Schumacher | 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 | 91 | 68 | 76 | 249 |
| Damon Hill | 1996 | 22 | 20 | 19 | 115 |
| Fernando Alonso | 2005, 2006 | 22 | 18 | 14 | 139 |
| Jenson Button | 2009 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 171 |
| Niki Lauda | 1975, 1977, 1984 | 25 | 24 | 24 | 171 |
| Mario Andretti | 1978 | 12 | 18 | 10 | 128 |
| Jack Brabham | 1959, 1960, 1966 | 14 | 13 | 14 | 126 |
| Jackie Stewart | 1969, 1971, 1973 | 27 | 17 | 15 | 99 |
| John Surtees | 1964 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 111 |
| Emerson Fittipaldi | 1972, 1974 | 14 | 6 | 6 | 144 |
| Lewis Hamilton | 2008 | 11 | 17 | 3 | 53 |
| Total | 36 | 391 | 334 | 317 | 2,557 |
Two former champions were missing from the party. Nelson Piquet (three championships, 23 wins, 24 pole positions and 23 fastest laps) probably stayed away due to the fall-out from the Singapore 2008 controversy.
It’s not clear why Kimi Räikkönen (one championship, 18 wins, 16 pole positions and 35 fastest laps) didn’t go. He switched from F1 to the World Rally Championship this year but he wasn’t at a rally last weekend.
The remaining champions have all passed away. They are Giuseppe Farina, Juan Manuel Fangio, Alberto Ascari, Mike Hawthorn, Phil Hill, Jim Clark, Denny Hulme, Graham Hill, Jochen Rindt, James Hunt and Ayrton Senna.
F1′s greats in Bahrain – Pictures
The 18 champions are pictures below with Bernie Ecclestone, FIA president Jean Todt and Todt’s partner Michelle Yeoh:
Back: Alain Prost, Alan Jones, Nigel Mansell, Mika Hakkinen, Jacques Villeneuve, Keke Rosberg, Jody Scheckter, Michael Schumacher, Damon Hill. Front: Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button, Niki Lauda, Bernie Ecclestone, Mario Andretti, Jeat Todt, Michelle Yeoh, Jack Brabham, Jackie Stewart, John Surtees, Emerson Fittipaldi, Lewis Hamilton
Here are the 18 drivers plus the rest of the 2010 F1 drivers:
F1's former champions plus the 2010 F1 drivers
Images (C) Bridgestone
Jim N said on 17th March 2010, 9:40
I think the comment “Between them these 18 drivers won 36 world titles and 391 races – that’s almost half the 821 F1 championship races since 1950.” is an amazing statistic and just goes to show how very special the top drivers are.
DanThorn said on 17th March 2010, 10:12
Even more amazing is that Schumacher accounts for nearly 25% of all of those drivers and over 10% of all World Championship events!
Mike said on 17th March 2010, 10:33
Hopefully he can add to that eh?
Antifia said on 17th March 2010, 16:05
Nothing amazing about that: Low level competition (Hill, Coultard, Hakkinen, JV, Barrichelo, Brundle etc…). In the beginning of his career, Senna, Piquet, Mansel and Prost were still there, but he did not start winning consistently till they were all gone. Then you had the compulsive cheating that the FIA let him indulge in, the utter Ferrari domination, the doormats he had as teamates and voila: 91 GP wins and 7 Championships.
Maksutov said on 17th March 2010, 16:58
i loled at that
Vintage 68 said on 17th March 2010, 17:30
Yes, I LOL’ed too, at the lack of factual information the previous post reveals.
DanThorn said on 17th March 2010, 17:08
I’m not a Schumacher fan, but you don’t get yourself into a position of dominance without having bags of talent. If people took the time to actually read about and understand the guy and his career a bit more, they’d realise that he probably is the greatest driver in the sports history.
It’s too easy and fashionable to criticise and dislike Michael Schumacher, I spent his whole career doing it and now I regret missing out on not appreciating the genius of the bloke.
Mike "the bike" Schumacher said on 17th March 2010, 17:37
It’s because of Schumacher’s talent and skill that these guys seemed low level (which they are not). You can’t seriously consider Hakkinen, Hill, Coultard, Raikkonen, Montoya, and Alonso to be low level. Schumi also beat Senna in his first full season and was beating him at the start of 94 too.
It’s only since he retired in 06 that a number of other drivers began to start wining. You would have expected Alonso to take his place and win everything but he couldn’t match schumacher’s dominance.
Pink Peril said on 18th March 2010, 4:07
“It’s only since he retired in 06 that a number of other drivers began to start wining”
Err, correct me if I’m wrong but I’m pretty sure Alonso beat Schuey in 2005, and backed it up in 2006. So not only did Alonso ‘match’ Schuey’s dominance, he bested it.
Praveen Titus said on 22nd March 2010, 8:43
Alonso began winning championships when Schumacher was active. After Schumacher’s exit, Alonso did have some great races at McLaren (though he displayed his immaturity in handling the relationship with his team-mate, but that’s not a new scenario for a talented driver at McLaren).
After that the Spaniard was in uncompetitive machinery, so how can he be expected to dominate? You need competitive machinery along with raw talent to dominate. That’s how Schumacher did it and that’s what Alonso could if he gets competitive machinery.
But that’s taking nothing from Schumacher. He’s still one of the greatest drivers of F1, but it’s not right to think there won’t be others like him.
bettyhiam said on 17th March 2010, 18:18
sour sour grapes! are you a dismayed fan of another driver? the real fans allow all the winners their time at the top, you know!
SeattleChris said on 18th March 2010, 1:20
Nothing amazing? What do you find amazing? You must be the kind of guy who takes a blackbird up to 71,000 feet, jumps out without a parachute and freefalls, landing from plane wing to plane wing allowing their chance passing to keep you from plummeting to the earth and your demise, the whole while writing the greatest novel of all-time, learning 3 oriental languages and solving world hunger (telling no one).
While MS’ accomplishments may mean nothing to you, everyone else who isn’t Poseidon himself is impressed whether they like the guy or not.
Mike said on 18th March 2010, 11:54
I could do that……. ^^
that was hilarious Chris.
Mike said on 18th March 2010, 11:57
Low level competition! I mean! some are only world champions!
Now for a real test we need, Batman, Superman, Chuck Noris, Schumacher, wait scratch that one…
MigueLP said on 17th March 2010, 13:53
shumi next to hill?
Pink Peril said on 18th March 2010, 4:18
Well, Hill certianly doesn’t look too pleased with the driver line up…
Hakki said on 19th March 2010, 6:30
Do everybody think that Schumi could win his 5 of 7 titles if Vettel and Hamilton were in the field from 2000 to 2004? Schmi was lucky because his rivals were DC,Raikonen,Montoya,Button and Ralf from 2000 to 2004.(and Hill in 94 and 95)
If Alonso has strong car in 2004,It was not sure if Scumi could won the 7th title.
David A said on 20th March 2010, 3:23
Michael Schumacher and the Ferrari team he helped to mould made those drivers appear as if they were ordinary. Had MS not been in F1, we might all be hailing Montoya as a 5 time world champion. Those drivers Schumacher defeated were supposed to be world class, and there there is anyway no point making excuses about the quality of competition since he could only beat what was put in front of him.
Kovy said on 20th March 2010, 6:19
Yes – Ferrari had the dominant car, Hamilton and Vettel were no better than Raikkonen when he was with McLaren.
PakDonny said on 23rd March 2010, 19:27
Schumi has been in contention for world championships almost every year he’s been racing in Formula 1 – even with inferior cars. That sums it all up.
TurbineBob said on 11th April 2010, 19:46
My exact thought!
TurbineBob said on 11th April 2010, 20:01
about : “shumi next to hill?” that was…
:)
Schumacher did not win the 1994 World Championship… Not in my book anyways & not according to the 2003 or 2010 scoring rules anyways & he should have gotten the same he got for trying to put Villeneuve out.
And I’ll say : Austria 2002 (on top of 2001)!
The whole crowd & the journalists were screaming & “booing”.
He didn’t get all those wins either, Ferrari, the FIA, they were all bending the rules in his favour. He’s not the only one to blame.
I’ve never seen such a bad role model. The guy has no sense of decency whatsoever.
There’s only one thing worse than a bad looser : a bad winner & Shumacher’s the king of those.
Anyhow.
It was great seeing all those greats joined together to mark the event (too bad about the 2 missing).
& what’s miss.Todt doing there anyways?
Fixy (@fixy) said on 18th December 2010, 21:21
Once the races in a season were 10, now they are 20. A champion won four races per season, Schumacher won more than 10.
Enigma said on 17th March 2010, 9:49
I don’t recognize them all.
- Who is next to Hamilton?
- Who is between Todt and Stewart?
- Who is next to Prost?
- Who is between Villeneuve and Schumacher?
Enigma said on 17th March 2010, 9:51
Just realized they’re written on the list in the order of the photo, so nevermind. Great to see them all together!
Cobe said on 17th March 2010, 13:43
Who is next to Hamilton – Emerson Fittipaldi.
Who is between Todt and Stewart – Michelle Yeoh (Tod‚t`s girlfriend) and Jack Brabham.
Who is next to Prost – Alan Jones.
Who is between Villeneuve and Schumacher – Keke Rosberg and. Jody Scheckter.
Great picture, great drivers. Enjoy.
bettyhiam said on 17th March 2010, 18:20
I wish Todt’s film star girlfriend would stay home. Boy, that limelight must be hard to give up!
MEmo said on 18th March 2010, 0:51
Agree with you! What is she doing there? I thought somehow she was related to racing and googled her: she is related to racing… the blood flow in Tods´ body…
Rod said on 17th March 2010, 9:50
I wonder if vodka or simply general apathy was to blame for Kimi’s absence?
Mike said on 17th March 2010, 10:35
I dislike Kimi, So I found that funny ^^
He has, not improved in my impression by this, If 18 others, most of which (if not all) are older than him, some like jack who probably, shouldn’t be there made it, … That is weak.
mfDB said on 17th March 2010, 13:43
I think Kimi is disenfranchised will the whole F1 circus and I think he is ****** off at Ferrari. He is certainly lazy too. But, for everyone thinking that he is going to be back next year with Red Bull, this doesn’t look too good. I think that if there were serious discussions with RBR for his return, he would shown up all decked out with his RBR Rally gear on….
Robbie said on 17th March 2010, 16:01
Probably both and the fact that he’s in WRC now. I’m not a Kimi fan but do I miss him in the sport and I would like him to return, even if he’s lazy and emotionless.
Jonathan said on 17th March 2010, 17:13
It’s the first race since Kimi was unceremoniously booted out of F1 (Ferrari sacked him, and neither McLaren nor Mercedes would agree to his terms), so I would have been quite surprised to see him at the race to be honest.
Mike "the bike" Schumacher said on 17th March 2010, 17:45
In his own words ‘he was taking a “SH**”
Mouse_Nightshirt said on 18th March 2010, 0:50
Not surprised he didn’t go really. Type of guy he is.
MEmo said on 18th March 2010, 0:53
“I wonder if vodka or simply general apathy was to blame for Kimi’s absence?”
Actually, it was the generally lack of vodka that was to blame…
King Nigel Mansell said on 17th March 2010, 9:51
Thank you SO MUCH for those incredible pics !!!!
David B said on 17th March 2010, 9:54
I like how fat Alan Jones is!!! :-D
Barney Gumble said on 17th March 2010, 10:04
Haha he is rather fat now, he looks especially tubby beside Alain Prost who is still mega skinny!
Praveen Titus said on 22nd March 2010, 8:49
People often forget Prost’s achievements. He may have only 4 to Schumacher’s 7, but he retired and came back to win the championship. Agreed the Williams was dominant in 1993, but that’s still some achievement!
Barney Gumble said on 17th March 2010, 10:01
Why the hell was Todt’s girlfriend invited into the picture?! She’s completely out of place.
I wonder why they all bothered making the journey out to the desert, particularly Brabbham who is very old now. Presumably the Bahraini’s paid them all a load of money just for showing their faces. That would explain why Raikkonen and Piquet didn’t turn up, they’re both pretty loaded as it is
BasCB said on 17th March 2010, 11:02
I read somewhere, that even Michael Schumacher was supprised to see here there!
With the way Piquet had feuds with his fellow drivers at the time, and added to that the fallout of the Crashgate sage I suppose we missed some fireworks and fists going.
Kimi was not there, because they did not give him a citroen ralley dakar car to have fun in the desert, or they offered less than he wanted. Not sure, which it was ;-(
DanThorn said on 17th March 2010, 12:07
Well you can’t have alcohol in Bahrain, so it’s no surprise he wasn’t there. ;)
chris said on 17th March 2010, 12:55
im sure thats why!!!haha
PJA said on 17th March 2010, 11:24
Rosberg seems to be looking at her wondering what she is doing there.
Tim said on 17th March 2010, 11:42
Because she’s spearheading the FIA road safety campaign that appears in one of the photos.
TurbineBob said on 11th April 2010, 20:14
Thanks for that reply
She’s all over the FIA website’s videos:
http://www.fiafoundation.org/media/Pages/Films.aspx
but I wonder if Todt is such a good career move???
ajokay said on 17th March 2010, 11:50
Either way, Keke Rosberg seems to be trying to peer down her top…
John H said on 17th March 2010, 10:16
Shame Räikkönen wasn’t there. I think we can all guess why Piquet didn’t show up.
And to see Schumacher next to Hill is quite funny – I wonder if they get on these days!
Chris P said on 17th March 2010, 11:09
But Hamilton and Alonso at opposite ends…
Phillip said on 17th March 2010, 16:55
John H
I guess we will find out when Damon is one of the race stewards sometime this year !! ;)
Joey-Poey said on 17th March 2010, 17:44
HA! Very true.
I also was amused that Prost was a steward with the name Senna racing this past weekend…
DanThorn said on 17th March 2010, 10:17
Great stuff, and wonderful to see that some of them have dug out their old overalls! Though whoever decided that tiny Jacques should stand in the middle at the back should be shot. ;)
Tango said on 17th March 2010, 10:18
FOr all the 40 to 60 somethings, difference is clear between those still active and those who are not. (a Large difference). However, impressed surtees and Brabham could make it.
Red Andy said on 17th March 2010, 16:08
Brabham especially – he’s not been well for the last few months, as I understand it. When the event was first proposed it was thought that of all the living world champions, Jack would be the one least likely to make it. Credit to him for turning up though.
Mike said on 18th March 2010, 12:29
Jack’s a bloody legend.
samidee said on 17th March 2010, 10:57
Hi is there any pictures of these drivers with the old F1 in Bahrain ?
thx
BasCB said on 17th March 2010, 11:12
There are a lot of great pictures, for example here http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/gallery.php?catID=4456&startat=190
steph said on 17th March 2010, 13:30
Great link. Thanks!
samidee said on 17th March 2010, 18:19
thanks a lot
really nice to see it
Praveen Titus said on 22nd March 2010, 8:52
Great pics, thanks for the link
JV said on 17th March 2010, 10:57
I failed to recognize
1.Alan jones,
2.Jody Scheckter,
3.Mario Andreti,
4.John Surtees and
5.Emerson Fittipaldi
JV said on 17th March 2010, 11:00
And I forgett to mension above that It still looks so awkward to see Nigel Mensell without mustaches.
Alex` said on 17th March 2010, 12:25
Yea, he’s got a baby face
BasCB said on 17th March 2010, 11:18
Almost half of the wins, but over 70% of championships won, so winning a lot is important for the champion, but not all important.
Apart from several years, other guys did get to win, like last year.
steph said on 17th March 2010, 11:24
Really wish Piquet and Kimi had shown up.
Peter said on 17th March 2010, 11:30
So Michelle replaced Kimi and Jean Todt replaces Piquet. That leaves Bernie Ecclestone as the one out of place 8)