Jody Scheckter vs Fernando Alonso
Champion of Champions
Fernando Alonso is already a two-times world champion; with better luck, Jody Scheckter might have been.
In his first full season with Tyrrell in 1974, Scheckter placed third in the championship, ten points behind winner Emerson Fittipaldi.
As Tyrrell went up a blind alley with the six-wheeled P34, Scheckter moved to new team Wolf for 1977. he nearly ‘did a Button’ in the championship after winning the first race of the year, but finished the year runner-up to Niki Lauda’s Ferrari.
Two years later Scheckter had a Ferrari of his own and although he and team mate Gilles Villeneuve were closely matched, Scheckter had the edge. Late in the season the team ordered Villeneuve to let Scheckter claim the title.
Had Alonso won this year’s world championship he would have emulated Scheckter by winning the title in his first season for Ferrari. But Alonso already has a pair of titles under his belt from his Renault days.
As well as finishing runner-up this year, he tied on points with second-placed Lewis Hamilton in 2007, a single point behind champion Kimi Räikkönen.
Which of these drivers should go through to the next round of the Champion of Champions? Vote for which you think was best below and explain who you voted for and why in the comments.
| Jody Scheckter | Fernando Alonso | |
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| Titles | 1979 | 2005, 2006 |
| Second in title year/s | Gilles Villeneuve | Kimi Räikkönen, Michael Schumacher |
| Teams | McLaren, Tyrrell, Wolf, Ferrari | Minardi, Renault, McLaren, Ferrari |
| Notable team mates | Patrick Depailler, Gilles Villeneuve | Giancarlo Fisichella, Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa |
| Starts | 112 | 158 |
| Wins | 10 (8.93%) | 26 (16.46%) |
| Poles | 3 (2.68%) | 20 (12.66%) |
| Modern points per start1 | 8.00 | 10.58 |
| % car failures2 | 18.75 | 10.76 |
| Modern points per finish3 | 9.85 | 11.86 |
| Notes | Partial season as McLaren’s third driver in 1973 | Debuted for Minardi in 2001 then spent a year testing for Renault before making race return |
| Spent three seasons with Tyrrell before giving Wolf a win in their first race in 1977 | Back-to-back titles for Renault in 2005 and 2006 | |
| Won the 1979 title for Ferrari after Gilles Villeneuve was instructed not to pass him at Monza | Formerly the youngest ever world champion | |
| Bio | Jody Scheckter | Fernando Alonso |
1 How many points they scored in their career, adjusted to the 2010 points system, divided by the number of races they started
2 The percentage of races in which they were not classified due to a mechanical failure
3 How many points they scored in their career, adjusted to the 2010 points system, divided by the number of starts in which they did not suffer a race-ending mechanical failure
Which was the better world champion driver?
- Jody Scheckter (21%)
- Fernando Alonso (79%)
Total Voters: 718
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Champion of Champions
- Ayrton Senna voted Champion of Champions by F1 Fanatic readers
- Champion of Champions in stats
- Champion of Champions Final: Senna vs Schumacher
- Ayrton Senna vs Juan Manuel Fangio
- Michael Schumacher vs Alain Prost
- Ayrton Senna vs Jack Brabham
- Juan Manuel Fangio vs Jackie Stewart
- Alain Prost vs Niki Lauda
- Jim Clark vs Michael Schumacher
- Jack Brabham vs Lewis Hamilton
Images © Ford (Scheckter), Renault/LAT (Alonso)
perveze7 (@) said on 3rd January 2011, 11:32
vote to alonso , since he not only competed but won 2 titles against the most successful f1 driver.
asingh1 (@asingh1) said on 3rd January 2011, 11:37
“Late in the season the team ordered Villeneuve to let Scheckter claim the title”
These two have more in common than I first thought
michael said on 3rd January 2011, 14:18
Not quite the same. There was a rule back then at Ferrari that in case of a 1-2 , both drivers hold their position. Despite being faster, Gilles held 2nd position and lost the title, but he wasn’t worried about it.
MacLeod (@macleod) said on 3rd January 2011, 13:28
I have chosen Jody mostly because he drove in a era which the right matrials were less important. So it was more the driver to excel…
Steven (@modtl) said on 4th January 2011, 11:32
I voted for Jody Scheckter as I believe if he’d been driving the equivalent of the 2005/06 Renault in 1980 he’d have been just as dominant.
Leftie (@leftie) said on 4th January 2011, 15:50
Alonso. The man who “outschumachered Schumacher” as said by Murray Walker once. Though i can only make judgements using archive materials available (i wasn’t simply born yet in 1979) i assume Jody was bloody good and, i remind you, he beaten Villeneuve in his championship winnig year, which i guess is quite a feat. But i don’t see him as a same benchmark for the rest of the field as Alonso is now.
pseudohendrix (@pseudohendrix) said on 6th January 2011, 7:47
It’s really hard to say exactly how good Scheckter was as he basically gave up at the sight of an uncompetitive car in 1980. He was very quick in his pre-Ferrari days but had a reputation as a bit of a crasher. He never really bested Villeneuve and won his 1979 title largely through better luck and Ferrari’s team orders.
Alonso on the other hand, has been the most complete driver in F1 for the last 3 years now, added to his 2 world titles. He’ll surely get at least one more too.
rdenatale (@rdenatale) said on 6th January 2011, 12:11
I’m sorry but I just couldn’t bring myself to vote for ‘nando.
I used to be a fan, but as his personality traits started to come out, mostly during his being harnessed to Lewis, he really started to grate on me.
Stats are one thing, but being champion is also about projecting a certain image, and I just don’t like the image Alonso shows me.
Jody on the other hand was from the era of F1 when I came to be a fan. I know he won’t survive this round, but sometimes we old guys need to stick together.
Mr. T (@mr-t) said on 6th January 2011, 12:33
‘Nando for me. Never seen Scheckter race but Alonso has consistently been a WDC contender too often to vote against him.
OmarR-Pepper (@omarr-pepper) said on 6th January 2011, 16:57
What points are considered to compare the pilots? similar number of starts? similar season conditions? (such as number of real rivals)… Uhm, looks like Alonso had an easy one to defeat this time, and I’m not an Alonso fan (all the contrary) but I voted for him.