F1 Fanatic

People who know me well know that I like a good discussion. So, who was the worst driver ever to win a World Championship?

Tough question, because becoming a world champion requires not only speed but also consistency. Summarised: you must be good to become champion. So, the best way to answer your question is perhaps: which F1 champion has made the tiniest mark in F1 history? Then I would go for Phil Hill

I think that’s a difficult question given that you can only win with the tools you have at your disposal. For example, would Sebastian Vettel have won 3 WDC’s already were he driving for, say, Force India? Probably not. The Red Bull is the best car, but the driver still had to go out and win. Does that make him a bad World Champion because he has the best car? Of course not.

In terms of your question, I’d say we have to rephrase it to discuss which World Champion was a “one-hit wonder”, for want of a better phrase!

In which case you’d have to single out drivers like Denny Hulme, Phil Hill and Keke Rosberg. All had one very good season, but failed to impress in their others.

@ben-n Those three drivers were also on my short list. But I feel that Denny Hulme and Keke Rosberg has had more than one successful season. Furthermore, Hulme became champion in ‘the golden year’, so for that fact only I would rule him out for this discussion! ;)

I would nominate Mike Hawthorn as a possibility. Only 3 career wins, only 1 of which was in his championship year, where Moss was generally the better driver with worse reliaility.

Hawthorn had some very good seasons prior to his title year. And I don’t agree at all with you matt that moss was generally the better driver; it was a close championship and Hawthorn’s consistency was extreme that year. Hawthorn was second in 5 races and had to give points and still won the title, whereas Moss didn’t give away any.
I consider Moss the better driver of the two, but I’m just saying he wasn’t generally better that year.

If Villeneuve would have retired in 1997 he would have been considered one of the greatest talents ever. Now he is just forgettable.

Hill, Rosberg, Hulme and Villeneuve. For explanations look at the comments above.