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Just thought of John Watson when he raced with Lauda. Very underrated and a little written out of history. Maybe over shadowed by Mansell’s achievements?
Also Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Nick Heidfeld.
Two more that I don’t think have been mentioned in the “least remembered” list.
Andrea de Adamich and of course Derek Bell! Hard to believe that Derek had such an infrequent F1 career but he had a couple of races with Ferrari.
I feel like most of the more recent one time champions could have been 2 or 3 times winners with a bit of luck. I think that being a multiple champion is often more about having a certain state of mind and luck rather than necessarily being that much more talented.
For instance Denny Hulme was never the same driver after Bruce McLaren died and became more cautious after winning his title. John Surtees was a difficult man and falling out with the Ferrari team manager and leaving the team when he could surely have won another title. Running his own team after this also torpedoed his chances.
I think the multiple champions have a cooler more focused side to them that makes the difference. Drivers like Mansell and Surtees were maybe too emotional and firey compared with the control of drivers like Prost and Vettel. Too often it seemed that Mansell was at war with his team or his team mates to get the support needed to win more than once.
Even though he won two titles I think Emerson Fittipaldi could probably have won up to 5 titles but followed his heart to form a Brazilian F1 team with his brother and never won again.
Most of the names mentioned already are pretty on the mark. I go with Ronnie Petersen or Carlos Reutemann personally but a few other names who spring to mind include Tony Brooks, Jacky Ickx, Jacques Laffite, Didier Pironi, Michele Alboreto.
@IrishDelee and @Dizzy-A
Can you tell me a bit more about Tommy Byrne and Giorgio Pantano as I have never heard of them? Whey did they have so much potential?Not the best but but Ivan Capelli got a 2nd place in a Leyton House and Teo Fabi got three poles and scored a 3rd in a Brabham.
Also what about Jean-Pierre Jarier? Reading the bits in The Lost Generation about Jarier and Tom Pryce at Shadow Jarier seemed to have awful luck.
If you put Andrea de Cesaris in here then what about Pierluigi Martini who scored top 5 places in a Minardi or even Piercarlo Ghinzani or Gabriele Tarquini? All talented drivers held back by awful cars.
A bit off topic but I always found Jean-Pierre Jabouille’s career fascinating. He only finished in the points three times but two of those were wins.
Not the best but but Ivan Capelli got a 2nd place in a Leyton House and Teo Fabi got three poles and scored a 3rd in a Brabham.
What about the least talented to win a race? Actually lets say luckiest as all F1 drivers are of course great drivers!
Vittorio Brambilla?
@Fixy
Very interesting thanks. It looks from the records that he was just unlucky to also be caught between two generations of great drivers, it is hard to look good sandwiched between Ickx and Lauda! Did he have strong connections with Ferrari to start his career with them? It must have been depressing to go from Ferrari, whatever the car, to Team Merzario!@JP
You could also make a claim for Pedro Rodriguez being equally unremembered while at Ferrari although he is of course know as a great all round driver and won for other teams. Would have been interesting to see how Ricardo would have developed.@Fixy
Hi, I was interested as to why you think Art Merzario was particularly unlucky?
