drivers who should have been F1 champions

[chrisb]

prompted and encouraged [as ever] by a comment from a fellow scriber, in this instance JC when talking of Jacky Ickx and his abilities that should have led to an F1WDC,  

Charles mentioned two others [Gilles and Ronnie] who were so immensely talented it was a crying tragedy that neither achieved the top echelon of F1, and this made me muse as musing goes, well, who else was mused as the next great champion only for either tragedy or for another reason that this didn't happen.

So, I wondered my fellow scribes who else did you think? I have looked at the championships and hype that followed and detail as follows: 

Since its inception in 1951, there have been a number of F3/junior champions who went onto F1 champions, but there is a bigger list of those who didn't:
those who did include:
Jim Clark [59/60]
Jackie Stewart - [63]
Emmo [69]
Nelson Piquet [78]
Ayrton Senna [83]
Mika Hakkinen [90] 

6 out of 64, 

F2 from 1967 to 1984 possesses a great number of GP winners but not one F1WDC and F3000 from 1985 until 2004 includes 4 GP winners but no champions, and yet the French F2 championship which ran from 1964 until 1968 boasted only F1 WDC's as champions, Jack 64, Jimmy 65, Jack 66, Jochen 67 and Jackie 68,  



The list of runaway F3 winners who didn't live up to the hype include:
Dave Walker [69/70/71]
Roger Williamson, tragically taken before his potential was realised as was Tony Brise and Gunnar Nilsson,
Bruno Jack'o'Malley, Tommy Byrne, Kelvin Burt, Jan Magnussen, Takuma Sato, Alan Van der Merwe, Felipe Nasr, Jack Harvey, 

there are a great many other drivers, the likes of Derek Daly, Pizzonia, Haberfeld, Gil de Ferran who could have been included in this list, 

I just find this a fascinating subject and relate it to modern day, so in your opinions who was a worthy champion but fate or otherwise intervened in their quest and who became a champion but really should have been a chumpion [arghh] 

[charleselan]

Brilliant new thread Chris.

Must come back to this later, however from the top of my head, do not forget about the European F3 Championship and the Champions from that who did or did not get F1 WC's; didn't Prost win the Euro F3 crown? Then we have those that did not like Jan Lammers; Anders Olofsson etc.

As for drivers who should have been champions on ability and class alone then I would name Tony Brooks.


JC

[charleselan]

Jeez! I have just had to slap myself around the face for omitting the man who should have been a WC...........

Dan Gurney.

[chrisb]

how about Stirling?

[charleselan]

Nov 7, 2018 16:53:14 GMT chrisb said:

how about Stirling?

Make that a second slap around the face...........

[Carl]

There are more drivers who deserved, given better circumstances, to be World Driving Champions than those who actually were. Some were unwilling to make the commitment of time and effort involved to base themselves in Europe and for various reasons chose to remain where they were most comfortable. Those in America include Parnelli Jones and Rick Mears, both with strong potential but without motivation to go elsewhere.

Phil Hill was a deserving champion, Dan Gurney even more so. This is a fascinating subject that would require a massive blackboard to express by equation.  Thanks to Chris for a wonderful thread!

[René]

Carlos Reutemann

[charleselan]

Nov 7, 2018 18:39:01 GMT René said:

Carlos Reutemann

Can't disagree with this one either René.

[Jamie]

You beat me to Carlos René 👍

Drivers to could or should have been champion.....Pryce, Pironi, Montoya, Kubica.....

[Jamie]

Stefan Bellof

[Jamie]

Great thread Chris 👍

[Carl]

Some of the drivers who were never Formula One Champions always seemed to be in the wrong team at the wrong time. Dan Gurney left both Ferrari and BRM two years before he might have been champion. His interlude at Porsche was likely a reflection of his love of the sport being greater than his ambitions. No fault there. After three fruitful years with Brabham, he left just before that team's championship years to form his own team. He deserved great success with his brilliant and beautiful Eagle in 1967, but reliability favored the Repco-engines in Jack Brabham's cars. Even so, the greatness of Gurney made him a champion.

The luckless Chris Amon couldn't choose a winning team if a championship depended on it, but he was one of the greatest behind the wheel.

[chrisb]

I had read that had Dan wanted to stay at Brabham for 1966 Jack would have retired and the odds were Dan would have been WDC,

interesting selection chaps,

JC if you take the 1975-1984 Euro series, you had a who's who in GP drivers who won said championship but only one [yes Alain] went onto to WDC.
1985-2003 [Euro Cup] - some interesting winners, Caffi, Modena and 'er Steve Kempton, whom I apologise to as I have no memory of you. But no F1 champions

2003-2012 champions include the Hulk, Di Resta, Grosjean but only one WDC - Lewis

[chrisb]

I'm with you on this one Carl, especially with Rick Mears, had any other team owner had the nous to pay Rick he would have been a worthy champion, not so sure about Parnelli, but would throw in AJ as a very likely champion. My biggest frustration is Michael Andretti, whom I still believe could have been a success in F1 and at the time I was more incensed at the commentators' constant criticism of him and the unruliness of his competitors.


gosh, weren't there some brilliant drivers who were just so deserving but then, does that beg the question, if our selections were worthy - who was a champion but did they deserve to be? all F1 drivers in my humble opinion are 'great' just that some are 'greater' than others and perhaps a bit more 'deserving?' 

[charleselan]

Nothing to disagree with what is written above guys.

Dan Gurney would surely have been a WC if he had stayed at Brabham, of that there can be little doubt. We were though treated to the most glorious of cars the Eagle Weslake as some form of compensation, and that Spa victory must have meant a great deal to Dan.

Chris Amon; it just beggars belief that someone with that amount of talent and car developmental skills could not even get one championship race win. On talent and ability alone Chris would trounce many that accomplished a WC, but it was not to be.

I would place Tony Brise as a more likely contender for WC status, than poor Roger and Tom. Not to say that both of the latter could not have done so; Tom was fast and flamboyant and Roger gritty and very quick. However Tony had the speed, and a certain air about him that said champion material.

I agree with your assessment on Michael Andretti, Chris. He was top quality as a driver, maybe not quite up to the standard of his father but very good non the less. It was an unfair judgement placed upon him by the media in particular, however he did not help himself in trying to commute across the Atlantic especially then being measured against someone like Ayrton.

I don't think AJ would have been a WC, but like Carl I believe that Parnelli Jones had all of the right attributes; and one can but muse as to what Swede Savage may have achieved.

Another guy I believe should be included is Carlos Pace, we would never know thanks to that terrible plane crash that took his life, however everyone he drove for spoke very highly of him, especially Ecclestone.

Also I would like to mention Michele Alboreto whose sublime and understated smooth style came very close to winning the title in 1985, only to be let down by Ferrari unreliability following the change in turbo manufacturers mid season.