F1 world champions in Bahrain, 2010

36 titles, 391 race wins: F1’s world champions meet in Bahrain

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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):

Two former champions were missing from the party. Nelson Piquet (three championships, 23 wins, 24 pole positions and 23 fastest laps) and Kimi Raikkonen (one championship, 18 wins, 16 pole positions and 35 fastest laps).

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.

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NameChampion inWinsPolesF’lapsStarts
Alain Prost1985, 1986, 1989, 1993513341199
Alan Jones198012613116
Nigel Mansell1992313230187
Mika Hakkinen1998, 1999202625161
Jacques Villeneuve199711139163
Keke Rosberg1982553114
Jody Scheckter19791035111
Michael Schumacher1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004916876249
Damon Hill1996222019115
Fernando Alonso2005, 2006221814139
Jenson Button2009772171
Niki Lauda1975, 1977, 1984252424171
Mario Andretti1978121810128
Jack Brabham1959, 1960, 1966141314126
Jackie Stewart1969, 1971, 197327171599
John Surtees19646810111
Emerson Fittipaldi1972, 19741466144
Lewis Hamilton20081117353
Total363913343172,557

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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114 comments on “36 titles, 391 race wins: F1’s world champions meet in Bahrain”

  1. 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.

    1. Even more amazing is that Schumacher accounts for nearly 25% of all of those drivers and over 10% of all World Championship events!

      1. Hopefully he can add to that eh?

      2. 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.

        1. i loled at that

          1. Yes, I LOL’ed too, at the lack of factual information the previous post reveals.

        2. 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.

        3. Mike "the bike" Schumacher
          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.

          1. “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.

          2. Praveen Titus
            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.

        4. 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!

        5. 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.

          1. I could do that……. ^^

            that was hilarious Chris.

        6. 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…

    2. shumi next to hill?

      1. Well, Hill certianly doesn’t look too pleased with the driver line up…

        1. 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.

          1. 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.

          2. Yes – Ferrari had the dominant car, Hamilton and Vettel were no better than Raikkonen when he was with McLaren.

          3. 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.

      2. My exact thought!

        1. 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?

    3. Once the races in a season were 10, now they are 20. A champion won four races per season, Schumacher won more than 10.

  2. 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?

    1. Just realized they’re written on the list in the order of the photo, so nevermind. Great to see them all together!

    2. 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.

      1. I wish Todt’s film star girlfriend would stay home. Boy, that limelight must be hard to give up!

        1. 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…

  3. I wonder if vodka or simply general apathy was to blame for Kimi’s absence?

    1. 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.

    2. 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….

    3. 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.

    4. 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.

    5. “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…

  4. Thank you SO MUCH for those incredible pics !!!!

  5. I like how fat Alan Jones is!!! :-D

    1. Barney Gumble
      17th March 2010, 10:04

      Haha he is rather fat now, he looks especially tubby beside Alain Prost who is still mega skinny!

      1. Praveen Titus
        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!

  6. Barney Gumble
    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

    1. 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 ;-(

      1. Well you can’t have alcohol in Bahrain, so it’s no surprise he wasn’t there. ;)

        1. im sure thats why!!!haha

    2. Rosberg seems to be looking at her wondering what she is doing there.

    3. Because she’s spearheading the FIA road safety campaign that appears in one of the photos.

      1. 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???

    4. Either way, Keke Rosberg seems to be trying to peer down her top…

  7. 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!

    1. But Hamilton and Alonso at opposite ends…

    2. John H
      I guess we will find out when Damon is one of the race stewards sometime this year !! ;)

      1. HA! Very true.

        I also was amused that Prost was a steward with the name Senna racing this past weekend…

  8. 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. ;)

  9. 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.

    1. 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.

      1. Jack’s a bloody legend.

  10. Hi is there any pictures of these drivers with the old F1 in Bahrain ?

    thx

    1. There are a lot of great pictures, for example here http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/gallery.php?catID=4456&startat=190

      1. Great link. Thanks!

        1. thanks a lot

          really nice to see it

      2. Praveen Titus
        22nd March 2010, 8:52

        Great pics, thanks for the link

  11. I failed to recognize
    1.Alan jones,
    2.Jody Scheckter,
    3.Mario Andreti,
    4.John Surtees and
    5.Emerson Fittipaldi

  12. And I forgett to mension above that It still looks so awkward to see Nigel Mensell without mustaches.

    1. Yea, he’s got a baby face

  13. 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.

  14. Really wish Piquet and Kimi had shown up.

  15. So Michelle replaced Kimi and Jean Todt replaces Piquet. That leaves Bernie Ecclestone as the one out of place 8)

  16. cool piece keith great to see tem all together. makes you realise what a large deal the WDC is when you see all the great names together.

  17. I dont get whyToads bit of fluff is in the picture!!!!She cant even drive!!! #:)

  18. Raikkonen and Piquet are a couple of plums!!! As ex-chumps they should have been in the picture, but then again maybe not! Piquet was a superfast taxi-driver in Brazil and Raikkonen only managed to win his 1 and only because moRon Dennis forgot how to run McClunkers and let his drivers trip each otherup allthe way tothe end!!! #:)

    1. yea, and realiability arguably never cost him a WDC at mclaren. Kimi has always hated pr, why did anyone expect him to show up? and why do people feel like he had to? He could of been busy with the WRC

      1. Brabham made it that’s why.

  19. The picture would have been perfect if Kimi and Piquet were there and Todt’s girlfriend not in the picture.

    Honestly what was she thinking???

    1. Probably not much :P

      1. Uncalled for. I don’t know how Todt scored her, but she’s an intelligent actress with more than her fair share of grace and poise.

    2. It would be easy enough to stick their faces over Michelle’s and Todt’s (or Bernie’s). Piquet can be the girl.

  20. It’s good to see that Damon can still fit in his championship race suit, unlike some I could mention *cough*Mansell*cough*

    1. It’s incredible that Damon Hill is already 50 years old!

  21. Rum n Coke, you seem to forget the same ron dennis and good old norbert owe him 2 championships, (2003 and 2005). Kimi did some amazing things in f1, even his entry was unheard of at that time.

    Anyway nice to see Prost in good nick. He’s well underated in my books.

    1. Numbers do back him up somehow :)

  22. why is bernie there? hes not a world champion…i was gunna put this on my desktop background but bernie and a few other no drivers are there

    1. yes, sure maybe other *cough* vip’s could be in one photo, but could they not do one where if you ain’t a WDC, you insert verb here out of there?

  23. Wouldn’t it be great if they could all race together again? Of course we’d have to double the size of the field but it would be great fun!

    1. And rejuvenate some of them… Minor technicallity though.

      1. Have to say though. Some of the drivers who have been out for a while look in pretty good shape.

  24. The way Todt was dragging Yeoh around on the pre-grid it appears he’s afraid of letting her out of his sight. Would have been a much better photo without the three non-wc’s.

  25. That’s true. But anyway – great idea and great pictures. That one with present drivers too: relay of generations…

  26. Fred Schechter
    17th March 2010, 15:39

    Too bad Kimi is gone, and if Jaques had a ride this year (as was talked about) there would be 6 world champions racing at once!!!

    Oh well.

    I barely recognized Keke.

    If Brabham is in “ill health” it sure doesn’t show.

    My favorite bit, the chaps that just look delighted to be there. Bummer they couldn’t all be put in a current car, (I want to see lap times for Stewart, Andretti, Prost, and Mansell!!

    Great to see Jody too (no I’m not related)

  27. The best ever is not here! Senna forever!!!

    1. Statistically Schumacher beats him by a mile, and if you mean for cheating, well, many say Schumacher beats him there as well….

      Of course we all know that any argument about that is pointless, as judging by the photo Todt seems to have done better than either…..

      Go Todt! #1

  28. K. Chandra Shekhar
    17th March 2010, 15:54

    Where is Schumi’s right hand?

    1. Wherever it is, Jean Todt looks like he’s enjoying it!

  29. Hope they got them to sign some good memorabilia, what would that be worth!

  30. Could some one photo shop this…and get the three w__k__s OUT…an put in Kimi n NP

  31. It’s a good thing Schumi hadn’t won more, or he’d need another line in the chart!

  32. Keith,

    Did you get any pictures of the cars on their laps?!

    I saw Damon Hill taking the Williams out and my desktop has been crying for it ever since!

    Cheers!

  33. I always like seeing Mario Andretti. I still can’t believe that he is the last American to win a race. It has been far too long.

  34. theRoswellite
    17th March 2010, 19:11

    Wonderful to see all these guys together.

    Certainly there should have been an available photo with ONLY F1 champions…..and no one else.

    Also, did they try to find the worst possible backdrop for the photo? Another shot I saw of this group was taken at high noon and everyone in baseball caps…which of course cast a nice dark shadow across everyone’s face.

    A layout of this importance should have been planned with considerably more attention to detail. It would have cost very little to prepare an acceptable site.

    And in that regard the photo is a good metaphor for the new track….nice idea, terrible execution.

  35. José Baudaier
    17th March 2010, 19:22

    Crap, Prost must sleep in formol. He still looks the same he was 20 years ago. Mika Hakkinen looks much older.

  36. I can’t believe Bernie is in these photos. I can’t stand him. I wonder what people will say when he passes on. Perhaps something like: Bernie was……eh…………..um………….hmmm……….a man who………uh………..he made a ****load of money.

    Can anyone come up with some kind adjectives to describe him that are not related to him making a ****load of money?

    1. Very white?

      ermm….. Sophisticated, Charming not to mention handsome. Oh wait! that’s me… how silly.

  37. THe photos are really great. Was any video/promotion made of this? Or is a Bernie personal for his collection??

  38. theRoswellite
    17th March 2010, 22:16

    ..for Brad D:

    I can think of a number, a large number, of adjectives.

    But they wouldn’t be pleasant to read.

    His legacy is huge.

    I wish he had been more active in the establishment of races that were self-sustainable and profitable for the organizers, not just for Bernie and his associates.

    His basic legacy of track design is, I believe, flawed. Character is a difficult thing to describe or to capture, but I think I know it “when I don’t see it”, and his made for TV tracks, for the most part, don’t have it.

    The Max and Bernie Era………..what might have been.

  39. Mouse_Nightshirt
    18th March 2010, 0:51

    That “60” logo reminds me very much of the style of the series badges used in the “Wipeout” series of games.

    Now F1 cars with cannons, missile launchers and mine layers – that would very much spice up the show!

  40. When was Michelle Yeoh champion?

  41. The caption for this picture should be:
    36 world championships, 391 race wins, an old pig and a skank!

  42. Nice to see how much Kimi raises talking about him even he`s not there. That makes him a PERSON!

  43. Some things just bring a smile to your face and this is one of them. Great scoop for Bahrain…

  44. list of all F1 World Champions (+age at time of picture)

    FARINA Giuseppe d.1966 age 59 _1st title at: 43 years 10 months 04 days
    FANGIO Juan Manuel d.1995 age 84 _1st title at: 40 years 04 months 04 days
    ASCARI Alberto d.1955 age 36 _1st title at: 34 years 00 months 21 days
    HAWTHORN Mike d.1959 age 29 _1st title at: 29 years 06 months 09 days
    BRABHAM Jack 83 y.o. _1st title at: 33 years 08 months 10 days
    HILL Phil d.2008 age 81 _1st title at: 34 years 04 months 21 days
    HILL Graham d.1975 age 46 _1st title at: 33 years 10 months 14 days
    CLARK Jim d.1968 age 32 _1st title at: 27 years 06 months 04 days
    SURTEES John 76 y.o. _1st title at: 30 years 08 months 14 days
    HULME Denny d.1992 age 56 _1st title at: 31 years 04 months 04 days
    STEWART Jackie 70 y.o. _1st title at: 30 years 02 months 27 days
    RINDT Jochen d.1970 age 28 _1st title at: 28 years 05 months 16 days
    FITTIPALDI Emerson 63 y.o. _1st title at: 25 years 08 months 29 days
    LAUDA Niki 61 y.o. _1st title at: 26 years 06 months 16 days
    HUNT James d.1993 age 45 _1st title at: 29 years 01 months 25 days
    ANDRETTI Mario 70 y.o. _1st title at: 38 years 06 months 13 days
    SCHECKTER Jody 60 y.o. _1st title at: 29 years 07 months 11 days
    JONES Alan 63 y.o. _1st title at: 33 years 10 months 26 days
    PIQUET Nelson 57 y.o. _1st title at: 29 years 02 months 00 days
    ROSBERG Keke 61 y.o. _1st title at: 33 years 09 months 19 days
    PROST Alain 55 y.o. _1st title at: 30 years 07 months 12 days
    SENNA Ayrton d.1994 age 34 _1st title at: 28 years 07 months 09 days
    MANSELL Nigel 56 y.o. _1st title at: 39 years 00 months 08 days
    SCHUMACHER Michael 41 y.o. _1st title at: 25 years 10 months 10 days
    HILL Damon 49 y.o. _1st title at: 36 years 00 months 26 days
    VILLENEUVE Jacques 38 y.o. _1st title at: 26 years 06 months 17 days
    HAKKINEN Mika 41 y.o. _1st title at: 30 years 01 months 04 days
    ALONSO Fernando 28 y.o. _1st title at: 24 years 01 months 27 days
    RAIKKONEN Kimi 30 y.o. _1st title at: 28 years 00 months 04 days
    HAMILTON Lewis 25 y.o. _1st title at: 23 years 09 months 26 days
    BUTTON Jenson 30 y.o. _1st title at: 29 years 08 months 29 days

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