As Fernando Alonso never fails to remind us, winning the drivers’ championship is all about having the best car.
But not always: Since the constructors’ trophy was first awarded in 1958, eight years after the championship began, 10 drivers have won the title on occasions where their team did not take the crown.
It’s set to happen again this year. With six rounds remaining, Max Verstappen is on course to win the drivers’ title, but his Red Bull team lost the constructors’ championship lead to McLaren two races ago and have already fallen 41 points behind them.
Is winning the championship in a car which failed to take the teams’ title the ultimate achievement for an F1 driver? Here’s which drivers pulled off the feat in the past, and what it tells us about their performances.
Mike Hawthorn
1958 drivers’ champion with Ferrari while Vanwall won constructors’ championshipF1’s first constructors’ title went to a team whose driver did not win the world championship. Indeed, no driver ever took the title at the wheel of a Vanwall, as Tony Vandervell wound down his team following the death of Stuart Lewis-Evans, who suffered terrible burns in a crash at the season finale.
The same race saw Ferrari’s Mike Hawthorn clinch the championship by finishing second, despite having only won one race all year, at Reims in France. Stirling Moss took his fourth victory of the season that day (the first of which he’d taken in a Cooper as Vanwall missed the season-opening Argentinian Grand Prix).
Famously, Moss might have been champion had he not sportingly intervened on Hawthorn’s behalf when he was initially disqualified from second place in the Portuguese Grand Prix, urging stewards to reinstate him. Hawthorn’s steady points accumulation eventually did for Moss, whose team mate Tony Brooks also won three times. The speed of the Vanwalls ensured they claimed the title in the days when only one of a team’s cars scored constructors’ points.
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Jackie Stewart
While Jackie Stewart clinched his third and final title within five years, 1972 title winner Emerson Fittipaldi grew frustrated by the threat from team mate Ronnie Peterson. The Lotus drivers pinched enough points off each other over the season that Stewart clinched the title with two rounds to spare.
A tragic finale ended Tyrrell’s hopes of repeating its sole constructors’ championship win. Francois Cevert was killed in a crash during practice, and Stewart withdrew from what was going to be his final race. The team had arrived at the finale just one point behind Lotus, and Stewart’s decision not to race, with team boss Ken Tyrrell’s blessing, ensured the title went to their rivals.
James Hunt
James Hunt’s chances of winning the world championship appeared to be over when he was disqualified following his victory in the British Grand Prix. He had already been stripped of another win earlier in the year in Spain, though that was subsequently reinstated.
Niki Lauda was handed victory at Brands Hatch which meant he headed to the Nurburgring with twice as many points as his nearest rival, Jody Scheckter. But a terrible crash early in the race almost cost Lauda his life and forced him out of the cockpit.
While Lauda incredibly hurried back after missing just two further races, Hunt emerged as his closest rival, winning in Canada and the USA to set up a final-round decider in Japan. There, in dire conditions, Lauda opted to withdraw, while Hunt clinched the title by one point with third place. Ferrari had already taken the teams’ title.
Nelson Piquet
1983 drivers’ champion with Brabham while Ferrari won constructors’ championship
Nelson Piquet is the only driver to win the drivers’ title in years when his team did not win the constructors’ championship on more than one occasion.
His 1981 win was a classic example of a driver in a ‘one-car team’ beating two top-drawer rivals who took points off each other with an arguably superior car. While reigning champion Alan Jones and Carlos Reutemann fell out spectacularly at Williams, Piquet scored 50 of Brabham’s 61 points using their effective BT49C. He ended the season as champion, both Williams drivers within four points of him.
Piquet’s team mate that year, Hector Rebaque, never placed higher than fourth and ended the season 10th in the championship. Riccardo Patrese replaced him the following year and was still there when Piquet took his second title in 1983, this time while Ferrari won the championship. Though he was a far more capable team mate, he suffered dire unreliability, only picking up a single win at the finale as Piquet clinched the title.
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Keke Rosberg
Ferrari won the constructors’ championship in back-to-back seasons from 1982-83 while its drivers were unable to clinch the crown. Rene Arnoux and Patrick Tambay were unable to keep Piquet from the silverware in 1983, but the preceding season the team was blighted by tragedy.
First Gilles Villeneuve was killed in a crash during qualifying at Zolder. The late driver’s team mate Didier Pironi took the championship lead, but was seriously injured in another crash at Hockenheim.
That opened the door for Keke Rosberg. His first and only win of the year, at Dijon, propelled him into the championship lead, though when the season ended he was only five points ahead of the absent Pironi.
Alain Prost
Piquet moved to Williams in 1986 but despite winning on his debut was unimpressed by the team’s refusal to establish him as their clear ‘number one’. Team mate Nigel Mansell took the next four wins for the team and claimed the lead of the championship.
But the pair couldn’t shake Alain Prost in the McLaren, who by the latter stages of the season didn’t have to worry about his retiring team mate Rosberg. At the finale, Mansell suffered a tyre explosion, Piquet pitted as a precaution and Prost, who had been forced to make an extra pit stop earlier in the race, astonishingly bagged the title.
Michael Schumacher
The tragic 1994 season remains one of Formula 1’s great ‘what-ifs’: How would the title fight between Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna played out had the Brazilian star not died in a crash at the third round? Schumacher pipped Senna’s team mate Hill to the title by a single point following a series of controversies, disqualifications and a contentious final-round collision.
Despite being thrown into disarray by Senna’s death, and having to re-engineer an ill-handling car, Williams clinched the teams’ title thanks to points gathered by Hill, David Coulthard and the returning Mansell, who won the finale in Adelaide. Schumacher’s original choice of team mate, JJ Lehto, was injured in pre-season testing, and was replaced by Jos Verstappen and Johnny Herbert at different stages.
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Mika Hakkinen
Five years later, another ‘what-if’ scenario: Mika Hakkinen arrived at Silverstone eight points ahead of Schumacher, who then broke his right leg in a crash and missed much of the rest of the season.
Hakkinen then proceeded to make hard work of beating Schumacher’s team mate Eddie Irvine, who was gifted wins first by Mika Salo in Germany and then Schumacher when he returned in Malaysia. Finally, Hakkinen prevailed with victory in Japan.
McLaren lost the constructors’ title to Ferrari partly by squandering points and partly due to the FIA’s controversial decision to reinstate the disqualified F399s after Irvine and Schumacher’s one-two in the penultimate race at Sepang. The team initially accepted its bargeboards did not conform to the technical regulations, but many predicted the FIA would find a way to deem them legal and keep the championship fight alive. Sure enough, the Court of Appeal ruled the part had not been measured correctly, resulting in a 22-point swing which proved decisive. Ferrari won their first championship in 16 years by four points.
Lewis Hamilton
McLaren missed out on another championship in a year its driver was crowned nine years later, when Lewis Hamilton clinched his first title in dramatic style. The final score line reflected the situation neatly: Hamilton pipped Felipe Massa to the title by a single point, while the Ferrari driver’s team mate Kimi Raikkonen came third. Heikki Kovalainen, who joined McLaren that year, was only seventh.
However Kovalainen wasn’t solely to blame for McLaren’s points shortfall. Hamilton missed several scoring opportunities, notably in Canada where he crashed into Raikkonen in the pits, and with a scruffy performance in France.
Max Verstappen
If Verstappen does become the second driver in F1 history to twice win the title in a year his team does not, the circumstances will hopefully be less controversial than the notorious conclusion to the 2021 championship.
An off-season tweak to F1’s floor regulations gave Mercedes more headaches than Red Bull and the two teams were closely matched on performance for much of the 2021 season. While Verstappen’s new team mate Sergio Perez helped him to the title, and produced arguably his best year-long performance for the team since joining them, it wasn’t enough to stop Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas securing Mercedes’ eighth championship in a row.
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The mark of a ‘true great’?
But on other occasions it’s fair to argue the champion’s team was a one-driver operation. This was true of Piquet with Rebaque in 1981 and Schumacher, partly by dint of having so many team mates, in 1994. Then there are outlier cases strongly influenced by unusual circumstances, such as Hunt and Rosberg.
It’s too simplistic, therefore, to say every instance of a driver winning the world championship when their team failed to proves they were a ‘true great’. But it can indicate some of F1’s most impressive title-winning performances.
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Biggsy
15th October 2024, 7:35
The only real cases here are Prost and Keke.
All others simply had pathetic teammates, or in case of Mika 99, had pathetic competition (after Schumacher’s injury).
Piquet’s teammates at Brabham were there to play the 2nd fiddle. Schumacher’s teammates at Benetton also.
Same with Lewis 2008 and Max 2021.
You wouldn’t argue that Senna is not one of the greatest, just because all of his titles came in a car that also won the WCC.
MacLeod (@macleod)
15th October 2024, 7:59
This article isn’t about one of the greatest but an MARK of great drivers in F1. That Senna isn’t part of this story isn’t Senna fault that he was in a team who didn’t do great that year. In the pre 2010 years when a team is so good the second best team(s) were often very far behind.
Because Senna isn’t part of this story he isn’t automatic one of the greatest drivers in F1 because he still is.
MacLeod (@macleod)
15th October 2024, 8:04
My comment isn’t quit right what i wanted to say.
Because in Senna time cars weren’t reliable so often the second driver had to give up his car/parts of just didn’t finished. So forget the second drivers as often they hadn’t the same car so can’t compair.
An Sionnach
15th October 2024, 12:47
Piquet is difficult to quantify. He shouldn’t be written off but it’s difficult to evaluate him beyond his technical knowledge and guile. Perhaps the biggest questions are over his longevity and driving skill level. It’s hard to know just how badly affected he was by the accident because he says all sorts of things. A lot of drivers are like this when it comes to explaining their deficiencies. He was certainly good. I think how he and Mansell approached passing Senna in the 1986 Brazilian GP highlights this. He showed Senna he meant business and made sure there was no chance of an entanglement.
An Sionnach
15th October 2024, 12:48
This shouldn’t be a reply!
Nick T.
15th October 2024, 12:57
Besides, possibly Schumacher at Benetton, this is just a list great champions who had mostly had weak teammates rather than any winning titles won despite their car. Ferrari’s car had the edge in 2008 most likely, but Kimi seemed to have lost focus and Hamilton only edged Massa due to a string of bad luck for Felipe.
Although he’s not listed, Kimi would be a particularly bad example as he had the best car in the field and required Alonso and Hamilton taking points off each other to win the WDC and the WCC was just due to the DQ. We saw Alonso nearly quadruple his points and would have gone undefeated in quali and race head-to-heads had it not been for a puncture in Spa and a mechanical issue.
This entire perspective is flawed as it gives yet more weight to the already overweighted value of WDCs in judging a driver. It should but be part of a driver is judged, but more illuminating is looking at how some of F1’s greats did in seasons where they had anything from terrible cars to cars that were good, but that were not good enough to compete for a WDC/WCC or shouldn’t have but did. For example, some of Schumacher’s most impressive seasons came in the Ferraris before the team became a winning machine.
Nick T.
15th October 2024, 13:07
I’ll add the caveat that Max winning the WDC this season would be the first clear example of a driver winning a WDC in the 1990+ era despite competing against car that was better than it for more than 50% of the season and had a very fast driver in the cockpit (Norris), which would make it his most impressive title to date.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
15th October 2024, 15:09
Yeah, it’s interesting in that if / when Max wins, it’ll have been a very different type of championship victory compared to his others.
Asanator (@asanator)
15th October 2024, 16:14
Or, it could just be yet another example of a weak team mate not earning them the WCC.
F1statsfan (@f1statsfan)
16th October 2024, 9:24
The weak team mate likely will be reason why Max will not win the WDC.
If Perez was more of a Bottas that Hamilton had, Max would have been more ahead in WDC.
A stronger team mate would have taken more points off the competition without being a real threat to Max.
Craig
16th October 2024, 15:43
Don’t forget he gained his massive championship lead while he had a car that was regularly finishing 20 or so seconds ahead of the whole field. We do very quickly like to forget how vastly superior the Red Bull has been, as well as other details in an attempt to pass Verstappen off as better then he is.
Robert (@lekkerbek)
17th October 2024, 10:20
And that is exactly the difference between Max and Lando!
When Max has a dominant car he will win
When Lando has a dominant car most times he doesn’t win
McLaren has the better car since Miami.
Max ahead of Norris after Miami 53 points
Max ahead of Norris after Singapore 52 points
Red Andy (@red-andy)
15th October 2024, 16:10
On the ‘weak teammates’ point, there is also a group of drivers who managed to carry their team to the WCC despite a significantly underperforming teammate. Both of Alonso’s championships would fit into this category, for example.
Nick T.
16th October 2024, 4:34
Good call outs. I wonder what would Renault’s points could would have looked like with Trulli who was, IMO, 10x the driver Fisichella was.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
16th October 2024, 0:43
Yes, I always thought that: several people said schumacher only won cause he had a dominant car, forgetting what he did before, he probably has 50 wins without a dominant car, compared to hamilton’s 20.
Hamilton for example has been very lucky in terms of car most of his career, so I was ofc interested to see what he could do without one since 2021.
Alonso is obviously a great example of a driver who’s always performed at a very high level but only really had the best car in 2005 (since reliability matters) and the joint-best car in 2006 (with renault being better for more races early on and ferrari having a bigger margin later on, renault could maybe be considered slightly better overall), and who dragged not so good cars into championship contention like 2010 and 2012, much like schumacher in 1997 and 1998.
GK
16th October 2024, 7:10
Well, that depends on how you define a dominant car. If you use the simple: “Both its drivers finished 1-2 in the WDC,” then Schumacher had 24 in such machinery (2002, 2004) , while Hamilton has had 53 (2014, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2020). So, the answer to your question is Schumaher: 67, Hamilton: 52.
S
15th October 2024, 8:02
Team strategy is definitely a major factor behind these sorts of results – not just the on-track strategy, but also in the design/engineering departments and especially the management/political offices too.
Neither Irvine nor Barrichello were allowed to win the championship with Schumacher in the same team, for example. And more recently Red Bull have famously made sure that only their preferred driver gets the car they want, at the direct expense of the WCC.
Asanator (@asanator)
15th October 2024, 16:17
Neither Irvine or Barichello were ever in a a position to with the WDC (1999 aside), it had nothing to do with being “allowed” to win.
José Lopes da Silva
15th October 2024, 22:24
“Neither Irvine nor Barrichello were allowed to win the championship with Schumacher in the same team, for example.”
Why?
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
15th October 2024, 8:12
You could arguably add Kimi in 2007 to this list.
He won the drivers championship (by a point) with Ferrari, but McLaren only lost the constructor’s championship as punishment for Spygate, having scored 14 more points over the season with Hamilton and Alonso.
Stephen Taylor
15th October 2024, 9:39
@Euro Brun The article is only based off official FIA results
KaIIe (@kaiie)
15th October 2024, 12:04
In 2007, McLaren was also penalised by losing their constructor’s points from the Hungarian GP (15 points), meaning with this penalty Ferrari won the WCC by one point (unless my quick calculations are wrong).
Bob
15th October 2024, 13:44
Yes and no. The result was being appealed and it looked like McLaren would win the appeal (the whole DSQ was idiotic in the first place), but then dropped it after being DSQed for the whole season. If they lost they’d lose the season by 1 point as you point out, if they won it they’d win the WCC.
MichaelN
15th October 2024, 14:03
No, you’re right. McLaren would have finished 2nd in the WCC.
someone or something
15th October 2024, 13:25
This would only serve to ram the point home that the feat is not, as the article “just asks the question”, the mark of a true great, but a mere statistical oddity, a wild mixture of unquestionably great drivers on the one hand, as well as a few of a much lesser calibre on the other.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
15th October 2024, 13:08
I guess the argument that can be made here is that the mark of a true great driver is having Checo as your teammate in an equal car.
Joke of the day :-)
Robbie1
15th October 2024, 17:39
The mark of a true great is beating the most successful driver in F1’s history in the longest season ever despite having lesser machinery and a teammate equally good/better than that of the most successful driver in F1’s history.
Truth of the day.
Oh, and basically exposing another teammate of that most successful driver in F1’s history as an average midfield driver in only your third year in single season formula is also the mark of a true great.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
16th October 2024, 0:33
That’s too complicated reasoning, even knowing you’re talking about verstappen and hamilton I don’t get who was exposed as a midfield driver.
Davethechicken
17th October 2024, 7:19
Do you mean 2021? The year Adrian Newry stated that the Red Bull was the quickest car in F1, that year?
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
15th October 2024, 14:51
I have not checked but probably could, but I have a question. Has anyone won the WDC when their team did not finish first or second in the constructors championship? It could happen this year, were Ferrari to overhaul Red Bull as well, but Max still won the WDC.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
15th October 2024, 15:11
ohhhh…… I want to know the answer to this also. I’m at work, otherwise I’d investigate. It must have happened? Surely?
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
15th October 2024, 15:19
I might investigate myself later. Unless anyone can tell us.
MichaelN
15th October 2024, 15:28
Piquet won the 1983 WDC and his team Brabham was third.
Rosberg won the 1982 WDC and his team williams was fourth.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
15th October 2024, 17:54
Thank you MichaelIN, I feel I should’ve been able to guess Rosberg, but Piquet I certainly didn’t know.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
15th October 2024, 18:04
Yes. Thank you. Quite a rare achievement then and it’s not happened for over 40 years. The Champion’s team finishing second in the WCC is much more frequent. Be interesting to see how things pan out this year.
MoogleSlam
15th October 2024, 15:17
We’re still not counting 2021.
David BR (@david-br)
15th October 2024, 15:59
Kind of yes and no. I’d say Hamilton’s McLaren was equal to the Ferraris over 2008 and Verstappen’s Red Bull equal to the Mercedes’ in 2021 (near enough to make little difference over the season). So the differentiating factor were their teammates performing at a lower level. I can’t really speak about earlier examples way before my time.
This year, actually, if Verstappen still wins, may be a stronger case. He’s already a ‘true great’, nobody serious doubts that (and I’d say obviously the same applies to Hamilton). I think he was impressive in 2021 but, yep, Hamilton did deserve the title. 2022 and 2023, cake walks. This year will be impressive in another way if he continues to eek out podiums in a car that’s been second to the McLaren. But still 6 races to go to find out.
Craig
16th October 2024, 8:25
I’ve never pretended Verstappen isn’t good, but he’s no great and this year wouldn’t change that unless you shifted the goal posts significantly.
David BR (@david-br)
16th October 2024, 18:41
In terms of driving ability and speed, adaptability and tenacity, I can’t see what he lacks compared to any ‘true greats’ anyone might list. Sure he has his weak points, maybe, in terms of his aggressive racing style. But nobody is or was perfect.
Leo B
15th October 2024, 17:31
If Red Bull fail to win the WCC this year it will be because of two factors which could have been avoided: Perez; and internal interpersonal strife.
sam
15th October 2024, 17:39
Sorry, Max is a great driver but his gift in ’21 does not belong in this list.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
16th October 2024, 0:30
His gift doesn’t compensate for the bad luck across the season, and mercedes was marginally the best car in 2021, so he does indeed belong to the list.
If anything, hunt doesn’t, he only won because of lauda’s injury, nor does rosberg, I believe 2 drivers that season died or got injured, otherwise he wouldn’t have won either, with a single win.
SteveP
16th October 2024, 13:22
I seem to recall CH saying that the RBR was the fastest, but then we all know that his comments should always be taken with somewhat more than a pinch, in fact a very large amount, of salt.
Davethechicken
17th October 2024, 7:22
Red Bull had the quickest car over 2021 according to Adrian Newry. Not a man known to boast either
Max losing 2021 despite having the quickest car until. Masi came .to the rescue.
Jonathan
17th October 2024, 18:28
Why is no one mentioning Mercedes were creating with new engineering every race in 2021
Robert (@lekkerbek)
17th October 2024, 10:14
Hamilton’s gift of a racing director turning a blind eye for 29 laps.
Hamilton’s gift of getting a race red flagged in Baku for “the interest of the sport”
Max being eliminated by Mercedes drivers twice!
Equal on points in AD with 3 less finishes than Hamilton.
He still won despite all of this.
An Sionnach
15th October 2024, 19:30
I’d count Schumacher in 1994. The Renault engine was a lot better and the Williams was clearly the better car that season. I don’t think it mattered how many team mates he had as nobody else could drive the car. This was underlined in 1996 when Berger and Alesi were nowhere in a car Brawn considered a championship winning car… but only in Schumacher’s hands.
I’d say Schumacher in 1994 is the clearest example of a driver with no businesses at all winning the championship… winning the championship. Prost and Max wrung just about all they could from their cars and won due to slip-ups from their rivals. Mansell didn’t have to chase off after Rosberg in the 1986 finale. If Mansell was Prost or Lauda he’d have understood that and won in 1986. Fortune can favour the brave, but those who know how much pushing is too much and to leave the rest of it in the lap of the gods can win, too.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
16th October 2024, 0:27
Agree, a great job to win with a car that was generally second best, and considering they mentioned weak team mates, I’m surprised they didn’t mention hamilton in 2008, since kovalainen wasn’t at the same level as hamilton and the ferrari drivers.
An Sionnach
17th October 2024, 1:01
Yes. It was hard to watch those races where Schumacher was being hunted down by a clearly better car. Prost liked the 1994 car and much preferred it to the 1993 one. It’s a strange world I woke up in when there are people saying that the Williams was rubbish and Schumacher had the better car that year.
There is no reality that Schumacher just won in 1994 because he had weak team mates. If that was true, then the entire grid was weak, including Senna. It might have been different if Prost was in the 1994 car, but as much as I think Prost may have been the greatest of all time, I consider it more of a possibility than a probability that he could live with Schumacher at that stage in their careers. I’d give him a chance of adapting, though, and I know he would accept second place and not stress it when that was the best he could do. The results would then come to him at the faster circuits. I suspect Schumacher would not have suffered so many disqualifications if he wasn’t running away with the title. It has to be one of the most significant what-ifs considering one of these has to have been the very best driver to grace F1.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
16th October 2024, 0:26
One thing I had noticed which I had no idea about, and I’m sure I’m not the only one: the 1973 description about the constructor’s championship battle going into the final race made me curious to see if, had stewart decided to race, they could’ve won the title, but it looks like lotus had too big an advantage and would’ve realistically won the title anyway as long as they didn’t retire that race.
But what surprised me is that for the constructor’s championship only the points of the highest scoring driver each race were counted, and this continued until 1978, that’s a lot of years with a system I had no idea about: the constructor’s championship as we know it, with both drivers scoring, started in 1979!
An Sionnach
17th October 2024, 1:08
Interesting, indeed. Never knew that. Other than being disappointed that Williams won the constructors’ championship in 1994 (which, on reflection, was the right result!), I haven’t paid too much attention to it. I guess some teams used to enter a million cars back in the earlier seasons. They should let that happen again. Let’s see what happens if you field three more McLarens with Max, Lewis and Alonso in them next season! It would either be great or a destruction derby!
AlexS
16th October 2024, 14:33
This is a bad article because it do not make sense, in several cases it was an adversary accident and could not drive that was the reason for the victory.
Examples Lauda and Pironi accidents.
Pinak Ghosh (@pinakghosh)
17th October 2024, 19:42
Mclaren is Marlboro colours is a stuff of dreams. Forgot what I was going to comment!