News On F1 Forums - Talk Formula 1

I am creating this thread to show that generally, a world champion would quickly find their way to a competitive drive and win the title. Others think otherwise. Of course there are exceptions like Hakkinen, Andretti and Mansell but nearly half (46%) become world champions within 4 seasons of their debut.

Here is a list of all the World Champions along with in which season of their career they won the title and the number of races they competed in before winning their first title.

1 Giuseppe Farina 6 - 1st Season - 6 races
2 Juan-Manuel Fangio - 2nd Season - 15 races
3 Jacques Villeneuve - 2nd Season - 33 races
4 Alberto Ascari - 3rd Season - 18 races
5 Jack Brabham - 3rd Season - 22 races (he did race once in 55 and 56 so I didn't count those as seasons!!)
6 Emerson Fittipaldi - 3rd Season - 25 races
7 Denny Hulme - 3rd Season - 26 races
8 Nelson Piquet - 3rd Season - 49 races (he raced for 5 races in 78 so I didn't count that as a season)
9 Phil Hill - 4th Season - 26 races
10 Jim Clark - 4th Season - 30 races
11 Michael Schumacher - 4th Season - 52 races
12 James Hunt - 4th Season - 52 races
13 Fernando Alonso 4th Season - 67 races
14 Graham Hill - 5th Season - 40 races
15 John Surtees - 5th Season - 41 races
16 Jackie Stewart - 5th Season - 47 races
17 Keke Rosberg - 5th Season - 51 races
18 Niki Lauda - 5th Season - 55 races
19 Damon Hill - 5th Season - 67 races
20 Ayrton Senna - 5th Season - 77 races
21 Alan Jones - 6th Season - 80 races
22 Alain Prost - 6th Season - 87 races
23 Mike Hawthorn - 7th Season - 47 races
24 Jochen Rindt - 7th Season - 60 races
25 Jody Schedkter - 8th Season - 97 races
26 Mika Hakkinen - 8th Season - 112 races
27 Mario Andretti - 10th Season - 79 races
28 Nigel Mansell - 13th Season - 176 races

So lets here's some stats

46% of World Champions win their title within 4 seasons of their debut
71% of World Champions win their title within 5 seasons of their debut

Only 29% of World Champions took more than 5 seasons to win the title and only 14% of World Champions take more than 7 seasons to win the title

FYI: this is Webber's 5th season, Button's 7th, Montoya's 6th and Raikkonen's 6th, their chances (according to historical stats) are getting smaller !!

JayVee wrote:FYI: this is Webber's 5th season, Button's 7th, Montoya's 6th and Raikkonen's 6th, their chances (according to historical stats) are getting smaller !!

JayVee

This thread looks like something I would've posted. Despite that, it is a good post/point. Lots of factor key into a driver winning the WC, but it seems the opportunistic ones that started off in decent, yet underdeveloped cars get there quicker. [eg: MS, Alonso, Rosberg, Jones, Lauda, Senna, Stewart] Sometimes coming into good teams, guys get sidetracked.

JayVee,

This is something which i couldnt have posted

Seriously, its an amazing data you have collected.Well done

I put it to you that their chances are getting shorter but their their talent is undiminished.

Its a great statistic with JAYVEE notoriously counting MICHAELS 1st season with only a few races but not NELSONS...

Altogether the car is a huge issue here so I would look at it this way:

How many seasons in a competitive car? How much time after the 1st GP victory? etc.etc.

MICHAEL, AYRTON, ALAIN, MIKA and NIGEL(in that order) were the best modern day drivers(from approx.1980) IMHO but dont come out on top in such a statistic which shows me it doesnt tell you much.

FERNANDO, KIMI and JENSON come closest of the young bunch but they also needed the right material to finish on the podium.

F1greyhound wrote:
MICHAEL, AYRTON, ALAIN, MIKA and NIGEL(in that order) were the best modern day drivers(from approx.1980) IMHO but dont come out on top in such a statistic which shows me it doesnt tell you much.

might differ in order though,cos i can never decide the order between these gr8s

F1greyhound wrote: FERNANDO, KIMI and JENSON come closest of the young bunch but they also needed the right material to finish on the podium.

Whatever the equipment,these bunch of new generation drivers are the future,N they bloody good too.
Need to add Montoya & Webber too(Yes i know both can have off days,but so can Button)

Kapel wrote:(Yes i know both can have off days,but so can Button)

Button off days...when...when...WHEN?

F1greyhound wrote:MICHAEL, AYRTON, ALAIN, MIKA and NIGEL(in that order) were the best modern day drivers(from approx.1980) IMHO but dont come out on top in such a statistic which shows me it doesnt tell you much.

After mentioning Piquet, who is a 3 time WC as opposed to Mansell who only won it once, how could you leave his name off your list.

Despite the winning ways of Prost, Nelson Piquet was considered the best driver on planet Earth in the 80s until Ayrton Senna da Silva showed up.

I don't mean to criticize, but this seems like a stat book statement. I know that this is your opinion, F1Greyhound, but I ask why you do not mention:

Alan Jones [WC 1980]

Gilles Villeneuve [on clip to win 1982 WC until he died]

Carlos Reutemann [WC runner up in 1981; considered the best in the world until he retired in 1982]

John Watson [WC runner up in 1982; perhaps the best passer in the business!]

Rene Arnoux [1983 WC contender]

Didier Pironi [on clip to win the 1982 WC after Villeneuve died until he crashed in Germany and ended his career]

Keke Rosberg [WC 1982; the most competitive championship ever]

Ricardo Patrese [WC runner up in 1992; 3rd in WC 1991]

Patrick Tambay [1983 WC contender]

Michele Alboreto [WC runner up in 1985]

Elio deAngelis [1984 WC contender]

Niki Lauda [WC 1984]

Then there was:

Gerhard Berger, Stefan Johansson, and Thierry Boutsen, constant competition and podium fixtures. I will make a special mention of Stefan Bellof, who IMHO was the 2nd coming of Gilles Villeneuve.

The inclusion of Nigel Mansell on your list has prompted me to make this post. Although I think he is one of the great driver of the last 2 decades, he is not generally considered to be better than ANY of the drivers on this list even though he won the WC in 1992 [his best year IMHO was 1989].

The 80s were much more competitive than the 90s or the 00s.

Chris

For those of you who never witnessed the magic of G. Villeneuve, Bellof, Arnoux, Pironi, Jones, Watson or Piquet, you really missed some wicked good driving!

Snowy wrote:

Kapel wrote:(Yes i know both can have off days,but so can Button)

Button off days...when...when...WHEN?

Today? Monaco?

RE30B#16 wrote:

F1greyhound wrote:MICHAEL, AYRTON, ALAIN, MIKA and NIGEL(in that order) were the best modern day drivers(from approx.1980) IMHO but dont come out on top in such a statistic which shows me it doesnt tell you much.

After mentioning Piquet, who is a 3 time WC as opposed to Mansell who only won it once, how could you leave his name off your list.

Despite the winning ways of Prost, Nelson Piquet was considered the best driver on planet Earth in the 80s until Ayrton Senna da Silva showed up.

I don't mean to criticize, but this seems like a stat book statement. I know that this is your opinion, F1Greyhound, but I ask why you do not mention:

Alan Jones [WC 1980]

Gilles Villeneuve [on clip to win 1982 WC until he died]

Carlos Reutemann [WC runner up in 1981; considered the best in the world until he retired in 1982]

John Watson [WC runner up in 1982; perhaps the best passer in the business!]

Rene Arnoux [1983 WC contender]

Didier Pironi [on clip to win the 1982 WC after Villeneuve died until he crashed in Germany and ended his career]

Keke Rosberg [WC 1982; the most competitive championship ever]

Ricardo Patrese [WC runner up in 1992; 3rd in WC 1991]

Patrick Tambay [1983 WC contender]

Michele Alboreto [WC runner up in 1985]

Elio deAngelis [1984 WC contender]

Niki Lauda [WC 1984]

Then there was:

Gerhard Berger, Stefan Johansson, and Thierry Boutsen, constant competition and podium fixtures. I will make a special mention of Stefan Bellof, who IMHO was the 2nd coming of Gilles Villeneuve.

The inclusion of Nigel Mansell on your list has prompted me to make this post. Although I think he is one of the great driver of the last 2 decades, he is not generally considered to be better than ANY of the drivers on this list even though he won the WC in 1992 [his best year IMHO was 1989].

The 80s were much more competitive than the 90s or the 00s.

Chris

For those of you who never witnessed the magic of G. Villeneuve, Bellof, Arnoux, Pironi, Jones, Watson or Piquet, you really missed some wicked good driving!

I concur

RE30B#16 wrote:

F1greyhound wrote:MICHAEL, AYRTON, ALAIN, MIKA and NIGEL(in that order) were the best modern day drivers(from approx.1980) IMHO but dont come out on top in such a statistic which shows me it doesnt tell you much.

After mentioning Piquet, who is a 3 time WC as opposed to Mansell who only won it once, how could you leave his name off your list.

Despite the winning ways of Prost, Nelson Piquet was considered the best driver on planet Earth in the 80s until Ayrton Senna da Silva showed up.

...

The inclusion of Nigel Mansell on your list has prompted me to make this post.

Actually, it was the exclusion of Piquet. Mansell deserves to be on this list.

Chris

RE30B#16 wrote:

RE30B#16 wrote:

F1greyhound wrote:MICHAEL, AYRTON, ALAIN, MIKA and NIGEL(in that order) were the best modern day drivers(from approx.1980) IMHO but dont come out on top in such a statistic which shows me it doesnt tell you much.

After mentioning Piquet, who is a 3 time WC as opposed to Mansell who only won it once, how could you leave his name off your list.

Despite the winning ways of Prost, Nelson Piquet was considered the best driver on planet Earth in the 80s until Ayrton Senna da Silva showed up.

...

The inclusion of Nigel Mansell on your list has prompted me to make this post.

Damn, that is twice today I have felt compelled to agree with someone else. BUGGA

Actually, it was the exclusion of Piquet. Mansell deserves to be on this list.

Chris

NIGEL was a(maybe THE) absolute SPEED ANIMAL. NELSON was very close but he couldnt match NIGELs speed at WILLIAMS(being more clever and efficient..) and was looking pretty hopeless against the young MICHAEL.

But I agree he was one of the greatest too. Actually hard enough to pick the top5 but I posted my personal view....


CHEERS!

F1greyhound wrote:Its a great statistic with JAYVEE notoriously counting MICHAELS 1st season with only a few races but not NELSONS....

I do apologise F1greyhound, I looked back at the stats and found that Michael only drove 6 races in his first season, for some reason I had 12 . So Ed can please edit that post to indicate that as I cannot edit it.

In anycase, I included the number of races it took for a driver to become world champion too