Mario Andretti is the most successful Formula One driver to drive as an American, but he did not leave his native Italy until the age of 15. He raced in IndyCars from 1964 and, from 1968, spent time commuting to Europe to make appearances in Formula One races. Between his debut with Lotus at the 1968 Italian Grand Prix and the end of the 1974 season Andretti started 21 of the 84 races, driving for four teams. His first race with Ferrari brought about his first win – the 1971 South African Grand Prix. Andretti eventually decided to sign up as a full-time driver with Parnelli in 1975, but after a little over two seasons and no real success the team withdrew from Formula One. He signed with Lotus for the remainder of the season and, by the end of the year, was beginning to achieve some good results including a win at the 1976 Japanese Grand Prix.
The car proved fast but unreliable for the following season, and Andretti's four wins took him up to third in the championship. With the problems solved for the following year he was able to win six races and the drivers' title. The decisive victory came at the 1978 Italian Grand Prix, but the race also saw the death of teammate Ronnie Peterson after a crash at the start. Andretti drove for three more seasons, but achieved only one more podium finish and was at best 12th in the championship. He retired from Formula One in 1981 but returned to Ferrari for the final two races of 1982 following an injury to Didier Pironi, some weeks after the death of Ferrari driver Gilles Villeneuve.
Out of 128 F1 race starts Andretti finished on the podium 19 times, 12 of which were on the top step. Hamilton, soft spoken but always blunt and self-critical off the track, seemed resigned to watch someone else take the crown for the first time since 2016. That year, Hamilton lost a nail-biting championship race to his teammate, Nico Rosberg—but he hasn't been seriously challenged since. And in the ensuing four years, he's tied or broken the all-time records for wins, pole positions, and championships.
If Hamilton collects the drivers championship in two races' time, it will give him sole possession of the record with eight. He's already got a good case for being the best F1 driver of all time; with each win, and each title, it gets harder to make a case for anyone else. But with Verstappen on the rise and a new set of regulations threatening Mercedes's dominance, Hamilton might not get another chance this good.
Lando Norris – for the first half of the season, Lando Norris was an absolute revelation, as he totally dominated highly-rated teammate Daniel Ricciardo, and was without doubt the most improved driver of the season. Despite a great fourth in Bahrain, the first real sign of just how strong he was this season was in Imola, where he initially qualified third before the lap time was deleted, and then recovered for a podium. He then drove brilliantly for fifth in Portugal on the medium tyres, as others on the same tyre tumbled down the order. Monaco was his next podium, where he lapped Daniel Ricciardo on his way to third. Norris' form dropped in the latter part of the season and he lost fifth to Sainz in the stronger Ferrari at the final round.
However, he was still a lot quicker than Ricciardo and had bad luck in Qatar and Abu Dhabi with punctures. If McLaren can build a good car with the new regulations, Norris will surely win his first race in 2022. Charles Leclerc – despite being beaten by his teammate Sainz in the championship, Leclerc was still the stronger Ferrari driver in 2021. He also finished comfortably best of the rest in Catalunya and Austin, when the Ferrari was strong, and briefly led in Turkey before pitting and still claiming fourth. As well as this, he took two incredible pole positions for Ferrari in Monaco and Baku, but only didn't get to start there in Monaco after crashing in qualifying. He had more bad luck than Sainz, so was unlucky to finish behind him, but with Sainz new to the team, Leclerc was still expected to have more of an advantage than he did have.
I still think he is a potential future champion if Ferrari can get the new regulations right. Max Verstappen – the way he won the championship may have been farcical and unfair, but looking at the whole season, it is clear that he was the deserving champion. Without those three incidents of bad luck, he would have comfortably won the title before Abu Dhabi, and so he claims top in my driver rankings for the first time. His best drives were probably two dominant victories in Austria, a great stint on old tyres in Austin and another dominant win after a superb first-lap pass in Mexico. Verstappen also impressed in Monaco with another win, and France where he closed down title rival Hamilton and won. He also deserves a mention for the dominant victory in Imola, where Hamilton hit the wall, for winning in front of his home crowd in Zandvoort.
He was a little too aggressive multiple times this year, causing Hamilton to back off and give way to avoid a crash, and was blamed for the incident in Monza. But Verstappen was still the best driver in 2021, annihilating his strong teammate in Sergio Perez and winning the title despite awful luck earlier in the season. Eddie Cheever had a brief spell in Formula One in 1978 before starting full-time drives in 1980 with Osella. The new team were unable to provide him with a decent car and he only finished in one of the races that year.
He moved to Tyrrell for 1981 and things improved but he still missed out on podium finishes. With Ligier in 1982 he finished in the top three at three races before another change of team beckoned. Cheever enjoyed his most successful season with Renault in 1983, finishing on the podium four times. He was still unable to taste victory and, though his career would go on to the end of 1989, he was only ever able to finish at best third in two races. Cheever started more races than any other American driver. Throughout the 132 races he was never able to achieve a win, a pole position, or a fastest lap.
However, while I believe Hamilton to be the rightful champion, the bad luck suffered by Verstappen means that overall Hamilton was lucky to even be in the hunt at the final round. The Silverstone incident also blotted his copybook, but he also deserves a mention for all the times he avoided similar incidents with Verstappen by backing off. Vettel's F1 career started in 2007 and, in his first three years, he took nine podiums and five wins, though this was nothing on what was to come. Over the next four years he became the face of F1, winning four consecutive championships and becoming the youngest world champion in the process . Mick Schumacher – it was always going to be difficult for Mick joining a Haas team not developing the car all season, but it will make him feel better about this season. It is possible that Schumacher is being flattered by his teammate, and had Grosjean or Magnussen been in the car they would have been close to Latifi more often, but this is impossible to say for sure.
Schumacher had a couple of good performances at the beginning of the season, beating Latifi in Portugal and going well in Spain. At the end of the season, he went well in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, where he inadvertently stopped Hamilton from beating his father's record of championships (just a joke!). However, there were too many crashes this season, with Mick costing the team a lot of money and he missed two qualifying sessions because of it. He may not be on the same level as Michael Schumacher, but young Schumacher proved himself to be a nice guy, and potentially an average F1 driver in the future, when he hopefully has a quicker car next season.
And in junior formulae he has always excelled in his second season after starting slowly. Phil Hill is the only American born Formula One champion. He won with Ferrari in 1961 after having had a season-long battle for top spot with teammate Wolfgang von Trips. Hill's win at the 1961 Italian Grand Prix secured the drivers' title for the American but, after passing the chequered flag and returning to the pits, he discovered that his close rival had died in an accident during the race. The collision between von Trips and Jim Clark's Lotus also killed 15 spectators – Hill's victory coincided with the worst tragedy in Formula One history.
During his Formula One career Hill started 48 races and won just three events, the joint lowest of any world champion alongside Briton Mike Hawthorn. He made a 46 years unbeaten record by winning the most World Championship of Drivers starting from 1951 and then 4 consecutive times from 1954 to 1957. With 24 wins, 29 highest pole positions, 35 podiums, 245 career points, and 23 fastest laps, he decorated his career with the greatest possible success. In a season packed with close racing, controversy, and tight championship battles, it is easy to pay attention to just the winners and losers.
But the season has so much more than just the championship battle between an all-time great and a future great driver. There were break-out performances, stunning qualifying laps, talented rookies looking to make their mark, and the return of a two-time world champion who still has unfinished business in the sport. Lewis Hamilton , the greatest Formula 1 driver of all time according to the record books, says that in the last days of his life he won't remember his victories, but rather what he did to make a difference to peoples' lives. Right now the sport that made the 36-year-old a legend is only the second of his priorities. His anti-racism campaigning and fight for diversity is as important as everything he's done on the track. And gunning for his eighth, which would put him ahead of Michael Schumacher.
In a 20-minute conversation with AS in Monaco, with only his team's PR crew in attendance, Mercedes' superlative champion expresses his human side first and foremost. He swerves round questions on the Spanish drivers, and doesn't dwell on his rivalry with Verstappen. His silence can, at times, possibly be taken as an affirmation. Fernando Alonso – after Monaco, I said that Alonso's return to F1 was akin to that of Michael Schumacher.
He was being outclassed by Ocon and just didn't look like the same driver he had been before his two years out. But from then on, he turned it around, and became the stronger Alpine driver. He made up four places on the final restart in Baku, made some great overtakes in the Silverstone sprint, was strong in both races in Austria and in France.
But the highlight of his season was undoubtably in Hungary. Having been delayed in the first lap chaos, Alonso found himself in the middle of the pack but recovered back to fourth later on as teammate Ocon led the race. Then Hamilton appeared behind him after dropping to the back, and looked set to catch Ocon and win the race. But Alonso defended magnificently against Hamilton, holding him up for several laps and preventing him from having a go at Ocon. A great team victory for Alpine, who worked together again in Brazil as Alonso gave Ocon DRS to defend from Gasly, and in Qatar as Ocon defended against Perez to give Alonso his first podium since 2014.
You would expect Alpine to make strides forward with the new regulations, and so Alonso will hopefully win a race in what is likely to be his final season in the sport. Pierre Gasly – since losing his drive at Red Bull after a torrid half-season, Gasly has become one of the best drivers on the grid. His best drives would probably be Mexico and Zandvoort, where he was best of the rest, and he also took a fine podium in Baku after a late battle with Leclerc. He was also very strong in Hungary with fifth after dropping to the back at the start, and in Monaco where he came sixth and beat Hamilton. Gasly finished ninth in the championship, but I would argue he was one of the unluckiest drivers as he lost a lot of points in Monza and Bahrain through tiny mistakes, as well as in Styria.
The Alpha Tauri was the fifth best car this season, but only finished sixth in the championship, yet this was not down to Gasly who beat both Alpines comfortably. He is in a good car for now, but I expect Alpha Tauri to drop down the pecking order next season with the new regulations, and Gasly will need to move away from the Red Bull stable to move forward in his career. If Ricciardo continues to disappoint, a place at McLaren could be a good fit. He began go-karting at aged 14, when he discovered the sport during a family holiday.
His F1 career started at McLaren in 1980 with a disappointing campaign, but it kicked into life when he signed for Renault. He took his first few wins in 1981, and finished 4th in the drivers' championship in 1982. But his career took a huge step in 1983, when he pushed Brabham's Nelson Piquet all the way and finished within two points of the title win. He made Mansell an offer he couldn't refuse, and boy was he glad he didn't. The 1992 seasons saw Mansell make the most scintillating starts to a campaign, with five straight victories in a row.
He won three of the next five races, and dominated winning the championship by a huge margin over teammate Ricardo Patrese. He set his sights on America the following year, joining the IndyCar series, and won the championship. He was truly a vintage driver who got better with time. Clark set 33 pole positions and won 25 of the 72 GP starts he made, and can claim numerous records to this day – in 1963, for example, he led 71 per cent of all laps raced that season.
As well as his versatility, Clark was revered for his incredible silkiness behind the wheel, and his extraordinary mechanical sympathy. "Jim Clark was everything I aspired to be, as a racing driver and as a man," his great friend Sir Jackie Stewart said. Yuki Tsunoda – another big disappointment of the season was Yuki Tsunoda not living up to the hype. After a strong Bahrain test, he went into the first weekend of the season and went second fastest in the first runs of Q1. Despite a poor Q2, he then finished the race in ninth, and was labelled 'the best rookie in years' by Ross Brawn. He caused four red flags in qualifying, and was generally a very long way off Gasly's pace, never reaching the top six in qualifying while his teammate made it fifteen times.
He also made clumsy errors in the races, such as hitting Stroll in Brazil. Finishing fourteenth in the championship with the fifth-best car is a damning indication of his season. However, he showed improvement with a great fourth place in Abu Dhabi, which was his best weekend and the first time he outqualified Gasly. He also took strong points finishes in Baku, USA and Hungary. He retains his seat for 2022, but will need to improve to keep it beyond that.
If Sakhir 2020 is anything to go by, he should have a lot of success. In 2021, Russell had his best season for Williams, and qualifying continued to be his strong point. In Spa, Russell put in one of the greatest qualifying laps in Formula 1 history to claim second on the grid in the wet, entirely on merit, and then took his first podium as the race never really happened. He scored again in Monza and in Russia after another incredible third on the grid, although this one was more lucky. At the end of the season, Russell went missing as he was surely more focussed on his move to Mercedes, and dropped from sixth to eighth in these rankings.
Next year, Russell can't afford to go missing, and there are question marks over his ability on the first lap. He attended the last race of his career in the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix and finished in 14th place. He won 91 races in total in his successful career which includes most of the major championships with the fastest laps and highest pole positions along with 72 Grand Prix victories. This may be an unpopular opinion but I think his drives from previous years are doing a lot of the heavy lifting here, based on his performances this year I actually had him around 7th. On ability he would still top the list, I think his drive in Turkey showed that, but it also showed how far from that level he spent most this year. The story for a lot of races were, he was leading after lap 1 then spent the race managing his car.
That's not a criticism of him, he did exactly what he needed to win and was duly awarded with a 7th title. I admit ranking him 7th is harsh but it seemed harsher ranking him ahead of other drivers who had to push themselves and the cars harder for the whole race and still deliver consistently. Esteban Ocon – after being one of the biggest disappointments of last season, Ocon stepped up in 2021 and is starting to show the promise he had done in his Force India days again. The obvious highlight of the season was his win in the Hungarian GP, where he repelled pressure from Sebastian Vettel all the way through, and Alonso made it a team victory by holding off Hamilton.
Ocon repaid the favour in Qatar with a stout defence against Sergio Perez which allowed Alonso to hold onto third. Another race in which Ocon showed real quality was Saudi Arabia, where he led the race at the second red flag, and only just lost a podium to Bottas on the line. He also impressed at the start of the season when he initially looked to be the stronger Alpine driver in Imola, Portugal, Spain and Monaco. Apparently, Ocon cost his team less in crash damage than any other driver this season, showing how he is good at keeping out of trouble and is one of the most consistent drivers on the grid. Bill Vukovich competed in five Indy 500 races when they were part of the Formula One World Championship.
In 1951 he was forced to retire after just 29 laps and could only finish 17th the following year. He came back for the 1953 event, took pole position and then won the race. He won again in 1954 and was leading in 1955 when he crashed into a back marker.
The collision pitched the car into and over a concrete wall, fracturing Vukovich's skull and killing him at the scene. Statistically Vukovich won 40% of the Formula One races in which he competed, but drivers who competed only at the Indy 500 events are often omitted from the history of the sport. Not all of the world's great sporting stars are as extrovert as they might appear – or as we might want them to be.
Jim Clark was one of the most unassuming men ever to sit in an F1 cockpit, but also arguably the most singularly gifted driver of all time. With two races left on the calendar, the championship is a virtual coin flip. Verstappen retains an eight-point lead and would win the title if the two drivers finish tied on points on account of his greater win total. That makes him a prohibitive favorite if the two drivers do take each other out again as they did in Italy and nearly did in Brazil. And while Hamilton's new engine has made him the fastest man on the grid once again, Mercedes only made the switch because of how unreliable their power units have worn out this year.
