As you all know, eras aren't all that well defined in F1 history. I will probably be criticised for starting and ending eras with particular drivers when its not necessarily the case that will be the case - in this case Fangio and Clark. All I can say is I have to put an arbitrary line in somewhere, and I feel the era from 1958 to Lotus' assumption of sponsorship is the true era of the "garagiste".
From 1958, the march of the "garagiste" began. The constructors kilometers lead graph shows one hell of a lot of green:
GRAPH: Most Kilometers lead graph 1958-67
This suggests that the decade was dominated by Lotus and Ferrari, but that was not necessarily true. They only won the new Constructors Championship twice each in this time period:
GRAPH: Performance of Ferrari & Lotus in WCC 1958-67
Ferrari were dominant in 1961 and fought off the British constructors in 1964, while they won a Drivers' Title in 1958, but by and large there was a fall off of their performance from the previous era.
So, who were the drivers who made the era:
GRAPH: Driver Wins 1958-67
The Latin drivers of the Fangio-led days had gone to be replaced by Anglo-Saxons. Wolfgang Von Trips was the only non-English (native) speaker to win more than one race in this time period! The Brits themselves were obviously very successful, winning more than half the races four years in a row and the lot in 1963:
GRAPH: % of wins by Brits 1958-67
The daddy of them all was of course Jim Clark, who won about a third of his F1 races, and was not classified in another third.
GRAPH: Jim Clark's career stats (inc. 1968 South African GP)
The blue section of the graph includes other retirements which plagued him as Lotus built a notoriously fast but fragile car.
So, all in all, an era where the previous manufacturer powerhouses of Alfa, Mercedes and even Maserati were replaced by teams from the south of England - first Cooper, then BRM, but most impressively Lotus. And the Antipodean connection was successful too, with Brabham winning the title twice and the second most successful team in F1 history, McLaren, formed and ready for its initial gains in 1968.
And an era where the English-speaking world was dominant enough to win all but 8 Grands Prix, and all of the titles. The top drivers would come from further afield again soon, but the Constructors' battle between the M4 corridor and Maranello would become F1's default state.
From 1958, the march of the "garagiste" began. The constructors kilometers lead graph shows one hell of a lot of green:
GRAPH: Most Kilometers lead graph 1958-67
This suggests that the decade was dominated by Lotus and Ferrari, but that was not necessarily true. They only won the new Constructors Championship twice each in this time period:
GRAPH: Performance of Ferrari & Lotus in WCC 1958-67
Ferrari were dominant in 1961 and fought off the British constructors in 1964, while they won a Drivers' Title in 1958, but by and large there was a fall off of their performance from the previous era.
So, who were the drivers who made the era:
GRAPH: Driver Wins 1958-67
The Latin drivers of the Fangio-led days had gone to be replaced by Anglo-Saxons. Wolfgang Von Trips was the only non-English (native) speaker to win more than one race in this time period! The Brits themselves were obviously very successful, winning more than half the races four years in a row and the lot in 1963:
GRAPH: % of wins by Brits 1958-67
The daddy of them all was of course Jim Clark, who won about a third of his F1 races, and was not classified in another third.
GRAPH: Jim Clark's career stats (inc. 1968 South African GP)
The blue section of the graph includes other retirements which plagued him as Lotus built a notoriously fast but fragile car.
So, all in all, an era where the previous manufacturer powerhouses of Alfa, Mercedes and even Maserati were replaced by teams from the south of England - first Cooper, then BRM, but most impressively Lotus. And the Antipodean connection was successful too, with Brabham winning the title twice and the second most successful team in F1 history, McLaren, formed and ready for its initial gains in 1968.
And an era where the English-speaking world was dominant enough to win all but 8 Grands Prix, and all of the titles. The top drivers would come from further afield again soon, but the Constructors' battle between the M4 corridor and Maranello would become F1's default state.
