Nations of Formula One

teabagyokel

#dejavu
Valued Member
I have endeavoured to deliver a profile of every nation who has entered a driver into a Formula One race, and have collected them all here in order of most Championship races started. I hope Clippers can use this as a reference or just to enjoy this extremely long article. All statistics courtesy of statsf1.


CZECH REPUBLIC (3 Grands Prix, Best Championship position: N/A)

When Luciano Burti's F1 career was ended in Spa, Tomas Enge was brought in for the last three races of the Formula One season. He was 12th at Monza, 14th at Indy and retired from Prost's last ever race in F1. Enge remains the Czech's only F1 driver.​

URUGUAY (5 Grands Prix, Best Championship position: N/A)

With the significant Argentine presense in Formula One in the 1950s, it is no surprise that there was an admittedly minor participation from the other side of the River Plate. Eitel Cantoni started three races in 1952 for Maserati, finishing 11th at Monza. Alberto Uria started the Argentine Grand Prix for Maserati in 1955 and 1956, although the latter entry was finished by his countryman Oscar Gonzalez in 6th place, before that position was worth any World Championship points. The Uruguayans are yet to return.​

RHODESIA (9 Grands Prix, Best Championship position: 11th - John Love 1967)

There were significant local interests in South African Grands Prix in the 1960s and 1970s, and thus it is no surprise that some drivers should go over the border from (South) Rhodesia to compete. Sam Tingle and Mike Harris made appearences in Championship events, but it was John Love who most famously competed in all 9 of Rhodesia's Championship Grands Prix. Without Ferrari and McLaren present, Love ended up at the head of the event when Denny Hulme was forced to nurse home his Brabham with a brake problem. However, he was chased down by the Cooper of Pedro Rodriguez to finish second and score Rhodesia's only Championship points.​

LIECHTENSTEIN (10 Grands Prix, Best Championship position: N/A)

Adam Opel formed a car making dynasty in Germany. His descendent Rikky von Opel simply raced cars for Ensign and for Brabham in 1973-74, representing one of Europe's microstates despite being born in New York City. His best results were 9th in his last two races in 1974 at Anderstorp and Zandvoort for Brabham, but he did fail to qualify for as many races as he started. There has, unsurprisingly, no second driver from the nation with a population of only 36,000 people.​

MALAYSIA (14 Grands Prix, Best Championship position: N/A)

With a Malaysian Grand Prix in Formula One, Malaysian sponsors at the early part of this century were ready to pump money into Formula One. With Tarso Marques being battered by Fernando Alonso in the Minardi in 2001, Paul Stoddart wanted a piece of that action and put Alex Yoong into his car. Yoong never outqualified his team-mates in his 14 Grand Prix - although there is no shame in losing to Alonso and Mark Webber, and also did not outqualify anyone from another team who did not have a problematic session. However, 3 107% dnqs was too much for Minardi, giving him a rest in favour of Anthony Davidson and then letting him go for 2003.​

SIAM (19 Grands Prix, Best Championship position - 8th - Prince Bira 1950)

Birabongse Bhanduej Bhanubandh was a prince of Siam when he came to England to be educated, as many foreign royals do, at Eton and Cambridge. He was thus privelidged enough to enter a motor racing career in the pre- and post-war era. He retired from the first ever World Championship race having qualified in a 5th place he would never again match, but was 5th amongst the chaos of Monaco, and 4th at Bremgarten. Things did not get better from there for Bira, scoring only three more poins in numerous entries, from his 4th place at Reims in 1954.​

HUNGARY (20 Grands Prix, Best Championship position - 20th - Zsolt Baumgartner 2004)

When Ralph Firman crashed heavily in the lead-up to the 2003 Hungarian GP, Eddie Jordan decided to turn to a local, Zsolt Baumgartner, for the 2 races the Irishman had to miss. He finished 11th at Monza, and clearly impressed Minardi's Paul Stoddart with his speed or, more likely, money, and was signed up with 2004. A year-long battle with team-mate Gimmi Bruni for the second-last grid slot ensued, and Baumgartner was often second best. However, when there were only 8 finishers at Indianapolis, it was Baumgartner who finished in that coveted 8th position, to earn Minardi's last point in a genuinely contested race.​

MONACO (24 Grands Prix, Best Championship position - 10th - Louis Chiron 1950)

Louis Chiron had been a star before the Second World War, and stands as the only Monacagasque man to win his famous home Grand Prix. His 4 World Championship points came amidst the chaos of the race on his country's streets in 1950. He was fully active in 1951 and 1953, without points, and his last Grand Prix came with a 6th place at home upon the Monaco GP's 1955 return to the calendar. It would be 39 years for Monaco to be represented again, when Olivier Beretta took the Larrouse seat for the start of 1994. His only finish in the first six attempts was at Monaco, his best result a 7th place at Hockenheim, before he was replaced by a succession of pay drivers as Larrouse tried in vain to keep afloat.​

CHILE (24 Grands Prix, Best Championship position - 21st - Eliseo Salazar 1981)

Eliseo Salazar is Chile's only F1 representative. He dragged an uncompetitive March on to the grid at Imola in 1981, before moving to Ensign and scoring a point at Zandvoort in his second and last finish of the year. There were plenty of non-finishes for ATS in 1982, as well, with his collision with Nelson Piquet's Brabham at Hockenheim and subsequent fist-fight being the most obvious. One of his few finishes was at Imola, where the depleted field meant that though he was 3 laps down on Pironi's victorious Ferrari and only beat his disqualified team-mate (Manfred Winkelhock) and non-classified finisher Teo Fabi home, he would claim two points to add to his tally. After more uncompetitive March's in 1983, he left F1.​

DENMARK (32 Grands Prix, Best Championship position - 17th - Jan Magnussen 1998)

Denmark's F1 odyssey started with Tom Belsø's 4 attempts in 1972 to put a youthful Frank Williams' Iso-Marlboro cars on the grid, which he succeeded twice. He finished 8th at Anderstorp in that year. Williams was battling at the front by the time Mika Hakkinen's appendicitis opened up a race for Jan Magnussen at McLaren at Aida in 1995, where he finished 10th behind his team-mate Mark Blundell. Magnussen would be given a drive by Jackie Stewart for his team in 1997, where he failed to score a point. He did come close at Monaco, finishing 7th in the wet while his team-mate Barrichello was runner-up. Ironically, it was after his only point at Montreal in 1998 that his career was ended. The only return for Denmark since was Nicola Kiesa becoming one of Paul Stoddart's back-strugglers for 5 races in 2003.​

RUSSIA (48 Grands Prix, Best Championship position - 10th - Vitaly Petrov 2011)

With a Russian GP coming up in 2014, it was only a matter of time before Russian petro-roubles propelled a driver into F1. Thus it was the crisis ridden Renault team who took the money to put Vitaly Petrov in the second car for 2010. He largely failed to score points where his team-mate Robert Kubica was awesome, but two things stood out; an excellent drive to 5th place at the Hungaroring, and the moment he'll probably be remembered for, his 6th place roadblock on Fernando Alonso at Abu Dhabi. With Kubica out injured, he had a much better season in 2011 with a podium at the opening race at Melbourne and in general matching the pace of team-mates Nick Heidfeld and Bruno Senna. But with Raikkonen and Grosjean coming into new Lotus, Petrov was dispatched to the old Lotus, Caterham, for 2012, where he'll have to be very lucky to add to his tally.​

INDIA (48 Grands Prix, Best Championship position - 18th - Narain Karthikeyan 2005)

In 2005, the dying embers of the Jordan team signed Narain Karthikeyan, F1's first Indian driver. Throughout the season, he did look second-best to his team-mate Tiago Monteiro, and this was the case on the day where points were on offer for Jordan; the controversial United States Grand Prix which had six runners, with Karthikeyan overcoming Christijan Albers for 5th. 5 years later, HRT, looking for Indian sponsorship brought Karun Chandhok in for the first half of the season. Chandhok rarely outqualified team-mate Senna, but was often the HRT driver who made the finish. He would get one last race for Caterham in Hockenheim the next year, but Karthikeyan was back for the first half of the season at HRT. He would also drive in the Indian GP, and even more surprisingly, 2012.​

VENEZUELA (49 Grands Prix, Best Championship position - 19th - Pastor Maldonado 2011)

The first Venezuelan driver in F1 was Ettore Chimeri, who raced the Maserati car which took Fangio to the 1957 World Title to retirement in the 1960 Argentinian Grand Prix. Venezuelan F1 would be put on ice until Johnny Ceccotto was brought in by Theodore for 1983, qualifying for 10 races and scoring a point in the US West Grand Prix. He then joined Toleman and had the dubious honour of being the first F1 team-mate taken apart by Ayrton Senna. He finished one race and crashed heavily at Silverstone, meaning Venezuela would have to wait another 27 years until Williams put Pastor Maldonado into its second seat. After a promising race in Monaco was ended by a collision with Lewis Hamilton, he scored his first and only point of the year at Spa. But it was at the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix that he made Venezuelan dreams come true, by winning the race, holding off the substantial challenge of Fernando Alonso.​

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND (65 Grands Prix, Best Championship position - 12th - Derek Daly 1980)

The first Irishman into the Championship was Joe Kelly who entered the British GP in 1950 and 51 in an Alta, without registering a classified finish. The meat of Irish F1 history was achieved by Derek Daly, who started off in an Ensign at Brands Hatch in 1978 after a few dnqs with Hesketh, scoring a point in Montreal later that year. He had a few dnqs with Ensign the next year, but that was ended by a move halfway through to Tyrrell. He scored two 4th places in 1980, but was back in a potential non-qualifier for March in 1981, a car that Daly took to 7th in his best finish. He started 1982 with Theodore, but moved to Williams when Carlos Reutemann flounced off. There would be three fifth places, but a crash when on to win in Monaco and the fact his team-mate won the title ended his F1 career. The Irish only returned in the form of Ralph Firman, whose season in 2003 had a single point in Barcelona as its highlight.​

PORTUGAL (73 Grands Prix, Best Championship position - 16th - Tiago Monteiro 2005)

Portugal's involvement in F1 started with Mario Araujo de Cabral starting 4 Grands Prix in 6 years from 1959-64. The dominant team of the day was Lotus, but it was when Lotus were slowly dying they gave a seat to Pedro Lamy for the last 4 races 1993. Despite not finishing once, he was retained for 1994, but only lasted 4 races. He then went on to spend two years with Minardi, scoring his only point amidst the almost total wipeout of the front of the grid in Adelaide in 1995. Jordan hired Tiago Monterio for 2005. He had an impressive season, finishing all but one of the races, winning the backmarkers' podium place at the farcical US Grand Prix and scoring a point from a full field at Spa. However, his retention at the re-badged Midland was not a success, and 2006 would be his last year in F1.​

POLAND (76 Grands Prix, Best Championship position - 4th - Robert Kubica 2008)

Poland's first F1 driver was Robert Kubica, who was given the BMW Sauber seat in 2006 just as soon as the German-Swiss team could get rid of Jacques Villeneuve. Disqualified for a weight infringement in his first Grand Prix, he scored a podium on his third at Monza. He would not stand on the raised platform in 2007, a year which included a frightening accident in Montreal, but he would finish 6th in the Championship with three fourths. Despite a retirement in Australia in 2008, Kubica started the season like a train, finishing the next 6 races in the top four, including a maiden victory in Montreal. However, ahead in the Championship BMW folded to concentrate on 2009, so Kubica only scored 3 podiums in the remainder of the year. The 2009 car bombed, but there was an excellent podium in Sao Paulo to lead Kubica to a 2010 season where he outperformed his equipment, scoring 3 podiums. Unfortuanately, an horrific hand injury suffered in a rally in early 2011 seems to have ended Kubica's career, but he may have inspired a new Polish interest in the sport for the future.​

COLOMBIA (115 Grands Prix, Best Championship position - 3rd - Juan Pablo Montoya 2002-03)

Roberto Guerrero endured two unproductive years for Ensign and Theodore respectively in 1982-83 to kick off Colombia's account. But the nations hopes would rest on the broad shoulders of Juan-Pablo Montoya in the early 2000s. In 2001, he should have won in Brazil, but was banjaxed by Jos Verstappen. There were two second places in his first two finishes (which remarkably took 9 starts) and a win at Monza to bring an impressive tally for one who didn't string two finishes together all season. Though Ralf Schumacher won Williams' race in Malaysia in 2002, Montoya showed his consistency with 7 podiums, albeit not winning from any of his 7 pole positions. He took better form into 2003, where a streak of 8 podiums including two wins brought him into striking distance of the title, before Ferrari and Bridgestone conspired to knock him out at the second-last hurdle. 2004 would be a poor year for Williams, but Montoya won in Brazil before departing to McLaren, where he was outperformed for one and a half years by Kimi Raikkonen, winning three times, until he decided that NASCAR would be his future.​

MEXICO (129 Grands Prix, Best Championship position - 6th - Pedro Rodriguez 1967-8)

Ricardo Rodriguez was Mexico's first F1 driver in 1961, starting 5 races before his untimely death at the non-Championship Mexican GP of 1962 at the age of just 20. He would be replaced in F1 by his younger brother Pedro, who entered the Americas rounds of the Championship in 1963, and the man who raced car #13 at the Mexican GP that year Moises Solana. The two would continue only entering Americas rounds until Pedro entered the 1966 French GP, and took on a full season in 1967. In his first race that year, he beat off privateer John Love to win at Kyalami with a reduced field. Solana kept entering the Mexican GP until his death in 1969, Rodriguez scored 7 podiums until his death in 1971, including his second win; this time for BRM at Spa. The next Mexican entrant would be Hector Rebaque, who scored a point in a privately entered Lotus before scoring three fourth places as Nelson Piquet's traditional uncompetitive Brabham #2. In 2011, Mexico got its 5th driver, Sérgio Perez Mendoza, whose impressive tyre conservation did not earn too many points in 2011, but who roared back to take 2 podiums in early 2012.​

SOUTH AFRICA (146 Grands Prix, Championship winner - Jody Scheckter 1979)

Tony Maggs became the first South African into Formula One in 1961, finishing 13th at Aintree on his début and also taking on the Green Hell that year. Over the next 4 years, Maggs scored three podiums and finished a best placed 7th in the Championship. The dawning of the South African Grand Prix saw a group of local drivers join Maggs, and from 1965-70 there would only be South Africans at their home Grands Prix, before Dave Charlton attempted the 1971 British Grand Prix in a Lotus. He would again make the trip to Europe for 1972, the year that saw Jody Scheckter make his début for McLaren at Watkins Glen. Scheckter competed in his first full season in 1973, replacing the great Jackie Stewart at Tyrrell. He won two races that year, and from 1975 was on occasion joined by his brother, Ian. Ian did his only full season in 1977 for March, while Jody kept winning races for Tyrell and then Wolf in 1977. After joining Ferrari, Jody took the 1979 Championship from his team-mate Gilles Villeneuve, before he retired after a poor 1980 to run his organic farm, thus ending South African participation in F1.​

NEW ZEALAND (184 Grands Prix, Championship winner - Denny Hulme 1967)

Bruce McLaren was New Zealand's first F1 driver. He made his début in Monte Carlo for the Cooper team who were leading the revolution in 1959. He would become F1's youngest winner at Sebring that year, and won his second race at Buenos Aires the next year. Cooper and McLaren tailed off, although he still won the 1962 Monaco GP. At Aintree that year, Tony Shelly became the second New Zealander into Formula One, and he was followed in 1963 by Lola's Chris Amon. In 1965, Denny Hulme made his début for Brabham, with Bruce following his old team-mate's example and setting up his own marque, McLaren, in 1966. It was these three drivers who scored a 1-3-4 at Monaco in 1967, with Hulme winning at the Nurburgring too to take the championship. McLaren won his final race at Spa in 1968 as New Zealand took its best ever 3 victories, but Amon was famously never to take that victory. McLaren died in Can-Am testing in 1970, with Hulme continuing to win races with McLaren's team until 1973. Howden Ganley also had a short F1 career, and John Nicholson started one race for Lyncar. Amon's retirement after Niki Lauda's horrific crash at the Nurburgring in 1976 meant New Zealand would only be represented again by two starts for Mike Thackwell in Montreal in 1980 and 1984.​

NETHERLANDS (243 Grands Prix, Best Championship position - 10th - Jos Verstappen 1994)

The first sign of the Dutch in F1 was at Zandvoort in 1952 as Jan Flinterman and Dries Van der Lof hit the rear end of the grid. Six years later, aristocratic enthusiast karl Godin de Beaufort of "Ecurie Maarsbergen" would enter Porsches into 26 Grands Prix over 7 years before dying at the Nurburgring in 1964. He also entered Ben Pon at Zandvoort in 1962. After Godin de Beaufort's death, the Dutch had to wait for Gijs Van Lennep's 12 race career from 1971-75 to be represented, and then another series of short intermittent careers from the likes of Roelof Wunderlink, Boy Haje and Michael Bleekemolen before Jan Lammers took up full-time residence in F1 from 1979-80, before a return to the typical Dutch experience for the next couple of years. It was this same fate that awaited Huub Rothengatter before Lammers once again resurfaced in 1992. In 1994, however, Jos Verstappen was hired as the very-much-number-2 at Benetton, scoring a couple of podiums. Despite a short 1995, Jos would have full seasons in 1996, 1997, 2000 and 2003. Christijan Albers was drafted in in 2005 at Minardi and made up an all-Dutch team with Minardi for that constructor's last 8 races. Doornbos became Red Bull's third driver, doing three races at the end of 2006. Albers went to MF1/Spyker, and was sacked after the 2007 British GP for not paying up. The Dutch still await their first really serious effort on F1.​

ARGENTINA (247 Grands Prix, Championship winner - Juan Manuel Fangio 1951, 1954-7)

Argentina started the World Championship as a force to be reckoned with. Juan Manuel Fangio won 24 races in a remarkable career where he was dubbed The Maestro and took 5 World Championships. His dominance of the sport in that era was supplimented by Jose-Frolian Gonzalez, who won the British Grand Prix twice in a career that lasted about the same length of time as Fangio's. As usual in that era, the Argentine Grand Prix brought a slew of localists, while Onofre Marimon, Clemar Bucci, Carlos Menditeguy and Roberto Mieres also ventured into Europe. Fangio's retirement would see Argentinian prescence, never mind dominance, end, save for the 5 home entrants to the 1960 Argentinian Grand Prix. That Grand Prix returned in 1972, and with it came an Argentinian entrant, Carlos Reutemann of Brabham, who even put the car on pole! A 146 Grand Prix career followed for Reutemann followed, including 12 wins and four top three Championship finishes, before he left shortly after failing to win the 1981 Championship on the last day. The short career of Ricardo Zunino and single race of Miguel Angel Guerra were the only other entries at this time. Oscar Larrauri pointlessly pottered around for Eurobrun in 1988, and Norberto Fontana raced four times for Sauber in 1997. Teenager Esteban Tuero decided F1 was not for him after a retirement-ridden campaign in 1998, and F1's last Argentine was thus Gaston Mazzacane who pottered around the back for Minardi in 2000, then was sacked after four races for Prost in 2001. Fangio to Mazzacane...​

CANADA (258 Grands Prix, Championship winner - Jacques Villeneuve 1997)

Canadian drivers started 7 races, exclusively in the Americas in the 1960s before George Eaton became the first to travel over the Atlantic to Kyalami to enter the 1970 South African Grand Prix. Eaton never scored a point in his one concerted effort in 1970, so the Canadians continued to send the odd entries to US and Canadian Grand Prix until McLaren gave a third car to Gilles Villeneuve at Silverstone in 1977, where he finished 11th. He replaced Niki Lauda at Ferrari for the last two races, taking over the full seat at Ferrari for 1978. There would be one podium in 1978 (although a jump-start at Monza denied him another) before an emotional first win - in Montreal! There would be three wins in 1979, as he played the team game to allow Jody Scheckter to win the title, while he scored 6 points in Ferrari's abysmal 1980 car. His legend was sealed by two wins in 1981 at Monaco and particularly Jarama where he took the widest Ferrari ever to victory, but he died chasing Pironi's time at Zolder, still piqued by the Frenchman's team-order betrayal at Imola. Allen Berg started some races for Osella in 1986, but it was Gilles' son Jacques who brought Canada back into F1 in 1996. He nearly won on début, winning 4 races and adding another 7 on his way to the title in 1997. But a poorish Williams in 1998 and a disasterous move to BAR in 1999 put Villeneuve firmly in the midfield until his sacking by BMW-Sauber in 2006.​

SPAIN (302 Grands Prix, Championship winner - Fernando Alonso 2005-06)

At Pedralbes in 1951, Chico Godia-Sales became the first Spaniard to enter a Grand Prix. He would again enter at the return of the Spanish GP in 1954, but it was in 1956 that he and Alfonso de Portago started entering races outside of Spain. de Portago came 2nd in a joint car (with Peter Collins) at Silverstone, but was killed at the Mille Miglia in 1957. Godia-Sales started the odd race until 1958. Antonio Creus started one race in 1960 (in Argentina), and Alex Soler-Roig started six races in the early 70s, with Emilio de Villota starting only 2 in 1977. Adrian Campos did a full, but poor, season for Minardi in 1987, only finishing one race. He also appeared for the first two races of 1988 in harness with Luis Perez-Sala, whose two years provided one point. The next Spanish representation came in 1999 when Marc Gene and Pedro de la Rosa each scored a point despite faffing around at the back of the grid, both staying on to 2000 with de la Rosa taking a point on his two visits to Germany. de la Rosa started the 2001 season for Jaguar four races late, and 2001 saw the début of Fernando Alonso driving a Minardi. Pedro continued to score the odd point, but his 0 in 2002 cost him a drive, and thus Alonso, now at Renault would be Spain's only driver of 2003 (save for Gene appearing as a sub for Ralf Schumacher at Monza). He scored his nation's first pole and second podium at Sepang, their first win at the Hungaroring, and after a somewhat successful but slightly wild 2004, he matured into the consistent points machine we all know to win the 2005 and 2006 titles, before leaving for acrimony at McLaren, and arriving back to Renault for a break from frontrunning, before becoming Ferrari's main man. In the meantime, de la Rosa returned for half of 2006 scoring Spain's second non-Alonso podium at the Hungaroring, before making comebacks in 2010 and 2012, while Jaime Alguersuari also had a run for Toro Rosso for 2009-11.​

SWEDEN (313 Grands Prix, Best Championship position - 2nd - Ronnie Peterson 1971, 1978)

Jo Bonnier was the first Swedish participant in Formula One in 1956, making his début at the season-ending Italian Grand Prix. After 4 entries in 1957, he moved to a full programme in 1958, having his day-of-days at Zandvoort in 1959 winning from pole for his only podium. By 1969, Bonnier had on his own accounted for Sweden's first 100 Grands Prix entries, but there would be only four more for him before his death at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1972. 1970, however, saw the début of Sweden's second driver - Ronnie Peterson for March, and Reine Wissel who scored a podium on début for Lotus at Watkins Glen. Peterson was to finish second on four occasions in 1971, coming a distant second to Jackie Stewart in the Championship, while Wissel's career somewhat petered out. Peterson's first victory came at Paul Ricard in 1973, and by the end of the year he would follow it up with three from the last four races. There were three wins in 1974 too. The Swedish GP was providing some localist entries at this time too! 1975 and 76 were disappointing for Peterson despite a victory at Monza in the latter year, while Gunnar Nilsson replaced him at Lotus. Nilsson took his only win at Spa in 1977 in another disappointing year for Peterson. Sadly, neither driver would survive 1978, Nilsson dying of the cancer that prevented any entries that year, Peterson after complications set in after an accident at Monza. He had won his last two Grands Prix that year, as he followed team-mate Andretti to second place in the Championship. Slim Borgudd was the next Swede in for 1981 and 1982, starting 10 races. Then Stefan Johanson made his début for Spirit in 1983, but his first great result was a 4th place for Toleman at Monza in 1984 as a substitute for Ayrton Senna. He scored his first two podiums in the North American rounds for Ferrari in 1985 and in a spell with McLaren and Ferrari he scored 11 podiums, adding another when driving for Onyx. He retired in 1991, the last Swede in F1.​

BELGIUM (373 Grands Prix, Best Championship position - 2nd - Jacky Ickx 1969-70)

Johnny Claes was the first Belgian in the World Championship, driving for Talbot Lago at the inaugral event. He would be joined by a few others on an intermittent basis over the next few years, with HWM's Paul Frere scoring Belgium's first Championship point at Spa in 1952. Frere would also sample the podium on the same circuit in 1956. By the end of the decade, Olivier Gendebien was Belgium's only representative on an intermittent basis. A few more Belgians came in for the 1960s, with Gendebien and Willy Mairesse hitting the podium in 1960. But success would be limited until Jacky Ickx made his début at Monza in 1967. The first podium since that, was admittedly earned by Lucien Bianchi at Monaco in 1968, but Ickx would score a podium at Spa and a win at Rouen that year. Two more wins came in 1969 as Ickx finished second in the Championship, and his three late wins in 1970 were not enough to chase down the points target set by the late Jochen Rindt. He would win again at Zandvoort in 1971 and at Nurburgring in 1972, but he left Ferrari in 1973 and never returned to the top step again. With Ickx on the way out by 1977, he was replaced by Patrick Neve as the Belgian representative, but Neve was never successful and Ickx was left to carry the flag through to 1979. It wasn't until 1983 that Thierry Boutsen restored Belgium to the grid. 4 years at Arrows provided a podium at the 1985 San Marino GP, but it was his move to Benetton that ignited his career. He then went on to Williams for 1989, winning in Montreal and Adelaide, and took a final win at the Hungaroring in 1991 before Williams brought back Nigel Mansell in his place and Boutsen was forced to move to Ligier. At this time there was another Belgian driver, with Eric van de Poele acting as the harbinger of bankruptcy for any team that signed him! Bertrand Gachot also had raced for Belgium for Onyx and Jordan before taking French nationality instead. But in 1994, Phillipe Adams' two races for Lotus would be the last by a Belgian driver until Jerôme d'Ambrosio's unproductive stint with Virgin in 2011.​

JAPAN (377 Grands Prix, Best Championship position - 8th - Takuma Sato 2004)

Japan's F1 story starts at the 1976 Japanese GP at a wet Fuji. Kojima's Masahiro Hasemi was awarded fastest lap by error after qualifying an impressive tenth. There would be three entrants at both of Fuji's Grands Prix in the 1970s. In 1987, with the Japanese GP returned, a patsy required for the second seat alongside Ayrton Senna and an engine contract to pay, Satoru Nakajima became Japan's first full-time F1 driver. A fourth place at Silverstone stood as his best result for all his 3 years at Lotus, until he matched it at Adelaide in 1989. Suzuka in 1988 had seen an exploratory entry for Aguri Suzuki of Lola, who went full time for 1990, remarkably scoring a podium at Suzuka. 1992 saw Nakajima dumped, but Ukyo katayama "undoubtedly the greatest Grand Prix driver to have ever lived" stepped into an empty seat at Venturi. Toshio Suzuki also appeared at the last two races at Larrouse in 1993, pre-empting the pay-driver end of season appearences of Hideki Noda and Taki Inoue in 1994, although Aguri only appeared once that year. Footwork gave a permanent contract to Inoue for 1995, so there were 3 drivers from Japan in the few races Aguri Suzuki had for Ligier. They were down to just Katayama for 1996, and his last season was with Minardi in 1997. Shinji Nakano was Prost's driver for that year, moving to Minardi for 1998, where he would often battle with the excremental stylings of Toranasuke Takagi of Tyrrell in 1998 and of Arrows in 1999. Japan would sit out two years until Jordan decided to take their engine makers' "advice" and hire Takuma Sato. He became BAR's test driver in 2003, racing (to points for the second successive year) at Suzuka when Jacques Villeneuve flounced off, and matching Suzuki's podium at the 2004 US Grand Prix, and scoring Japan's best Championship finish. His single point in 2005 was so poor, however, that Honda could not justify his inclusion in their new factory team (previously BAR) and set-up an all-Japanese team Super Aguri (run by Aguri Suzuki) to keep Sato in F1. His team-mate would be Yuji Ide until the FIA took Ide's superlicence away, and after a period of time with Frenchman Franck Montagny, he would be accompanied by pay-driver Sakon Yamamoto. Yamamoto would crop up at Spyker in late 2007 as Aguri abandoned the all-Japanese notion, and Sato scored points in Barcelona and Montreal! Honda pulled the plug on Super Aguri for 2008, but Toyota had browbeaten Williams into accepting Kazuki Nakajima (WITH FREE ENGINES!) for 2008. He did OK in 2008, then abysmally in 2009, and with Toyota pulling out, Nakajima was gone. With Timo Glock injured, Toyota gave their own second seat to another Japanese driver, Kamui Kobayashi, who impressed particularly at Abu Dhabi, then became a cult figure with Sauber from 2010 to the present. He has not been the only Japanese representation in that time, though, Sakon Yamamoto also paid HRT for a drive in 2010!​

SWITZERLAND (387 Grands Prix, Best Championship position - 2nd - Clay Regazzoni 1974)

The inaugral Championship Grand Prix had a Swiss competitor by the name of Emmanuel de Graffenreid. He scored the first Swiss point at Bremgarten in 1951, with Ferrari's Rudi Fischer scoring the first two podiums for the Swiss in Bremgarten and at the Nurburgring the following year. A usual pattern of one-off entries persisted but the Swiss motorsport ban took full effect in 1957 when Ottorino Volonterio finished 11th as a car-sharing driver at Monza. His would be the last Swiss participation for 4 years. Michael May raced twice for Lotus in 1961, before Jo Siffert made his début for the same marque at Spa in 1962. Siffert scored his first point at the French GP of 1963, and a first podium at Watkins Glen in 1964 upon moving to Brabham. He would move to a third grand old name of English motorsport for 1966, Cooper. Silvio Moser intermittently provided a second Swiss entry, and Siffert won his race at Brands Hatch in 1968, scoring a couple of podiums in 1969 for good measure. 1970 saw a new Swiss challenger, Clay Regazzoni, who won for Ferrari at Monza! Siffert won his final race at the Österreichring in 1971, before his untimely death at Brands Hatch that year. Reggazzoni kept scoring podiums, but a difficult 1973 was followed by an excellent 1974. Though there was only one win, at the Nurburgring, his consistent finishing brought him level with Emerson Fittipaldi into the last race. However, Regazzoni had a disaster at the Glen, and it was Fittipaldi who took the title. He would win at Monza the next year, while Jo Vonlanthen made up a one-off Swiss challenge for Williams at the Österreichring. Clay won at Long Beach in 1976. Loris Kessel entered three races, including at the Österreichring where Ferrari were not present in the wake of Lauda's accident. For the next few years, Regazzoni moved around lower-end teams, until Williams found themselves at the front in 1979 and Clay won the British GP. The baton as main Swiss driver then passed to Marc Surer, who scored 17 points at unpromising teams, even Brabham were headed on the road to terminal decline when Surer was there! Franco Forini took on a couple of races for Osella in 1987, Gregor Foitek took on an even worse Brabham and Onyx/Monteverdi teams in 1990 while Andrea Chiesa was a driver for Fondmetal in 1992. The last Swiss driver of the 20th Century would be the god-awful pay-driver Jean-Denis Deletraz. The Swiss flag returned in 2009 in the shape of Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi. He started and ended 2009 well, despite the bit inbetween, and developed a reputation as a solid points-getter before Red Bull decided he'd be better off in their reserve seat for 2012.​

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (454 Grands Prix inc. Indy500s, Championship winner - Phil Hill 1961, Mario Andretti 1978)

Harry Schell was the first American into Formula One in Monaco in 1950, where he was caught up in the first lap pile-up. The Indy 500's inclusion in the Championship also provided a whole raft of American drivers who never appeared elsewhere. Schell would be the only regular American until Masten Gregory debutised in 1957, with the two finishing 3rd and 4th in Pescara. Schell scored his second podium at Zandvoort in 1958, a year that saw four American entrants at Monza with Phil Hill and Carroll Shelby crossing the pond. Hill scored two podiums in 1959, a year that saw a couple of podiums two for Masten Gregory and rookie Dan Gurney, and Rodger Ward prove the limitations of the Indy cars at Sebring. Thus in 1960, amidst a boycott of the Monza banking, Phil Hill took America's first Europe-side victory for Ferrari, with another American Richie Ginther in second place. There would be another American one-two at Monza the next year as Hill won from Gurney, with Hill's second victory of the year winning him the title after the fatal accident of his team-mate Wolfgang Von Trips. Gurney took his first win for Porsche in 1962, and the consistent Ginther was second equal in the 1963 Championship. Gurney would take Jack Brabham's new team to two victories in 1964. By now, Hill's career had collapsed after a disastrous experiment with A-T-S and he would be out by 1965. Gurney and Ginther were the regular American drivers, with Bob Bondurant and Ronnie Bucknum also appearing. Gurney's Eagle-Weslake team was set up as an American constructor for 1967, its unreliability interrupted by Gurney's victory at Spa. With Gurney out of F1 by 1969, America relied on the sporadic appearances of motorsport all-rounder Mario Andretti, who had taken pole on his debut at Watkins Glen in 1968. By 1974, he had won one race for Ferrari, at Kyalami in 1971 but still only racked up 21 appearances before taking up F1 full-time with Parnelli in 1975. Peter Revson won twice in 1973 as a regular American in a year Andretti was missing. After unreliability, Andretti moved to 'proper' F1 team Lotus, where he'd made his début, for 1976. He won the wet season-ending Japanese GP, and won 4 races in the somewhat unreliable Lotus 78 in 1977. He won the Argentine GP for 1978 in the 78, then won 6 races in 6 finishes when the 79 was introduced, also winning the title when his team-mate (Ronnie Peterson) died at Monza. Lotus never produced a decent car for Andretti again and his career petered out first with Alfa Romeo, then as a short-lived stop-gap for his old team Ferrari. Various Americans had come and gone, including Brett Lunger, Mark Donohue, Danny Ongais and Bobby Rahal, but the torch would be carried through the 80s by Eddie Cheever, who made his debut for Osella in 1980, and 9 podiums later retired having driven as the only American save for Danny Sullivan's ill-fated spell at Tyrrell in 1983. 1993 saw McLaren go with genetics and hire Michael Andretti to partner Ayrton Senna. He couldn't have been expected to out-pace the Brazilian, but retiring from his first four races with collisions set the tone for a disastrous season ended when he scored a podium at Monza prior to being replaced with Mika Hakkinen. The only American in since Michael was Scott Speed, a Red Bull development driver drafted in to Toro Rosso for its launch in 2006, who spent too much time spinning, and was justifiably replaced in 2007 by Sebastian Vettel.​

FINLAND (484 Grands Prix, Championship winner - Keke Rosberg 1982, Mika Hakkinen 1998-99, Kimi Raikkonen 2007)

Leo Kinnunen was the first Finn in F1 in 1974, as well as the last to race with a open-faced helmet. He had one race, at Anderstorp for Surtees. In 1978, Keke Rosberg made his début for Theodore, but raced for three constructors that year. An unreliable Wolf scuppered 1979 entirely, but his first podium came for Fittipaldi in Buenos Aires in 1980. He'd done enough at Fittipaldi for Frank Williams to bring him in to replace the departing Alan Jones in 1982, as a probable #2 to Carlos Reutemann. However, Reutemann didn't last long at Williams that year and Rosberg was instead a #1 alongside Derek Daly. 5 podiums preceded his first win at the Swiss GP, actually at Dijon, in 1982. However, the career ending injury to Didier Pironi and the complete failure of anyone to dominate the season meant that Rosberg would win the title with a 5th place in Las Vegas, which he duly did. Already a World Champion, he won his second race at Monaco the next year. He was a street-track specialists, his 4 wins after 1982 came in Monaco, Dallas, Detroit and Adelaide, with one a year until he won for the second time in 1985 in Australia. He retired after a 1986 where he played very much the second fiddle to the great Alain Prost at McLaren. There would be no finish driver until Jyrki Jarvilehto, who went by the sobriquet JJ Lehto, qualified for seven races for Onyx/Monteverdi in 1989-90. He was joined by a compatriot for 1991, Mika Hakkinen of Lotus, while Lehto went off to Scuderia Italia. Two years at Lotus produced 13 points for Hakkinen before Ayrton Senna's brinksmanship lead to Hakkinen being hired as a test and reserve driver for McLaren in 1993, where he eventually replaced Michael Andretti, famously outqualifying Senna in his first race and finishing on the podium at Suzuka. For 1994, Lehto alternated with Jos Verstappen in the #2½ Benetton, while Lotus death rattle would see the debut of Mika Salo. Hakkinen continued to stand on the podium in the excorable McLaren-Peugot, and scored good points in 1995 until nearly dying at Adelaide. They collided at Monaco in 1996. Salo was only scoring points at Monaco, Hakkinen would be given, frankly, his first win at Jerez in 1997. Team orders (or honour as David Coulthard likes to maintain) also gifted Hakkinen the first race of 1998, but he was on fire in Adrian Newey's MP4/13, winning 8 races to beat off a challenge by Michael Schumacher for the title. His 1999 title was far less convincing. He won 5 races in a year where few others strung a run together, made two inexplicable errors in Italy, but for both Finns, Schumacher's accident at Silverstone opened the door. Salo raised himself from the scrapheap to take the German's drive, pulling over to let Eddie Irvine win at Hockenheim and also scoring a podium at Monza where Hakkinen famously made a mess of it. Four wins followed for Hakkinen in 2000, but he was finally beaten to the throne by Michael Schumacher, but 2001 was a little bit of a disaster for Hakkinen. Two wins at Silverstone and Indianapolis were not enough to prevent him heading on a sabbatical he never returned from. His McLaren seat for 2002 was taken by another Finn, Kimi Raikkonen of Sauber. He took a couple of podiums, but his most famous moment of the year was slipping on oil at Magny-Cours to lose his first win and allow Schumacher to take his fifth title. Salo retired at the end of the season, so Raikkonen was a lone Finn for 2003. He started by winning at Sepang, and he thought he'd won at Interlagos before Jordan's successful protest. A whole range of 2nd places meant he pushed Schumacher for the title, which the German edged by two points. He won his first Spa race in 2004 amidst a disappointing season, and engine troubles meant his 7 wins in 2005 were not enough to pressurise Renault's Fernando Alonso unduly. McLaren had a disappointing season in 2006, with Raikkonen heading to Ferrari for 2007. He won the first race and entered into a slump, but didn't have to endure the criticism from his own team boss that Heikki Kovalainen did. A late season surge, however, allowed him to pip the warring McLarens for the title, with that war opening the door for Heikki Kovalainen. Their respective team-mates duked it out in 2008, with two wins for Raikkonen and a first and thus far only win for Kovalainen at the Hungaroring. Raikkonen did win at Spa in 2009, but both had bad seasons which saw Raikkonen quit for World Rally Championship (to return in 2012) and Kovalainen banished to Lotus.​

AUSTRALIA (491 Grands Prix - Championship winner - Jack Brabham 1959-60, 1966, Alan Jones 1980)

Tony Gaze of HWM was Australia's first F1 driver, but Jack Brabham (after several one-off, usually British GP entries) went full-time into F1 in 1958 for Cooper, finishing a best placed 4th in Monaco. For 1959, though, Cooper would build a car that reinvented Formula One, and Brabham took it to two victories and a slew of podiums on his road to pushing the car over the line in Sebring. After starting 1960 with a retirement and a disqualification, 5 wins in a row delivered Brabham to his second title on the run. In 1962, he qualified the first Brabham entry in 25th from a field of 30 entrants for the German Grand Prix. By their second race in America they were much improved and finished 4th, and Jack took his first podium at Brabham in 1963 in Mexico. Though the teams' inaugral success was achieved by Dan Gurney, Brabham was the team leader going into 1966, when his car hit the front of the field in place of Colin Chapman's Lotus. This time, Brabham only won 4 races on the spin in the middle of the season, to take his third title and there'd be two more wins as his team-mate Denny Hulme won the crown in 1967. 1968 only saw Jack finish once, but there were podiums in 1969 and a victory at Kyalami in 1970. His last lap brain-fade at Monaco symbolised the end of Brabham's time at the top - as a driver at least! Tim Schenken, Dave Walker and Vern Schuppen represented Australia for the next couple of years before Alan Jones' debut at Montjuic Park in 1975. Jones' career started slowly, but a win at the Österreichring in 1977 gave him the confidence to explode into life at the same time as Frank Williams' embryonic team in 1979. Suddenly, Jones won four races in five, though his spurt was too late to give Jody Scheckter a run for the title. However, 5 wins in 1980 was enough to beat Nelson Piquet to the title. Jones won the first and last races of 1981 at Long Beach and Las Vegas, but Piquet nicked the title from Williams, and Jones thus retired. He did make a forgettable comeback in the mid-80s that did little to add to his legacy. David Brabham's time in F1 with his Dad's dying team in 1990 and with Simtek in 1994 was at least better than his brother Gary's non-starts with Life, so the next Australian hero to enter F1 would be Mark Webber. He started in 2002 in dream fashion, scoring a point for the now Aussie-owned Minardi team - in Australia! The rest of 2002 was typically Minardi, and this was followed by 2 frustrating years at Jaguar, before he got a big move to BMW-Williams. However, Williams were starting their decline and 2005 only saw one podium for the Australian in Monaco, before a retirement laden 2006. He moved on to Red Bull in 2007, scoring a podium at the Nurburgring and seeing his big chance of a win in Fuji ruined by Sebastian Vettel running into the back of him under Safety Car. His big moment did come in 2009 with Vettel now a team-mate, as Adrian Newey produced the best non-double diffuser car for Red Bull, which became the best car period. He won the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring, and also was overshadowed as he won at Interlagos. 2010 saw a great period for Webber as he lead from the start at Barcelona right through Monaco to lap 40 at Istanbul where Vettel ran into him. Two wins lead him to Championship contention at the last race, where his poor performance at Abu Dhabi at least enabled the other Red Bull driver to win the title - he ended up as a tactical decoy for Feranando Alonso! 2011 was forgettable, but saw the start of fellow Red Bull program driver Daniel Ricciardo's career at HRT, while Webber regained some of his 2010 form for 2012, currently leading his double enthroned team-mate in the title race.​

AUSTRIA (554 Grands Prix - Championship winner - Jochen Rindt 1970, Niki Lauda 1975, 1977, 1984)

There were no Austrians participating in F1 until Jochen Rindt took part in the Austrian GP at Zeltweg in 1964 for Brabham. He scored his first point for Cooper in 1965 at the Nurburgring and a couple of podiums for the same team in 1966, on his way to an impressive 3rd in the title order. The next two years, at Cooper and Brabham, would be full of unreliability, as would his first year at Lotus in 1969, but there would be an inaugral victory at Watkins Glen as his four finishes saw him finish first, second, third and fourth. For 1970, Rindt was on fire, winning every Grand Prix he finished for a total of 5. However, he was killed in practice at Monza, although his death did not prevent him from becoming the sport's only posthumous champion. There were new Austrians for 1971 though, a one-off appearance by Niki Lauda in Austria and four appearances from Helmut Marko (now of Red Bull). Marko's appearances didn't become more frequent in 1972, while Lauda had a full, but poor, season at March. He would score his first point for BRM at Spa in 1973. 1974 saw Lauda take the second seat at Ferrari alongside Clay Regazzoni. He won twice, at Jarama and Zandvoort, but the Swiss was the title contender. There were also short Grand Prix careers that year for Dieter Quester, and tragically Helmuth Koinigg, both for Surtees. Promising for Lauda, however, were his remarkable 9 pole positions! Another 9 pole positions in 1975 were this time converted with 5 victories ensuring he took the title comfortably from Fittipaldi. 1976 saw Lauda leading the Championship comfortably after 5 wins, but an horrific accident at the Nurburgring ended the old circuit's time on the calendar and left Lauda fighting for his life. He not only survived, but returned at Monza, but there would be no more wins and his decision not to risk the conditions in Fuji ceded the title to James Hunt. While this was entirely understandable, it made him few friends at Ferrari, where 1977 would be his last year. It was a year of consistency, where the four second places to his three wins were enough to win him the title at Watkins Glen, at which point he left Ferrari instantly, allowing Gilles Villeneuve a début. It was in the mid-seventies that Austrians Harald Ertl and Lars Binder failed to make a splash during Lauda's era. Now a Brabham driver, Lauda won twice in 1978, once at Anderstorp in the controversial fan car, and once at Monza after Andretti and Villeneuve jump started. 1979 saw so much unreliability that Lauda retired from F1 to run an airline, but he would be back in 1982 at McLaren, where he won 2 races at Long Beach and Brands Hatch - the most of anyone in that crazy season. There would be two podiums in the first 2 races of 1983, but the season was marked by unreliability and incredibly poor qualifying performance for McLaren, including a double-DNQ at Monaco. 1984 saw the débuts of two Austrians - Jo Gartner and Gerhard Berger - but also saw Lauda on top form. He won 5 races over the season and engaged in a remarkably close battle with McLaren team-mate Alain Prost to pip the Frenchman to the title by half a point. Lauda's last year was 1985, bowing out with a final win at Zandvoort as Prost finally took the title. Berger moved to Benetton for 1986, and won the Mexican Grand Prix, earning him a dream Ferrari move for 1987. Williams dominated the season, but when Nelson Piquet retired from the last two races of the season, which Nigel Mansell sat out injured, Berger was able to take both. It was McLaren dominant in 1988, but when Jean-Louis Schlesser took out Ayrton Senna at Monza, Berger completed Ferrari's day-of-days by winning, taking a one-two with Michele Alboreto, all in all an effective tribute to the recently deceased Enzo Ferrari. There would be another win in an albeit less McLaren dominated season in 1989, at Estoril, before he moved to McLaren to be backup to Senna for 1990 and 1991. His only win in that time, at Suzuka in 1991, was gifted by the Brazilian and coincided with the début of another Austrian - Karl Wendlinger. And Berger had a great season in 1992, finishing only one point behind Senna and winning two races! He moved back to Ferrari for a barren year in 1993, but won the German GP in 1994. The other Austrians that year were involved in horrible accidents, Wendlinger sent into a coma at Monaco, Roland Ratzenburger the first F1 driver death for 8 years. Wendlinger would comeback in 1995, Berger only had podiums to aim at, so he moved back to Benetton for 1996. He missed a couple of races in 1997 replaced by countryman Alex Wurz and won his and Benetton's last race at Hockenheim before retiring to be replaced by Wurz. Wurz lasted three years as Giancarlo Fisichella's #2 at Benetton, then went to reserve driver mode at McLaren. 2004 saw Christian Klien signed by Jaguar, then stay on to 2005 and 2006 with the rebranded Red Bull, while Patrick Friesacher raced for Minardi in 2005 (with Wurz as a sub for McLaren scoring a podium at Imola.) Both Klien and Wurz made comebacks - Wurz for a full season with Williams in 2007, Klien for a couple of races in 2010 with HRT.​

GERMANY (650 Grands Prix, Championship winner Michael Schumacher 1994-95, 2000-04, Sebastian Vettel 2010-11)

Germany's first Championship driver was Paul Pietch of Maserati who appeared in 3 Grands Prix. He was one of 12 home entrants in the 1952 Nurburgring race, but few attempted foreign Grands Prix until Mercedes brought Karl Kling and Hans Hermann to support Juan Manuel Fangio in 1954, with both scoring podiums. Kling continued to 1955 and was third in the Mercedes one-two-three at Aintree. 1957 saw the début of Count Wolfgang von Trips of Ferrari, who scored his first podium at Reims in 1958. He would come to the fore with the dominant Ferrari of 1961, winning at Zandvoort and Aintree, and leading the Championship until his death at Monza gifted the title to his American team-mate Phil Hill. Thus for 1962, Germany was back to casual entries - this time by Wolfgang Seidel. The lack of regular representation for Germany continued up to Rolf Stomellen's debut at Kyalami in 1970, and Stomellen was joined by Jochen Mass in 1973 and Hans-Joachim Stuck in 1974. Germany's third F1 win was achieved by Mass in tragic circumstances in Barcelona in 1975, as Stomellen vaulted a barrier killing spectators at the Montjuic Park track, and half points were awarded. Their careers all ended in the late 70s and early 80s, with Mass joined for his last year in 1982 by ATS' Manfred Winklehock, who along with Stefan Bellof had careers in the early 80s ended by fatal accidents in 1985. Christian Danner then Bernd Schneider had somewhat inglorious careers, such that at the start of 1991 Germany had no drivers. Then Bertrand Gachot was arrested for punching a taxi driver, and Michael Schumacher moved into the Jordan 191 for Spa. An excellent qualifying performance lead Schumacher straight to Benetton, and he scored 4 points in his first 3 finishes. Podiums soon followed in 1992, with a win at Spa capping off an excellent season where he finished 3rd in the Championship - in front of Ayrton Senna! He would be on the podium with every finish in 1993, but there would just be one win at Estoril. Heinz-Harald Frentzen became the second German for 1994, but Schumacher was the story. He won the first 4 Grands Prix, and won 8 Grands Prix total (from 10 finishes) and finished second in the other two! He won the title by controversially driving into challenger Damon Hill, to take it by one point despite two disqualifications and a two race ban. Without such difficulties, 1995 was sewn up far earlier, after 9 wins. He went off to take on the challenge of reviving a poor Ferrari team in 1996, a year in which he remarkably won 3 races in a very poor car. He was joined in F1 by his brother Ralf for 1997, and won 5 races before failing to knock Jacques Villeneuve out of the European Grand Prix and being excluded from the standings, allowing Imola winner Frentzen to take second in the Championship. Another 5 wins in 1998 kept the title race interesting when McLaren looked set to dominate, but his title challenge was curtailed by a broken leg in 1999 after only 2 additions to his victory total. The cudgel was somewhat taken up by Frentzen who won the French and Italian Grands Prix for Jordan, being in a potential Championship leading position before his unfortunate retirement from the Luxembourg Grand Prix. Schumacher's return for 2000 saw him win the first three, last four and two more to take Ferrari's first title since Jody Scheckter. Meanwhile, Nick Heidfeld made it 4 German entrants per race in an unsuccessful season. Both Heidfeld and Ralf joined Michael Schumacher on the podium at various points in 2001, but 9 wins were enough to take the title. There would also be Ralf's inaugral win at Imola and another two at Hockenheim and Montreal - the Canadian round their first one-two - in the reverse order to expectations! Ralf won in Sepang in 2002, while Michael took a ridiculous 11 wins on the way to winning the title as early as at Magny-Cours. 2003 was more of a struggle - "only" 6 race wins edged out the King of Second Place Kimi Raikkonen by 2 points to take the title, and there would be a final pair for Ralf. 2004 was the greatest season for any driver/car combination in F1 history, 12 wins from the first 13 for Michael and a 13th at Suzuka. However, there would be no wins in 2005 for Michael save for the Indianapolis farce. 2006 saw a fourth German in son-of-Keke, Nico Rosberg, while Schumacher won 7 races but lost the title, then retired to save team-mate Felipe Massa's seat. Thus 2007 was a barren year for Germany (their only one since 1991!), seeing two new faces, Adrian Sutil of Spyker and 19-year-old Sebastian Vettel of BMW and Toro Rosso, who became F1's youngest pointscorer at Indianapolis and messed up his chance for a first podium at Fuji. Timo Glock, who had had a short spell in 2004 with Jordan, had a full season in 2008, with he, Heidfeld and Rosberg all making the second step. But it was Vettel who underlined his promise with a dominant win at a wet Monza. For 2009, Vettel became a Championship contender, winning 4 times, but was too inconsistent to challenge Jenson Button for the title. The inconsistency reared its head again in 2010, but it was a shared inconsistency and a wonderful last 4 races made up for it, with 3 poles and 3 wins and one retirement, with the other pole coming from another German, Nico Hulkenburg, at Interlagos. He'd also won at Sepang and Valencia. He took the title after Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber made tactical mistakes in Abu Dhabi. No such problems in 2011, where 11 victories saw him romp away with the title, and he added the 2012 Bahrain GP to his tally. This came a week after Nico Rosberg became the 7th German F1 winner in Shanghai.​

BRAZIL (685 Grands Prix, Championship winner - Emerson Fittipaldi 1972, 1974, Nelson Piquet 1981, 1983, 1987, Ayrton Senna 1988, 1990-91)

The first 10 years of F1 saw Chico Landi, Gino Bianco and Fritz D'Orey compete in 11 Grands Prix for Brazil, with Landi the only points scorer. It was at Brands Hatch in 1970 that Emerson Fittipaldi made his debut for Lotus, winning their first Grand Prix entry since the death of Jochen Rindt at Watkins Glen and thus securing the Austrian's posthumous title. There would be a couple of podiums in 1971, before 5 wins made him the youngest F1 Champion in 1975. He was joined that year by two other Brazilians, his brother Wilson and Carlos Pace. Emerson won three of the first four races of 1973 too, but Jackie Stewart took over on his farewell tour from then. Emerson joined McLaren, where wins at Interlagos, Spa and Mosport were sufficient to see him edge out Clay Regazzoni for his second title. He won the first race of 1975 at Buenos Aires, before Pace won at Interlagos. Emerson's win at Silverstone would be his last, as he headed off for a family adventure at Wilson's Copersucar team. Thus Brazil's next podium came from Pace in 1977 in Buenos Aires, just before his tragic death in an aeroplane accident. Fittipaldi was on the podium at Interlagos in 1978, the year Nelson Piquet made an unspectacular debut. While the family adventure continued for Fittipaldi, Piquet took up a team leaders' role at Brabham, which saw him win his first race at Long Beach in 1980, where Fittipaldi scored his last podium in 3rd. Two more wins put Piquet into title runners-up position; his three wins in 1981 scored him a title nicked from under the noses of the squabbling Williams. There would be a win in a troubled season in 1982 at Montreal, with Chico Serra and Raul Boesel also appearing. Piquet won at home at Jacarepagua, Monza and Brands Hatch in 1983, and this time it was Alain Prost and Renault who had to curse Piquet's consistency and doggedness. 1984 saw a significant Brazilian debutant in Toleman's Ayrton Senna who could and perhaps should have beaten Prost to the early finish line in Monaco, but Piquet won a pair of North American races in the midst of a troubled season. He won again at Paul Ricard in 1985, but Senna took more wins - two - and more Championship points in his new Lotus home. For 1986, Piquet went to Williams, and was this time the victim of Williams squabbling as he and Mansell somehow lost the title to Alain Prost. Piquet overhauled Senna for a win at Jacarepagua, winning three more Grands Prix, while Senna was to win a tight race with Mansell at Jarama and at Detroit by a huge margin. In 1987, Senna won his first Monaco Grand Prix and a second win on the streets of Detroit, but Piquet's three wins with consistent finishing were enough to outweigh Mansell's 6 wins without consistency. With the title secured, Piquet departed for a sobering time at Lotus, replacing Senna who moved for a tete-a-tete with Prost at McLaren. Of the 15/16 races McLaren won in 1988, Senna won 8. Prost was more consistent, but had to drop 18 points to Senna's 4, giving the Brazilian the crown. Despite again winning more races than Prost in 1989, 6-4, Senna was unable to take the title. 1989 also saw Mauricio Gugelmin's only podium at Jacarepagua. 1990 saw 6 wins and a title for Senna, and two wins for Piquet as the season hit its end. Suzuka was Brazil's perfect day, a title for Senna and a one-two for the Benettons of Piquet and Roberto Moreno. 4 wins in a row for Senna at the start of 1991 became 5 for Brazil with Piquet's win at Montreal. There would be 3 more wins and another title for Senna, before Williams domination reduced him to just 3 in 1992, with Piquet retiring. Another vintage year for Williams meant Senna could only win a still impressive 5 races in 1993, before joining Williams for 1994, and the tragedy that ensued. That left Brazil represented by Wilson's son Christian Fittipaldi and Rubens Barrichello, who had scored a podium at Aida. Forti's Moreno and Pedro Diniz swelled the numbers for 1995, but Barrichello's companions would be pay-drivers and back-of-the-grid dwellers until Felipe Massa in 2002. A Monaco 2nd place in 1997 were Barrichello's Stewart team's only points of the season before his emotional first win at Hockenheim in 2000 marked the start of 5 years of a Ferrari #2 role that brought him 9 wins. His replacement in that Ferrari second seat was Felipe Massa, whose first season at Ferrari saw a first couple of wins at Istanbul and Interlagos. He would win 3 times more as he initially challenged Raikkonen for Ferrari hegemony in 2007, before a 2008 season that saw a third Istanbul victory to add to five more before his home Grand Prix, where despite winning he was denied the title by Lewis Hamilton overtaking Timo Glock for 5th at the last corner. There would also be a podium for Nelsinho Piquet in Germany, before his disgrace for deliberately crashing in Singapore. Massa would suffer a massive head injury at the Hungarian Grand Prix which ended his run of top-level performances, while Barrichello would ride the crest of the Brawn GP wave by winning at Valencia and Monza to take his last two Grands Prix. Barrichello ended his career F1's longest-serving driver after leaving Williams for Indy Car in 2011, leaving Massa and Ayrton's nephew Bruno Senna as the last two Brazilians in F1.​

FRANCE (733 Grands Prix - Championship winner - Alain Prost 1985-86, 1989, 1993)

As its name suggests, Grand Prix racing started out as a French persuit, and even half a century later when the Championship was inaugurated, there were a rance of Frenchmen in the field. The first Grand Prix at Silvesrstone saw Yves Giraud-Cabantous, Louis Rosier, Philippe Etencelin and Eugene Martin start - all for Talbot Lago, while Robert Manzon, Maurice Trintignant and Raymond Sommer joined Etancelin and Rosier at the second Grand Prix in Monaco. The first two French podiums were Rosier's third places at Bremgarten and Spa that year. There wouldn't be a victory for the French, however, until Trintignant stood atop the podium at Monaco in 1955, although Jean Behra managed 9 podiums without a victory in his career, 5 of which came driving for Maserati in 1956. Trintignant's other Grand Prix victory came in 1958, again on the streets of Monaco. French participation had been on the decline throughout the fifties, with Trintignant being the only Frenchman active in 1961. He retired in 1964 as the record holder for most race starts; there would be no French appearence in 1965. Guy Ligier started 5 races in 1966 with extremely limited success, but Matra's start in F1 gave some French drivers a chance, with 2nd places for Jean-Pierre Beltoise and Johnny Servoz-Gavin in 1968. Beltoise was runner-up at home in Clermont in 1969, to his team-mate Jackie Stewart. By 1971, François Cevert was Stewart's team-mate at the new Tyrrell outfit, winning at Watkins Glen. Beltoise took his only win at Monaco for BRM in 1972, with Cevert continuing to pick up podiums up to his death at Watkins Glen in 1973. In 1974, the French were back up to 5 entries in most races; Patrick Depailler replacing Cevert at Tyrrell, Beltoise, Henri Pescarolo and François Migault in BRMs and Shadow's Jean-Pierre Jarier. Jacques Laffite made his debut for Williams in 1975, scoring their first podium at the Nurburgring. He would move to Guy Ligier's new team for 1976, scoring a couple of podiums although Depallier had greater success with Tyrrell. Laffite won his first Grand Prix at Anderstorp in 1977, while Renault's new turbo engine concept started with Jean-Pierre Jabouille in the car at Silverstone. In 1978, Depallier won his first race at Monaco, while Jabouille's Renault started to show some pace, if horrendous unreliability. 1979 saw Rene Arnoux join Laffite at Ligier, with Laffite winning the first two races with Depallier second in Interlagos, and Depallier winning in Jarama, while Jabouille won to start the turbo era at Dijon. Tyrrell's Didier Pironi got onto the podium that year too! 1980 started with a remarkable 7 Frenchmen, Jarier at Tyrrell, Jabouille and Arnoux at Renault, Pironi and Laffite at Ligier, Depallier who did not survive the year at Alfa Romeo and debutant Alain Prost of McLaren. Arnoux won two consecutive races at Interlagos and Kyalami, Pironi won at Zolder, Laffite won at Hockenheim and Jabouille at the Österreichring. Prost's first win came on moving to Renault in 1981, appropriately at Dijon, with his second win at Zandvoort that year. Laffite won twice in 1981 too. 1982 saw Renault probably the fastest car, but unreliable. There would be four victories for its all French line-up of Prost and Arnoux, but it was Pironi (winner of the boycotted San Marino GP and the Dutch GP) who lead the title race up to an horrific accident at Hockenheim which ended his career and allowed Keke Rosberg to pass him for the title. The late Gilles Villeneuve's replacement at Ferrari, Patrick Tambay, also took a win at Hockenheim. 1983 saw Prost challenge for the title more sustainably, winning at Paul Ricard, Spa and the Österreichring, but getting pipped to the post by Nelson Piquet. There would also be wins for Ferrari's French duo of Tambay and Arnoux. After a fall out with Renault, rumoured to center around an extra-marital affair, Prost was off to McLaren. Prost thrived winning 7 Grand Prix, including (unusually) the wet Monaco GP despite intense pressure from Ayrton Senna. However, Niki Lauda was more consistent and beat Prost to the title by half a point. Not in the mood for another near miss in 1985, Prost won 5 Grand Prix to burn off Michele Alboreto for the title, which he retained in 1986 after only 4 wins, being more consistent than the warring Williams duo. Jacques Laffite took the record for most Grands Prix, then was forced to retire after an incident at Brands Hatch. Prost won three times in 1987, before he was joined in the dominant MP4/4 by Ayrton Senna. The Frenchman won 6 Grands Prix and finished 2nd in 7 others to score a gross 105 points, but he lost the title to Senna when the best 11 scores were counted. Similarly 1989 saw 4 wins but 6 second places, the less dominant McLaren allowing Prost to take the title after the most famous team-mate contre-temps in Suzuka. He moved to Ferrari for 1990, winning 5 races before being barged off the track by an angry Senna at Suzuka, with Senna taking the title. Ferrari's car wouldn't be so good in 1991, with Prost's best a second place before retiring at the end of the season. Thus Jean Alesi became Ferrari's lead driver into a barren period for the Prancing Horse. Williams dominated, with Prost back for 1993, winning 6 races. He is the only man to win the title in car #2 for a whole season, which he did three times! Alesi's big day would not come until 1995, when he won in Montreal, and France's last win came in 1996, at the same venue as their first, with Olivier Panis beating David Coulthard home in Monaco for the last win for Ligier. Alesi retired after 201 races in 2001, with Panis lasting until 2004. Thus for the first time in 40 years, France were unrepresented in 2005. 2006 saw Franck Montagny race as an emergency replacement for the de-licenced Yuji Ide at Super Aguri, while Sebastian Bourdais failed to make an impression on motorsport this side of the Atlantic in 2008 and the first half of 2009. The second half of 2009 saw Romain Grosjean thrust into the crisis-ridden Renault team, and French drivers did not return until Grosjean's return with the same team, now dubbed Lotus in 2012, along with Toro Rosso's Jean-Éric Vergne and Marussia's Charles Pic.​

ITALY (784 Grands Prix, Championship winners - Guiseppe Farina 1950, Alberto Ascari 1952-53)

The immediate post-war years were dominated by Italian constructors - Alfa Romeo, Ferrari and Maserati won most of the Grands Épuvres between the end of World War II and the start of the Championship. Thus Italian drivers had a ready-made pass into the Championship. The first Championship race at Silverstone ended in a one-two for the only two Italians present, Guiseppe "Nino" Farina and Luigi Fagioli, although there would be more Italians appearing when Ferrari appeared in Monaco, with Alberto Ascari in second place at the street circuit. Farina won at Bremgarten and at Monza to edge out Juan Manuel Fangio for the inaugral title. That race at Monza saw a ridiculous 4 Italians on the podium with Farina and Fagioli joined by the joint second place of Dorino Serafini and Alberto Ascari. Farina was to win again at Spa in 1951, before Fagioli took a joint win with Fangio at Reims. Ascari took his first win at Hockenheim and a second at Monza. An injury to Fangio and the withdrawal of Alfa for 1952 played neatly into Ascari's hands. His attempt to win at Indianapolis was a failure which caused him to miss the Swiss Grand Prix, but it was won by team-mate and countryman Piero Taruffi. Ascari then won the remaining 6 Grands Prix to easily take the title, followed by the first three Grands Prix of 1953. He also won at Silverstone and Bremgarten to take another title, with Farina winning at the Nurburgring for Ferrari. Ascari then moved to Lancia, but their car would not be ready until the final race of 1954, and despite a pole position in its only appearance, he would die in 1955 in a sportscar practise session at Monza four days after crashing into Monaco's harbour. 1956 started well for Italy when Luigi Musso scored a win at Argentina, jointly with the great Fangio. Monza brought out a typical 7 Italian entrants that year, but there would be many fewer in 1957. Musso scored a couple of podiums that year, and another 2 in 1958, but he would lose his life at Reims that year. That meant there would be no regular Italian participation into 1959 or 1960. 1961 would see Giancarlo Baghetti score a victory on his debut at Reims for Ferrari, and saw 7 entrants to the Italian GP once again. Baghetti and Lorenzo Bandini made semi-regular appearences for Ferrari in 1962, with Baghetti decamping to A-T-S for 1963 and Bandini making three appearences for BRM before returning to Ferrari. It was Baghetti who moved to BRM for 1964, with Bandini winning his only Grand Prix at Zeltweg in the Austrian circuit's only appearance. Bandini was the only Italian who appeared elsewhere but Monza in 1965, and the only appearance elsewhere in 1966 was Ludovicio Scarfiotti's appearance at the Nurburgring. However, Scarfiotti did win the Italian Grand Prix for Ferrari. With Bandini the only fatality in an F1 Monaco Grand Prix in 1967, Italy was again reduced to irregular appearances, mainly from Scarfiotti, who died in 1968 at Rossfeld in a Porsche. Thus the first year missed by Italy in the Championship era was 1969, with Andrea de Adamitch and Ignazio Giunti making a collection of appearances in 1970. de Adamitch and Nanni Galli didn't make a splash in 1971, with de Adamitch becoming a regular with Surtees in 1972, finishing 4th at Jarama. In 1974, Italy was regularly represented by Arturo Merzario of Iso-Marlboro (precursors to Williams that year) and Vittorio Brambilla of March. Merzario made the move to Williams for 1975, while Brambilla was joined by the most successful woman in F1 history at March, as Lella Lombardi scored the female gender's sole half point at Montjuic Park. Brambilla, meanwhile, won the Austrian Grand Prix in abysmal conditions that caused a red flag, Brambilla crashing on the slow-down lap! There would be precious little Italian success for the next couple of years, until Riccardo Patrese scored a podium for Arrows in his rookie year of 1978 at Anderstorp. Demonised after Ronnie Peterson's death (possibly as an easy target for drivers looking for someone to blame), Patrese did well to return from his race ban at Montreal and finish 4th. 1979 saw another débutant Italian, Elio de Angelis, who would finish 4th at Watkins Glen at the end of the season, and scored a podium at Interlagos in 1980. Patrese got on the podium at Long Beach, while Bruno Giacomelli gave Alfa Romeo a first pole position for 29 years at Watkins Glen, with Patrese scoring Arrows' only ever pole position at Long Beach in the next race, with a pair of podiums coming up at Jacarepagua and Imola. Giacomelli would get on the podium at Las Vegas in the last race. Patrese went off to Brabham for 1982, where he won a chaotic Monaco Grand Prix. De Angelis edged out Keke Rosberg for a first win in Austria, and Michele Alboreto won in Las Vegas. Andrea de Cesaris took a pole for Alfa at Long Beach but ended up predictably in the wall. 1983 would not quite be such a good year, but it did see Alboreto win in Detroit and Patrese win at Kyalami, with Alboreto earning a Ferrari seat for 1984 and winning the final race at Zolder. De Angelis won his second race at Imola in 1985, while Alboreto was Alain Prost's closest challenger for the title, winning in Montreal and Hockenheim. At the season ending Australian Grand Prix, there would be 7 Italian representatives with De Angelis, Patrese, Alboreto, Ivan Capelli, Teo Fabi, Piercarlo Ghinzani and Pierluigi Martini all starting the race. 1986 saw a couple of pole positions for Fabi in with his Benetton-BMW in Austria and Germany, seeing him utilise his huge straight-line speed. They were up to 9 Italians at Imola in 1987, with Alboreto on several podiums, with Fabi getting on the steps and de Cesaris getting one podium despite not finishing a single race all year. 1988 saw 7 Italian podiums from Alboreto, Ivan Capelli and Alessandro Nannini, with Nannini taking the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix after Ayrton Senna was disqualified for being push started. Patrese was back at the front too, scoring podiums for Williams, before winning a first race for six-and-a-half years at Imola in 1990. The existance of teams such as Scuderia Italia and Minardi was creating a proliferation of Italians at the back of the grid, although Pierluigi Martini was on the front row for Minardi at Phoenix! 1991 saw wins for Patrese in Mexico and Portugal, as Williams became the dominant team of 1992 which saw Patrese score 9 podiums including victory at Suzuka. Patrese moved to Benetton for 1993 and was forced to play second fiddle to Michael Schumacher rather than Nigel Mansell. 1994 saw Nicola Larini score his one career podium unfortuanately happen on that tragic day at Imola, while Gianni Morbidelli scored a podium at Adelaide in 1995. By 1996, however, the only Italians left were struggling in Minardis and Fortis, though Giancarlo Fisichella earned himself a move to Jordan where he was runner-up at Spa. From there he was off to Benetton and second places at Monaco and Montreal, the latter of which was repeated in 1999, while Jarno Trulli took 2nd for Prost at the Nurburgring. Fisi had another second in 2000 at Interlagos, and had scored 9 podiums before he won the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix, on appeal, for Jordan. Trulli scored regular points for Renault at the time, and was on fire as 2004 started, his win at Monaco making him the only man to deny Michael Schumacher in the first half of the season. Contract talks after the French GP knocked Trulli though, he didn't score another point and was off to Toyota by the end of the year. Fisichella took his seat at Renault and won the Australian GP, while Trulli scored several podiums in Toyota's best ever year. 2006 was a similar year to 2005 for Fisi; one win (this time in Sepang), several podiums and a Constructors' Championship while not really supporting Fernando Alonso's title bid. 2007 saw less success, and their would not be another podium for Italy until Trulli stepped up at Magny-Cours in 2008. Toyota and Trulli should have won the 2009 Bahrain GP, but messed it up and had a yo-yo season. After 2 years of pointless toil at Force India, they exploded into life at Spa with a superb pole and 2nd place, with Fisi moving to Ferrari to replace the hapless Luca Badoer, who was himself replacing Felipe Massa, and he was replaced by former Toro Rosso Italian driver Vitantonio Liuzzi. With Toyota pulling out Trulli went to Lotus for 2010, with Liuzzi scoring several points for Force India. But Liuzzi was forced out to HRT for 2011, meaning the last year of Italian F1 representation saw the two of them pointlessly hanging around at the back of the grid, before being dropped for Vitaly Petrov and Pedro de la Rosa for 2012.​

UNITED KINGDOM (853 Grands Prix, Championship winner - Mike Hawthorn 1958, Graham Hill 1962, 1968, Jim Clark 1963, 1965, John Surtees 1964, Jackie Stewart 1969, 1971, 1973, James Hunt 1976, Nigel Mansell 1992, Damon Hill 1996, Lewis Hamilton 2008, Jenson Button 2009)

Of the 869 races ever held in the World Championship, there have been 853 with British representatives. Indeed, if you discount the 11 Indy500s in the Championship, it means British drivers have missed a total of 6 Grands Prix in history. There were 11 British starters as the Championship started at Silverstone in 1950, with Reg Parnell taking an Alfa Romeo to the podium. There would not be much success until Mike Hawthorn won the French Grand Prix for Ferrari in 1953, although the sheer numbers of entrants - particularly at the British Grand Prix, was still astounding. Hawthorn won a second Grand Prix for the Prancing Horse at Pedralbes the next year, with Stirling Moss becoming the first Brit to win his home race at Aintree in 1955. 1956 saw Moss' first Monaco win, and a win for Moss at Monza too, while Peter Collins took his Lancia Ferrari to two victories. In 1957, Tony Brooks won in a joint entry with Moss at Aintree, with Moss winning again at Monza. 1958 was the start of an unbelievable run of success for the English speakers of F1 which would only be halted by Jochen Rindt in 1970. Although Moss won 4 races and Brooks 3 for Vanwall, Hawthorn's Ferrari was more consistent and his single victory was enough to win him the title. Collins also took a final victory before his tragic death at the Nurburgring. Hawthorn retired, and was killed in a road accident in early 1959. The first stirrings of the success of the British "garagiste" would see Antipodean success, although the Moss won twice in Coopers entered by Rob Walker, with Brooks taking two wins for Ferrari in 1959. Moss won in Monaco and at Riverside in 1960 to take Lotus' first wins in Rob Walker's colours, and stalled the march of the dominant Ferraris in 1961 by winning two races at the ultimate drivers circuits - Monaco and the Nordschliefe. With Ferrari mourning Von Trips and missing the US Grand Prix, Innes Ireland took Lotus' works team's first win. BRM's Graham Hill won the opener in Zandvoort in 1962, with Lotus' Jim Clark winning his first race at Spa, following it up with a soon-to-be-traditional British Grand Prix win. It was Hill who won 3 of the last 4 races to take the title; Clark taking the other. No other nation ever had a year like 1963, with British drivers winning all 10 races. Hill took victory at Monaco and Watkins Glen, former motorcycle world champion John Surtees took the win at the Nurburgring, with the remaining 7 races won by Jim Clark. Lotus would be somewhat unreliable in 1964, a win for Hill at Monaco and two wins for Clark meant that Britain finished its tally at a record 18 consecutive Grands Prix victories, which no other nation has ever come close to. Ferrari driver Surtees recorded 2 wins before taking that year's title. With Lotus reliable in 1965, Clark was also reliable! He missed the Monaco Grand Prix to compete in, and win, the Indy 500, but won the first 6 races he attempted. Jackie Stewart won his first race at Monza, Hill took the honours at Watkins Glen but Richie Ginther denied the Brits another clean sweep. 1966 saw the first two races won by Stewart and Surtees, and the last two by Clark and Surtees, but there would be no victories in between. Clark took 4 wins in 1967, but barely finished the other races, and Surtees won for Honda in Monza. The opener in 1968 saw Clark dominante in Kyalami, but he was killed in an accident at Hockenheim in an F2 race before the second F1 race. That race, at Jarama, was won by his Lotus team-mate Hill in the first sponsor-liveried F1 car. Hill was to win at Monaco and Mexico City to take the title, with three wins for Stewart pushing securing the Scot second place. There would be no doubt about 1969 though, as Stewart won 6 of the first 8 races, while Hill took his final victory, appropriately at Monaco. Stewart's win at Jarama was the only British victory of 1970 as Matra struggled, so Stewart's boss Ken Tyrrell built his own car for 1971. 6 victories for Stewart gave him another dominant title, and Peter Gethin took a surprise and ludicrously narrow victory at Monza. Stewart won 4 races in 1972, but 2 were won after Emerson Fittipaldi had taken the title, before the Scot took 5 wins in 1973 to take his 3rd title, before retiring after the death of his team-mate François Cevert prevented him competing in his 100th Grand Prix. Thus 1974 would be the first year since 1952 that British drivers failed to win a race; James Hunt and Mike Hailwood managing to step onto the podium. Hunt redressed the balance by winning at Zandvoort in 1975, then upon moving to McLaren in 1976 by winning 6 races to take advantage of Niki Lauda's temporary absence from proceedings to win the title. Northern Irishman John Watson took a victory in Austria too. Hunt then went on to win at Silverstone, Watkins Glen and Fuji in 1977, but he would retire after a short career in mid-1979, leaving only Watson to represent Britain on a regular basis. A few barren years followed before Watson, now joined on the grid by Lotus' Nigel Mansell, won at Silverstone in 1981, and then challenging for the title with two wins in 1982. The McLaren's lack of qualifying pace for 1983 meant Watson's only win would be from 23rd on the grid at Long Beach, but there would be no seat for Watson in 1984. Mansell took a first pole position at Dallas that year, and then, after moving to Williams, won his first race at Brands Hatch in 1985, followed swiftly by a second victory in a controversial race at Kyalami. Mansell's 4 victories in 1986 put him in striking distance of the title when his tyre burst from the lead in Adelaide, gifting the title to Alain Prost. And although he scored double his team-mate Piquet's wins in 1987, the Brazilian was far more consistent and took the title when the Englishman missed the Japanese GP due to an accident. 1988 was a sobering experience for Mansell in an underpowered Williams-Judd, so he left for Ferrari in 1989, winning first time out in Jacarepagua. A second win followed at the Hungaroring, but the signing of World Champion Alain Prost relegated Mansell to the #2 role for 1990, his win at Estoril not enough consolation to prevent his return to Williams for 1991. There would be 5 wins for 1991 as Williams built speed towards the end of the season and the FW14B's complete domination of 1992. Williams lead every lap until the last 8 at Monaco, and Mansell took 5 pole-wins in that time. There would be four more wins as Mansell, not enticed by the prospect of partnering Prost again, left for CART in the USA, and he was replaced by Damon Hill. Prost dominated the title race, but Hill was to take his first three wins on the bounce at the Hungaroring, Spa and Monza. With Prost's retirement for 1994, Hill was joined by Senna, but became team leader on the Brazilian's death with David Coulthard in the other car. Hill won in Montmelo and Silverstone, before taking advantage of a Schumacher disqualification in Spa then winning again at Monza. A victory in Japan put Hill a point behind Schumacher going to Adelaide, but the protagonists collided, Schumacher damaging Hill's car to eliminate both. Nigel Mansell, back in a Williams as a guest replacing Coulthard, won the race. Mansell secured a McLaren seat for 1995, but retired soon after problems. Hill won 4 races but got nowhere near Schumacher this time, with Schumacher's team-mate Johnny Herbert winning at Silverstone and Monza, and Coulthard winning at Estoril. For 1996, Hill would be in a dominant Williams with only his team-mate Jacques Villeneuve to contend with. The Englishman finally became the first second generation World Champion, taking out 8 wins, but only burning off Villeneuve at the final race, before his ignominious sacking by Williams. The first race of 1997 was won by McLaren driver Coulthard, who took victory at Monza in Britain's only other success of the year. Hill, stuck at Arrows, nearly won at the Hungaroring, but his heart was broken by a mechanical problem. 1998 saw Coulthard as typically the "two" in a McLaren one-two, but he did win at Imola. A drenched Spa also gave Hill the opportunity to win his final race, the first victory for the Jordan team. 1999 started with a shock win for the very-much-number 2 at Ferrari, Eddie Irvine. Irvine's chance came as his team leader Schumacher was injured at Silverstone, before Coulthard's victory from Irvine there. The two Brits swapped positions at the A1-Ring, then team-mate Mika Salo gifted Irvine a victory at Hockenheim. Coulthard held off team-mate Hakkinen to win at Spa, while a sodden and crazy Nurburgring saw Johnny Herbert emerge with the winners trophy for Jackie Stewart's team, before Stewart sold out to Jaguar. The returning Schumacher let Irvine past for victory at Sepang. Irvine lead the Championship into Suzuka but Hakkinen was just too quick and he won his second title. There would be 3 wins for Coulthard in 2000 and 2 as he finished second in the 2001 Championship. The Scot took a second Monaco GP victory in 2002 and closed his victory account at Melbourne in 2003. Jenson Button was thwarted in his ambitions for a win in 2004 by the dominance of Ferrari, but would take his first win in dramatic fashion at the Hungaroring in 2006. 2007 saw the debut of Lewis Hamilton for McLaren as the number 2 to the World Champion Fernando Alonso, but Hamilton's pace was to disconcert the Spaniard and his 4 victories in an acrimonious season lead him to the brink of a rookie title, before a scarcely believable final two races saw he and McLaren blow it. He would be McLaren's team-leader in 2008, winning 5 times, but it would require him to overtake the dry-tyred Toyota of Timo Glock on a wet final corner at Interlagos to allow him to secure his World Title. A major shake-up over the winter of 2008 saw the slow Honda team reincarnated as the blindingly fast Brawn GP team for 2009, and Jenson Button won 6 of the first 7 races, holding on for the title. McLaren recovered quickly from a bad first half of the season, winning in Hungary and Singapore through Hamilton. World Champion Button joined McLaren for 2010, winning two of his first four races, with Hamilton winning 3 to be the leading McLaren driver of the year. 2011 saw the roles reversed, both won 3 races but Hamilton had an inconsistent year, crashing with Felipe Massa on numerous occasions to finish behind his more consistent team-mate in the title hunt. Despite a third Button win in Melbourne, it looks like the tables have yet again turned for 2012, with Hamilton winning in Montreal and Hungary.​


Thankyou for getting this far, its been a labour of love and I appreciate your time reading it!
 
Brilliant article TBY - although you could have split Great Britain in to England, Scotland, Wales and NI ;)

Just kidding. Crazy to think Switerland - a country where Motorsport is pretty much banned - has a better record driverwise than a F1 mad country like Japan!
 
Can I ask a question about Jochen Rindt teabagyokel I know that he lived in Austria but he was in fact German both his parents were German and he was born in Germany his mum and dad were killed in an accident when he was very young and his aunt and uncle took him to live in Austria however he never applied for Austrian citizenship, but he did race under an Austrian racing licence, is this why you include him as an Austrian driver?

A great article by the way...
 
Mephistopheles - In short, yes. Fascinating back stories and dubious citizenships abound in the world of sport, so the policy I've kept to is to keep to their racing licences - thus why Romain Grosjean is not Swiss and why Bertrand Gachot is such a gigantic pain in the arse.
 
Outstanding job tby. Makes the summer break seem like a good thing when people put this much effort and enthusiasm into posts.

I wonder which countries we'll have added in ten years' time? China surely, Korea perhaps, UAE?
 
I just looked up Gachot teabagyokel and I see what you mean what with him being a Luxenbourger French Belgian who considered himself not to have a nationality and just liked to be called a European, but I suppose getting himself arrested by squiring a taxi driver with CS gas and so gave Michael Schumacher his first drive in F1 was a good thing......
 
Outstanding job tby. Makes the summer break seem like a good thing when people put this much effort and enthusiasm into posts.

I wonder which countries we'll have added in ten years' time? China surely, Korea perhaps, UAE?

couldn't agree more G. As for new countries, not sure about new but I bet in the next ten years they'll be a few more Russians to add to that list.
 
excellent post, TBY. I can't imagine how much effort it required!:thumbsup:

Maybe I'm losing it a bit (not surprising at my age), but I don't recall seeing either Warwick or Brundle mentioned. I always thought the former was WDC material, but was never impressed by the latter.
 
Warwick for me was a driver who always seemed to be in the wrong car at the right time. He would have been Senna's team mate in 86 but for Senna's Veto. You would have thought that joining Renault would have been a dream ticket but it was the start of the end for their works efforts, and many other moments like that in Warwicks career.
 
Warwick for me was a driver who always seemed to be in the wrong car at the right time. He would have been Senna's team mate in 86 but for Senna's Veto. You would have thought that joining Renault would have been a dream ticket but it was the start of the end for their works efforts, and many other moments like that in Warwicks career.

I agree 100%. Warwick always reminded me of Amon (one of my all-time favourite drivers and one with the worst luck in the world). Neither ever had a car worthy of their talents.
 
siffert_fan - No, Warwick and Brundle didn't quite make the cut, I'm afraid. The United Kingdom section is a small article in itself anyway, so obviously some people wouldn't be mentioned.

Brundle was a classic midfield runner, a proto-Heidfeld of a racing driver, while Warwick joined big teams as they were heading over the hill.
 
Did you know the two seater Minardi actually came about because they were trying to build a car for Nigel to fit in?

Off topic!

Back on topic.

Are we likely to see a driver from the continent of Africa in F1 any time soon?
 
Double post I know but because I was bored at work I decided to scout round and see if there were any drivers likely to come into F1 soon which would mean TBY would have to update his nations list. The only ones I can currently find are:

Rio Haryanto of Indonisa who races for Carlin - Marussia's GP2 team and recently qualified for his F1 superlicence during the young drivers test. I think his team-mate Max Chilton is more likely to get the nod though.

Ma Quing Hua of China recently signed on the the HRT driver development programme (at least they're developing something) and I can see him being brought in for a least the Chinese Grand Prix next year for a bit of a cash boost for HRT.

and

Kevin Korjus of Lativa. The 19 year old is currently 9th in the Renault 3.5 series with only one podium - although he did get a win last season - has links with Renault and Lotus and will probably get to F1 eventually.

Until then though I think your article is fairly safe TBY!
 
Back
Top Bottom