Cider_and_toast's wonderful piece on one-time winners got me thinking about those who never won a World Championship. Now since that is roughly everyone who ever entered, I narrowed it down to those that finished second. I will consider this whilst attempting to ape cat's style in the aforementioned article, though clearly without as much style.
I have also excluded Felipe Massa and Sebastian Vettel, although not Rubens Barrichello.
Like cat, I have several categories. The first is the category I will call "The Team Mate"
I have also excluded Felipe Massa and Sebastian Vettel, although not Rubens Barrichello.
Like cat, I have several categories. The first is the category I will call "The Team Mate"
- Bruce McLaren - 1960. Bruce won the opening race of the 1960 season for Cooper, but was left behind when team-mate Jack Brabham won 5 on the spin, with McLaren second twice. A cursory glance shows that he only won 4 races in Formula One, and came 3rd in the Championship twice, in 1962 and 1969. However, McLaren's legacy has outstripped his personal contribution, and I don't think a WDC was ever on for him.
- Wolfgang Von Trips - 1961. Despite a couple of podiums for Taffy in the late 1950s, he did nothing until Ferrari picked up on the British firms lack of an engine in 1961 to dominate alongside team-mate Phil Hill in 1961. He was leading the Championship after two wins, going into the fateful weekend he lost his life at Monza tangling with Jim Clark. With Ferrari's poor form for much of the rest of the decade, I doubt von Trips would have ever won the title in any other year, but I think 1961 could have been possible had he survived.
- Ronnie Peterson - 1978. We'll be revisiting Ronnie later, so it is just prevalent to say in 1978 he was certainly a clear #2 to Andretti in the American-Italian's title winning year, before his fatality at Monza.
- Gilles Villeneuve - 1979. Gilles can be described as the best non-World Champion, father of the worst World Champion, if you are feeling generous and cruel respectively! He won a couple of races in 1979 but was a #2 to title winning Jody Scheckter. Other than 1979 Gilles never came close to the World title, he only really broke through in 1978 and 1980/81 would be years where the #27 Ferrari were not good enough, although his legend revolves around winning two races in 1981. (Although he actually only raced #27 for 1 and a bit seasons!) However, with an excellent Ferrari in 1982, I would claim that his death that year may have been the only thing that prevented him taking the title.
- Riccardo Patrese - 1992. Patrese had been team-mate to a World Champion before, in 1983, as Nelson Piquet took the title. Patrese was 9th in the Drivers' Championship in the same car. He did improve his showing in his twilight years, he was 3rd in the Championship as Williams' top driver ahead of Thierry Boutsen in 1989 and was 3rd behind Mansell in 1991. However, in 1992 Patrese was nowhere near the Englishman in the same car as Mansell won the title with ease. He finished a full 52 points behind Mansell in a dominant car, and only 3 points ahead of a young Michael Schumacher in a Benetton. Simply, he is lucky to be even on the list.
- Rubens Barrichello - 2002, 2004. I am assuming Barrichello will not win the WDC, which may be quite reasonable. In 2002 and 2004, he was in a car that was unashamedly dominant over the rest of the field. Unfortuanately, he was one of the clearest #2s in any team in Formula One history. In Austria in 2002, he found himself pulling over to allow Schumacher to win. He was given the worst of all tactics and team decisions. Pretty much every retirement Ferrari had was on his car, too! Although it is clear that Ayrton Senna would not have won the title in his position in 2002 and 2004, 2009 shows as the most damning indictment of Rubens' title chances. The Brawn that dominated the opening of the season was that of Jenson Button, not contractually the #1, and not an all-time great like Schumacher. When Brawn (and Jenson) lost form, Barrichello was to pick up a couple of victories but could not hold off Vettel for second place. I doubt it was ever on for Rubens!
My second category is one that I call "Heavy Defeat", where a driver came second but was not nearly close to the title. - Jose-Frolian Gonzalez - 1954. Gonzalez did well in 1954, winning the British Grand Prix. However, in a year with much fewer points on offer than today, a 16.86 point defeat was a lot. The Argentine Ferrari driver, much like the rest of the field, was unable to get anywhere near legend Juan-Manuel Fangio in 1954. He also had finished third in 1951, a lot closer to his countryman on that occasion, but with Alberto Ascari taking points off Fangio! Both his race wins came at Silverstone.
- Richie Ginther - 1963. I'm not even sure Ginther strictly came second, having tied with Graham Hill, but since he dropped points (unlike Hill) I'm going to go for it. Unlike Hill, Ginther did not win any races in 1963 in his BRM, but Jim Clark's 7 wins (out of 10) made that a difficult challenge. Clark hit maximum points at the penultimate Mexican Grand Prix, and was forced to drop the points from his win in South Africa. Clark was way ahead of anyone else that year. Ginther's one win in Formula One came in a Honda two years later; there is no other time he came near the limelight.
- Jacky Ickx - 1969, 1970. Ickx was clear of the rest of the field in 1969 with Jackie Stewart an absolute mile up the road in a Matra. Ickx won a couple of races in 1969. Ickx's five-point defeat in 1970 does not seem to fall into this category on the surface, but it is important to consider that after Jochen Rindt retired from the Austrian GP (which Ickx won) he was 20 points ahead of Jack Brabham in second place, and a further six points clear of Ickx. Rindt died before the start of the next round, so he was obviously in no position to add to his points tally. Simply, had Rindt not missed the last 4 races dead, Ickx would not have got close, although he did well to finish second. There were a couple of other fourth places, but if Ickx was to win the title, 1970 was to be the year.
- Ronnie Peterson - 1971. In each of his three title years, Jackie Stewart finished a mile ahead of his nearest challenger, which in 1971 was Swedish sensation Ronnie Peterson. There were no wins for Ronnie in 1971, which included losing to Peter Gethin at Monza by a fractional amount. Despite his 10 wins in Formula One, Peterson, however, never really got close to the Championship. He was not given a chance to challenge Andretti in 1978, and he died at 34. With the loss of form of Lotus thereafter, I believe it is unlikely that he would ever have won the title had he survived.
- Michele Alboreto - 1985. Alain Prost finally won the title in 1985 after a series of near-misses. The unfortunate man 20 points behind Prost was Ferrari's Milanese missile Michele Alboreto. 5 wins and 2 pole positions in F1 history is not the record of a man who fought for the title in the modern era, although a slow start from the Frenchman saw Alboreto lead the Championship race up till halfway. However, Alboreto faded Webber-like, failing to score in the last 5 races. It was the only time he could really even dream of it!
- David Coulthard - 2001. Whilst Schumacher's sequence included two Championship fights with Finns in McLarens in 2000 and 2003, 2001 is the forgotten domination. It was not quite as easy as 2002 or 2004, since Ferrari/Schumacher were not quite as good. 2001 is the year no-one challenged them. Key amongst this was Hakkinen showing his class twice amongst a poor season, and Ralf winning three. When Schumi dropped points, they never fell into the same hands. Coulthard was the man who managed to pick up the pieces and drag together the most consistent season, with two race wins thrown in. Schumacher only nearly got double Coulthard's points...! He came third in the Championship on four occasions, but only in 1997 did he beat his team-mate. And 1997 was a special case...
My third category is a special one to deal with two special cases in the late 90s. I call it "Exit Schumacher"
- Heinz-Harald Frentzen - 1997. HHF had a pretty torrid time in 1997, despite winning the San Marino Grand Prix, he didn't really live up to Williams' expectations. He was nowhere near team-mate Villeneuve, and he was only classified as 2nd in the Championship because Schumacher was disqualified. Frentzen is a driver who had one good season, but it came instead in the less pressurised atmosphere at Jordan, where he won two races. He finished third in the Championship, and had it not been for a car failure at the chaotic European GP, he may have actually fought at the top. As it was, his career never recovered as Jordan itself descended from the top and Frentzen became the harbinger of doom for Arrows and Prost.
- Eddie Irvine - 1999. Eddie Irvine was not nearly good enough to challenge for the title in normal circumstances. Amidst the chaos in 1999, he was able to win 4 races and challenge Hakkinen for the title with Irvine in a better car. 2 of Irvine's race wins, however, were gifts from Salo in Germany and Schumacher (and the stewards!) in Malaysia. His continued fight for the Championship was more aided by Hakkinen's failures to capitalise than any excellence from Irvine. This is a man, who in the best car, had the challenge of beating his team-mate removed! There was no other way Irvine could win.
Next, I move on to the people who didn't come far away from winning that title...
- Tony Brooks - 1959. Brooks only scored points in 4 of 8 races in 1959, winning two of them. Brabham also won two races, but scored more minor points. With every problem dismantling a championship so much back then, Brooks could not deal with having to retire from some good positions and Ferrari not entering the British GP and forcing him to seek out a Vanwall! He could have done it, you know...
- Clay Regazzoni - 1974. Regazzoni went into the final race of 1974 level on points with Emerson Fittipaldi, but was struck with car problems allowing Emmo to win the title by 3 points. His career shows only one other result of that magnitude, a third place in 1970 despite missing races. An oil leak in the 1974 Italian Grand Prix retired him from the lead, which meant the dice could have rolled in his favour, rather than Fittipaldi's.
- Carlos Reutemann - 1981. Reutemann lost the title by a single point. Obviously, any misfortune would lead to this, but a couple of lap-down finishes towards the end of the season did not help! There were retirements from promising positions. He had a few other third places in the championship, notably best-of-the-rest in 1978. He had the talent, he didn't have the luck. And then he bailed!
Only one driver reaches the "Lost By Default" category
- Didier Pironi - 1982. Lost the title from a good position when he lost his legs, and was absent from 5 races, where he lost the title to Keke Rosberg by 5 points. Although Pironi only won one race everyone else didn't boycott... this was 1982! In the best car, Pironi would surely have taken the title from 9 points up after his last race at the French GP (he was 16 points up from Rosberg!) He never raced again and had never gone close before. At least maybe Gilles was smiling...
And then there is the King
- Stirling Moss - 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958. Moss fits into many of my categories. He was the unfortuanate Mercedes team-mate of Juan Manuel Fangio in 1955. He was within three points of the legend in 1956; three points he would have added if he didn't have to leave his car in Belgium (from 2nd) and get less points for jumping in Cesare Perdisa's car - setting fastest lap (for a point!). 1957 puts him in the heavy defeat category, with Fangio kicking everyone's backside and Stirling turning up in second. Moss's absence from the French GP cannot have helped. In 1958, he spoke on behalf of Mike Hawthorn to the stewards, ensuring a non-disqualification for his rival. Stirling lost the title to him by one point. That puts him in a category all on his own. Moss then finished third for the next three years, often outdriving unreliable machinery. He was 33 when he retired in 1962. Christ, the question was could they have been Champions had a fair wind blown? A lucky Stirling Moss could have had three or four!
