Since the inception of the F1 World Championship, over 250 drivers have competed for the title. So
what makes a great F1 driver, someone who can make those title aspirations come true? Generally
speaking, the same qualities that make any great sportsperson will apply - excellent physical and
mental fitness, great reflexes and hand/eye co-ordination, and a highly competitive spirit and attitude.
There are, however, a number of other factors which contribute to a successful title bid, such as:

• Great management: Driving ability alone will not guarantee a seat in the Championship. It is up to the
  agents to get their client drivers the best deal in terms of team quality.
• The right equipment: Or at least the means to find it. It is natural to want to drive with the best car
  available, but if that is not possible the next best thing is to find a team with the greatest potential for
  improvement and work with what they can provide.
• A great team: An obvious element, but the combination of engineers, pit crew, tactical analysts and
  management all have to work well together as well as they do in their individual fields.

Below are just some of the people who possessed these factors and were able to turn them into success.

A selection of the Greatest F1 Drivers...

Juan Manuel Fangio

The first superstar of F1, Fangio dominated the Championship in the Fifties. Between 1951 and 1957
he won the World title five times, driving for four different teams (Alfa Romeo, Mercedes, Ferrari and
Maserati). He retired in 1958, but continued to act as an ambassador for the sport for many years.

Graham and Damon Hill

The only father-and-son combination to both be World Champion (Graham in 1962 and '68, and Damon with
the Williams team in 1996). A member of a select club of 2-time Champions (which also includes Jim Clark, Alberto Ascari, Emerson Fittipaldi and Mika Hakkinen), Graham was the first man to complete the treble of F1 World Championship, Indianapolis 500, and Le Mans victories, before his untimely death in a 1975 light aircraft crash. Damon had success in motorcycle racing before switching to cars - he retired a year
after his winning season, and now runs businesses connected with motor racing.

Niki Lauda

One of the handful of three-time Championship winners (only Fangio, Prost, Schumacher, Piquet, Ayrton Senna, Jack Brabham and Jackie Stewart have equalled or bettered this feat). Austrian-born Lauda’s F1 career ran from 1972 to 1985. His defining season came in 1976 (the season following his first Championship), when he returned from a devastating crash, scarred badly yet only missing two races to finish runner-up for the season by only a single point. 2 of his title successes were with Ferrari (the other with McLaren in 1984), with whom he worked closely until the 2001 season when he switched to Jaguar.

Nigel Mansell

Mansell’s Formula 1 career had lasted 12 years before he finally captured the Championship in 1992.
After attempts in Lotus and Ferrari cars, it was with Williams that success was achieved. The 2 years
following his triumph were spent racing Indy Cars, winning that Championship at the first attempt. He
made a brief comeback to F1 before retiring in 1995. Since then, he has competed in other motor sports
such as touring cars.

Nelson Piquet

A veteran of karting and sports car racing before entering F1, the Brazilian enjoyed a 13-year career at
the top level. He had 2 Championship wins with Brabham in 1980 and ‘83, and added a third with Williams in 1987. He also raced for Ensign (who gave him his first drive) and Benetton.

Alain Prost

France’s most successful racing driver took the F1 crown on no less than four occasions (3 with
McLaren, and once with Williams in his final season, 1993). Prost gained a reputation for being
outspoken, one of his favourite subjects being his rival (and one-time teammate) Ayrton Senna. After
12 years of racing, he moved into team management by buying the Ligier team in 1997 (subsequently
the team was renamed after him).

Michael Schumacher

Arguably one of the greatest ever F1 drivers, German-born Schumacher claimed his third
Championship in 2000, ending Ferrari’s 20-year title drought. His first two Driver’s title wins came
back-to-back when he drove for the Benetton team in 1994 and ‘95. Initially a kart racer, Schumacher
competed in sports cars and Formula 3 before gaining his Benetton seat in 1991 (He also raced once for
the Jordan team that year). Although it took five years at Ferrari to finally gain another Driver’s crown,
he has in the process closed in on a number of all-time F1 records, including most individual Grand
Prix wins.

Jacques Villeneuve

Canadian Villeneuve followed his father Gilles into Formula 1 in 1996 after a successful run in Indy
Cars (now known as the CART Series). The move almost paid dividends immediately as he finished a close runner-up in the title race to his Williams team-mate Damon Hill. He was not to be denied a second time, as he fought hard with Michael Schumacher to claim the Driver's Championship in the final race of the 1997 season. That remains to date his only title success, as he subsequently moved to the newly-formed British American Racing (BAR) team and put his energies into making them competitive at the top level.