Yahoo Autos These Formula 1 Drivers Led — But Never Won — The World Championship
When we talk about Formula 1 legends, it tends to be very easy to point to the list of World Champions as being the be-all-end-all of the sport’s greatest drivers, but that means missing out on so many racing legends. Some great drivers could put up a hell of a fight, but never won a race. Some battled hard for championships that eternally eluded their grasp at the very last moment. Still others could storm through the field at Le Mans but just didn’t have the right single-seater equipment to make it to the checkered flag first.
Today, we’re celebrating the F1 drivers who, at some point, led an F1 Championship but never actually won one. The names on this list include legends of motorsport, which makes this a great time to remember just how fickle a beast F1 can be.
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Piero Taruffi: 1952
With his win at the season opening Swiss Grand Prix, Piero Taruffi took an early lead for the 1952 World Championship — which he held until he was overtaken by Alberto Ascari in France. He dropped further back later in the season, ultimately finishing third. The Italian was never to contest a full F1 season again.
Maurice Trintignant: 1955
I have to be honest: Maurice Trintignant is one of the coolest names in motorsport. The French driver (whose middle name, delightfully, is Bienvenu), ascended to the lead of the 1955 F1 World Championship after the second race at the Monaco Grand Prix. He was to lose the lead to Juan Manuel Fangio almost immediately, and he never scored another point that season.
Jean Behra: 1956
The highly contentious 1956 Formula 1 season changed hands multiple times. Despite the fact that Fangio took the checkered flat at the season opener, he actually shared a car with another driver and had to share the points for first place, leaving Jean Behra to ascend to the championship lead. He maintained that lead through the second race in Monaco before losing out to the next man on our list.
Peter Collins: 1956
British driver Peter Collins tied for the lead of the F1 Championship with Stirling Moss in points, only ascending higher than his countryman thanks to better finishes. Collins held that lead through the French and British Grands Prix before losing out to Fangio in the penultimate race of the season.
Luigi Musso: 1958
While Stirling Moss lead the 1958 F1 Championship after the first race, Italian driver Luigi Musso took over the helm at the second event in Monaco. Unfortunately, Musso lost the lead in the next race and never had a chance to regain it after Musso was pitched from his car during the French Grand Prix. He died in the hospital later that day.
Stirling Moss: 1958, 1961
I’ve been reading my way through a handful of different historical F1 books that reflect on Moss’s era, and there’s a general consensus about the British driver: He never got a fair shake. Moss was regularly competitive, pushing underpowered cars to their absolute limit in the hope of being the British driver who could secure a Championship for a British team — but this was the era just before the garagistes had really started to figure things out. Moss survived a nasty crash at Goodwood but was forced to retire, never again able to pursue his World Championship hopes despite having led it twice.
Bruce McLaren: 1960, 1963
While Bruce McLaren’s name has become almost synonymous with motorsport thanks to his eponymous team, he never took an F1 Championship. After a win at the season opening Argentine Grand Prix, McLaren led the 1960 season standings for four Grands Prix, until he was overtaken by eventual champion Jack Brabham. Three years later, in 1963, McLaren took the lead of the championship after the Belgian Grand Prix before being summarily overtaken by Jim Clark in the following race.
Wolfgang von Trips: 1961
The 1961 F1 season was so compelling that it became the subject of one of the best racing books I’ve ever read, The Limit. Ferrari teammates Wolfgang von Trips and Phil Hill duked it out for the championship, with von Trips looking set to be an easy overall victor. Unfortunately, a crash in the penultimate race of the season took von Trips out of contention. During the Italian Grand Prix, von Trips and Jim Clark collided, sending the Ferrari ricocheting into the crowd. Multiple people died, including von Trips. Hill became the first American F1 Champion by default.
Lorenzo Bandini: 1966
Despite not winning either of the first two rounds of the 1966 F1 World Championship, Lorenzo Bandini’s consistent points-paying finishes gave him the lead after the Belgian Grand Prix. That championship glory didn’t last long; by the end of the following race, he’d been superseded by Australian Jack Brabham.
Pedro Rodríguez: 1967
One half of the Mexican racing brother duo, Pedro Rodríguez won the opening race of the 1967 F1 season in South Africa, which automatically left him in the lead of the championship. He was quickly passed by Denny Hulme in the following event at Monaco, and he slid down to his final finishing position in sixth for the season after missing a stretch of three races.
His South African Grand Prix win was the last ever victory for the Cooper F1 team.
Clay Regazzoni: 1974
As we head into the 1970s, F1 seasons got increasingly longer and therefore offered more opportunities for a title fight. The 1974 season kicked off with Denny Hulme in the lead of the championship before Swiss Ferrari driver Clay Regazzoni took over in the second event of the season. He held the lead for two races before he was usurped by Emerson Fittipaldi, who went on to take that year’s title.
Carlos Reutemann: 1977, 1978, 1981
Poor Carlos Reutemann. His 12 Grand Prix wins continually got him so close to the World Championship three different times, but it was never enough. He finished third overall three times, and second overall in 1981, when Nelson Piquet took the championship instead. Reutemann found post-race career success in politics.
Patrick Depailler: 1978
