In Formula One’s illustrious history, there have been a staggering number of British Formula One racing drivers, 164 to be precise. However, only one-eighth or twenty-one of these Brits have ever stood on top of the podium. Today, we pay homage to the ones who came before and the three who are still here on the 2024 grid.
The pioneers
Despite hosting the first-ever Formula One World Championship event in 1950, it was not until the 1953 French Grand Prix that a British racing driver won. In what has been dubbed “The Race of the Century” at Reims, Mike Hawthorn exchanged the lead with legendary Juan Manuel Fangio for the entirety of the 500-lap race, before finishing first by only one second. In fact, after 500 kilometers of racing, the top four was separated by less than five seconds.
After Hawthorn came Peter Collins, Tony Brooks, Innes Ireland and the drivers’ driver himself, Stirling Moss. Moss is famously recognized as the best Formula One driver to have never won a World Championship, made even more succinct by the fact that he could have. At the 1958 Portuguese Grand Prix, Moss was in a fierce championship battle with compatriot Hawthorn, who was mistakenly disqualified post-race. Moss went to clarify to the racing stewards that Hawthorn had done no wrong, prompting them to reclassify the Ferrari driver back to P2, crucially granting him seven points. In the end, Hawthorn ended up winning the 1958 Championship by one point over…Moss himself.
The maestros
1958 was also the debut season of the man who would become “Mr. Monaco” in Graham Hill. Hill famously won the elusive Monaco Grand Prix five times, a record surpassed only by Ayrton Senna. During his 17-year career in grand prix racing, two-time Champion Hill faced off against other British race winners, the the likes of Moss, Peter Gethin, 1964 Champion John Surtees, and, the best of all, Jim Clark.
Special tribute to Jim Clark
Jim Clark’s legacy is almost impossible to be matched. The Briton won the World Championship twice in 1963 and 1965 and is still regarded as one of the finest racers in every discipline, not only in Formula One. At the time of his death at the Hockenheimring in 1968, he won 25 grands prix, stood on 32 podiums and scored 33 pole positions; these were better than any other driver who had raced in Formula One.
Clark’s record that stands out the most, however, is his grand chelem record. To win a grand chelem, the winning driver must be on pole position, scored the fastest lap of the race and lead every lap of the race. Before and since Clark’s short career, no one has managed to topple his eight grand chelems. Not Hamilton, not Schumacher, not Verstappen, not Vettel. He is also still the only driver out of more than a thousand to earn back-to-back grand chelems. This alone is a testament of his greatness.
Modern legends
After Clark’s death, the British all-time win record stood dormant for five years, until Jackie Stewart won his 26th and 27th in his third championship-winning season in 1973. The record then stayed unbroken for almost two decades until, once again, that year’s Champion broke it in 1992 when Nigel Mansell stood on top of the Silverstone podium for the 28th time before retiring in 1995 with 31 wins to his name. From 1992 onwards, we saw British drivers won races and championships: Damon Hill, David Coulthrad, Eddie Irvine, Johnny Herbert and Jenson Button. However, none of them managed to get close to Mansell’s record of 31, until 2014 when a certain Lewis Hamilton created a story of his own.
Special tribute to Lewis Hamilton
The Formula One world has run out of superlatives to describe a racing driver of his calibre. Lewis Hamilton is arguably not only the greatest British Formula One driver of all-time, but also the greatest Formula One driver of all-time. Since surpassing Mansell’s record at the 2014 United States Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton has reigned supreme at the top of the stats book with 103 wins, 104 pole positions, 197 podiums and seven World Championships.
His move to Ferrari in 2025 is already highly anticipated. Some hope he will bring the fight to the ever-dominating Red Bull and Max Verstappen, others hope he can go beyond and emulate Michael Schumacher by rebuilding the Scuderia. Will he be successful? Will he retire with seven, eight or nine championships? Place your bets on the Formula One World Championship and other global sports tournaments now at Fun88asia8!
From his debut in 2007 to the 2022 Sao Paolo Grand Prix, Hamilton stood on top more than 100 times but no new British drivers won a grand prix. It was then, after a fifteen-year wait, his 2022 teammate George Russell who took his maiden win, followed by F2 rival Lando Norris who outpaced reigning champion Max Verstappen to take the chequered flag in Miami before anyone else.
Who’s going to be the next British racing star?
Currently, there are no other British drivers on the grid than the race winners. Ollie Bearman took part in the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix but is yet to have a confirmed seat for 2025, although it is most likely that he will be placed at Haas. Zak O’Sullivan is another promising British talent and is currently contracted to Williams. He might be a possible candidate for the second Williams seat in 2025, supposing that Andrea Kimi Antonelli is thrusted into the Mercedes seat in substitution of Hamilton.
