Jody Scheckter | The Formula 1 Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Edit After moving to Britain in 1970, Scheckter quickly progressed up to F1, making his début with McLaren in the final race of the 1972 season, in which he finished ninth. He continued to drive for McLaren, albeit sparingly and without any success, in 1973 . In 1974 , Scheckter was given his first full-time drive, with the Tyrrell team. After a slow start, Scheckter scored points in eight consectutive races, including two wins. With one more podium to come, Scheckter came an impressive third. 1975 was a season of ups and downs. Scheckter notched up many non-pointscoring finishes, but despite this, he managed to win a race and score two other podiums. After a decent start to 1976 , Tyrrell introduced one of F1 's most iconic cars, the six wheeled P34 . The car was quick and reliable, and Scheckter constantly scored points, mostly second places, and even headed a Tyrrell one-two at the Swedish Grand Prix .

Scheckter came third in the championship for the second time in three years. For 1977 , Scheckter moved to the new Wolf team, which was the surpise package of the season. Scheckter was the team's only driver, and amazingly, he won the the first race of the season. Scheckter continued to finish races on the podium, and finished the season as runner-up to Niki Lauda despite Scheckter's three wins. Unfortuanately, Wolf's 1978 car was not as good as the 1977 one, and Scheckter had a winless year, although he managed to finish on the podium four times. Scheckter moved to Ferrari in 1979 , with instant success. The car was always near the front, and very reliable. Scheckter scored three wins, like his team mate Gilles Villeneuve , and with three second places and many points finishes, Scheckter took the title by four points over his team mate. Despite upgrading the 1979 car, the Ferrari driven by both Scheckter and Villeneuve in 1980 was awful, the team coming in tenth place in the championship.

Scheckter's season was the worse of the two, only scoring two points at the United States Grand Prix West , and even failing to qualify at the penultimate race . Scheckter retired at the end of the season. After Formula One In 1981, Scheckter won the World Superstars Championships, defeating many top-class athletes. He later set up a business which made products used for firearms training. Scheckter currently runs an organic farm. Formula One Statistical Overview Jody Scheckter | Legends of Formula One Club Racer to Grand Prix Professional To say Jody Scheckter caught the Formula One aficionados by surprise would be a huge understatement. When he burst onto the F1 scene he was virtually unknown, inexperienced and very young. Still, the hugely talented South African managed to rise from anonimity to a Formula One debut in a mere twenty months! That was the remarkable record of Jody Scheckter's progress - club racer to Grand Prix professional in quicker time than most of his contemporaries. For Jody Scheckter, the real beginning of his career came in early 1971 .

Until that time motor racing had been a hobby for him, passionately pursued, but nevertheless a secondary pursuit to an apprenticeship in his father's East London, South Africa garage. Sunshine Series Formula Ford Jody's springboard to fame was the Sunshine Series of Formula Ford races held on five South African circuits during January/February 1971 . For three years, Formula Ford had been growing in popularity, and through the efforts of local racer Dave Clapham, BOAC, the Ford Motor Company and a Johannesburg newspaper, provided the finance to bring several overseas competitors to race against the increasing number of South African Formula Ford adherents. For locals, the big prize was a fully paid racing trip to England. Sideways Scheckter Jody competed with an early model Lola T200 provided by Ford at the end of 1970. He used it first for two club events, allegedly spinning fourteen times in his first race and finding that a single-seater needed more precise handling than the modified Renault sedan in which he had previously gained a local reputation and the name 'sideways Scheckter'. With this smattering of experience, Jody pitted himself against the better equipped and more experienced visiting racers.

His first success of note was second place at Pietermaritzburg and Kyalami, taking pole position for the latter race as well. He finished third in the championship, easily winning the trip to England. From Formula Ford to Formula Three in a few months, Jody progressed in a series of victories, lap records and the equally unavoidable crashes in British club racing. A McLaren Formula Two contract and a Grand Prix debut in a McLaren M19 at the United States Grand Prix came in 1972 . Some claim Scheckter became too confident after arriving in the UK, and after an uninspiring 1972 season with the McLaren Formula Two car he would be part of the infamous 1973 Silverstone Grand Prix debacle, where he wiped out almost half a GP field - it all happened on the very first lap, and ultimately caused eleven cars to retire. Scheckter managed to spin out of fourth place and into the centre of the track coming out of the final corner, causing many other cars to collide and crash. The race was stopped at the end of the second lap, because of the pile-up, and restarted over the original distance.

Andrea de Adamich retired from the sport after this race due to injuries received in the first lap accident. Jody Scheckter trying hard with Tvrrell 007 at Jarama during the 1974 Spanish GP. Signed by Ken Tyrrell But Scheckter still believed he had the ability to make it to the top. After his time at McLaren, Scheckter was signed by Ken Tyrrell to replace Jackie Stewart in the Elf Tyrrell team. Under the firm hand of Tyrrell, Scheckter matured into one of the most formidable drivers in F1. In 1974 , his first full season of Formula One, he won the Swedish and British Grands Prix, and finally finished third in the World Championship with 45 points. In 1975 came the highlight of his career when he won the South African Grand Prix in front of 100,000 cheering countrymen. Thereafter, Jody struggled against mechanical problems and his best results came in Belgium, where he was second, the UK where he was third and at Watkins Glen where he finished sixth. He came a disappointing seventh in the Championship. 1976 was his last year with Tyrrell.

The team dropped a bombshell with the announcement of their six-wheeler for the coming season and Jody never liked the car. Nevertheless, he persevered and made history by winning the Swedish Grand Prix on six wheels. He also showed remarkable consistency, scoring points in eleven other races - including second places in Monte Carlo, Great Britain, Germany and at Watkins Glen. He finished third in the Championship. At season's end Scheckter caused a minor sensation by signing for Waiter Wolf's all-new team quickly followed by a major sensation when he won the team's debut Grand Prix in Argentina. He scored two more wins in 1977 , in Monaco - his own adopted home - and in Canada - Waiter's adopted country. Jody was competitive for most of the year but a troubled period in mid-season cost him any chance of the world title and he finished as runner up to Niki Lauda . Towards the end of 1977 Scheckter was approached by Ferrari as a replacement for Lauda but he opted to stay with Wolf who could give him the exclusive attention he demanded.

The team's 1978 season started badly and it was not until the Monaco Grand Prix that Jody scored his first points - for a dogged third place. In that race he showed that he had lost none of his will to win and with a new car already in the wings his fortunes looked set for an upward turn. The 1979 Drivers Championship He would end the season in 7th place, and he left the team after the season to join Ferrari to partner Gilles Villeneuve in the team's ground effect 312T4 car. Critics felt he would not get along well with management at Ferrari, but he surpassed expectations and helped give F1's most recognizable team another constructors' championship, while Scheckter's consistent finishes, with three wins among them, gave him the driver's championship in 1979 . However, he struggled very badly in his 1980 title defense, even failing to qualify for one race. After only managing 2 points, Scheckter retired from the team and the sport. Scheckter was the last driver to win a driver's championship for Ferrari until Michael Schumacher did so 21 years later.

There was one minor hiccup that occured around the time of his retirement, but it was not on a race track. In January 1981 Scheckter was fined $2000 and received a two-month suspended jail sentence for assaulting another motorist after a traffic incident in Nice the previous month. Scheckter was then a resident of Monaco (where he won the famous Grand Prix in both 1977 and 1979 ) but it was in nearby Nice, on the Promenade des-Anglais that he crashed his touring Ferrari into another car. Health nut Scheckter then set about the driver of the other car, who was subsequently sent to hospital for treatment - and then spent 15 days off-work. Scheckter was arrested and spent a night in a Nice jail before being released, and during the court proceedings his lawyer requested his driving licence should not be taken away. “After ten years in Formula 1 racing," declared his legal eagle 'travelling by train would be psychologically insupportable." Jody Scheckter with the neat Wolf at the Brands Hatch Race of Champions in March 1977.

Scheckter won three Grands Prix for Wolf during 1977. Drivers/Riders | Motor Sport Magazine Database 1980 United States Grand Prix Bio The 1979 Formula 1 World Champion arrived in Europe earlier that decade as an untamed, raw talent who seemed as likely to crash as to reel off a sensational qualifying lap. He led two of his first three Grands Prix and was third overall in his first full season – Jody Scheckter was a sensation, if a wild one at first. With a rare natural ability and possessing outright speed like few others, he gradually tempered the excesses of youth to win 10 Grands Prix and the world championship. Early career in South Africa and Europe The son of a Durban car dealer, Scheckter began racing karts from the age of 11 and switched to motorcycles five years later. The 18 year old then acquired a 1300cc Renault R8 saloon which he modified with growing success. National Service briefly delayed his budding racing ambitions but he returned to finish third in the 1970/71 Sunshine Formula Ford Championship with a Lola T200.

As the top local in the series, Scheckter was rewarded with the coveted "Driver to Europe" scholarship. Unheard of before the start of the 1971 British season, he made a sensational British FF1600 debut in the Race of Champions support race at Brands Hatch. He qualified his ex-Colin Vandervell Merlyn Mk11A on pole position and was heading for victory before spinning, Scheckter charging back to second position by the chequered flag. He was soon winning in a Ford Escort Mexico and in Formula 3 when driving an unfashionable EMC 606 chassis. A switch to a works Merlyn Mk21 saw Scheckter complete a remarkable first European season by finishing third in the Lombard North Central F3 Championship. Formula 2 and Grand Prix debut with McLaren McLaren returned to Formula 2 after an absence of four years with Scheckter driving the unique Ralph Bellamy-designed M21 in 1972. He struggled to sort the car's handling issues early in the year and several engine failures restricted his appearances. Despite that and blessed with spectacular car control, Scheckter won the Greater London Trophy at Crystal Palace to finish eighth in the F2 standings.

He ended the year by driving a McLaren M19A-Ford in the United States GP at Watkins Glen – qualifying in a strong eighth position and finishing ninth, a lap behind the winner. He remained with McLaren in 1973 for a limited F1 programme while also racing Formula 5000 and Can-Am in North America. Driving an old M19C in his home GP at the start of the year, Scheckter was third quickest in practice to start from the front row of the grid. He led the race for a couple of laps, ran second before being slowed by tyre wear and only lost fourth place when his engine failed in the closing stages. He was behind the wheel of the new McLaren M23-Ford when he returned for the French GP at Paul Ricard. Second on the grid (and the fastest McLaren driver), he used the car's straightline speed to lead the first 41 laps before an increasingly frustrated Emerson Fittipaldi crashed into him while trying to take the lead. So close to winning his third GP, the ever confident South African then spun at Woodcote Corner on the second lap of the British GP to cause the 12 car pile-up that stopped the race.

Roundly criticised as a consequence, Scheckter only returned to F1 for the final two races of the season – qualifying third in Canada but retiring from both. In contrast to those wild if fast F1 displays, Scheckter dominated the opening rounds of the 1973 L&M F5000 Championship in North America. Beginning the year in Sid Taylor's Trojan T101-Chevrolet before switching to a Lola T330, he scored four wins and two second places in the opening six rounds and withstood Brian Redman's late challenge to secure the title. Scheckter also drove a Porsche 917/10T in the Can-Am Challenge that year – second at Elkhart Lake the best of his three podium finishes. Formula 1 regular with Tyrrell Rather than risk the impressive but error-prone youngster, McLaren signed Fittipaldi to partner Denny Hulme in its 1974 F1 line-up. With Jackie Stewart retired and François Cevert killed during practice for the final race of 1973, Ken Tyrrell signed Scheckter to partner the even less-experienced Patrick Depailler.

The new Tyrrell 007-Ford was introduced in Spain with which Scheckter finished fifth to score the first championship points of his career. Third in the next race at Nivelles and second on the streets of Monte Carlo, Scheckter then led Depailler in a Tyrrell 1-2 finish in Sweden. His run of eight successive top six finishes since the Spanish GP then included a surprise win at Brands Hatch and second place at the Nürburgring. He was third in the Italian GP and entered the final round with a slim mathematical chance of snatching the title. In the event, he retired at Watkins Glen but third overall in his first full F1 season surpassed expectations. Remaining with Tyrrell for 1975, Scheckter rebounded from a high-speed practice crash in South Africa to dominate his home race and score his third GP victory. However, that was just one of three podium finishes as the team lost its way. Scheckter slipped to seventh equal in the championship. There was a major design departure for Tyrrell in 1976 for Derek Gardner penned the radical six-wheel Tyrrell P34-Ford.

The team continued with the 007 while the P34 was developed and Scheckter was placed in the opening two races of the season. The new car was finally introduced at the Belgian GP and Scheckter was consistently in the points – scoring 12 times to finish third overall behind James Hunt and Niki Lauda. The highlight was another 1-2 victory in the Swedish GP at Anderstorp – Scheckter leading Depailler home once more – and Scheckter was also second in the Monaco, British, German and United States GPs. Two seasons with Walter Wolf Racing Rather than remain with Tyrrell for a fourth season, Scheckter switched to the new, one-car Walter Wolf Racing concern. That 1977 campaign could not have started better for he won the opening race in Argentina. Further victories followed in Monaco (the 100th for the Ford Cosworth DFV engine) and Canada as Scheckter finished as a distant runner-up behind Lauda. He began 1978 in the old Wolf WR1-Ford but suffered mechanical failures and accidents at the start of an ultimately frustrating season.

It was Monaco before he scored his first points when third and the WR5 was only ready to race from the Spanish GP. In a year dominated by John Player Team Lotus, Scheckter then finished second in Germany and Canada, and third at Watkins Glen although seventh in the standings was a disappointment. Formula 1 World Champion for Ferrari There had been a suspicion that the driver was better than his machinery and Scheckter accepted an invitation to join Ferrari for 1979. By now, he had mellowed his once wild driving style and it was talented young French-Canadian Gilles Villeneuve who more resembled the South African of old. Their characters and driving styles complemented each other and they soon became firm friends. Scheckter was consistently in the points from round two as he patiently built a championship-winning total. Second in South Africa and at Long Beach as Villeneuve prevailed, Scheckter then won successive races in Belgium and Monaco to establish the championship lead. Appropriately, it was at Monza that he clinched the 1979 World Championship for Ferrari – leading Villeneuve across the line in front of the adoring Italian fans.

Already planning to retire from racing at the end of 1980, Scheckter suffered a vexing title defence with the disastrous Ferrari 312T5. Ferrari experienced excessive tyre wear with its Michelin rubber and the dimensions of Ferrari's flat-12 prevented designer Mauro Forghieri from adopting Lotus's successful ground effect principals. With his title ambitious already satisfied, there was also less intensity to Scheckter's performances during 1980 but he was unfairly criticised by the Italian media for not trying hard enough. He suffered the indignity of failing to qualify in Canada and scored points at just one race when fifth in Long Beach. It was a downbeat final chapter in a world champion's F1 career. Life after Formula 1 Having retired from racing, Scheckter moved from his Monaco home to live in America where he established FATS Inc., a business producing simulators for the firearm and security industry. During 1981, he was also an F1 pitlane commentator for CBS and won BBC Television's World Superstars competition that pitted sportsmen from different fields against each other.

Scheckter used the considerable proceeds from selling FATS to acquire the 2,500 acre Laverstoke Park Farm in Hampshire in England. He then turned his hand to organic farming with the intensity and single mindedness that characterised his quest to become world champion. Championship seasons McLaren Formula 1 - Heritage - Jody Scheckter Jody Scheckter Jody Scheckter In his formative years Jody Scheckter was as wild and unrestrained behind the wheel as he was brilliantly talented. The curly-haired South African was quickly afforded the nickname ‘Fletcher’ after the baby seagull in the book Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, who tried to fly when he was too young and kept on crashing into the cliff face. Jody arrived in the UK to race Formula Ford in early 1971 and breezed through FF1600 and F3 with such good effect that he was at the wheel of a works McLaren M19A in time for the following year’s US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen.

This dazzling progress continued, and in 1973 he led the French GP at Paul Ricard in one of the new McLaren M23s before being pushed off by Emerson Fittipaldi’s Lotus 72. A couple of weeks later he ensured that McLaren hit the headlines in the British GP at Silverstone. Trying too hard too soon, Jody ran wide coming out of Woodcote corner on the opening lap; his M23 spun back across the track and, in the process, triggered a multiple pile-up which resulted in the race being stopped! Although tipped to have a long-term future with McLaren, instead he was signed to lead the Tyrrell team in 1974 in the wake of Jackie Stewart’s retirement. Under Ken’s stern tutelage he began to calm down and won that year’s British and Swedish GPs. He stayed with Tyrrell for three years, but then signed for the emergent Walter Wolf Racing team which planned to field a single car in 1977 designed by the respected Harvey Postlethwaite and run by former Lotus team manager Peter Warr.

Scheckter very nearly won the 1977 championship in the Wolf, winning three Grands Prix but ending up as runner-up behind Niki Lauda. The 1978 season saw the Wolf squad lose momentum and when the offer of a Ferrari drive came up for 1979, Jody did not hesitate. Many observers felt that Jody was biting off more than he could chew throwing in his lot with Maranello, but he successfully saw off his tempestuous young team-mate Gilles Villeneuve to win the world championship in the bullet-proof Ferrari 312T4. In 1980, the Ferrari 312T5 was a hopeless successor to the title winning machine and Scheckter retired from racing at the end of that season.

McLaren Career Span 1972-73 (Ferrari and McLaren) Alan Henry Top 50 Ranking 18 Jody Scheckter: From Formula One to life in the slow lane | The Independent Profiles Jody Scheckter: From Formula One to life in the slow lane The former Grand Prix motor racing champion started organic farming as a hobby 14 years ago, but it has since turned into a passion and major business. Susie Mesure meets Jody Scheckter Saturday 4 September 2010 23:00 BST Click to follow The Independent Online Being told to "belt up" barely 10 minutes into an interview would normally bode badly but Jody Scheckter means well enough. The one-time enfant terrible of motor racing knows better than most what happens when he steps on the gas and he is not taking any chances. It's hardly Monza, but I swear the needle hits 60 as the grass blurs outside my window.

I need him to slow down because I'm trying to pick out the 31 different herbs, clovers and grasses that Scheckter claims have turned the 2,500 acres on his Laverstoke Park Farm into a "mixed salad" for the various beasts that roam his land. We are heading for a field of water buffalo, which The Independent on Sunday photographer hopes will provide a suitable background for some shots to accompany this piece. The hairy black beasts are a far cry from the Formula One glamour girls in backdrops past, but they look just as beautiful to Scheckter. Where I see flies, he sees hope that his 14-year farming odyssey might yet strike gold. After sinking "an embarrassing amount" of his £60m personal fortune into setting up one of the UK's most impressive organic farms, Scheckter, 60, knows that the clock is ticking on his attempt to make his latest career choice – farming – pay. "Even if I can afford to lose money year after year, it doesn't give me any pleasure.

I can have the best food in the world and people can think, 'Wow, this is wonderful,' but if it's not sustainable, it's a failure," the former Grand Prix world champion admits. What started as a hobby after Scheckter's second wife, Clare, gave him a book on organic farming quickly took over his life. "It became a passion, and then a disease," he says. The pair had just returned to England, Clare's home country, after a stint in the US that ended with him banking millions from the sale of a company he set up after retiring from the F1 circuit in 1980. They needed somewhere to live, and settled on Laverstoke Park, the historic home of the Portal family, which was famous for printing bank notes; it came with 530 acres attached. "It was a little bit of a fantasy," he recalls, his South African accent still strong despite not having lived there for nearly four decades. "I wanted to produce the best possible tasting food for me and my family without a compromise, and my conclusion was to follow nature very strictly.

We have two main keys: slow-growing animals and plants are generally healthy and taste better, and biodiversity is the key to a healthy natural environment." Scheckter's ecological conversion might seem at odds with his former fuel-burning lifestyle, but he claims he has always been a "foodie and a health fanatic". Something, certainly, has been burning the calories he's been consuming: he is as trim a sexagenarian as you're likely to encounter. His white shirt (with Laverstoke Park Farm logo) is tucked tightly into belted Boss jeans and is hiding nothing. There are, however, enough wheels on the farm to help compensate for the Ferraris he drove when he won the world title. In addition to his Mercedes 4x4 and the countless tractors that are dotted about, two bulldozers are busy shifting the 25,000 steaming tons of compost he is licensed to produce. Although his original intention was to stock his family's larder, not his local supermarket's shelves, Scheckter says he quickly realised that killing a cow meant eating beef for six weeks, and he was keen to apply the diversity principle to his diet as well as his fields.

The farm, he says, "just got bigger and bigger to try to make it work commercially". As well as the buffalo, today he has beef cattle, Jersey cows, boar, pigs, ewes and assorted poultry. He also grows a wide variety of fruit and vegetables, as well as hops and vines. Many of his livestock are rare or traditional breeds; he prefers them because they are smaller, grow slower and taste better. He has added salami, bresaola, pâté, sausages, nitrate-free bacon, burgers, and biltong to the fillet steaks he sells in an attempt to use up the other "800 pieces" you get from a carcass. All the animals are killed on site in what I'm told is the abattoir equivalent to turning left on a plane, even if the livestock concerned have only a one-way ticket. Happily, for this vegetarian correspondent, Friday wasn't killing day at Laverstoke Park, much as Scheckter would have liked it to be. "We kill two to three days a week, but we should be doing five.

You can't run a place like this financially with two days," he says, gesturing to the gleaming machinery in the purpose-built abattoir below us. The five-star service is not intended as a sop to the animal welfare movement but because the more relaxed an animal is before its death, the tastier the meat. Apparently. "If you stress an animal in this environment, you get bad meat. If they get scared, the meat changes its colour. It changes its pH. It gets tough, and it tastes different, so we do a lot to keep the animals as calm as possible in here. That's nature's way of making us be kind to animals." Not kind enough not to eat them, though? "No, no. I'm not vegetarian. I'm lazy. They collect all the vitamins for me for years and then I..." he trails off, then gestures to an apple tree. "You can go to extremes; you can say you don't want to eat things that grow like apples, because they're alive.

That's not what I'm about." Moving on, physically as well as philosophically, Scheckter's next stop on our whistle-stop tour of his farm is the dairy, where he has recently added ice-cream to the things he is doing with buffalo milk. Despite feeling queasy from the speed of his corners, I'm treated to a full tasting session: eight flavours in all, spanning liquorice to dolce, the sweet, burnt-caramel version made to his mother's own recipe. I normally take my buffalo milk mozzarellaed, but Scheckter's ice-creams are possibly an improvement even on his much vaunted Italian-style cheese. Sweet, creamy, and no doubt hideously calorific, all eight are a triumph, although peppermint stands out to my mind, possibly because it cuts through the richness of the buffalo milk. Scheckter knows he's taking a gamble by adding ice-cream to his repertoire, but he just can't help himself. "I probably was arrogant. I started eight start-up companies at once and that's been the biggest problem, because I can't spend enough time on any of them. I can't find the right people.

It took me eight years in America to get a good team, and I thought that now I know what I'm doing it's going to be shorter, but it hasn't been. It's all so diverse. Each one is different, from making mozzarella and ice-cream, to salami and bacon, to farming and compost," he says, speaking nearly as fast as he drives. Then there's the soil-testing laboratory that has turned Laverstoke into the "University of Organics", he adds. The farm boasts a full-time microbiologist as well as a microchemist, adding to the complexity of Scheckter's project, as well as his selling points. "We follow nature but we use science to try to understand it a little bit better." Although most of his produce is organic, Scheckter prefers to style himself as a "natural" rather than an organic farmer. What is clear is that he's no Soil Association acolyte, muttering something about the organic standards body being "too political" for him. He thinks organic food, which has had a tough time of late with shoppers choosing cheaper, conventionally grown alternatives, has a "bad image".

He adds: "The more you understand about it, the more you understand the reasons why you should be eating organic. Why would we be putting synthetic things into our body? But I think organic has got a bad image – it's got a Gucci image. It's not at all. It's natural." Either way, it's an exciting ride, even if Scheckter will have to hand himself his own bottle of bubbles when – if – he finally gets his farm into the black. Curriculum vitae 1950 Born in East London, in South Africa's Eastern Cape, where his father owns a Renault dealership. Goes to the nearby Selborne College. 1970 Moves to Britain, where he rapidly ascends to the ranks of Formula One. 1972 Makes his F1 debut with McLaren at the US Grand Prix. 1973 Uses up several of his lives in one of the most colourful crashes Silverstone has ever seen. His car runs wide to the exit at the end of lap one and skids across the track into the pit wall. Eight following cars pile either into his McLaren or each other. Although the Grand Prix Drivers' Association demands that he be banned, he misses only a few races.

1977 Joins the Wolf team and finishes second to Niki Lauda in the championship. 1979 Signs for Ferrari, pairing up with Gilles Villeneuve. Wins the drivers' championship. Retires the next year after struggling very badly in his 1980 title defence, managing only two points. Moves to the US and sets up a company that created hi-tech simulators to train law enforcement officers and the military. 1996 Moves to England with his second wife, Clare. Buys the 18th-century house at Laverstoke Park, in Hampshire, and 530 surrounding acres to start an organic farm. More about: Second But Never Champion – F1’s nearly men! | Lights Out - The Motorsport Blog Formula 1, GP2/3, GT Racing and general Motor Sport Blog! Second But Never Champion – F1’s nearly men! Formula 1 , Motor Racing April 3, 2013 Leave a comment Everyone remembers a champion. From Giuseppe Farina in the first season in 1950 to Sebastian Vettel in 2012, the champions get all the credit. However there is more to it than that.

Here are all the drivers who came runner up in the Formula 1 World Championship but never got a Championship themselves. Over the years there have only been 18 drivers who came close but never got to call themselves the champ. ———————————————- Jose Froilan Gonzalez – Argentina Runner-up: 1954 Runner-up to his fellow Argentine, the legendary Juan-Manuel Fangio in 1954, Gonzalez won the British Grand Prix and grabbed four other podiums (two of which were in shared drives with Mike Hawthorn). Finished with 25 1/7 points (1 point was awarded for fastest lap, however SEVEN drivers shared it and got 1/7 each!) to Fangio’s 42. Gonzales made his debut in the second ever F1 race in Monaco 1950, and raced Maserati’s, Talbot-Lago’s, Ferrari’s, Vanwalls and Lancias in his career that lasted to 1960. He only won twice in 26 starts, once in 1951 and the other in 1954. Towards the end of his career, he only competed in his home grand prix.

He scored a total of 77 9/14 points, of which only 72 1/7 counted due to dropping results. ———————————————- Stirling Moss – Great Britain Runner up: 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958 The driver many say was the best driver never to win the World Championship, Moss was runner-up to Juan-Manuel Fangio on three occasions, with the Mike Hawthorn winning in 1958. In 1955 he won his home grand prix in Britain and had two other podium finshes, ending up 17 points behind Fangio (40 to 23). 1956 was a closer affair, Moss only losing by three points (30 to 27) winning twice (Monaco & Monza). Fangio stretched it back out to 15 points (40 to 25) in 1957, yet Moss still managed to win three times, at Silverstone, Pescara & Monza.

Four race wins in 1958 wasn’t enough to win the title as Mike Hawthorn pipped him 42 points to 41. In his career, Moss raced for Mercedes-Benz, Maserati, Vanwall, Cooper, Lotus & HWM. In 66 starts, he won 16 times, and was regarded by Fangio as his greatest rival. He scored a total of 186 9/14 points of which 185 9/14 counted towards the championship. He raced between 1951 until a crash in 1961 curtailed his racing career. ———————————————- Tony Brooks – Great Britain Runner up: 1959 Runner-up to the legendary Australian Jack Brabham in 1959, Brooks won twice in his Ferrari, once in France and again in Germany, with two other podium finishes, but missed out on the championship by 4 points (31 to 27) after retiring on three occasions during the season.

Brooks competed in Formula One between the years of 1956 and 1961, winning 6 times, and driving for teams including BRM, Vanwall, Ferrari and Cooper. He scored a total of 75 career points, and retired at the end of 1961 after finishing on the podium in the United States. ———————————————- Bruce McLaren – New Zealand Runner up: 1960 Another driver to finish runner-up to Jack Brabham, McLaren only won once (in Argentina) during the 1960 season, finishing on the podium on five other occasions. He missed out on the championship by nine points, finishing on 34 points compared to Brabham’s 43. A retirement in the Netherlands was his only blemish in a season he finished every other F1 race he competed in the top four.

In a career spanning twelve years from 1958 to his tragic death in 1970, he won four races, finished on the podium on 27 other occasions, and scored a total of 196.5 points, of which 188.5 counted towards the championship, McLaren’s greatest achievement though was to win a race in a car baring his own name, having created a team in 1965, a team that still races to this day – McLaren. ———————————————- Wolfgang von Trips – Germany Runner up: 1961 The German finished runner-up to American Phil Hill in 1961 after losing his life in a crash with Jim Clark at Monza in the penultimate race of the season. He had won two races up that point in the Netherlands and in Great Britain, and only missed out on the championship by a single point as Hill won the Monza race that cost von Trips everything. Wolfgang von Trips competed in 27 Grand Prix between 1956 & 1961, winning twice and finishing on the podium on six other occasions, scoring 56 career points.

He drove for Porsche, Scuderia Centro Sud and Ferrari in his shortened career. ———————————————- Jacky Ickx – Belgium Runner up: 1969, 1970 Ickx is one of the few drivers to finish runner up on more than one occasion, doing so in consecutive years in 1969 to Jackie Stewart and in 1970 to Jochen Rindt. He won two races for Brabham in 1969 but lost the championship by a hefty 26 points as Stewart ran away with it. In 1970 he moved to the Ferrari team and won on three occasions, but Rindt won the championship by five points despite losing his life before the season had finished. Six retirements for Ickx didn’t help his championship bid. The Belgian racer began his Formula One career in 1967 before retiring at the end of the 1979 season. He won 8 races, and drove for Cooper, Ferrari, Brabham, McLaren, Williams, Lotus, Wolf, Ensign & Ligier in a career that spanned 122 races.

He finished on the podium twenty-five times, and scored a total of 181 career points. ———————————————- Ronnie Peterson – Sweden Runner up: 1971, 1978 The popular Swede was an outstanding talent, and finished runner-up to Jackie Stewart in 1971 and to his teammate Mario Andretti in 1978, a season where he would lose his life in a startline crash for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. Such was the domination of Stewart in 1971 that Peterson didn’t manage to win a race, but consistancy brought him five podiums and 33 points. He would win two races in 1978 but lost the championship by 13 points to Andretti, despite six additional podium finishes. In a career that began in 1970, The super Swede won 10 Formula One Grand Prix and took twenty-six other podium finishes, scoring 206 career points. He drove for March, Tyrrell and Lotus in a career that spanned 123 races, before his fatal accident in Monza, where he died in hospital three days after his crash after complications from his injuries.

———————————————- Clay Regazzoni – Switzerland Runner up: 1974 The Swiss driver finished runner-up to Brazilian Emerson Fittipaldi in 1975, missing out on the championship by three points. He had a chance of the championship going into the season finale but finished a lowly 11th. Regazzoni only won once that year to the three of Fittipaldi. He raced in Formula One between 1970 and 1980, driving for Ferrari, BRM, Ensign, Shadow and Williams, winning five times and scoring 212 career points, of which 209 counted towards the Championship. His F1 career was ended when a crash in Long Beach in 1980 left him paralyzed from the waist down. ———————————————- Gilles Villeneuve – Canada Runner up: 1979 In a season dominated by Ferrari, Villeneuve missed out on the 1979 championship by four points from teammate Jody Scheckter. The popular Canadian won three times, in South Africa, in Long Beach and in Watkins Glen.

He also got four second place finishes, scoring 47 points compared to Scheckter’s 51. There are many that call Villeneuve one of the greatest of all time with some stunning drives and overtakes that to this day are remembered fondly. He raced from 1977 to his death in 1982, starting 67 times, winning 6 times and scoring 101 career points. He lost his life in a qualifying crash in Zolder in 1982, mere weeks after falling out with his teammate Didier Pironi in San Marino. They never made up. ———————————————- Carlos Reutemann – Argentina Runner up: 1981 Brazilian Nelson Piquet defeated Reutemann in the season finale after the Argentine driver endured a nightmare race, finishing outside the points in eighth after leading the championship going into the Caesers Palace weekend. He won twice during the season, in Brazil & Belgium, and scored five other podium finishes, scoring 49 points to Piquet’s 50.

His Formula One career began in 1972 and ended in 1982, spanning 146 races, twelve of which he won. He drove for Brabham, Ferrari, Lotus and Williams, retiring from the sport after the second round of the 1982 season after a row with team boss Frank Williams over politics. ———————————————- Didier Pironi – France Runner up: 1982 Finished runner-up to Keke Rosberg in the traumatic 1982 season after a crash in the rain in Hockenheim where he smashed into the back of Alain Prost’s Renault ended his Formula One career. He finished the season with 39 points compared to the 44 of Rosberg despite not competing in the final five races. He had won twice, once against team orders against Gilles Villeneuve in San Marino, and again in the Netherlands, and scored four other podium finishes. Pironi started 70 races, winning three times and gaining thirteen podium finishes. He drove for Tyrrell, Ligier and Ferrari in a career that only spanned between 1978 and 1982.

Pironi would lose his life in a power-boating accident in 1986, mere months after testing an AGS F1 car in Paul Ricard. However he declined the offer of a drive. ———————————————- Michele Alboreto – Italy Runner up: 1985 Finished runner-up to Alain Prost in 1985, after unreliability cost him dearly with five consecutive retirements at the season’s conclusion. He had won twice, once in Canada and then again in Germany, finishing six other races on the podium. He finished on 53 points to Prosts 73, despite being level pegging with the Frenchman with five rounds to go. Alboreto was one of the most experienced drivers in Formula One history, starting 194 times, winning five of them. He drove for Tyrrell, Ferrari, Larrousse, Arrows, Footwork, Scuderia Italia and Minardi between 1981 and 1994. He scored a total of 186.5 points in his career.

———————————————- Riccardo Patrese – Italy Runner up: 1992 In 1992, the Williams was the class of the field, and Patrese finished a distant second to champion teammate Nigel Mansell. He only won once compared to Mansell’s nine race wins, and scored 56 points compared to his teammates 108. He did manage eight podium finishes, six of which were second places to Mansell. In a career that begin in 1977 and ended in 1993, Patrese started 256 races, winning 6 of them, including the 1982 Monaco Grand Prix. He drove for Shadow, Arrows, Brabham, Alfa Romeo, Williams and Benetton, scoring 37 career podiums and 281 career points. He retired at the end of 1993 after being comprehensively beaten in the championship by a young Michael Schumacher at Benetton.

———————————————- Heinz-Harald Frentzen – Germany Runner up: 1997 The history books will say Frentzen finished second to teammate Jacques Villeneuve in 1997, but if you look at the small print, you’d see Michael Schumacher’s disqualification from the final standings. Frentzen’s first year at Williams brought him a solitary win in San Marino, and 42 points, whereas teammate Villeneuve scored 81 and Schumacher scoring 78 prior to his dq. Frentzen did manage six podium finishes though. Frentzen began his Formula One career driving for Sauber in 1993, and also raced for Williams, Jordan, Prost and Arrows before retiring in 2003. He made 156 race starts, winning 3 of them and gaining 18 podiums. He was in the championship hunt in 1999 but came up short, losing out to Mika Hakkinen in the final reckoning. He scored a total of 174 career points.

———————————————- Eddie Irvine – Great Britain Runner up: 1999 Before the 1999 season, no-one gave Eddie Irvine a chance of being in the championship hunt, but he finished runner-up to Mika Hakkinen, primarily because teammate Michael Schumacher, Irvines team leader, was out injured for most of the season. Irvine won four times, in Australia, Austria, Germany and Malaysia, finishing only 74 points to Hakkinen’s 76. He finished on the podium an additional five times. Irvine’s F1 career started with an argument with Ayrton Senna, who aimed a punch at the Irishman after unlapping himself, something Senna argued he shouldn’t have done. Irvine also got a three-race ban at the beginning of the 1994 season after triggering a four car crash in Brazil. Irvine’s career took him to Jordan, Ferrari and Jaguar, winning only the four races in 1999, finishing on the podium twenty-six times, scoring 191 career points. He retired at the end of 2002, and to this day is still prone of interfering and being outspoken in Formula One debates.

———————————————- David Coulthard – Great Britain Runner up: 2001 Finished a distant second to Michael Schumacher’s second consecutive World Championship, scoring 65 points compared to Schumacher’s 123. Coulthard won the Brazilian and Austrian Grand Prix, and finished on the podium an additional eight times. He did however comprehensively beat teammate Mika Hakkinen, who decided enough was enough at the end of the season and retired. Coulthard began his career at Williams in 1994 after Ayrton Senna’s fatal accident at Imola, and scored his first points in his second race in Canada. He also raced for McLaren from 1996 until 2004, before moving to Red Bull between 2005 and his retirement at the end of 2008. He won 13 times and scored a career total of 535 points, and is now a commentator for the BBC coverage of F1.

———————————————- Rubens Barrichello – Brazil Runner up: 2002, 2004 The popular Brazilian finished runner up to teammate Michael Schumacher in both 2002 and 2004, both times when the Ferrari was the class car of the field. In 2002, he won four times and scored 77 points, but Schumacher won twelve and scored 144 points, not finishing off the podium all season. In 2004, Barrichello won twice and finished on 114 points, compared to Schumachers thirteen wins and 148 points. Rubens is currently the most experienced Formula One driver of all time, having started 322 races, winning eleven of them. He drove for Jordan, Stewart, Ferrari, Honda, Brawn and Williams in a career that began in 1993 and only ended at the end of 2011. He scored a total of 658 career points in that time. ———————————————- Felipe Massa – Brazil Runner up: 2008 The little Brazilian finished runner-up to Lewis Hamilton in perhaps the greatest season climax ever.

Massa won the Brazilian Grand Prix, but Lewis Hamilton won the championship after overtaking a dry-tyred Timo Glock at the penultimate corner in the rain of Interlagos. Massa won six races in 2008 and scored 97 points, missing out on the championship by a single point. In a career thats is still going on, Massa has currently started 174 Grand Prix, and has won eleven of them. He started out at Sauber in 2002, before joining Ferrari in 2006 as Michael Schumacher’s teammate. Massa was lucky to escape with his life at Hungary in 2009 when a spring from Rubens Barrichello’s Brawn hit him on the helmet, curtailing his season while he recovered. He remains with Ferrari for 2013 and will be looking for his first win since 2008. Share this:

Question: Who was runner-up when Jody Scheckter won motor racing's Formula One Championship?
Answer: Gilles Villeneuve