Eight F1 drivers we can’t believe never won a championship

Elizabeth Blackstock
Jacky Ickx Gilles Villeneuve Stirling Moss Formula 1 PlanetF1

Jacky Ickx, Stirling Moss, and Gilles Villeneuve: Three talented drivers who never nabbed that Formula 1 title.

Earning a World Drivers’ Championship is the crowning achievement in the career of an F1 driver — the ultimate signal to the world that you’re one of racing’s greats.

But not every exceptional driver wins a championship. We’re looking back at eight Formula 1 legends that we simply cannot believe never won a title.

Eight F1 drivers we can’t believe never won the F1 championship

Gilles Villeneuve

So sizable is the mark Gilles Villeneuve left on the sport of Formula 1 that it can be easy to forget he only competed in the sport for six seasons.

The former snowmobile racer from Canada launched onto the scene after impressing James Hunt in a Formula Atlantic race, and before long, he had inked a deal with Ferrari.

In 1979, Villeneuve just barely lost his grasp on the WDC to teammate Jody Scheckter, who won with a margin of four points.

Soon after, Ferrari entered a performance slump, and the very fact that Villeneuve was able to take wins during that period was impressive.

Sadly, as tensions rose between Villeneuve and his friend and teammate Didier Pironi, as well as between Villeneuve and his team, he perhaps lost his way.

During qualifying for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix, Villeneuve was killed after failing to pass Jochen Mass; his car was pitched into the air, and his body thrown into the catch fence.

Had he lived, many felt he would have been destined for a title.

Stirling Moss

With 16 race wins in 66 races, Stirling Moss was perhaps Formula 1’s most notorious bridesmaid: He finished second in the championship four times, and third in the championship three times.

In 1958, he lost the title to Mike Hawthorn by just one point — all because defended his competitor against an undeserved penalty.

Sadly, Moss’ racing career came to a close in 1962 after a terrible crash at Goodwood.

Moss spent a month in a coma, and six months half paralyzed.

When he tried to get back behind the wheel, he realized that he simply no longer had the finesse required to compete at the top level.

Afterward, he enjoyed a long career as a broadcaster and personality, while also engaging in a bit of motorsport in the 1980s.

Sir Stirling Moss passed away on April 12, 2020, at 90 years of age.

Dan Gurney

Unlike Moss, Dan Gurney was not a Formula 1 driver who spent his career toeing the top three in the championship standings; rather, his best finish was fourth overall.

On the track, he is often remembered as being the only driver that Jim Clark truly feared.

Rather than focus on winning a WDC, Gurney’s attentions were elsewhere.

He raced in just about everything — IndyCar, NASCAR, endurance racing — and spent a large part of his F1 years attempting to design, build, and competitively field his own car, the Eagle.

Had he opted to racing for an established team, he likely would have taken a title with ease.

After retiring from F1, Gurney became a team owner and an influential figure in American open-wheel racing.

In 2018, he died at the age of 86 due to complications from pneumonia.

Ronnie Peterson

Known as the “Superswede,” Ronnie Peterson remains the most successful F1 driver from his home country.

He was one of those drivers that could adapt to any machinery he was given. The problem was that, throughout his career, he was regularly driving unreliable cars.

Peterson raced in F1 between 1970 and 1978, finishing second in the WDC twice.

His best shot at the championship came during his final year of competition, when he joined Mario Andretti at Team Lotus.

Unfortunately, Peterson was injured in a crash at Monza that year, and overnight, a fat embolism resulted in his death.

It was a tragedy for the sport, particularly because his injuries, though bad, did not appear life-threatening.

Had circumstances been different, we almost certainly would have seen him win a championship.

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Bruce McLaren

Much like Dan Gurney, perhaps the only reason Bruce McLaren failed to win a World Drivers’ Championship is because he grew consumed with designing and building his own racing machines.

The New Zealander beat the odds by making his way to the European F1 scene in 1958, and the year after, he took his first win in the sport — becoming the youngest driver to win a race, a record that stood for 44 years.

In the meantime, he established his own car company, won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and dominated the original Can-Am series twice.

Sadly, at just 32 years old, McLaren was killed while testing a Can-Am machine at Goodwood, bringing to a premature end a deeply promising career.

Jacky Ickx

Dakar. Le Mans. Bathurst. Can-Am.

Wherever Belgian hotshot Jacky Ickx raced, he was sure to win — yet somehow, he never secured a Formula 1 title.

Ickx’s F1 career began with a one-off appearance in 1966 before he inked a full-time deal with Ferrari in 1968.

The subsequent two years, he finished second in the Championship; in 1970, he very well could have fought for the title, but he felt it was improper, as his main title rival Jochen Rindt had died partway through the season.

Despite lasting in F1 through 1979, Ickx never again got close to a championship, but that hardly matters in the face of his deeply impressive career in just about everything else — including an impressive six wins at Le Mans.

Ickx retired from racing in the 1980s but still competes in the occasional historic event.

Carlos Reutemann

Argentinian racer Carlos Reutemann could be shockingly quick on his best days, taking 12 total wins in a career that spanned between 1972 and 1982 and consisted of 146 events.

He took third place in the WDC three separate times, and finished second in 1981, losing out on a lead in the championship standings in the final race of the year.

His career in the sport perhaps should have lasted longer, but Reutemann retired two races into the 1982 season as a result of ongoing political tensions resulting from the Falklands War.

That year, his Williams teammate Keke Rosberg wn the WDC.

After retiring from motorsport, Reutemann became a politician in his home country, serving as National Senator up until his death on July 7, 2021.

Rubens Barrichello

In 322 starts, Rubens Barrichello’s statistics are impressive: 11 wins, 14 pole positions, 68 podiums, and 658 total points.

There was just one problem: Barrichello spent his career as the bridesmaid, never the bride.

At Ferrari, Barrichello played the role as a dutiful supporter to Michael Schumacher.

Later in his career, he was the supporter to Jenson Button at Brawn.

He finished second in the WDC twice, and third once — but critically, he was never able to take that title.

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