Eddie Jordan reveals who he thinks are the best three British F1 drivers of all-time

Sam Cooper
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Former race team owner Eddie Jordan has picked the three British drivers who he believes are the best to ever do it in Formula 1.

There are few countries who have had such an impact on Formula 1 as Great Britain has. The country has produced more championship winning drivers than any other and even to this day, the central hub of all things F1 is in the UK with the likes of Red Bull, Mercedes, Aston Martin and Haas all based within close proximity to one another.

While Jordan is not British himself, he has spent a fair amount of time in the country and when he founded his own team, it was Silverstone he chose as his headquarters for a factory that is now operated by Aston Martin.

As such, he is pretty well placed to complete the hard task of naming his three top drivers to ever come from the British isles.
To start, Jordan was keen to mention that there were plenty of big names not quite able to crack his top three.

“There’s such an array of great drivers,” Jordan told OLBG. “You could go back to Mike Hawthorn and Mike Hailwood. I actually think John Surtees is right up there, champion on two wheels and four wheels, but he doesn’t get mentioned that much.

“You have Damon Hill who drove for me, he earned Jordan our first ever Formula 1 win, but then his father who was double world champion. Jenson Button, James Hunt, Nigel Mansell, there’s such an array of stars there.”

But there could only be three and unsurprisingly, all of Jordan’s were multiple world champions.

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“However, Jim Clark stands out for everybody,” Jordan said of the man who earned two F1 titles and could have earned more had he not died at the age of 32.

“He’s recognised as being the inspiration and the greatness of the great driver that he was.

“Jackie Stewart, champion so many times. And you can not, ever, leave out Lewis Hamilton because for me, Lewis, Jackie and Jim, what a trio, it’s just remarkable.

“The ones I mentioned before then have been unbelievable stars but those three stand out for me.”

Between the 10 British drivers to have been crowned world champion, they have secured 20 titles and it should come as no surprise that no other driver comes close to the seven titles earned by Hamilton.

Stewart is next on the list with three while Clark and Graham Hill both have two. Button, Hawthorn, Damon Hill, Hunt, Mansell and Surtees all have one each.