Britain's Top 10 Formula 1 drivers

Nineteen British drivers have won a race in the Formula 1 World Championship. It's a record that no other country can match. And when you take into account the plethora of potentially race-winning drivers who either never got into a competitive car, or whose time was cut short, the depth of talent hailing from the shores of the United Kingdom is undeniable.

Picking out the 10 greatest is no easy task. So strong is the field that one British world champion fails even to make the list, while you can make a strong case for any number of greats to be awarded the top spot.

Tough as it is, AUTOSPORT has taken on the challenge of picking the top 10 British drivers in F1 history. And there are a good half-a-dozen drivers who would waltz into similar lists for most countries that miss out on this ranking.

Agree or disagree, its testament to the pre-eminence of drivers from the country that hosted the first World Championship race at Silverstone over six decades ago.

10. Damon Hill

Active years: 1992-1999

Starts: 115

Wins: 22

World Championships: 1 (1996)

Some argue that his four seasons in Williams-Renault machinery should have yielded more than one World Championship. But the son of Graham Hill is a criminally underrated driver capable of taking the fight to the likes of Michael Schumacher on his day.

Granted, there were some mistakes along the way, but for a driver who didn't start racing until he was 23 - when he started on motorbikes - his against-the-odds success is a hell of a story.

He didn't start an F1 race until he was 31, hauling the garishly-coloured and grossly off-the-pace Brabham onto the grid for the 1992 British Grand Prix. Once given his Williams break, he grabbed it with both hands. Like his father, he galvanised the team in the wake of tragedy and made a run for the 1994 world title following the death of Ayrton Senna. Two years later sealed the crown.

He had the best car, but F1 history is littered with those who blew their shots at the crown. You don't win the title without being an outstanding driver. Period.

9. James Hunt

Active years: 1973-1979

Starts: 92

Wins: 10

World Championships: 1 (1976)

A larger-than-life character who was as popular for his off-track antics as his pace on it; when Hunt was at his best he was sublimely fast. After all, he played a key role in proving that Hesketh - initially a team that few took seriously - was a force to be reckoned with a string of top results, notably winning the 1975 Dutch Grand Prix.

But it was at McLaren that he thrived, winning nine races in 1976 and 1977. Would he have won the World Championship had Niki Lauda not suffered his near-fatal crash at the Nurburgring in the former year? Almost certainly not. Does that make him an unworthy champion? No. And the way in which he sealed the title in the most dramatic fashion at Fuji helped him to transcend the sport.

He had his weaknesses. During his McLaren days, he would sometimes turn up for testing, drive a lap or two and then vanish for hours at a time. But he could haul a car around the track very quickly and could offer the team good feedback on race weekends. He just did not see the point of testing. The definition of a racer, if ever there was one.

8. Jenson Button

Active years: 2000-present

Starts: 197

Wins: 10

World Championships: 1 (2009)

When Jenson Button finally got himself into a grand prix-winning car, he used it to devastating effect. At the start of the 2009 season, when the Brawn BGP001 was the car of choice, he turned into the new Michael Schumacher. Fast, consistent and capable of putting the hammer down when he really needed to around the pitstops, he was finally able to justify the hype that periodically flared up during his career.

It was a stark contrast to the Button that had cast a shadowy figure in the paddock during the previous two seasons. The 2007 and 2008 Hondas were dreadful cars and after scoring a paltry nine points in two years, there were no more links to big teams for Button. When Honda pulled the plug, he feared it might be all over.

That was enough to shatter any career, but Button still had it in him to win the title. In a way, despite starting his first F1 race at 20 and claiming his maiden triumph at the Hungaroring in 2006, his career proper didn't start until 2009. And Button rode the Brawn phoenix to the greatest heights of the sport as it rose from the ashes of Honda.

A shock move to McLaren followed, as did three further victories that showcased his brilliance in mixed weather conditions. Right now, he's one of the most in-demand drivers in F1 and could yet add to his tally of world crowns.

7. Lewis Hamilton

Active years: 2007-present

Starts: 79

Wins: 15

World Championships: 1 (2008)

It's easy to forget that Lewis Hamilton's F1 career is only in its fifth season. He has packed more virtuoso performances, controversies and victories into his short time in F1 than the vast majority of drivers achieve in their entire careers. But for all of his recent troubles, he remains a class act and a potential great in the making.

Drama seems to follow Hamilton wherever he goes. From the rift with Fernando Alonso and his peripheral involvement in F1's spy scandal in 2007, to his last-gasp world title victory the following year, to his lying to the Australian Grand Prix stewards and subsequent redemption in 2009 to the title near-miss last year, it has never been dull. And the current mini-slump surely won't last long.

Yet for all of the downs, he remains arguably the fastest man in F1. The current mini-slump will end, the speculation over his future will wind down eventually and he will remind everyone why he became a superstar in the first place. The only thing that can stop him is perhaps himself.

6. Graham Hill

Active years: 1958-1975

Starts: 176

Wins: 14

World Championships: 2 (1962, 1968)

Dubbed Mr Monaco because of his quintet of wins in the principality, Graham Hill's abilities are often overlooked because he spent much of his prime being compared to Jim Clark. But while he didn't have the raw speed of the Scot, he was plenty quick enough.

Hill is indelibly linked with Lotus. In 1968, he was the driver who had to help the team regroup after Clark's death in an F2 race at Hockenheim and two victories delivered him a second World Championship. But it was with BRM that Hill spent most of his career, helping to turn it from laughing stock to world champion.

After making his debut with the nascent Team Lotus in 1958 and switching to BRM in 1960, Hill's first four years of World Championship grand prix racing yielded just one podium. But the arrival of the BRM P57 in 1962 allowed Hill to break the team's duck at Zandvoort, laying the foundation for winning the World Championship.

His top-line grand prix career effectively ended when he suffered a massive crash at the 1969 United States Grand Prix and broke both of his legs. He did return, but was never the same driver and his final bow came at Monaco in 1975, when he failed to qualify his uncompetitive Hill at the venue where he so often starred.

5. John Surtees

Active years: 1960-1972

Starts: 111

Wins: 6

World Championships: 1 (1964)

John Surtees was more than just a world champion on two and four wheels. He was a man whose biggest weakness was being so far ahead of his time in terms of immersing himself into the work of a racing team and driving car development, something that didn't always endear him to the management.

He was an instant hit at the top level, finishing as runner-up on only his second World Championship start in 1960. Then driving for Lotus, he followed that up with pole position for the next race at Porto. His big break came in 1963, when he joined Enzo Ferrari's team. A first win came in Germany and, the following season, two wins and a brace of second places in the final five races allowed him to snatch the title from Jim Clark.

His relationship with Ferrari was doomed to failure and he walked away after winning the 1966 Belgian Grand Prix. He switched to Cooper, taking an unexpected win in Mexico.

In some ways, it's what happened at Honda that epitomised Surtees. After 18 months of disappointing results, Surtees spearheaded the development of a new car with Lola. This produced the Honda RA300, dubbed the Hondola, with which he won sensationally by 0.2s from Jack Brabham in one of the most famous Italian Grand Prix finishes in 1967. Sadly, Honda was resolved to building its own cars and success was only fleeting for Surtees there before the Japanese manufacturer pulled the plug after producing the catastrophic RA301.

After a year with BRM, he set up his own ill-fated team in 1970 and he continued to appear at the top level until 1972 when he retired from driving with only six victories to his name.

In another era, there might have been many more times that number of wins and several world titles. He was that good.

4. Stirling Moss

Active years: 1951-1961

Starts: 66

Wins: 16

World Championships: 0

Few drivers can claim ever to have been the greatest of an era - and Stirling Moss would be wary of demanding that recognition for himself - but between Juan Manuel Fangio and Jim Clark he was the best in the business.

Forget all of the business about never winning the World Championship. Moss was world class and recognised by his contemporaries as the benchmark. A season as Fangio's number two at Mercedes in 1955 helped to polish the rough edges and from then on he was always a contender. In the seven seasons from 1955-1961, he finished second or third in the championship every year.

There were any number of years when he could have been champion. In 1958, when he defended eventual title winner Mike Hawthorn against an incorrect disqualification, for example. Or perhaps the following year, when he was quicker than works Cooper driver Jack Brabham in his Rob Walker-run example but didn't have the more reliable Citroen-based gearbox.

But success is not measured in World Championships alone. Many rate Moss as one of the greatest drivers ever to have competed and with or without that title, he was unquestionably the best driver in the world for several years before a near-fatal crash at Goodwood in 1962 brought his top-line career to a close.

The final component of his claim to greatness is the way that he transcended the sport. So much so that when he retired from all racing at Le Mans last month, it attracted a huge amount of attention. Not bad for a driver who hadn't raced at the highest level for half a century.

3. Jim Clark

Active years: 1960-1968

Starts: 73

Wins: 25

World Championships: 2 (1963, 1965)

How many titles would Clark have had his machinery been a little more reliable? Surely four and perhaps even five. During a career spent entirely with Lotus, he won over a third of the World Championship races that he started and was regarded as the fastest man in the sport for much of the 1960s.

Perhaps the one criticism you can make of Clark's body of work is that he spent his whole career with one team. But while he often had the best machinery, there were times when he was able to show his brilliance in adversity. Take the 1966 Dutch Grand Prix for example. Lotus spent half of that season after the increase of engine capacity using two-litre Climax power, yet Clark was able to lead the three-litre Repco-powered Brabhams of Denny Hulme and Jack Brabham for 49 laps before a cooked engine forced him to drop to third.

The bottom line is that Clark was a winner. To see that, just look at his results in World Championships races. He finished second just once and third five times, but won on 25 occasions. The only achievement missing from his CV is victory in the Monaco Grand Prix, but his haul of four pole positions proves that speed was not the problem there.

2. Nigel Mansell

Active years: 1980-1995

Starts: 187

Wins: 31

World Championships: 1 (1992)

Mansell's Birmingham twang and penchant for theatrics shrouded a steely determination to succeed. While some never embraced him as an equal in the company of the likes of Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna, the fact that he was one of the few drivers capable of racing wheel to wheel with them - and prevailing - on a regular basis proves that his 31 wins were no fluke.

Mansell only won one World Championship, but arguably deserved at least one more. He had to fight his way to the top and prove the doubters wrong after only sporadically catching the attention with his performances for Lotus from 1980-1984. When Williams signed him for 1985, he had the chance to show just how good he was.

Against former champions Keke Rosberg and Nelson Piquet, he showed well, and only his infamous tyre blowout cost him the 1986 title. In 1987, his bid for the crown came to an end with his massive Suzuka crash and it wasn't until he unretired to return to Williams in 1991 after two years at Ferrari that he had his best years. In 1992, he utterly dominated before flouncing off to IndyCars and taking a remarkable title there at his first attempt.

He returned for four races for Williams in 1994, taking a win and a pole position at Adelaide.

Forget what happened after - the ill-judged dalliance with McLaren and his continuing non-retirement. Mansell at his best was an unstoppable force of nature who deserves his place among the all-time greats.

1. Jackie Stewart

Active years: 1965-1973

Starts: 99

Wins: 27

World Championships: 3 (1969, 1971, 1973)

Now 72 and a prolifically quotable voice on contemporary F1, it's easy to forget just how classy Jackie Stewart was as a racing driver. That he was stunningly quick is a given, but he combined that with a depth of understanding of the demands of being a top-line racing driver both on and off-track.

The statistics speak for themselves. To take three world titles and achieve a win rate of close to one in three in an era blessed with so many star drivers - Clark, Brabham, Surtees, Hill, Jochen Rindt, Emerson Fittipaldi, Denny Hulme etc - is proof of his calibre.

For Stewart, driving an F1 car wasn't only about pure speed. It was about understanding every aspect of the car and gelling with the team - something he did to brilliant effect while driving for Ken Tyrrell - and controlling a race. He didn't need to be at the front on any given lap, although he often was, and never compromised the long game for short term gains.

Always in control, Stewart set new standards for what a grand prix driver needed to do to be successful.

*All statistics correct up to and including 2011 European Grand Prix