Top 25 drivers who never won the F1 title

There is no shortage of drivers who could - or should - have been world champions, but who is the best of the Formula 1 nearly-men?

Autosport decided to have an office debate and come up with the top 25.

The only criterion was that candidates had to have competed in F1 for at least one full season. Beyond that, a driver's longevity, title opportunities and opposition were just some of the factors considered in coming up with this list.

So here it is, an extended version of the piece that also appears in the 23 January issue of Autosport magazine.

25. Jacques Laffite

Years: 1974-1986
Teams: Frank Williams Racing Cars, Ligier
Starts: 176
Wins: 6
Podiums: 32
Fastest laps: 7
Best championship position: 4th (1979, 1980, 1981)

Autosport: After winning the first two rounds of 1979 in Argentina and Brazil, did you think you could become world champion?

Jacques Laffite: I was certainly thinking we had a chance. I knew the Ligier JS11 was a good car, but I also knew we had to work hard to keep our advantage over the rest of the championship.

AS: What went wrong?

JL: Unfortunately we had a problem with the underwings and it took us five months to realise what was happening. They were deforming. The underfloor was being sucked down towards the track, but when we examined them in the pits, the fibreglass would be back to its normal shape.

If we had gone to the windtunnel when we started to have problems, we would have found it immediately, but unfortunately Guy Ligier had had a fight with SERA [in whose tunnel the JS11 aerodynamics were developed]. They had also worked with Alfa Romeo, and Ligier supposed they took our information. He was furious and didn't want to pay them.

AS: Was 1979 your best chance to win the championship?

JL: I think the best possibility for me was actually in 1981. We had a bad start to the season because we weren't using dual-rate springs [to lower the car on the track after the ban on skirts] like everyone else and we lost a lot of ground. I am sure if we had this from the beginning like the other cars, I could have won the title because the JS17 was a really good car.

24. Carlos Pace

Years: 1972-1977
Teams: Frank Williams Racing Cars, Surtees, Brabham
Starts: 71
Wins: 1
Podiums: 6
Poles: 1
Fastest laps: 5
Best championship position: 6th (1975)

Since his death in a plane crash in 1977, Pace has been deeply missed in Brazilian motorsport.

'Moco' won one only one grand prix, at the Interlagos circuit that now bears his name, in 1975, but was a very fast driver.

Bernie Ecclestone has said that, had Pace lived, he wouldn't have needed to sign Niki Lauda.

Some question whether his fitness was good enough, as exemplified by losing the 1977 Argentinian GP late on through exhaustion. But Francisco 'Chico' Rosa, effectively Pace's manager, believes things were improving.

"Maybe Bernie was being kind with Moco," Rosa says of the famous Ecclestone quote. "But maybe he feels that he could put Moco on the right way to become a champion. He was much fitter when I saw him in Brazil, one or two days before that tragic flight.

"No doubt, he could have become world champion and maybe he got the right drive to fulfil his potential after that Argentinian GP."

23. Michele Alboreto

Years: 1981-1994
Teams: Tyrrell, Ferrari, Larrousse, Footwork Arrows, Scuderia Italia, Minardi
Starts: 194
Wins: 5
Podiums: 23
Poles: 2
Fastest laps: 5
Best championship position: 2nd (1985)

1985 Monaco GP - Alboreto's greatest drive

That season, he was Alain Prost's only credible title challenger, finishing 20 points behind after car problems prevented him scoring in the final five races.

But the Ferrari was the class of the field at Monaco in 1985. Even though his Ferrari was beaten by Alain Prost, he outpaced both the Frenchman and Ayrton Senna...

Lap 2 - After dropping to third at the start, he pulls a stunning passing move on Nigel Mansell's Williams, his car snaking under braking as he dives up the inside at Ste Devote.

Lap 14 - Alboreto is chasing leader Senna and is clearly faster when the Lotus slows with an engine problem and loses the lead.

Lap 17 - After Nelson Piquet and Riccardo Patrese collide on the run to Ste Devote, the Italian's Alfa Romeo hits the wall heavily and dumps oil on the track. Alboreto goes off and loses the lead to Prost. He rejoins over eight seconds adrift.

Lap 24 - Alboreto goes around the outside of Prost at Ste Devote to take the lead.

Lap 32 - Left-rear puncture costs Alboreto the lead. He rejoins fourth, almost a quarter of a minute down.

Lap 38 - Passes Andrea de Cesaris's Ligier for third, squeezing up the inside of Mirabeau.

Lap 64 - Takes second place from Elio de Angelis at Ste Devote. At the end of the lap, he is 26.292s behind Prost.

Lap 78 - Finishes second, 7.541s behind Prost. His fastest lap is 1.261s faster than anyone else.

22. Rubens Barrichello

Years: 1993-2011
Teams: Jordan, Stewart, Ferrari, Honda, Brawn, Williams
Starts: 322
Wins: 11
Podiums: 68
Poles: 14
Fastest laps: 17
Best championship position: 2nd (2002, 2004)

Rubens Barrichello knows what it takes to be part of a title-winning operation, having been in a team no fewer than six times when the man in the other car won the championship.

It proves that he definitely had the machinery capable of gunning for a title, but how did he stack up compared to the eventual winner? Find out below...

21. Gerhard Berger

Years: 1984-1997
Teams: ATS, Benetton, Ferrari, McLaren
Starts: 210
Wins: 10
Podiums: 48
Poles: 12
Fastest laps: 21
Best championship position: 3rd (1988, 1994)

Berger's longevity alone earns him a place on this list. He took his first grand prix win in Mexico in 1986 driving for Benetton, and claimed an emotional 10th and final victory in his second stint with the team 11 years later.

While remembered as a decent number two driver to Senna in his McLaren days, Berger's best days were arguably those before his fiery accident at Imola in 1989. While he recovered quickly from injury, by his own admission he returned a more cautious driver.

"To be honest, after this accident I think I never reached the level I had before," he admitted during his Legends interview with Sky Sports.

The evidence backs him up. Arguably, his '87 and '88 campaigns with underachieving Ferrari were his finest. Then, he was good enough to finish Alboreto's top-line career.

Post-accident, he had his moments and won six grands prix, but never looked the title threat he was once set to become.

20. David Coulthard

Years: 1994-2008
Teams: Williams, McLaren, Red Bull
Starts: 246
Wins: 13
Podiums: 62
Poles: 12
Fastest laps: 18
Best championship position: 2nd (2001)

Martin Brundle on David Coulthard: David was world championship material, I have no doubt about that. He was a fitter, faster version of me in many respects.

He didn't deliver his full potential in F1. Maybe it was because there were too many distractions around him at times. And perhaps there wasn't enough 'bastard' in him.

His fitness wasn't a problem, nor was his feedback and he absolutely had the speed. There were days when David was absolutely in a class of his own and he raced brilliantly with that smooth, incredibly fast style of his. He was genuinely untouchable then.

He really could take it to Michael Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen. I'm not sure he had the ability like they had to find that quarter of a second on a qualifying lap apparently from nowhere, but he certainly had everything else.

The feeling that he was the second driver at McLaren did affect him. I used to say he was oversensitive and told him to write to me explaining the situation. He wrote me the most astonishing letter, which was absolutely right, and I agreed with him after that. It did affect him psychologically.

With a bit more ruthlessness and some better reliability at times with McLaren, he was definitely more than capable of being world champion.

19. Rene Arnoux

Years: 1978-1989
Teams: Martini, Surtees, Renault, Ferrari, Ligier
Starts: 149
Wins: 7
Podiums: 22
Poles: 18
Fastest laps: 12
Best championship position: 3rd (1983)

Autosport: How optimistic were you when you joined Ferrari in '83, as they had what many regarded as the best car the year before?

Rene Arnoux: We were very competitive; '83 was my best year with Ferrari because I won three GPs. The problem was I lost the championship with some very, very small problems. I was leading in Detroit when I had a problem with the electric box. Afterwards, I thought, 'The championship is lost.' I also remember losing a win in Austria [to Prost] when I lost fourth gear.

AS: After the disappointment of Detroit, you were equally dominant in Montreal where everything finally came good.

RA: In Montreal I had pole on Friday, pole on Saturday and I won the race. Everything was perfect, and I remember the car was also fantastic in Holland [where Arnoux also won]. What I can remember is, when I went to South Africa [for the championship showdown] I knew we were not competitive anymore against Piquet's Brabham.

I was really disappointed in South Africa. If I had experienced big problems, like broken pistons, during the season you'd say, 'Well, life's like that.' But to lose races and the championship because of small problems was more difficult to accept.

AS: Did you have trouble at the start of the season on the Goodyear crossply tyres, when your main rivals Prost (Renault) and Piquet (Brabham) were on Michelin radials?

RA: On Michelin, if you had A, B, C and D compounds, all set A were exactly the same, B the same. With Goodyear, sometimes there was a big difference [in feel] on the same compound. The construction of the tyre was completely different. It was very difficult to find a set that was completely uniform. It took me a month to adjust my style to the Goodyears.

18. Wolfgang Von Trips

Years: 1956-1961
Teams: Ferrari, Porsche, Scuderia Centro Sud
Starts: 27
Wins: 2
Podiums: 6
Poles: 1
Fastest laps: 0
Best championship position: 2nd (1961)

Von Trips was leading the championship when killed at Monza in 1961, but it was no foregone conclusion he would have clinched the title.

Ferrari battle: von Trips v Phil Hill 1961

Monaco
Hill finishes third with von Trips classified fourth despite a late crash.
Points: Hill 4; von Trips 3

Netherlands
Von Trips narrowly beats Hill to victory after taking the lead from his team-mate at the start.
Points: Von Trips 12; Hill 10

Belgium
Ferrari utterly dominates, with Hill leading home von Trips at the head of a Ferrari 1-2-3-4.
Points: Hill 19, von Trips 18

France
Von Trips leads before retiring with an engine problem. Hill leads but spins and finishes ninth.
Points: Hill 19, von Trips, 18

Britain
Hill takes pole, but von Trips takes control in the damp early stages to lead a Ferrari one-two.
Points: Von Trips 27, Hill 25

Germany
Hill takes pole with von Trips starting fifth, but von Trips finishes ahead, taking second to Moss just ahead of his title rival.
Points: Von Trips 33, Hill 29

Italy
Hill wins to take a decisive championship lead after von Trips is killed on the second lap.
Points: Hill 34, von Trips 33.

17. John Watson

Years: 1973-1985
Teams: Brabham, Hexagon (Brabham), Surtees, Lotus, Penske, McLaren
Starts: 152
Wins: 5
Podiums: 20
Poles: 2
Fastest laps: 5
Best championship position: 3rd (1982)

Autosport: Do you think you were good enough to be world champion?

John Watson: I think I was as good as anybody who won a world championship outside of Juan Manuel Fangio, who I feel was the greatest of all time. If you look at the drivers who won a single world championship - take Keke [Rosberg] for example - I don't think he was any better than me. I would have thought I was better than him in some certain areas, maybe in more areas. But it's not simply about your ability to drive a racing car.

AS: Did you drive your best in '82?

JW: I felt I drove well in 1977 and fundamentally throughout my career. The most difficult period was 1980 when I had this fresh young team-mate [Alain Prost] who was clearly outstanding from the get-go. I can blame myself for some of that, but I can also blame the team who were going through this period of trying to work their way through avoiding having Ron Dennis forced upon us.

AS: Do you think McLaren regretted not backing you in '82?

JW: In '82 Niki's car was principally run by John [Barnard] and mine was run by Teddy [Mayer]. The way the car was being evolved, Niki's principles and desires and John's coincided more than mine. In Vegas Ron asked Niki on Saturday night, 'If John is quicker than you will you let him pass you?'.

Niki had never been asked that before and in effect he mentally checked out then. All through '82 he felt he had orchestrated the team into his corner and it was a rude awakening to find out that as far as Ron was concerned he didn't really care if it was Niki or I who won the championship.

AS: You were 10 points clear after Canada. Did you think about being champion then?

JW: It's different being the leader than it is to chase. When you're leading a championship for the first time it does have a bearing on what you might do or feel you need to do. The reality was we were coming up to a series of circuits where the turbos were going to have an advantage.

AS: If you had the chance to do it all again, is there anything you'd change?

JW: In hindsight I wouldn't be so self-effacing; I didn't understand the nuance of how to work the system inside a team.

16. Clay Regazzoni

Years: 1970-1980
Teams: Ferrari, BRM, Ensign, Shadow, Williams
Starts: 132
Wins: 5
Podiums: 28
Poles: 5
Fastest laps: 15
Best championship position: 2nd (1974)

There's a decent chance that, had Clay Regazzoni driven an entire rookie Formula 1 season for Ferrari in 1970, he'd be replaced by Jochen Rindt in this list.

The Swiss ended just 12 points adrift of the Austrian's posthumous title, despite missing five of the 13 races.

To be fair, Regazzoni's stock was low entering 1970. He hadn't won any races since '67, struggling through two middling Formula 2 seasons.

Ferrari started the year with just Jacky Ickx in its F1 team, and planned to alternate new boys Regazzoni and Ignazio Giunti once a third car (Ickx had exclusive use of a spare) was on stream.

Giunti got first dibs at Spa, while Regazzoni was fourth at Zandvoort. Giunti drove again at Clermont-Ferrand, but 'Regga' earned himself the ride full-time with another fourth at Brands Hatch.

A victory on only his fifth grand prix start - in the tragic Italian GP - made him a hero with the tifosi. In the previous race in Austria, he'd dutifully sat behind winner Ickx - possibly another three points went begging there.

And he even comfortably outperformed Tecno team-mate Francois Cevert to win that year's European F2 title.

15. Carlos Reutemann

Years: 1972-1982
Teams: Brabham, Ferrari, Lotus, Williams
Starts: 146
Wins: 12
Podiums: 45
Poles: 6
Fastest laps: 6
Best championship position: 2nd (1981)

Reutemann infamously lost the 1981 world championship with a lacklustre eighth place in the 1981 season-ending Las Vegas Grand Prix. But it isn't simply a question of what went wrong there, with a change of tyre supplier from Michelin to Goodyear hindering him earlier in the campaign.

By mid-season, people were looking his way when referring to who would claim the title. But in the remaining six rounds following the British GP, he was able to add only six points to his tally.

Having set pole at the Las Vegas finale, he tangled with another car, which led, eventually, to a change of chassis for the race. Insufficient time for a proper set-up meant the car he had on race day was seemingly different to the one he had qualified with: understeer, oversteer, there were new brakes to bed in, and, to cap it all, the gearbox.

For his part, Reutemann had done all that could be asked from a true world title contender.

14. Francois Cevert

Years: 1970-1973
Teams: Tyrrell
Starts: 46
Wins: 1
Podiums: 13
Poles: 0
Fastest laps: 2
Best championship position: 3rd (1971)

"I think he would have won the title for Ken in 1974," is Jackie Stewart's verdict. Francois Cevert's death in practice for the '73 United States GP came as the Frenchman was on the brink of taking leadership of Tyrrell after four seasons as Stewart's apprentice.

Cevert was certainly very good, but was he good enough to be champion?

During '73, Cevert was the support act. He outqualified Stewart three times in early-season races, then once again with a great lap at Mosport after the Scot had clinched the crown.

But Stewart had generally set the pace. Cevert would have needed to move up a gear to win in '74 (he had yet even to claim a pole). Then again, he knew he needed to.

Given that inexperienced new Tyrrell recruit Jody Scheckter finished just 10 points behind champion Emerson Fittipaldi, it is reasonable to extrapolate that Cevert probably had a good chance of the title.

13. Jean Behra

Years: 1952-1959
Teams: Gordini, Maserati, BRM, Ferrari
Starts: 52
Wins: 0
Podiums: 9
Poles: 0
Fastest laps: 1
Best championship position: 4th (1956)

Dubbed "too brave" by Juan Manuel Fangio, the ex-motorcycle racer became a national hero in post-war France by dragging unimpressive Gordini machinery to respectability in the 1950s. Crash-prone (he lost his right ear in a fiery accident in the 1955 Tourist Trophy at Dundrod), he was nonetheless very rapid.

Behra never won a world championship race, coming closest to doing so when he led the 1957 British GP for 42 laps before the clutch of his Maserati 250F failed. But nobody has won more F1 races than him without taking a points-paying victory.

He was killed at the age of 38 after crashing during a German GP-supporting sportscar race at Avus in 1959, but realistically his hopes of topline success had been scuppered a few weeks earlier when he was sacked by Enzo Ferrari for punching team manager Romolo Tavoni.

In 1956, Behra finished fourth in the world championship. While he wasn't as strong as Maserati team-mate Stirling Moss, he outpaced him three out of seven times in qualifying and ended the year only five points behind him.

"Behra didn't have a reputation for breaking cars, he was just unlucky in championship races," says commentator Ian Titchmarsh of Behra, who he watched at Aintree in 1957.

"In terms of speed, he was one of the top three or four in the period. That British GP was the first I ever saw and it's fair to say he was unlucky. Once Stirling Moss pitted in the lead Vanwall, he was next best."

12. Chris Amon

Year: 1963-1976
Teams: Reg Parnell Racing (Lola and Lotus), Cooper, Ferrari, March, Matra, Tecno, Tyrrell, Amon, BRM, Ensign
Starts: 96
Wins: 0
Podiums: 11
Poles: 5
Fastest laps: 3
Best championship position: 5th (1967)

Champion of the 1969 Tasman Cup, almost a mini-world title, Amon has the record for the most laps led by a driver not to win a world championship GP.

Here are the race wins that got away...

Spain 1968 - Comfortably out front when his Ferrari's fuel pump failed.

Belgium 1968 - Battling John Surtees for the lead before a stone pierced radiator.

Canada 1968 - Leads for 72 of the 90 laps, then the transmission fails.

Spain 1969 - Builds a 40-second lead over Jackie Stewart; Ferrari engine breaks.

Belgium 1970 - Loses out after a fine duel against Pedro Rodriguez's BRM.

Italy 1971 - Gets to front of slipstreamer, then accidentally pulls off both visor strips.

France 1972 - Dominates from pole in new Matra, gets puncture, then charges back to third, setting fastest lap by 0.5s.

11. Juan Pablo Montoya

Years: 2001-2006
Teams: Williams, McLaren
Starts: 94
Wins: 7
Podiums: 30
Poles: 13
Fastest laps: 12
Best championship position: 3rd (2002, 2003)

It's all too easy when analysing where world championships are lost to focus exclusively on the actual races where the title dream expired.

For Juan Pablo Montoya in 2003, that moment came at the United States Grand Prix where, after being handed a penalty for a collision with Rubens Barrichello, his sixth place meant he had no chance of taking the battle down to the wire in Japan.

Yet the story of how Montoya lost the fight that year is more one of early missed opportunities than hot-headedness at Indianapolis.

Chances had gone begging well before then (how many points were lost in Austria through hydraulics failure?), and they perhaps proved more costly in the end.

There were Montoya's unforced spins in Australia and Canada, plus the Williams team did not get on top of its package as quickly as it should at the start of the season when McLaren and Ferrari were running old machinery.

When Williams and BMW did get it right, Montoya was sensational - his wins in Monaco and Germany were of the top order.

Tensions between engine supplier BMW and Williams didn't help matters; and Ferrari and Bridgestone played it brilliantly after Hungary to not only introduce all-new tyres to boost Michael Schumacher's campaign, but also successfully force Michelin to tweak its design after questioning the legality of its tread width.

Michelin never won again after the tyre change, but to state that as the key to Montoya losing the title is a step too far.

At Suzuka, he was leading and pulling away before retiring with hydraulics issues, proving that speed had never been the issue in 2003.

10. Felipe Massa

Years: 2002-2017
Teams: Sauber, Ferrari, Williams
Starts: 269
Wins: 11
Podiums: 41
Poles: 16
Fastest laps: 15
Best championship position: 2nd (2008)

Forget the Brazilian's struggles at Ferrari in recent years. Back in 2008, Massa came closer to winning the world championship than any other driver in this list, only being denied by Lewis Hamilton's last-gasp pass on Timo Glock's Toyota in Brazil.

A glance at how he stacked up relative to illustrious team-mate Kimi Raikkonen that year is a reminder of how good Massa was that season.

Massa versus Raikkonen 2008

Wins 6 vs 2
Poles 6 vs 2
Fastest laps 3 vs 10
Podiums 10 vs 9
Laps led 363 vs 178
Qualifying head to head 12 vs 6
Average qualifying gap Massa 0.133s faster

9. Didier Pironi

Years: 1978-1982
Teams: Tyrrell, Ligier, Ferrari
Starts: 70
Wins: 3
Podiums: 13
Poles: 4
Fastest laps: 5
Best championship position: 2nd (1982)

There's little doubt that Didier Pironi would have gone on to win the 1982 world title in the mind of Jacques Laffite, his team-mate at Ligier two years before. The Ferrari driver's accident in horrendous conditions in Saturday morning practice for the German Grand Prix is indicative of the determination he had to become the first French world champion.

"I was in the pits, because I didn't want to be out on the track in those conditions," explains Laffite. "Didier wasn't obliged to go out, but he felt he had to go out to test the car [he was trying a new-compound Goodyear wet tyre]."

Pironi's racing career finished that day with multiple fractures of both legs after he ploughed into the back of Prost's Renault in the spray. His nine-point championship lead arriving at Hockenheim was only whittled away three races later, after Rosberg won the Swiss GP.

"I am sure he would have been world champion," says Laffite. "He was always working to be the best, much more than me unfortunately."

8. Tony Brooks

Years: 1956-1961
Teams: BRM, Vanwall, Ferrari, Yeoman Credit (Cooper)
Starts: 38
Wins: 6
Podiums: 10
Poles: 3
Fastest laps: 3
Best championship position: 2nd (1959)

Eye-witness account from leading track commentator Ian Titchmarsh: "He was an absolute master on the classic circuits, like Spa, the Nurburgring and Monza. He loved driving on the really demanding tracks.

"His flaw was that he always deferred to Stirling Moss, so until Moss retired from a race he wouldn't necessarily race as hard to win. He was quick enough to beat everyone else.

"In 1959 he was undoubtedly the leader of the Ferrari team, when they had Dan Gurney - admittedly in his first season - and Phil Hill there.

"Tony was spectacularly fast without being spectacular, so stylish. He was never ragged and could drive anything. He was a delight to watch."

7. Jose Froilan Gonzalez

Years: 1950-1960
Teams: Scuderia Achille Varzi, Ecurie Rosier, Ferrari, Maserati, Vanwall
Starts: 26
Wins: 2
Podiums: 15
Poles: 3
Fastest laps: 6
Best championship position: 2nd (1954)

There were days, like that one in mid-July 1951 at Silverstone, when Gonzalez was simply above his peers. An absolute giant of a driver, in only his second outing as a Ferrari team member (he might have won on his team debut a fortnight earlier, had he not had to hand over his car), not even Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio and Giuseppe Farina had been able to match him.

It was at the 1951 season-closer that he would have had a first chance for the title, until the team betted on smaller-diameter tyres and its cars began throwing treads in the race.

The following year's championship was a washout for him, after following Fangio (not through loyalty, but mainly because they were such great pals) to Maserati's door. With the team entering a car for him in only one world championship grand prix that season, he didn't have a shot at the title.

Remaining at Maserati in 1953, that year again there was nobody to challenge the Ascari/Ferrari combination, especially in Gonzalez's case as he was forced to miss the last three GPs due to injury.

Back at Ferrari in 1954, his days in Europe were already numbered, as in August that year his countryman Onofre Marimon was killed while practising at the Nurburgring, which led to his family convincing him to pack his bags at the end of 1954 and head back home.

A nasty prang some weeks later while practising at Dundrod didn't help matters either. Despite this, he ended up as runner-up in the year's standings behind Fangio, his friend of 50 years.

In 1955, Fangio and Mercedes-Benz sailed onto another title, but let's try and imagine what (a by then 34-year-old) Gonzalez would have been capable of aboard one of the Lancia-Ferraris in 1956.

6. Jacky Ickx

Years: 1967-1979
Teams: Cooper, Ferrari, Brabham, McLaren, Frank Williams Racing Cars, Lotus, Wolf-Williams, Ensign, Ligier
Starts: 114
Wins: 8
Podiums: 25
Poles: 13
Fastest laps: 13
Best championship position: 2nd (1969, 1970)

Autosport: Did you want to win the 1970 world championship after Jochen Rindt was killed at Monza?

Jacky Ickx: After all these years, my thoughts on that subject have not changed: I always thought that winning the championship without Jochen would have been something unfair and unpleasant.

AS: Do you think you were at your best in Formula 1 in 1970?

JI: It's hard to say when you're at your best, because you need to be in the right car. What is unfair in motor racing is that everyone concentrates on the man, but racing is always the man and the machine. If Usain Bolt takes the world record for 100 or 200 metres, he is there alone with his spikes, but in motor racing there are two equal elements.

AS: Why do you think you failed to win the title during your career?

JI: I have to admit that I was more looking for single wins than the title. I don't know why, but the title was never an obsession for me. I must admit that I was not a very good tactician in that sense. The championship was always the last thing in my mind.

AS: Do you have any regrets about your failure to win the F1 title?

JI: I have no right to complain that I didn't win the F1 title. I'm just grateful for all the people who I met and worked with that made everything possible for me. I won titles on motorcycles, in touring car racing and in long-distance racing, and in F1 I won 11 times if you include non-championship races. I won the Can-Am series in North America and the Paris-Dakar. I did not do it alone.

5. Ronnie Peterson

Years: 1970-1978
Teams: Colin Crabbe Racing, March, Lotus, Tyrrell
Starts: 123
Wins: 10
Podiums: 26
Poles: 14
Fastest laps: 9
Best championship position: 2nd (1971, 1978)

Eye-witness account from leading track commentator, and self-confessed Peterson fan, Ian Titchmarsh: SuperSwede, as he came to be known universally, was the fastest Formula 1 driver of the '70s. Ronnie knew only one way to drive and that was as fast as possible all the time. But he was not some speed freak who destroyed the car and never finished races.

In 1971, his first full season in Formula 1, driving the fledgling March team's 711, Ronnie finished second in the world championship to the dominant driver of the time, Jackie Stewart.

Loyal and honourable to a fault, Ronnie stuck by March and the unsatisfactory 721 variants before joining reigning world champion Emerson Fittipaldi at Lotus in 1973.

In Brazil, second time out, Ronnie outqualified Emmo on his home circuit for the first of nine pole positions from 15 races, four of which he won and another eight of which he led: this in an era when most F1 cars were equipped with Cosworth DFV engines of similar potency.

His pole position laps at Silverstone are still etched in the memory of all who saw them: three successive laps sideways at 150-160mph through pre-chicane Woodcote. The black and gold 72D seemed to be beyond the point of no return but Ronnie's extraordinary throttle control and sense of balance prevailed.

Inately able to drive round a car's shortcomings, Ronnie was not the best test driver. His return to Team Lotus for 1978 as number two to Mario Andretti re-established his reputation as the fastest of them all but culminated in the tragedy at Monza.

4. Dan Gurney

Years: 1959-1970
Teams: Ferrari, BRM, Porsche, Brabham, Eagle, McLaren
Starts: 86
Wins: 4
Podiums: 19
Poles: 3
Fastest laps: 6
Best championship position: 4th (1961, 1965)

There are many reasons Gurney deserves to be on this list, beyond the often-quoted fact that he was the driver Jim Clark truly feared.

One of the great all-rounders, Gurney won the Le Mans 24 Hours for Ford, took seven Indycar victories, five NASCAR successes, and was a leading light in Can-Am and Trans-Am.

Of his four world championship GP wins, three of them were the first for the constructor - Porsche, Brabham and Eagle. Gurney also defeated team boss and world champion team-mate Jack Brabham when the two joined forces at the Australian's squad in 1964.

Arguably it was Gurney's desire to produce his own car under the Anglo American Racers banner that prevented him from achieving more as a driver.

Friend and former rival John Surtees certainly believes Gurney was one of the best of his era. "Dan I rated very highly," he says. "I loved his enthusiasm. He was a very competent, clean and quick driver, someone I had great respect for.

"Perhaps we both suffered from enthusiasm with our own projects. Maybe if we'd been a little less emotionally involved, we would have been in more competitive cars. He was good enough to be world champion."

3. Robert Kubica

Years: 2006-2010, 2019
Teams: BMW Sauber, Renault, Williams
Starts: 97
Wins: 1
Podiums: 12
Poles: 1
Fastest laps: 1
Best championship position: 4th (2008)

It's not difficult to find people who think Kubica was as good as anyone on the F1 grid at the time of his rallying accident early in 2011.

He arguably drove better than anyone during 2008, losing out as BMW slipped further behind Ferrari and McLaren.

PLUS: How BMW-Sauber blew its chance of title glory

It's hard to imagine him not winning races for Lotus, although there is a good chance he may have found himself at Ferrari before too long.

2. Gilles Villeneuve

Years: 1977-1982
Teams: McLaren, Ferrari
Starts: 67
Wins: 6
Podiums: 13
Poles: 2
Fastest laps: 8
Best championship position: 2nd (1979)

Rene Arnoux on Gilles Villeneuve: Gilles Villeneuve was my best, best friend. For me he was not a racing driver, I'd call Gilles an acrobat. He said to me one time, 'Rene [so long as] you have a steering wheel and a brake you can adjust everything.'

You remember he had a big crash at Imola [in 1980]? I was very afraid, because when I saw his car, the engine and the gearbox and a wheel were in one place, and the chassis was in the middle of the road. After the race I stopped my car outside the Renault pit and I went directly to the box of Ferrari. I saw Gilles and said, 'Are you OK?' and he said, 'Yes, yes. I am in a good condition.' And then he said, 'I'm happy.'

When Gilles said that I thought his answer was really incredible. I said, 'Why are you happy?' He said, 'Because I had a very high-speed crash, and the chassis, where you sit inside, is intact.' I didn't rate his answer, but it was Gilles!

Another time, when we were in Watkins Glen together, I asked, 'Do you take the corner before the start-finish line flat?' It was very difficult. He said no. He asked me, and I also said no. I had a lift and then I went flat again. He said to me, 'Hmm, but on qualifying tyres... In qualifying, I am going to try!'

Alors, when he said that I thought I was going to see something very special. We started the official practice at one or two o clock, and three minutes before the end of the practice I arrived at this big bend and I saw the Ferrari crashed in the wall and Villeneuve running across the road to the box.

I finished my official practice, Ferrari and Renault were very close in the pits, and I went directly to Gilles. Alors, 'What happened, was it possible flat-out or not?' And he was, 'No, it's impossible.' This is completely Gilles Villeneuve! When he decided to go flat, he decided, but he didn't know what would happen afterwards.

The problem with Gilles was he was very quick - always very quick. Now, Formula 1 is different, you change tyres every 10 laps. The problem with Gilles was he asked the maximum of the car each lap. A lot of times he arrived at the finish with the car in a bad condition - brakes, tyres, the gearbox, everything. But... he continued to go fast in this condition. But you lose [performance] for sure.

His win in Monte Carlo with the turbocharged car [in 1981] was not easy. Another fantastic race that year was Jarama. With the turbocharger he went a little faster than everyone else into the big bend onto the straight. Everyone with the normally aspirated engine was stuck behind Gilles; it was very difficult but he won.

I don't think he thought about the world championship, only the present moment. He was near to Scheckter when Jody won the championship in '79. But my impression is, if Gilles went into a last race with a chance of winning the world championship, he wouldn't adjust his performance like a Piquet, Prost or myself. He'd still want to finish in front of everybody. It was his temperament, his character. But Gilles was like that. Everybody, including Il Commendatore, loved Gilles because he was like that. He was a nice man and a really fantastic person.

1. Stirling Moss

Years: 1951-1961
Teams: HWM, ERA, Connaught, Equipe Moss (Maserati), Mercedes, Maserati, Vanwall, BRP (BRM), Rob Walker Racing (Cooper, Lotus and Ferguson)
Starts: 66
Wins: 16
Podiums: 24
Poles: 16
Fastest laps: 19
Best championship position: 2nd (1955, '56, '57, '58)

The finest example of why the world championship is not the definitive gauge of a driver's prowess.

His love of British cars is often cited as the reason Moss didn't win the title, but that isn't the whole truth. Daft points systems, bad luck and honesty meant the benchmark driver of his generation never took the world title.

1956 - Moss was leading in Argentina before engine problems hit, and he was running second at Spa until a wheel fell off. He was battling rival Juan Manuel Fangio for the lead of the British GP when his Maserati failed. Still only lost the title by three points.

1957 - Outqualified Fangio, also in a Maserati 250F, at opener, but damaged his car at the start. A mystery Monaco accident in his Vanwall followed and Moss missed the French GP through illness. He bounced back to win three of the last four races, beating Fangio by over three minutes at Pescara.

1958 - Controversial 8-6-4-3-2 points system allowed Mike Hawthorn to win the crown with one victory despite Moss taking four from 10 races, including the Argentinian opener in a two-litre Cooper against 2.5-litre opposition.

Moss also led at Monaco and Monza before his Vanwall hit trouble. His only serious error came at Spa, when a missed gear broke the engine. Even then, Hawthorn had to rely on Moss giving evidence in the Ferrari driver's favour when facing disqualification in Portugal, and team-mate Phil Hill moving aside in the Moroccan finale while trailing a dominant Moss by over a minute, to take the title by a single point.

1959 - Gearbox issues in privateer Rob Walker Cooper robbed Moss of wins in the first two GPs, but he still went to the Sebring finale with a title chance. He was again leading rival Jack Brabham's similar works Cooper when the transmission failed.

1960 - Was ahead of eventual champion Brabham in the standings when a wheel fell off his Lotus in practice at Spa; injuries from the crash put him out for three rounds. Moss returned in time to win the US GP, albeit aided by some ill fortune for Brabham.

1961 - Arguably his finest season, taking two wins and third in the points despite the dominance of Ferrari that got three of its drivers into the top five.