Ranked: The greatest British F1 drivers of all time

Telegraph

06-07-2025

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Formula One world championship. In that time, British drivers have recorded the most grand prix wins and claimed the most world championships.
The first round of that inaugural season was the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. With that race repeated at the same circuit today, I decided to rank the greatest British F1 drivers of all time.
For my qualification criteria, a British driver had to have won a minimum of four world championship grands prix – or be a world champion. Mike Hawthorn is considered (three wins, one title), but Peter Collins (three wins, no title) is not.
To rank the 17 drivers who did qualify, I considered four factors: total victories, total championships, percentage of pole positions and percentage of victories.
10. Tony Brooks (1956-1961)
Brooks sneaks into the top 10 ahead of David Coulthard, largely because of an impressive win percentage. There are 54 other drivers with at least six grand prix victories to their name but only 13 have a better win rate than Brooks, who raced in 38 grands prix over six years.
Sir Stirling Moss called him 'the greatest unknown racing driver'. That seems fair. Three of his wins came on high-speed circuits: Spa-Francorchamps, Monza and the Nurburgring – all far more fearsome than they are today.
Brooks is one of only two non-champions to make it into the top 10. The closest he came to a title was in 1959 when he finished second to Jack Brabham. How much more could he have achieved had he not retired at 29?
Grand Prix starts: 38
Victories: 6
Win percentage: 15.79%
Pole positions: 3
9. Jenson Button (2000-2017)
Button's lengthy and successful career had several stages. He struggled to fulfil his early promise in a series of uncompetitive cars but had a breakthrough year in 2004 with Honda. That brought him 10 podiums and a finish of third, second only to the two dominant Ferraris. A first grand prix win came with Honda in 2006 and then his Hollywood 2009 title for Brawn, after Honda's departure from the sport.
Just how good was he? On his day, exceptionally fast. He acquitted himself very well against Lewis Hamilton in three seasons at McLaren together, but lacked the ability to drag an unfancied car up the order. Exceptionally smooth and exceptional in the wet.
Grand Prix starts: 306
Victories: 15
Championships: 2009
Win percentage: 2.6%
Pole positions: 8
8. James Hunt (1973-1979)
In some ways, Hunt's reputation for crashing (and his off-track lifestyle) colour the perception of the man who died aged just 45. Behind that was an exceptionally fast driver whose achievements have been perhaps underrated.
Yes, his 1976 title was made far more likely by rival Niki Lauda's horrific crash and absence from the Austrian and German rounds. That should not count against Hunt, who won the title in horrific conditions in Japan, a race where Lauda pulled into the pits with the title on the line, so bad were the conditions.
Proportionally, a slightly better career than Button. His 10 victories from 92 starts is a good return but his 14 pole positions in the same time period is more impressive. It puts him just below Alain Prost, Charles Leclerc and Mika Hakkinen for career pole percentage.
Grand Prix starts: 92
Victories: 10
Championships: 1976
Win percentage: 10.87%
Pole positions: 14
7. Graham Hill (1958-1975)
Of all the multiple British champions, Hill is ranked lowest and lower than a couple of single champions, too. The longevity of his career – for 14 years he held the record as the most experienced F1 driver – is worth plenty, but it means he suffers a little in this ranking compared to other Britons with successful but shorter careers.
Still, it was a tremendous career that lasted 180 races. The golden period was from 1962 to 1968 when he took his two titles and finished second three times to two other British greats – Jim Clark (twice) and John Surtees. Five wins at Monaco is no small thing, either. He struggled to achieve any significant results after a crash at the 1969 United States Grand Prix.
He is still the only driver to have achieved motorsport's Triple Crown of victory in the Indianapolis 500, 24 Hours of Le Mans and the F1 world drivers' title.
Grand Prix starts: 175
Victories: 14
Championships: 1962, 1968
Win percentage: 8%
Pole positions: 13
6. Sir Stirling Moss (1951-1961)
The highest-ranked non-champion in our list. That is no surprise, given he is surely the finest F1 driver never to have won the world drivers' title. A total of 16 wins (still a record for a non-champion) and 16 pole positions from 68 grands prix is a remarkable achievement, especially when you consider his direct rivals.
In the four times he finished second (1955-1958), Juan Manuel Fangio won three times, with Mike Hawthorn pipping Moss by a single point in the other. As well as his many achievements in F1, Moss competed in and won plenty in other categories. A considerate driver as well as a fast one.
Grand Prix starts: 66
Victories: 16
Win percentage: 24.24%
Pole positions: 16
5. Damon Hill (1992-1999)
Damon Hill's F1 career was short but burned brightly after he arrived in F1 at 31. After a debut year for an uncompetitive Brabham's final season in 1992, Hill found himself in a Williams race seat in 1993 alongside Alain Prost. The Frenchman won the championship that year with seven victories to his name, but Hill acquitted himself well with three victories of his own (all consecutive) and third place in the standings.
It was in the following three years at Williams that he took the vast majority of his wins and took his only title in 1996. With modern racing rules he would and should have won the 1994 championship after Michael Schumacher crashed into him.
Whilst he was not in Schumacher's bracket (who is?), the fact that he took on the German – and sometimes succeeded – works strongly in his favour.
The 1993 Japanese Grand Prix win in torrential conditions is one any driver would be ecstatic with. His win percentage of 19.13 is bettered only by Hamilton, Stewart, Clark and Moss in this list – 20 career poles is not bad, either.
There were occasional glimpses of brilliance in his final three years in F1. The 1997 Hungarian Grand Prix is arguably the greatest grand prix win that never was (a heartbreaking late failure that cost Arrows a first win), and in Belgium the following season he took a memorable debut win for Jordan.
Grand Prix starts: 115
Victories: 22
Championships: 1996
Win percentage: 19.13%
Pole positions: 20
4. Nigel Mansell (1980-1995)
Dedicated. Committed. Courageous. The highest-ranked single champion in the list and with good reason – his 31 victories over 15 years and 187 race starts. Mansell was perhaps unlucky in that his seasons in a competitive car coincided with the rise of McLaren, Senna and Prost. A crash ruling him out of the final two rounds of the 1987 season, when he lost to Williams team-mate Nelson Piquet, did not help either.
In his time at Ferrari, Mansell was nicknamed Il Leone (the Lion) for his ability to get the absolute most from the car, often heroically. He excelled on home soil, winning the British Grand Prix four times (only Clark, Prost and Hamilton have more) as well as the 1985 European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch.
After a couple of near-misses, Mansell finally took the title he deserved in 1992 in the dominant Williams FW14B. He won eight of the first 10 rounds, took 14 pole positions and had the title sewn up by the middle of August.
Not only an F1 champion, either, having won the IndyCar title in 1993. A return to F1 in 1994 and 1995 fell flat (though he did win the 1994 Australian Grand Prix for Williams), but that should not darken a fantastic career.
Grand Prix starts: 187
Victories: 31
Championships: 1992
Win percentage: 16.58%
Pole positions: 32
3. Sir Jackie Stewart (1965-1973)
Jackie Stewart's golden period came in a remarkable six years from 1968 until his final season in 1973. That included three championships, two second-place finishes and 25 of his total of 27 grands prix wins. Those 27 victories remained a record for 14 years until Prost took that mantle in 1987.
Probably the finest of his titles was his 1971 championship (his second) for Tyrrell, where he won six of 11 races and scored nearly double the points of his closest rival, Ronnie Peterson. Mind you, 1969 was not bad either (six wins) nor taking the title in 1973 in a car that did not win the constructors' championship, a season in which his team-mate François Cevert was killed in practice for the season-ending United States GP.
Looking at the win percentage of British drivers, it is only Lewis Hamilton and Jim Clark who beat him. Of course, Stewart's achievements go far beyond his statistical prowess, becoming a champion for increased safety in the sport, having seen so many of his competitors and friends die in competition.
Grand Prix starts: 99
Victories: 27
Championships: 1969, 1971, 1973
Win percentage: 27.27%
Pole positions: 17
2. Jim Clark (1960-1968)
It is impossible to know just how much more Jim Clark could have won had he not died in a Formula Two crash at Hockenheim in 1968. His astonishing win percentage of 34.72 has not been beaten by anyone – British or otherwise – since and his pole percentage of 45.83 is bettered only by Juan Manuel Fangio. His record of 33 poles stood for 22 years until Ayrton Senna beat it in 1989.
Despite competing only in 72 grands prix he still holds the records for the most grand slams (pole, win, fastest lap) in F1, with eight. His two titles for Colin Chapman's Lotus were superb: six wins from nine in 1965 (including six from his first six starts) and seven from 10 in 1963.
Statistically one of the greatest of all time, but also one of the greatest stylistically, too. He was as smooth as it comes.
Grand Prix starts: 72
Victories: 25
Championships: 1963, 1965
Win percentage: 34.72%
Pole positions: 33
1. Sir Lewis Hamilton (2007-present)
Looking at talent alone, it is impossible to compare Hamilton to his closest rivals in this list like Clark and Stewart. What is not up for debate is the longevity of Hamilton's success and his statistical superiority.
Some may argue that the scale of Hamilton's successes were built on the dominant cars of the early turbo-hybrid era, that in reality he had only to beat his team-mate. That does a strong disservice to how difficult it is to perform as consistently as he did for as long as he did. Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel, his title rivals from 2014-2018, were no slouches.
Seven titles – a record he shares with Michael Schumacher – could be more. Were it not for an engine failure in Malaysia in 2016 and a questionable decision by FIA race director Michael Masi in 2021 it would have been nine world championships. Hamilton's career also has the hallmark of all greats – being able to haul an under-performing car to the front row or the top of the podium.