24/09/2019
FEATURE BY MAX NOBLE
With a cup of sweet herbal tea, or a crisp cool G&T, let us drift back to 1989 dear reader.
At the Japanese Grand Prix Alain Prost, piloting a McLaren Honda, clinched the World Drivers' Championship with one round remaining.
A period of retirement made it look like Alain had lofted his last winners' trophy, but no! He returned to repeat his championship success one last time four years later, claiming the 1993 Drivers' Championship at the Portuguese Grand Prix (remember those?) with two rounds remaining.
And with that Alain finally retired, and moved on to "Life after a reign at the top of Formula One".
So what of all those mighty drivers that have achieved Formula One Drivers' Championship success since 1989? I select 1989, being 30 years ago, as a time before many of the newer drivers currently competing on the F1 grid were born, and yet a time recent enough that many Pitpass readers would have been following the sport that season.
Alain went on to run his own team, consult to other teams, appear on television, keep stupidly fit (he once raced Webber up Alpe d'Huez on cycles… and won) and generally have a real life after the circus of F1. He also went ice racing in the Andros Trophy taking 38 race victories on the way to three championship titles.
Now, at the age of 64, with a glowing record of four F1 Drivers' Championships including 33 pole positions, 106 podiums, and 51 wins, he continues to live a fine post-F1 life.
1990 and 1991 saw Ayrton Senna take back-to-back Driver's Championships in the very same McLaren Honda team as used by Prost in 1989. Indeed the same team and driver as had won in 1988, meaning that by 1991 McLaren had won four championships in a row, and Honda had won five, having previously won in 1987 with Nelson Piquet strapped into the hot seat of a Williams. A recollection which would have both teams misty eyed right now.
1992 and 1993 saw Senna frustrated at McLaren, as Williams took both titles prompting a move to the Grove team for the 1994 season. At the San Marino Grand Prix, at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, within the city of Imola, on the 1st May, Ayrton lost his life in a tragic crash, from which, given the speed and objects involved, he should have walked away. And yet he did not. His reign at the top was cut short while he was still at his racing prime, and we can only wonder how many more wins and titles he would have achieved, and what this remarkably focused sportsman would be achieving today post-reign...
While Ayrton was fuming at McLaren in 1992, Nigel Mansell was busy piloting one of the most remarkable F1 cars ever built to a fine championship win. The 1992 Williams-Renault propelled Nigel to the Drivers' Championship at the Hungarian GP, with five races remaining.
Nigel left F1 at the end of the year, not contesting the 1993 F1 season, and promptly won the CART IndyCar World Series at his first attempt.
Since then he has golfed, and generally hung around while reminding one and all how hard it was to drive "...back in. The. Day."
Ayrton continued to fume during 1993, while Alain sneaked that last championship of his.
1994, along with the horror of Ayrton's death, witnessed a Benetton-Ford take the Drivers' Championship with a young Michael Schumacher at the wheel.
Michael clinched his first World Championship at the Australian GP, being held in November at the Adelaide Street circuit that year. Nigel Mansell won the race in a Williams, but Michael took the title from Damon Hill after a highly questionable rejoining of the track that took them both out of the race. With neither scoring, Michael, who entered the race just ahead on points, took the title.
Sadly Michael is not enjoying a relaxed retirement. In December 2013, while skiing with his family, he sustained a substantial blow to the head, leaving him in a debilitating condition. While his exact condition remains unknown, due to the respectful request for full privacy by his family, we can only wish this remarkable champion the best of possible health as he continues to draw breath as his seemingly "unbeatable" records start to be slowly picked off by Lewis Hamilton (more on this cheeky chap shortly).
Michael repeated his championship triumph in 1995, again in the Benetton, but with a Renault engine strapped in the back this time around.
1996 and Damon Hill joyfully raises the championship trophy after suffering at the hands of Michael race after race the previous seasons. A very popular champion, being the first to make it a father and son double, Damon, like Nigel, promptly parted company with Williams and did not have a car capable of challenging for the championship again. Seasons with Arrows and Jordan did not deliver winning delights, and he subsequently drifted off into a world of being confused with George Harrison full-time rather than part-time.
1996 seeing the first son of an F1 title winning father win the championship, 1997, not unlike waiting all night for a bus and then seeing two in thirty seconds, suddenly sees the son of "The People's Champion" make it back-to-back titles for Williams and Renault. Taking the top step we have Jacques Villeneuve winning the title many felt his father Gilles was destined to win many years before, if not for a tragic on track accident.
Jacques always had that quirky humour that makes one wonder what exactly is in Canadian water (refer to South Park or more or less any other Canadian animation for a perfect example of what I mean. Pick an episode, any of them it does not matter, they all swing between cheerfully eccentric and full blown crackers...). Anyway since retirement he has made it an art form to irritate all of the English-speaking world, much of the French-speaking world, and not a small part of those who speak all other earthly languages. We do not have confirmed data for the rest of the Galaxy, but I'm sure "Irritated of Beetlejuice" is out there and throwing curses at the screen whenever Jacques appears. Jacques has also dabbled in music and TV, while continuing to be Canadian.
1998 and 1999 saw another popular champion in Mika Hakkinen, at the helm of a McLaren-Mercedes. Keke Rosberg (more on this family shortly) was the original F1 Flying Finn back in 1982 when he won the Drivers' Championship. Mika only enhanced this small nation's reputation through mighty tussles with Michael, remarkable drives in the wet, and a not insignificant inter-team battle with the highly talented David Coulthard.
Mika retired from the sport with his nerves for "on, and over" the limit driving somewhat blown. A number of severe crashes having shaken his faith in the cars he was being asked to drive at their utter limit. Being fair to McLaren, it is a testament not just to Mika's mental and physical abilities that he survived the crashes, but very much to the remarkable crash worthiness of the car that he survived crashes that only ten years earlier would have surely killed him.
Following his retirement from F1, Mika briefly raced in DTM, winning races but not the championship, before fully retiring from racing in November 2007. Mika has generally lived a family life outside of F1, with occasional motor sport outings, and becoming a Mercedes and Jonny Walker ambassador. He also suffered the bizarre situation of having a faulty light in his trophy cabinet start a fire, returning all his hard won trophies to pools of liquid metal. If that does not teach one to let go of the past, I'm not sure what does.
Ah! 2000, and the turn of a century (or not, depending on how you count). Four years after the second of his first two World Drivers' Championship wins, Michael secured the title for a third time. Before promptly securing it a fourth, fifth, six, and seventh.
A grand total of seven championships, first two back-to-back, and then five on the trot with Ferrari.
While this will ensure Michael is regarded by history as a remarkable driver (if not totally sporting by some fans...), it is a record now coming under serious threat from Lewis... We have lamented Michael's retirement status above, so no need for more sad reflection this paragraph.
2005, and ten years after Michael's Benetton-Renault championship victory, how fitting that the cheeky young pup, Fernando Alonso, should finally wrest the title from the German in a Renault chassis, with a Renault engine. Especially if one considers Renault's great racing heritage (as per a pervious article about the Renault brothers), there is an argument to be mounted that motor sport in general owes more to Renault than Ferrari for continued great racing.
Anyway. Fernando backed-up 2005, with a 2006 championship, before romping off to years of frustration at other teams. As I write this he would appear to be "mostly retired" from F1 (or not), while chasing the "Triple-Crown" (or not), while racing other series, where some say competition is diminished (or not), while possibly tackling a full/partial/one race Indy challenge next season... or not...
At 38 years old Fernando is old for a top-tier world class sportsman, but young by 21st century living standards. Will he return to F1? If he does will he win? Is he happy with his days? Given his World Championship success, and his wins in a growing number of categories of motor sport, one hopes this highly talented driver finds time to reflect and smile on a highly entertaining career, even if many people, most especially Fernando no doubt, feel a few more driver's championships in the bag would have been a fairer reflection of the magnitude of his driving talent, rather than his lamentably poor timing when trying to pick a winning team.
2007 sees the third Flying Finn of Formula One grab the Drivers' Championship. Step forward the ever verbally economic Kimi Raikkonen. Fresh from less than 20 FIA-sanctioned open-wheeler races straight into F1, Kimi finally realised his potential with Ferrari. A dramatic year and, discounting Fernando as he is not on the F1 grid this year, the first of our former Champions still driving in F1.
Kimi joined the F1 grid at the 2001 Australian GP. Since then he has managed (as of Monza 2019) 18 pole positions, 46 fastest laps, 103 podiums, 21 wins, and the 2007 World Drivers' Championship. His 2018 American GP win also saw Kimi set a record for the longest time between wins, being 113 GP over nine years. At this point in the season it would appear Kimi will still be driving next year, and if his previous brief retirement from F1 is anything to go by, when he does finally cease competing in F1, he will be driving vehicles flat-out in other series, while enjoying life away from the circuit as much as ever.
2008 and the world witnessed the arrival of Generational Talent, with (for once, please Ed) justified excessive use of capitalisation. Hello and take a bow Lewis Hamilton.
The second of our champions still active on the F1 grid. And how active! Since snatching that first championship on the very last lap, and virtually the very final corner, of the last race of the season, Lewis has repeated the feat with increasing ease since. As I write he is cantering to a highly probable sixth Drivers' Championship, having shattered many of Schumacher's "unbeatable" records along the way. At the age of 34 Lewis has many racing years left in him, should the desire burn deep in his soul and ignite his mind to continue. In 2020 he can match Michael's championship record, and in 2021 he could stand alone as an eight-time champion. Does that fire him up, leaving the drum kit, music, and fashion as far-off activities? Time will cheerfully inform us as the seasons keep giving way, one to the next.
Ah, 2009! Funny to think that ‘recent' season is now ten years ago. Jenson Button secured a welcome Drivers' Championship along with a few records. Honda had thrown in the towel, and in a move of significant cunning Ross Brawn purchased the team, and in a dearth of imagination called it, well, Brawn. Actually it's not fair to single Brawn out on this one as nearly every team on the grid has followed the "That's My Name!" approach to team names. Eschewing a fancy team name, Brawn instead focussed his imagination of how to design under the rules current in 2009, and by the time everyone else had caught on around mid-season, Jenson was far enough ahead to secure the title. Brawn becoming the only team to win the championship in its debut season as a result.
These days Jenson spends his time keeping alarmingly fit and is still racing, having won the Japanese Super GT Series at his first attempt. One presumes he does not mistake Damon Hill for George Harrison any more, having long ago asked his pit crew who that, "...charming old man who knows about cars" was...
2010! New decade, new hero. Hello and welcome to the top step Sebastien Vettel. The first year of crushing Red Bull, powered by Renault, saw Vettel fly through the season to grasp a very slippery drivers' trophy at the final race of the year. The Abu Dhabi race started with Vettel, Alonso, Webber, and Hamilton all in with a chance of championship victory. Vettel emerged as the youngest drivers' champion in history at the age of 22. Now at the age of 32 the chattering classes are just starting to warm-up on the retirement front, but as I type this Vettel is still very much on the grid, and competing for podiums more or less every round. More... or... less...
2011, 12, and 13, all saw Vettel flying to championship victories, with no more than cutting one liners from Mark Webber to cause a stutter to his remarkable progress. Indeed 2011 saw him wrap it all up with four rounds remaining. Plenty of time to think of stylish one liner come backs and partly win over English and Australian journalists. A hobby Vettel is currently enjoying more than his driving one might venture.
2014, and Lewis, new team, same old brilliance, surged to the championship in a Mercedes powered Mercedes. If any company has thrown as much effort into racing delights this past century as Renault has, it is surely Mercedes. Seeing them back on the top step was most welcome.
Lewis, like Kimi and Vettel, is still an active driver. Of the three however, he would appear to be the one most at the top of his game.
2015? Lewis.
2016? Mercedes, yes. Lewis, no. Nico Rosberg joined Damon Hill in being a father-son double of drivers' championships with his father Keke. Nico set fire to a friendship with Lewis to seize a title that the Briton clearly felt was his. Nico promptly retired, disappeared. Hugged his family. Then abruptly walked right back into the sport he so abruptly left as a TV talking head. He appears mostly well balanced and chipper, except when he isn't. One can only wish him every continuing joy as he works out how to generate clicks and views without running out of bridges to set ablaze.
2017 and 2018? Lewis.
2019? Well most probably Lewis.
So, thirty years, thirteen different drivers' champions, driving seven different cars powered by five different engines. Michael on seven. Nigel, Damon, Jacques, Kimi, Jenson, and Nico all on one apiece.
Of the thirteen only dear Ayrton is gone, and long, long may it be before any of these other great sportsman join him.
Three champions still on the F1 grid; Kimi, Lewis, and Seb, plus Mika, Fernando, and Jenson still racing in other series. Six out of thirteen champions of the past thirty years still active in racing! Tragically one could not say that of the years prior to 1989, but we will visit that period in the next part of this article.
Four Britons. Three Germans. Two Finns, and one fine chap each from Spain, France, Brazil, and Canada. World sport? Yes.
Plus aviation grade moustache, George Harrison look-alike credentials, Golf, wines, kids, zinging one-liners, and YouTube channels. We are diversified!
As the Earth rotates once more and we in our dear human-centric way call it a Sun Set, I hope they each cast that look of Eagles to the fading light and smile at lives lived large. Challenges met, bounds pushed, friendships made, and maybe, just maybe, hearts now big enough to allow smiles at the memory of past on-track rivals who should now be honoured as respected friends.
As the light fades to darkness eventually bringing an end to all Earthly Reigns it is only the truly greatest of champions that respectfully bow with cheer and honour to those who have scaled equally challenging heights.
Us, the rain-chilled fans of the past thirty years, have been blessed to be soaked by such mighty Reigns.
Max Noble
Learn more about Max and check out his previous features, here