This list will cover the Formula One World Driver’s Champions from 1971 to 1980. We have a lot of ground to cover, but like the previous entry, there are a number of drivers who will be showing up more than once or even thrice in this short F1 champions list.
We start of this post with the 1971 Formula One World Champion. Another familiar name: Jackie Stewart
1971 Formula One World Champion
Name: Jackie Stewart (Sir John Young “Jackie Stewart”, OBE)
Nationality: British
Team: Tyrrell Racing
Jackie Stewart, AKA “The Flying Scott” brings his good luck and mad skillz to Tyrrell after his stint with Matra, or Mécanique Avion TRAction.
(Click HERE to find out more about Jackie Stewart)
1972 Formula One World Champion
Name: Emerson Fittipaldi
Nationality: Brazilian
Team: McLaren
Career Highlights:
Championship Wins: 2
Race Wins: 14
Races: 149, with 144 starts
Podium Finishes: 35
Pole Positions: 6
Fastest Laps Set: 6
Brief Bio:
Born: December 12, 1946
Hometown: São Paulo, Brazil
Emerson Fittipaldi is one of the most successful Brazilian auto racing drivers in the world. He won a couple of championships in Formula One and some more in the Indianapolis 500 and CART.
He started racing motorcycles at 14, and moved on to hydrofoils at 16. After realizing the dangers of racing hydrofoils, Fittipaldi, along with his brother moved on to racing karts. After moving to Formula Vees, Formula Ford, and Formula Three, Fittipaldi caught the attention of Colin Chapman who was looking for a supporting driver for the late Austrian Jochen Rindt in 1970. After starting out as the No. 3 driver for Lotus, Fittipaldi was propelled to the number one seat when Rindt died at Monza, and the No. 2 driver, John Miles, left the team. Emerson later made the move to McLaren. He was active in the motorsport for ten years, from 1970 to 1980.
Fittipaldi would go on to win two championships in Formula One. He later moved on to CART in 1984 after a 4-year hiatus from racing.
In 2001, Emerson became a part of the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America.
1973 Formula One World Champion
Name: Jackie Stewart
Nationality: British
Team: Tyrrell
A third time and final championship win for Jackie Stewart.
1974 Formula One World Champion
Name: Emerson Fittipaldi
Nationality: Brazilian
Team: McLaren
A second appearance for Fittipaldi. (Scroll Up to Read More on this Driver)
1975 Formula One World Champion
Name: Niki Lauda (Andreas Nikolaus “Niki” Lauda)
Nationality: Austrian
Team: Ferrari
Career Highlights:
Championship Wins: 3
Race Wins: 25
Races: 177, with 171 starts
Podium Finishes: 54
Pole Positions: 24
Fastest Laps Set: 24
Brief Bio:
Born: February 22, 1949
Hometown: Vienna
Aside from being a three-time Formula One World Champion, Lauda is also lauded fro beign a successful Austrian aviator and entrepreneur. For a couple of years, he managed the Formula One Jaguar Racing team from 2001 to 2002. He has also founded and managed two airlines—Lauda Air.
1976 Formula One World Champion
Name: James Hunt (James Simon Wallis Hunt)
Nationality: British
Team: McLaren
Career Highlights:
Championship Wins: 1
Race Wins: 10
Races: 93, with 92 starts
Podium Finishes: 23
Pole Positions: 14
Fastest Laps Set: 8
Brief Bio:
Born: August 29, 1947
Hometown: England
Died: June 15, 1993
Although he was active in Formula One for just 6 seasons, Hunt became one of the most well-remembered F1 British drivers. He retired from driving in 1979 and became a successful businessman and media commentator. He had a pretty good commentary career with BBC, which was something he stayed with from his retirement up until his death in 1993.
Some say that his F1 career’s rapid decline had to do with lack of motivation. Hunt was a skilled driver, but car problems combined with the lack of a test driver in 1977 and 1978 certainly brought his morale down. And any motivation he had left was completely gone during the crash that he and his good friend Ronnie Peterson were involved in. After a chaotic start in the 1978 Italian Grand Prix, a huge accident resulted in Peterson’s Lotus hitting the barriers and bursting in a cloud of flames. Hunt along with Clay Regazzoni and Patrick Depailler attempted to rescue the trapped driver but the Swede died a day later due to an embolism. When Hunt moved to Water Wolf Racing the next year, he found that the team’s ground effect car wasn’t competitive enough. And when he failed to finish in the 1979 Monaco Grand Prix, he immediately announced to the press that he was quitting F1. And he did–forever.
Hunt died at 45 due to a heart attack at his house in Wimbledon.
1977 Formula One World Champion
Name: Niki Lauda (Andreas Nikolaus “Niki” Lauda)
Nationality: Austrian
Team: Ferrari
A second win for the three-time F1 World Champion, Nikki Lauda.
(scroll up to read more about Lauda)
1978 Formula One World Champion
Name: Mario Andretti (Mario Gabriele Andretti)
Nationality: American
Team: Lotus
Career Highlights:
Championship Wins: 1
Race Wins: 12
Races: 131, with 128 starts
Podium Finishes: 19
Pole Positions: 18
Fastest Laps Set: 10
Brief Bio:
Born: February 28, 1940
The Italian-American Andretti is one of the most famous American F1 drivers in history. He is one of the only two drivers to have ever won races on all four of the top motor racing categories including: Formula One, World Sportscar Championship, NASCAR, and IndyCar. The other racer is Dan Gurney.
Throughout his career, the Italian American managed to snag four IndyCar titles, one F1 championship and IROC VI. Until now, he’s the only driver to have ever won the Daytona 500, Formula One World Championship, and the Indianapolis 500.
He shares the record of being one of the only two drivers to have won the Indianapolis 500, Formula One, and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series with former F1 driver, Juan Pablo Montoya.
Andretti has had a total of 109 wins on all the most famous circuits.
Until now, Andretti is the only American to have ever won the Formula One series.
Andretti has also had victories in sprint car, drag, and midget car racing.
1979 Formula One World Champion
Name: Jody Scheckter (Jody David Scheckter)
Nationality: South African
Team: Ferrari
Career Highlights:
Championship Wins: 1
Race Wins: 10
Races: 113, with 111 starts
Podium Finishes: 33
Pole Positions: 3
Fastest Laps Set: 5
Brief Bio:
Born: January 29, 1950
After moving to Britain in 1970, Scheckter debuted in Formula One in 1972 as a McLaren driver. His amazing performance in the race at Watkins Glen instantly made him an overnight star–someone for the crowds to watch. The next year, he won the Formula 5000 and participated in 5 F1 races. In one of his starts at the British Grand Prix held at Silverstone, he was involved in an accident that took out almost a dozen cars–that pretty much summed up his whole career.
But he finally got his chance to drive in 1974, when Tyrrell offered him a seat. Jody proved his worth by finishing third in the Formula One World Driver’s Championship. The next year, though it wasn’t as good as 1974, Scheckter managed to be the first and only South African to have won in the South African Grand Prix. In 1976, he found himself in third place again. But just a few years later, Scheckter managed to finally clinch the driver’s championship.
These days, Scheckter works as an organic farmer at Overton. Because of his knowledge on organic farming and the benefits of organic food, he was featured in several episodes on the Visionhealth TV and DVD documentaries in 2005.
1980 Formula One World Champion
Name: Alan Jones (Alan Stanley Jones, MBE) *Member of the Order of the British Empire
Nationality: Australian
Team: Williams
Career Highlights:
Championship Wins: 1
Race Wins: 12
Races: 117, with 116 starts
Podium Finishes: 24
Pole Positions: 6
Fastest Laps Set: 13
Brief Bio:
Jones was the first driver to have ever won the F1 World Driver’s Championship with the Williams team. He is also said to have been the last Australian Driver (so far) to have won at the Australian Grand Prix.
Prior to landing a seat in F1, Jones was racing in Formula 3. He later managed to get a Formula Atlantic ride, which landed him in F1 the next season.
In F1, Jones started out as the injury replacement driver for Rolf Stommelen in Graham Hill’s racing team. It was only in 1976 when Jones landed a full-time F1 drive in the John Surtees racing team. During these races, he instantly caught the media’s attention, mostly thanks to his infamous Durex sponsorship. Unfortunately Surtees and Jones didn’t get along well, so Jones was dropped from the team. Shadow picked Jones up and turned him into the replacement driver for Tom Pryce. Pryce was killed in South Africa during a freak racing accident.
Jones made the most out of the opportunity presented to him, winning at the Österreichring (his maiden victory), and getting seventh place in the driver’s championship.
1977, Jones caught the eye of Frank Williams, who was planning on rebuilding his F1 team–Williams Grand Prix. While he didn’t win the championship that year, Jones did succeed in putting the team on the map after he won at Watkins Glen.
In 1980, Jones finished first, making him the 1980 Formula One World Driver’s Champion.
Sources: A lot of Wikipedia
