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

On the fourth part of this multi-part post, we’re going to be seeing the debut of some of the best Formula One racers to have ever lived. We’re also going to be seeing some recurring names in this list.

So, without further ado, the list of Formula One World Champions from 1966 to 1970.

1966 Formula One World Champion

Name: Jack Brabham–his third and final F1 championship win.

Nationality: Australian

Team: Brabham Racing Team

<click here to read more about Brabham>

Interesting Tidbits about Sir Jack

Brabham is a distinguished member of the Order of Australia, and the Order of the British Empire. He was active in Formula One for 15 years! He made his debut in 1955, and retired from the sport in 1970.

1967 Formula One World Champion

Name: Denny Hulme (Denis Clive “Denny” Hulme), OBE (member of the Order of the British Empire)

Nationality: New Zealande

Team: Brabham Racing Team

Career Highlights:

Championship Wins: 1

Race Wins: 8

Races: 112

Podium Finishes: 33

Pole Positions: 1

Fastest Laps Set: 9

Brief Bio:

Born: June 18, 1936

Died: October 4, 1992

1966 and 1967 was a back-to-back victory for the Brabham F1 team, thanks to Brabham and Hulme. Hulme had a relatively short career in F1. He started racing in 1965, and retired from the sport after just 9 years (1974). After his brief stint with Brabham, Hulme started racing for the McLaren team in F1, participating in the Canadian-American Challenge Cup Series designed specifically for Group 7 sports cars. He became a CanAm champion in 1968 and 1970. At the end of the 1974 season, Hulme decided to retire from F1, but continued racing at the Australian Touring Cars.

Before becoming a part of Formula One, Hulme was known as “The Barefoot Boy from Te Puke”, as he refused to drive without any shoes on. He only started wearing racing shoes in 1960.

One of his favorite racing events was the Bathurst 1000. A race that was held at the world-famous Mount Panorama track in the land down under. During the 1992 event, while driving a BMW M3, Hulme complained about blurred visions over his radio. Apparently, the racing star had suffered a major heart attack while he was driving. He veered into a wall, but managed to keep the car from crashing. The car came to a stop, and by the time the marshals arrived on the scene, they found Hulme still wearing his safety belt and already dead.

1968 Formula One World Champion

Name: Graham Hill (Norman Graham Hill)

Nationality: British

Team: Lotus

<click here to read more about Hill>

This was Hill’s final championship win in Formula One.

1969 Formula One World Champion

Name: Jackie Stewart (Sir John Young “Jackie” Stewart), OBE

Nationality: British

Team: Matra

Career Highlights

Championship Wins: 3

Race Wins: 27

Races: 100, with 99 starts

Podium Finishes: 43

Pole Positions: 17

Fastest Laps Set: 15

Brief Bio:

Born: June 11, 1939

Jackie Stewart was given the nickname “The Flying Scot” during his racing days. This Scottish F1 driver had an 8-year career in Formula One, where he won a total of three Formula One World Drivers’ Championships. He was also a Can-Am or Canadian-American Challenge Cup, and is well-known in the United States as one of the color commentators in the racing TV broadcasts. He was also a pitchman for Ford and was team principal for the Stewart Grand Prix Formula One team.

1970 Formula One World Champion

Name: Jochen Rindt (Karl Jochen Rindt)

Nationality: Austrian

Team: Lotus

Career Highlights

Championship Wins: 1

Race Wins: 6

Races: 62, with 60 starts

Podium Finishes: 13

Pole Positions: 10

Fastest Laps Set: 3

Brief Bio:

Born: April 18, 1942

Died: September 5, 1970

The German-Austrian driver was the first and only driver to have ever won the Formula One World Championship posthumously. Aside from being very gifted in F1 racing, Rindt was also very successful in other motorsports including sports car racing. He actually won the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in 1965.

Rindt was killed in a practice session for the Italian Grand Prix. According to Hulme who was following Rindt during the session, Rindt’s car made a weaving motion before sharply swerving and crashing into a barrier. The barrier then parted and the suspension pressed into the barrier and the car then hit a stanchion hard. The entire front area of the car was destroyed. Reports say that Rindt had taken to wearing a lap belt, and that the driver had slid down when the belt buckle cut open his throat.

Investigations conducted by the Italian court released findings that the accident was caused by the failure of the vehicle’s right front brake shaft, but that what killed Rindt were poorly-installed barriers.

Rindt was the second team leader from Lotus to have died in two years. Jim Clark was killed in 1968.

Sources: Wikipedia and More Wikipedia