Full List of Champions & Notes Below1950 Juan Manuel Fangio
1951 Juan Manuel Fangio
1952 Alberto Ascari
1953 Alberto Ascari
1954 Juan Manuel Fangio
1955 Juan Manuel Fangio
1956 Juan Manuel Fangio
1957 Juan Manuel Fangio
1958 Mike Hawthorn
1959 Stirling Moss
1960 Jack Brabham
1961 Phil Hill
1962 Jim Clark
1963 Jim Clark
1964 Jim Clark
1965 Jim Clark
1966 John Surtees
1967 Jim Clark
1968 Chris Amon
1969 Jochen Rindt
1970 Jackie Stewart
1971 Jackie Stewart
1972 Emerson Fittipaldi
1973 Ronnie Peterson
1974 Niki Lauda
1975 Niki Lauda
1976 James Hunt
1977 James Hunt
1978 Mario Andretti
1979 Jacques Laffite
1980 Alan Jones
1981 Nelson Piquet
1982 Alain Prost
1983 Patrick Tambay
1984 Nelson Piquet
1985 Ayrton Senna
1986 Ayrton Senna
1987 Nigel Mansell
1988 Ayrton Senna
1989 Ayrton Senna
1990 Ayrton Senna
1991 Ayrton Senna
1992 Nigel Mansell
1993 Alain Prost
1994 Michael Schumacher
1995 Damon Hill
1996 Damon Hill
1997 Jacques Villeneuve
1998 Mika Häkkinen
1999 Mika Häkkinen
2000 Michael Schumacher
2001 Michael Schumacher
2002 Michael Schumacher
2003 Michael Schumacher
2004 Michael Schumacher
2005 Kimi Räikkönen
2006 Fernando Alonso
2007 Lewis Hamilton
2008 Lewis Hamilton
2009 Sebastian Vettel
2010 Sebastian Vettel
2011 Sebastian Vettel
2012 Lewis Hamilton
2013 Sebastian Vettel
2014 Nico Rosberg
2015 Lewis Hamilton
2016 Nico Rosberg
Select Notes:
- Talking about qualifying formats, there was a clear trend during the one lap qualifying years (2003-2005) that the quali results were far more unpredicatable than post- or pre-format. For example: The years 2002 and 2004 were essentially similar in nature, people remember them as dull Schumacher domination years. 2002 had a total of three pole-sitters from two teams & every time there were at least five cars from the top three teams in the top six. However, 2004 had 12 Ferrari poles, 3 Renault poles, 1 BAR pole, 1 McLaren pole and 1 Williams pole & at least one of the top five drivers was out of the top six in every qualifying...
- I expected the likes of Lotus (pre-1994) & the turbo cars, especially Renault, gain here, which was correct. Notable losers include Jack Brabham (in contrast to his 3 personal and 2 constructors' titles, his achievements are reduced to a lonely drivers' trophy from 1960), and curiously, McLaren between Hunt and Senna from '79 to '87. They were fast in races, but generally were nowhere in qualifying. Apart from Prost, who was 2nd in '84 and 3rd in '85, their best scoring driver in that timeframe was Keke in '86, with 22 points. Regardless of their poor qualifying though, Lauda (18pt 1982, 16pt 1984 - 10th best qualifier, WDC) and Watson (1 (!) pt in 1982) were able to mount serious title challenges, anyway...
- Top qualifying season that didn't convert into a title challenge must have been Peterson's 1973. In qualifying he scored over double on the World Champion Stewart (115 out of 150 possible points, Stewart got 51), yet the Swede finished a mere third on the actual WDC table, there without a chance on Jackie. Rindt's '69 and Piquet's '84 warrant mentions, too.
- As for the drivers, it's no surprise that the likes of Senna, Hamilton and Clark are the net gainers whereas the likes of Prost are the heavy net losers. However to me it was a slight surprise to discover just
how good Fangio was in qualifying, since I had my mental picture of him him down as a "cunning race fox" for some reason (ok, it was officially practice in his time, but still): he qualified in the front row in 41 of his 52 starts (!) and only once outside the top 4 -- eight position in his final start in 1958 (!!).
- Obviously, the drivers who in contrast to reality win a trophy, are: Moss, Amon (Mario wasn't joking with the undertaker joke), Peterson, Laffite, Tambay
- and those who never do, are: Farina, G Hull, Hulme, Scheckter, K Rosberg & Button. Hulme and Scheckter never place higher than 4th and 5th on the standings respectively - are they possibly the weakest WDC qualifiers?
- The unluckiest drivers include G Hill (5 times 2nd), Ickx (second twice, by two points on both occasions), Jabouille (lost title by a single point in 1979), Reutemann (ditto 1981, albeit that was his only good season in qualifying), Arnoux (three times 2nd, each time within 4 points of Trophy) & Massa (two times second, 2008 lost by 5 points).
- Peculiar details such as Laffite's 1979 when he was nowhere for half the year bu wins by the virtue of having more high points than anyone anyway, 1991 Patrese outdoing Mansell, Barrichello almost winning in 2003, and obviously Amon sweeping '68 made this fun to do
- There is a clear trend that drivers do tend to lose something in qualifying in the later years of their career, even if they might gain race prowess by age. Examples of this vary from Prost - who was in a great form from '81 to '86ish, was generally way off Senna (granted, in the '93 Williams he did the job almost without a hitch) - to Schumacher, who became surprisingly error prone in his later qualifying years, from Lauda (dominant in 1974 and 1975, nowhere in the eighties) to Kimi (lightning fast in the McLarens, beaten by almost every teammate since), from Piquet to Alonso - even Senna, Vettel and Hamilton got their titles earlier in this format.....ok, there are some exceptions, such as the aging Tambay who pulled a consistent season out of his bag in '83 after not showing anything in the seasons prior, and Surtees as well...but I wasnt expecting to discover it to this volume.
