Top 100 F1 Drivers: 100-91

OK, so you can't really do this list without it being thoroughly subjective. So what I tried to do was introduce complete objectivity into the way each driver was ranked. This left me with a formula - by no means a perfect formula - but a formula by which I could assess every driver to have started a Grand Prix and give them a numerical score that summarises their whole career. It wasn't my first choice of formula. That is to say.. it wasn't Formula One. But with a bit of tweaking and work, it's become a fairly decent guide, perhaps not to Formula One greatness, but certainly to Formula One achievement.

The formula, for those who wish to know, goes like this:

Drivers Championship - 120 points

Race Win - 18 points

Second Place Finish - 7 points

Third Place - 5 points

Fourth Place - 2.5 points

Fifth Place - 2 points

Sixth Place - 1.5 points

Seventh Place - 1 point

Eighth Place - 0.5 points

Pole Position - 2 points

Fastest Lap - 1 point

Race Start - -0.1 point

The minus points for race starts was to counter an effect that the formula had initially, which was that drivers with massive careers had an enormous advantage. Though the introduction of that little extra didn't completely remove that issue, it has lessened the impact of it quite well. Take all those elements, and you have a number that, for this little feature, we'll call F-Points. With that all done and dusted, let's dive right into numbers 100-91 of the Top 100 F1 Drivers of All Time.

Number 100: Gunnar Nilsson (Sweden) 31 Starts, 1 Race Win, 41.4 F-Points

The list begins on a solemn note, and as you will come to see that is unfortunately a running theme through these early numbers. Gunnar Nilsson was a talent whose time was cut tragically short; not by a crash or any other racing incident, but by testicular cancer which prevented him from racing only two seasons into his career.

Having won the F3 series of 1975, Nilsson stepped into Ronnie Peterson's vacated Lotus seat. It was a tough first year for the Sweden, who inherited a car beset by mechanical problems. He could only drag the Lotus to the finish line six times in 1976, scoring two podium finishes.

His results improved in 1977, and he won his first and only Grand Prix victory at a wet Spa, overtaking Niki Lauda's Ferrari to take the chequered flag. It was short-lived joy, however, as Nilsson was diagnosed with testicular cancer towards the end of the season. His condition became to severe for him to continue in 1978, and he died on October 20^th 1978, having made plans to create the Gunnar Nilsson Cancer Foundation. The charity was then created and fronted by his Mother.

The Gunnar Nilsson Cancer Foundation

99. Jean-Pierre Jarier (France) 132 Starts, 0 Race Wins, 41.8 F-Points

You'd be forgiven for thinking that Jean-Pierre Jarier drove for just about every Formula One team during his career. Ever the journeyman, Jarier secured his first permanent seat in the sport with March in 1973, having worked his way up through Formula Three and Formula Two. The March was barely capable of finishing a race, but the following season a move to Shadow saw the Frenchman score his first career podium, with 3rd place at a chaotic Monaco Grand Prix.

Jarier competed for Shadow for another two seasons, but failed to find the form to hoist him up onto the podium again. This is when Jean-Pierre's career became somewhat difficult to follow, as he raced for Penske, Shadow and Ligier in 1977, as well as a few appearances in Le Mans and other sports car events.

Though his career appeared to be dwindling, hope came in the form of the Tyrrell team. They offered him a seat in 1979, and over two seasons Jarier was able to score points with fair regularity, and managed another two podium finishes before he moved to backmarkers Osella.

Jarier found himself part of regrettable notoriety at the tail end of his career. He failed to behave as a backmarker, and his excessive weaving and blocking at the 1983 Austrian Grand Prix spoiled Patrick Tambay's race, dropping his French countryman to third. James Hunt famously commented of this incident:

"Jarier really is completely out of order, he really shouldn't be allowed to drive in Grand Prix racing. He's got a mental age of 10 in the first place, and that was an absolutely disgraceful bit of driving for a driver of his experience...the authorities have to crack down on driving like that...he should certainly receive a short suspension, and for being himself, he should receive a permanent suspension."  

He survived a helicopter accident in 1994.

98. Jim Rathmann (USA) 10 Starts, 1 Race Win, 43 F-Points

Now, there's certainly a point of contention here that is worth bringing up: Should the Indy 500 be considered in this list? Jim Rathmann's 10 starts all come from the 500, which was considered a Formula One World Championship event from 1950 to 1960. He is a classified part of the final standings for each year on which he scored points in his only race. For these reasons, I have no qualms about having the likes of Rathmann in the list.

Rathmann raced in the Indy 500 every year from 1949 to 1963 (except for in 1951), and picked up his solitary victory in 1960 having battled hard with Rodger Ward. The race was regarded as one of the most extraordinary duels in Indy history, with Rathmann pulling home a 12-second advantage to take his place in history.

Rathmann was never enticed into racing for Formula One fully. After retiring from racing he set up a car-company that supplied vehicles for astronauts. He died only last year, having suffered a seizure. He was 83.

97. Jean-Pierre Jabouille (France) 49 Starts, 2 Race Wins, 46.1 F-Points

Jean-Pierre Jabouille's racing career was uncharacteristically slow and steady. He took up the sport aged 22, made it to Formula 2 aged 27, and didn't secure a permanent F1 seat until he was 35. He was lucky enough to dabble in a Tyrrell seat for one race in 1975, but it wasn't until he won the F2 Championship at his seventh attempt in 1976 that he started to establish himself in Formula One.

Having been brought in to help develop Renault's new turbo engines, Jabouille began to display impressive form with a few standout qualifying performances. The car itself was extremely unreliable based on the untested concept of the vehicle, but Jabouille pulled out a Fourth place in 1978.

Jabouille booked himself a place in F1 history in 1979 by leading the Renault to victory at his home Grand Prix in Dijon. This marked the first occasion on which a turbocharged car had won a Grand Prix. The car remained very unreliable and rarely finished a race, but Jabouille was able to achieve his second race victory in 1980 by taking the chequered flag in Austria ahead of Alan Jones by less than a second.

He had planned a move to Ligier in 1981, but a broken leg sustained in the Canadian Grand Prix badly affected his preparations. He missed the first two races and struggled upon his return. He was dropped and never made a return to Formula One. He now runs his own team in the FIA Sportscar Championship.

96. Luigi Fagioli (Italy) 7 Starts, 1 Race Win, 50.3 F-Points

With just seven race starts in World Championship Formula One events, Fagioli has the least Grands Prix under his belt of anyone on this list. However, this statistic does not do justice to a driver who played a significant role in the European Championships of the 1930's, racing for early incarnations of Alfa Romeo, Maserati and Mercedes. He won numerous races, but his attitude proved to be an issue with some of his teams. He was ordered to move over for his team-mate in the first race of 1934, and retaliated by parking the car and abandoning the race. He continued to race up until 1937, when severe rheumatism meant he was no longer in any condition for the rigours of the sport.

After the war, Fagioli's health improved and he returned to racing for the inception of the official Formula One World Championship. Driving for Alfa Romeo, Fagioli scored five podium finishes in his six races of the 1950 season, finishing a very credible third in the championship. In 1951, Fagioli only entered one Grand Prix in which he shared an Alfa Romeo with Juan Manuel Fangio. They were victorious, and aged 53 he became the oldest driver to win a Formula One grand prix, a record he unsurprisingly still holds today.

Fagioli died in 1952 after crashing a touring car at the Monaco circuit.

95. Piero Taruffi (Italy) 18 Starts, 1 Race Win, 55.2 F-Points

Piero Taruffi is perhaps more notable for his careers in motorcycles and sports cars, but his 18 appearances in Grand Prix racing gives him a well-earned place on this list. With a long and impressive motorcycling career in the 1920s and 30s (including the land-speed record on a motorcycle, which he clinched in 1937), Taruffi entered numerous events in the 50s with only one eye focussed on F1.

His most successful year in the sport was undoubtedly 1952 in which Taruffi, driving for Ferrari, scored his first race win at Switzerland. Another two podiums that season gave Taruffi a third placed finish in the Championship, which was to be the best classification he would achieve in F1. Sporadic appearances for Ferrari and Mercedes yielded him a few more good results, but Taruffi had so many pursuits that he never gave himself a true chance to establish a proper F1 title challenge.

He retired from motorsport after the terrible crash in the 1957 Mille Miglia, in which 14 people were killed. He went on to write an acclaimed book called The Technique of Motor Racing, and passed away in 1988 aged 81.

94. Innes Ireland (Great Britain) 50 Starts, 1 Race Win, 55.5 F-Points

Innes Ireland is the first of 20 Brits who have made this list, and perhaps one of the most colourful. Known for his uncompromising and outlandish nature, especially on track, Ireland was a popular figure in the paddock. Having taken up motor-racing as a career in 1957, Ireland found himself in a Lotus in 1959, a seat which he held for three years. During that time Ireland managed four podiums, including his only race victory at the 1961 USA Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. He admitted his victory was lucky, and showed his appreciation for the mechanic that fixed his car three times over the weekend by tipping him £25.

Despite this success, Ireland found himself out of favour with team boss Colin Chapman, who instead hired Jim Clark to drive for Lotus. Ireland dabbled with the BRP and BRM teams, but could only manage a few more points finishes before his career ended in 1967. He continued to work as a journalist, and was briefly the president of the BRDC before dying of cancer in 1993, aged 63.

93. Andrea de Cesaris (Italy) 208 Starts, 0 Race Wins, 57.7 F-Points

Andrea de Cesaris holds something of a dubious distinction in that he has started the most F1 Grands Prix without a single race victory. Despite his inability to hit the top step of the podium, de Cesaris had a long career in the sport, racing for ten different teams over fifteen seasons.

Andrea came to Formula One with a bit of a reputation for causing crashes. He had already been involved in an incident in which Nigel Mansell broke his neck, and in only his second start in F1 he threw his Alfa Romeo into catch fencing at Watkins Glen. Despite this, he managed to land a seat in the McLaren team in 1981. This didn't lead to anything more than a single points finish for de Cesaris, before he moved back to Alfa Romeo.

The Italian took his first podium in a breathless Monaco Grand Prix in 1982, in which almost every car ran out of fuel. Things improved even further for de Cesaris in 1983, when he took two second-placed finishes in Germany and South Africa to place eighth in the World Championship. He also came close to taking his maiden win in Spa, leading for much of the race before a bad pit-stop spoiled his champagne moment.

His moves to Ligier and Minardi did not give de Cesaris much cause to celebrate, but a season at Brabham saw him stand on the podium for a fourth time at the 1987 Belgian Grand Prix. He then spent a couple of years at the promising but ultimately disappointing Dallara team, before moves to Jordan, Tyrrell and Sauber capped off his career in F1. His final podium came at Canada in 1989, but the elusive race victory was never found.

Andrea de Cesaris is now a currency trader, but makes appearances at Grand Prix Masters events.

92. Luigi Villoresi (Italy) 31 Starts, 0 Race Wins, 58.9 F-Points

Luigi Villoresi is another Italian who was racing in Formula before the sport had officially established its World Championship. Appearing in a Maserati in 1938 and 1939, Villoresi's career was interrupted by the war before he returned and spent three more years with the team. He then moved to Ferrari, driving for them between 1949 and 1953. Though he recorded a race win in his first season for Ferrari, the statistics do not count races pre-1950.

Villoresi managed to score eight podiums after the establishment of the Championship, coming fifth place in the standings twice. Despite having a fair amount of success with Ferrari, he moved to Lancia in 1954 alongside Alberto Ascari, who had beaten him on both his second placed finishes. Villoresi was unable to replicate the kind of form he managed in the Ferrari for Lancia, and following Ascari's fatal crash decided to retire from the sport. Villoresi died in 1997, aged 88.

91. Jo Bonnier (Sweden) 104 Starts, 1 Race Win, 60.1 F-Points

Jo Bonnier was a true journeyman. Between 1956 and 1971, the Swede raced for eleven different teams and rarely completed a full season in just one race seat. He began his career at Maserati, spending three years at the team and suffering a crash that very nearly killed him at a non-championship race in Imola. He then moved to BRM where he scored his one and only race victory at the 1959 Dutch Grand Prix. It was a result that put him second in the Championship, but he failed to capitalise on the position as the car wasn't strong enough to pursue a title fight.

Despite his CV listing an absurd amount of teams, Bonnier specialised in scraping out a few points-scoring results regardless of what team he drove for. He scored points for BRM, Porsche, Cooper, Brabham, McLaren and Honda, failing only at his first team Maserati and his self-run team Ecurie Bonnier. Though he continued to drive for his team on occasion, Bonnier's time in F1 was clearly up and he raced his final race at Watkins Glen in 1971.

He was killed at Le Mans in 1972 after a collision with another car.

The next installment (90-81) to come shortly...