Top 100 F1 Drivers: 80-71

We took a little break there, but let's get to part three of our top 100 F1 drivers list. Featured in this section is a commentary legend, the only Mexican to have made the list, and our first triple-race winner.

80. Peter Collins (Great Britain) 32 Starts, 3 Race Wins, 84.8 F-Points

Again, we kick off with a figure from the 1950s and, perhaps predictably, a career cut short by tragedy. Peter Collins was born with racing on the brain, having been the son of a garage owner. One notable incident in his youth was when he was caught riding dodgems during school hours, leading to expulsion.

He moved through Formula 3 and got his F1 debut in 1952 with the HWM team, replacing Stirling Moss. Though Collins spent two years at the team, the car couldn't perform competitively and Collins found himself getting sparse opportunities over the next couple of seasons with Vanwall and Maserati. However, landing a seat at Ferrari for 1956 proved to be a turning point in Peter's career.

Though Collins crashed out of his first race that season, he would then finish a close second behind Stirling Moss at Monaco before winning the next two Grands Prix at Belgium and France. Another second place at Silverstone meant that, with two races remaining, Peter Collins was leading the title race. His hopes took a major blow in Germany after he had was involved in a collision and nearest title-rival Juan Fangio took the chequered flag, but Collins still had the chance to be Britain's first World Champion as they entered the final race.

What ensued was perhaps the finest act of sportsmanship in Formula One's history. The steering arm on Juan Fangio's Ferrari broke, leaving the Argentine out of the race and giving Collins the upper hand in the title race. Luigi Musso was asked to hand his car over to Fangio by Ferrari, but refused. However, when Collins came in to pit he relinquished his Championship hopes and allowed Fangio to finish the race in his car. This act meant that his points for finishing second were shared between him and Fangio, and that the Argentine had become champion.

While Collins gentlemanliness drew praise from the likes of Enzo Ferrari, another shot at the title was never to occur. The following season saw the performance of the Ferrari drop far below expectation, although there was one positive for Peter which was the arrival of team-mate Mike Hawthorn. The two Brits struck up a great friendship, and would share the winnings they received with each other. In the garage, they were both notorious for their pranks and japes.

Things improved in 1958, and Collins was back up on the top step of the podium at the British Grand Prix, having seen off Hawthorn's challenge to take his third career victory. At this point, Collins was third in the Championship and still an outside shot for the title. However, disaster struck in the following race. While chasing Tony Brooks, Collins lost control and was thrown from his car. He later died of his injuries aged 26. Mike Hawthorn, who went on to win the title that season, retired due to his friend's death.

79. Peter Revson (USA) 30 Race Starts, 2 Race Wins, 85 F-Points

Peter Revson was a distinguished racing driver who took a little while to completely fall in love with Formula One. He decided to take up racing as a profession in 1962, forming a Formula Junior team with an old school friend. Revson performed well in these races and was handed a seat in Reg Parnell's team for the 1964 F1 season. However, the Lotus-BRM was not at all competitive, and it would be seven years before Revson returned to F1.

The American focussed his efforts on the CanAm series, and took part in the Indy 500 for five consecutive years. He was the top rookie finisher in the 500 for the 1969 event, and came second in 1971. For 1972, Revson was offered a seat in the McLaren team alongside former champion Denny Hulme. He performed well compared to his more experienced teammate, finishing on the podium four times that season including a second place at Canada in which Revson had been the polesitter.

In 1973, Revson stepped up his game even further as he recorded his two Grand Prix victories. The first came at Silverstone, in which Revson survived a start-line pile-up, poor conditions and hard-fought challenges from Ronnie Peterson and Denny Hulme to take home his maiden win. He followed this up with his triumph at Canada, a race with the distinction of being the first to feature the safety car. Despite these two victories, Revson only finished fifth in the Championship.

Revson's relationship with McLaren team-boss Teddy Mayer was always strained, and for the 1974 season he decided to move to Shadow. However, during practice for the third race of the season in South Africa, Revson suffered a suspension failure and crashed into a barrier. He died of his injuries aged 35.

78. Pedro Rodriguez (Mexico) 55 Starts, 2 Race Wins, 93.5 F-Points

The aforementioned Mexican in our century of drivers, Pedro Rodriguez provided his credentials at an impressively young age, albeit not in Formula One. At just 18-years old, Rodriguez shared a Ferrari in the Le Mans 24-hours race. Rodriguez would come back to Le Mans every following year, up until his untimely death in 1971. The pinnacle of his success was winning the event in 1968.

In the early-to-mid 60s, Rodriguez was given sporadic opportunities to race for Ferrari and Lotus in Formula One. However, in 1967 he landed a permanent seat in the Cooper team. Despite being brought in as a number two to team-mate Jochen Rindt, Rodriguez stunned the paddock by winning his first race for Cooper at Kyalami. Rhodesian driver John Love was leading the race with a few laps to go, but had to pit for fuel handing the lead to Rodriguez. The Mexican took the chequered flag to become the first and only from his country to win a Grand Prix.

In spite of this early success, Rodriguez was a steady performer behind his team-mate for the rest of the season. The Coopers were uncompetitive, but Rodriguez's minor successes in the slower package led to him signing for BRM in the 1968 season. The car was able to provide more consistency for the Mexican, as he drove to three podiums during the season and a sixth-place finish in the World Championship. The highlight of this year was coming in second at Spa, with only a lack of power preventing him from mounting a sustained challenge on eventual winner Bruce McLaren.

Despite an impressive season, team politics led to Rodriguez being unfairly released by the team in favour of the inexperienced Jackie Oliver. He was shafted off to Reg Parnell's BRM team, but this car was uncompetitive and Rodriguez left for Ferrari after three races of the 1969 season. The Ferraris were little better, and Rodriguez faced competition for his seat from Italian drivers. Following a tumultuous and disappointing season, Rodriguez was dropped by Ferrari and instead picked up by another BRM outlet.

Though the team favoured Jackie Oliver, Rodriguez once again fought back and took his second victory at Spa in 1970. He came home just a second ahead of Chris Amon. He was only able to follow this result up with one more podium for the season - a second-place finish at Watkins Glen in which Pedro had to surrender his lead to Emerson Fittipaldi for a late fuel stop.

BRM kept Rodriguez for the 1971 season and he managed another second-place, this time at Zandvoort. In furious wet-weather conditions, Rodriguez and Jacky Ickx were a class apart from the field, and battled intensely to the finish line with the Belgian coming out on top. It would be the last highlight of Rodriguez's career as he was killed in a sportscar race event just a few weeks later, aged 31.

77. Jo Siffert (Switzerland) 96 Starts, 2 Race Wins, 94.9 F-Points

Jo Siffert began his career on motorcycles in the 50s, but would go on to earn his status as a legend for the Porsche factory team. Siffert drove the team to their first two major sportscar victories, partnering Hans Hermann as they won both the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring. He led Porsche to two major sportscar titles in both 1969 and 1970. With such credentials, it is perhaps a surprise that Siffert took so long to really prove himself in Formula One.

For the majority of his F1 career, Siffert was a private entrant under the Rob Walker racing team. This began tentatively in 1962 and 1963 (at this time, he drove under Siffert Racing Team entry), but really got going in 1964 when he scored his first podium at Watkins Glen. Siffert survived the enduring 110 lap meeting to earn his first taste of F1 glory, but it was four more years before he was able to stand on the podium again.

Siffert was fairly consistent for the Rob Walker racing team for the years following his first podium, and was finally able to convert this into victory during the 1968 British Grand Prix. He spent an enormous amount of the race battling with Chris Amon, but was able to take the chequered flag by four seconds. This earned him the distinction of being the last private entrant to win a Formula One race.

With two more podiums at Monaco and the Netherlands in 1969, Siffert was beginning to attract the attention of other teams. Porsche were concerned about the possibility of him joining Ferrari, so bankrolled his move to March in 1970. Unfortunately for Siffert, the car was slow and unreliable. The Swiss driver could not finish in the top six all season, and transferred to BRM for 1971.

Siffert took his second and final victory at Austria that season. Having snatched a surprise pole position, Jo survived a rear puncture and challenges from Francois Cevert and Emerson Fittipaldi to bring home a win that was well received by the local support. In the last race of the season Siffert took second place, once again battling an ailing car into an impressive result. He finished a career best of fifth in the World Championship.

Three weeks later, in the World Championship Victory Race at Brands Hatch, the suspension on Siffert's car broke and his car crashed and caught fire, killing the Swiss driver. He was 35.

76. Jean-Pierre Beltoise (France) 85 Starts, 1 Race Win, 95 F-Points

Jean-Pierre Beltoise is one of those rare, now near-extinct figures who excelled on both two-wheels and four-wheels. Between 1962 and 1964 he won 11 different Motorcycle Racing Titles, before moving into Formula 3 in 1965. He impressed and moved onto Formula 2 for two seasons, getting a handful of F1 races in the Matra during these years.

Beltoise's first full season in Formula One was in 1968, in which he was able to take his first podium after finishing second in a rain-soaked Dutch Grand Prix. He continued with the Matra team for the following three seasons, including the 1969 year in which Beltoise was teammates with Jackie Stewart. The Frenchman was able to repeat his result in Zandvoort by finishing second to the Matra of Stewart in the French Grand Prix, delighting the home support. Two more podiums in Spain and Italy meant that Beltoise finished fifth in the World Championship that year.

The next two seasons were tough for the Matra team as they began to decline. Beltoise scored two more podiums in 1970, but by 1971 the team were struggling to score any points at all. Things got worse for Beltoise when he was involved in a crash that killed Ignazio Giunti in a Buenos Aires race meeting, and the Frenchman had his license suspended for a short time.

Despite this, BRM offered Beltoise a seat for the 1972 season, and his skills in the rain were to finally take him to the top step of the podium. With torrential conditions battering the Monaco circuit, Beltoise kept composed to bring home what would prove to be BRM's last victory in Formula One. Though he enjoyed his champagne moment, the car was not at all competitive that season and it was the only highlight of a poor year.

Beltoise stayed with BRM and things improved in 1973, with the team beginning to pick up points more regularly. In 1974, Beltoise clinched his final moment of glory in Formula One, fighting his way through the field to take second place at the South African Grand Prix. However, another otherwise poor season from BRM meant that Beltoise decided his time in the sport was up. He continued racing, trying his hand in touring cars and rallycross with successes along the way. Currently, Beltoise has two sons who are both racing drivers and runs a go-kart track in France.

75. Stefan Johansson (Sweden) 79 Starts, 0 Race Wins, 95.6 F-Points

Proving there is still room in this list for drivers who didn't experience the joy of Grand Prix victory, Stefan Johansson drove for both McLaren and Ferrari in his career and scored 12 podium finishes. His route into Formula One began with his Formula 3 Championship title, which he took in 1980 driving for a team owned by Ron Dennis. After a couple of seasons in Formula Two, Johansson made the step up towards the end of the 1983 season with the Spirit team. However, he was replaced by Mauro Baldi for 1984.

Johansson did race a few times that season as a stand-in for both Tyrrell and Toleman, scoring an impressive fourth-place for the latter. He was surprisingly then offered a place in the Ferrari team for 1985, following the unexpected sacking of Rene Arnoux. The Swede acted as number two for Michele Alboreto, and was right behind his teammate as they took a Ferrari 1-2 at Canada. Johansson's second podium came the following race at Detroit, this time finishing ahead of his teammate in second place. Johansson was unable to take a victory of his own however, coming closest at the San Marino Grand Prix where he led with just a few laps to go, before his car ran out of fuel.

In 1986, Johansson stepped his game up and usurped Michele Alboreto's spot as the top Ferrari driver. Despite an ailing car, Johansson scored four podium finishes and took fifth place in the world championship, completely outshining Alboreto who finished in ninth. The Swede often outpaced his much favoured teammate, so it came as a shock when Johansson was shown the door at Ferrari before the 1987 season.

McLaren picked Johansson as the perfect candidate to partner Alain Prost for the season. The Swede was once again consistent and impressive throughout the season, without ever putting in the outstanding performance necessary to take victory. He finished second to Prost in Spa, and took second place again in Germany (despite a puncture which meant that Johansson virtually finished the race on three wheels). The McLaren was not up to its best standard, however, with Prost failing to regain the title. This led to them bringing in Ayrton Senna for 1988, meaning Johansson had to find a new team.

The lack of victories made Johansson a difficult choice for the top teams, so he found himself at Ligier for 1988. This proved to be a disaster, as the team barely qualified for races at all. In 1989 Johansson joined the newly-established Onyx team, and this proved to be more successful. Despite the car being a handful, Johansson managed to carve out a shock podium in the Portuguese Grand Prix, giving the Onyx team its highest ever finish.

He was sacked in 1990 after falling out with Onyx's team owner, and made sporadic appearances in 1991 for AGS and Footwork (in which he was only able to qualify once) before his career in F1 was over. He joined the CART series and competed in numerous other racing events. Currently he is both a businessman and a racing team owner.

 74. Jochen Mass (Germany) 104 Starts, 1 Race Win, 96.1 F-Points

Jochen Mass' route into F1 came via the slightly unconventional detour into European Touring Cars. Having become a prominent figure in the series during the early 1970s, Mass moved into the World Sportscar Championship. In 1972 he took the title, and a number of other endurance race victories made his move into Formula One seem like the natural step forward.

However, Mass didn't slip straight into a race seat. 1973 was split between Formula One and Formula Two for the German, with Surtees offering him an occasional place in an uncompetitive car. He impressed enough to be given a permanent place in the team for 1974 and despite failing to score any points, Mass found himself in a McLaren by the end of the season. This move launched the most successful period in Mass' F1 career.

Mass scored his first podium finish at the 1975 Brazilian Grand Prix, coming in just behind his teammate Emerson Fittipaldi to bring home an excellent race result for McLaren. Two races later Jochen Mass would have his first and only race victory, although it came in both controversial and tragic circumstances. The 1975 Spanish Grand Prix was marred by safety concerns before the event, and a crash that killed five spectators twenty laps into the Grand Prix. The race was halted on lap 29, and Mass was leading at the time so took a half-pointed win.

It is a shame that what should have been Mass' champagne moment was totally overshadowed. The German went on to score two further podiums in 1975, playing the role as a handy number two to Emerson Fittipaldi in the Brazilian's title challenge. With Fittipaldi setting up his own team for 1976, Mass had an opportunity to establish his own goals in the team. However, new teammate James Hunt was beyond the German's pace and Mass fell into the number two role again.

Mass had a more difficult season, scoring only two podiums and finishing ninth in the World Championship. This was not good enough when considering the fact that James Hunt became Champion in 1976, but Mass upped his game somewhat in 1977. The German was able to score points more consistently, and drove to an impressive second place in Sweden, running close behind Jacques Laffite's Ligier.

However, Mass never properly established himself as someone who could pick up the victories when Hunt couldn't, and found himself replaced by Patrick Tambay for the 1978 season. Mass moved to the ATS team, which would be a fruitless pursuit of points ended prematurely by a broken leg in testing. Still, Mass regained fitness in time for the 1979 season, in which he moved to Arrows and began scoring points again.

1980 was a similar year in which Mass was able to pick up the odd few points for the Arrows team. It almost ended in disaster after a frightening accident during qualifying for the Austria Grand Prix put Mass in hospital and kept him out of action for a few races. However, Mass was able to finish the season, but was not able to find a race seat for 1981.

He did get back into Formula One in 1982 with March, but this would be the unhappiest year of his career. Mass was unfortunately (and blamelessly) involved in the accident which killed Gilles Villeneuve at Zolder. Having been caught up in one tragedy, Mass was nearly part of another when he collided with Mauro Baldi in the French Grand Prix and his car was catapulted into the crowd. Miraculously nobody was injured, but the incident gave Mass enough reason to give up Formula One for good. He continued driving sportscars, and was briefly a commentator in the 90s.

73. Maurice Trintignant (France) 81 Starts, 2 Race Wins, 100.4 F-Points

Maurice Trintignant had a fourteen year career in F1 during the time when such a lengthy stint in the sport was practically unheard of. His older brother introduced him to racing in the 30s, competing in his own Bugatti. However, he was killed in 1933 and the family sold the car. Maurice then bought back the car five years later and picked up where his brother had left off, attracting the attention of Bugatti stars before the interruption of the war.

He kept his Bugatti in a barn during the war, and once it was over he rebuilt it for a 1945 event known as The Prisoners Cup. However, he had to retire due to a clogged fuel filter, which it later transpired was filled with rat droppings. This gave Maurice the nickname of 'Le Petoulet', or "The Rat Droppings".

That quirky tale aside, Maurice found himself racing Gordinis in F1 bewteen 1950 and 1953, with impressive performances earning him a place in Ferrari for 1954. He scored his first podium that year with a second-place finish at Belgium, before coming in third later that year in the German Grand Prix.

In 1955, Trintignant scored a strange result by finishing both second and third in the Argentinean Grand Prix, having shared drives in two cars to take a total of 3 1⁄3 points from the event. Things were much clearer in the following race, as retirements for Fangio, Moss and Ascari let Trintignant take his first Grand Prix victory at Monaco. He came fourth in the 1955 World Championship.

A experimental year racing for Bugatti and Vanwall did not prove to be successful for Trintignant, so he was back with Ferrari for 1957, albeit only for a few races. In 1958 the Frenchman drove mainly for Cooper, and was able to pick up his second Grand Prix victory. Once again, Monaco was the venue as Trintignant eased home to victory with a twenty-second lead.

He scored another podium in 1958, and had another fine year in 1959 with a third place at his speciality race Monaco, and a second place in the US Grand Prix (in which Trintignant was less than a second behind winner Bruce McLaren).

The next four seasons did not see Trintignant pick up a single World Championship point, despite him being almost ever-present on the grid. In 1964 he decided to set up his own team, and this would see him enjoy his final F1 glory - a fifth place finish at the German Grand Prix. Trintignant retired at the end of the season, and went back to his home town of Vergeze. He was elected local mayor for a while, and died in 2005 aged 87.

72. Martin Brundle (Great Britain) 158 Starts, 0 Race Wins, 103.7 F-Points

Perhaps better known nowadays as the voice of Formula One coverage in the UK, Martin Brundle had a long career in F1 that included some impressive drives, and some perhaps more impressive wrecks. Brundle began his single-seater racing career in Formula Ford back in 1979, which he combined with competing in BMW touring cars. He won the BMW championship in 1980 and found himself in a Formula Three seat for 1982.

1983 saw Brundle have an enormous title fight with Ayrton Senna, which culminated in heartbreak for the Brit as he lost out on the Formula Three Championship during the final laps of the final race. Despite this, Brundle was offered a place in the Tyrrell Formula One team for 1984. He immediately impressed with a fifth place in his first race at Brazil. He followed this up with a fantastic second-place in Detroit, pushing the reigning champion Nelson Piquet very hard for victory.

However, Tyrrell were found to have a technical infringement on their car, which led to all their results being expunged that season. Things got worse for Brundle, as he promptly broke both his legs in the following race. He missed the rest of the season, but Tyrrell kept the Brit for 1985 and 1986, in which Brundle was unable to match his early barnstorming performances.

A year with Zakspeed in 1987 didn't offer much of an improvement for Brundle, and he decided to take a year out to race in the World Sportscar Championship. Brundle won the 1988 title with a record amount of points, and rejoined F1 with Brabham in 1989. Once again, he found himself in a car that was unable to produce results, so Brundle took another year out of Formula One. He was victorious in the 1990 Le Mans 24 Hours race, and decided to have a third crack at F1.

He rejoined Brabham in 1991, but results were similarly poor. Despite this, Brundle's reputation and performances in a poor car earned him a seat in the Benetton team, which instantly rejuvenated the Brit's F1 career. Brundle almost took his first race victory in Canada, having closed the gap on leader Gerhard Berger. However, his transmission failed and he was forced to retire. Despite this setback, Brundle took five podiums that season including a battle to second place in Italy.

1992 was Brundle's most impressive campaign, but he was surprisingly dropped by Benetton in favour of Riccardo Patrese. Brundle instead drove for Ligier in 1993 and though he picked up an early podium at San Marino , he found himself back in the position he had at Brabham, Zakspeed and Tyrrell. There was some honour in Brundle's achievements this season though, as he was the highest-placed driver that wasn't enjoying the benefits of active suspension.

Salvation came in the form of McLaren for Brundle's 1994 season, as he was offered a place in the team. His first race for his new employers was nearly his last, when a four-car pile-up lead to Verstappen's Benetton slamming Brundle in the head. The Brit somehow walked away from this unscathed, and took his first podium for his new team at Monaco three races later.

Brundle's season in the McLaren didn't really get going as much as his fans would have hoped, and his only other moment of glory that season came at Adelaide, where he finished third. Brundle found himself back in the Ligier team, although he had to share his seat with Aguri Suzuki this time around, due to the wishes of Ligier's engine supplier. Brundle managed another podium with third-place in Belgium, but it was another difficult season.

Brundle's last year in F1 was with Jordan in 1996. His first race was, once more, almost his last for the new employers as Brundle was sent into an extraordinary barrel roll that split the car in two. Amazing, Brundle was unhurt again, and shrugged off this mad start to perform consistently for Jordan. He decided not to continue in the sport for 1997 though, despite being offered a seat by Sauber. Brundle instead joined ITV's F1 commentary team alongside the great Murray Walker. Brundle became a popular figure for his quick-wittedness and his incisive analysis. He worked for the BBC when they regained rights to F1 coverage, before moving to Sky last season.

71. Chris Amon (New Zealand) 95 Starts, 0 Race Wins, 104.5 F-Points

F1's original 'Mr. Unlucky', Chris Amon is one of the ever-present names in the dialogue regarding the best F1 drivers to have never won a Grand Prix. His bad luck seemed so powerful that Mario Andretti once quipped "If he became an undertaker, people would stop dying". He began racing upon leaving school, entering local events and hillclimbs before purchasing a Cooper in 1962. His exploits in his new machine earned him enough attention, that by 1963 Amon was driving in Formula One.

Amon joined Reg Parnell's racing team and managed to impress despite numerous mechanical problems blighting his season. The following season had a similar story, albeit he was able to score his first F1 points having finished fifth in the Dutch Grand Prix. Despite his hard work, Parnell entered a contractual obligation to run Richard Attwood as a regular driver, so Amon was without a drive for a short while in 1965 before being snapped up by McLaren. However, McLaren were unable to run a second car at the time, so Amon found himself shipped out to the CanAm series instead.

This continued in 1966 but Amon was able to find success in a different venture, partnering Bruce McLaren to victory in the Le Mans 24 Hours race. The New Zealander almost found himself with an F1 seat in the Cooper team, and did enjoy one outing with the car at the French Grand Prix. However, he was immediately replaced by John Surtees, but found solace in the form of an offer from Ferrari for the 1967 season.

Despite a year in which one Ferrari driver was killed, another badly injured and a third retiring (leaving Amon as Ferrari's only competitor), Amon notched up four podiums that season and finished fourth in the World Championship. There was optimism ahead of the 1968 season, and indeed Amon clinched three pole positions in the first five races. However, mechanical demons would not leave the Ferrari team that year, and Amon found himself struggling to finish races at all. Later in the year, he ran a close second to Jo Siffert at the British Grand Prix, and was leading comfortably in Canada before a transmission failure with 17 laps to go ended a distraught Amon's race.

Mechanical problems continued into the 1969 season, and midway through the year Amon left Ferrari and joined up with March for 1970. Mechanical issues still caused a great deal of stress for Amon but he was able to score three podiums that season, including finishing just a second behind winner Pedro Rodriguez in the Belgian Grand Prix, and running Jochen Rindt close to victory in the French Grand Prix. Amon was still unhappy with the car and joined Matra for 1971.

Amon's search for a Grand Prix victory could have come to an end at Monza when, having taken pole position, it looked as though he may finally convert the opportunity. However, the visor on his helmet became detached and Amon had to slow for his own safety. He finished sixth. In his two years at Matra the New Zealander could only score two podiums, so found himself on the move again in 1973.

A brief stint in the ill-fated Tecno team saw Amon looking for a new way to compete in Formula One. He set up his own team in 1974, but was barely able to get his car onto the grid. At the end of 1975 Ensign offered Amon a place in the team and he accepted, almost managing to drag the ailing car to a podium in the 1976 Swedish Grand Prix before suspension failure threw his hopes away. He decided to retire not long after this, but Walter Wolf tempted him back into racing just before the season was over. This ended with another big crash, and Amon decided he was finished in Formula One for good.

Despite his misfortune in Formula One's Championship events, Amon scored eight non-championship victories as well as a vast array of other motorsport successes. Amon is now retired, but still involves himself in motorsport occasionally, helping to fund young drivers' prospective careers and offering advice for circuit designers.