British F1 Champions: A Matching Game Quiz

Answer: Ferrari

Hawthorn drove for the iconic Italian team Ferrari from 1953 to 1955 and then again in 1957 and 1958. His victory at the French Grand Prix was his only win of the year, but a consistent string of second-place finishes (and some very sporting assistance from his main rival, Stirling Moss) meant that he took the title at the end of the year by a single point.

That year was one of the most tragic in F1 history, with four drivers suffering fatal accidents during the season. Although Hawthorn emerged with the title, he immediately announced his retirement from the sport but tragically lost his own life just six months later in a road accident on the Guildford bypass.

Answer: BRM

Graham Hill's first world championship victory came in 1962 driving for British Racing Motors (BRM) - it was another six years before he was able to claim his second title and by that time he had moved to the (equally British) Lotus team. In addition to his achievements in F1, he also won the Indianapolis 500 in 1966 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in 1972.

Towards the end of his career Hill set up and competed with his own team, Embassy Hill before retiring from F1 following his failure to qualify at the 1975 Monaco Grand Prix (a race he had previously won five times). The venture ended tragically when Hill was killed in a plane crash in November 1975, along with most of the team's personnel and their driver, Tony Brise.

Answer: Lotus

Jim Clark became almost synonymous with the Lotus team in the 1960s. He started his F1 career with them at the Dutch Grand Prix in 1960 and quickly became recognised as one of the most talented drivers ever to race in the series. Although he won two world championships, he also came close to winning the title on several other occasions, finishing second in 1962 and third in both 1964 and 1967. He also won the first race of the 1968 season before his tragic death in a F2 race at the Hockenheimring in Germany at the age of 32.

The name 'Lotus' has a powerful history in F1. The original Lotus team were headed by the innovative engineer Colin Chapman and won a total of 13 F1 drivers' and constructors' titles between 1962 and 1978. However, the cars were often hampered by a general fragility and lack of reliability and, sadly, a significant number of drivers were killed or injured driving for Lotus. Jochen Rindt became the sport's first posthumous world champion in 1970 when he was killed in practice for the Italian Grand Prix; Ronnie Peterson died from the injuries he sustained at the 1978 Italian Grand Prix; and other drivers such as Stirling Moss and Graham Hill suffered serious injuries in a variety of accidents.

Answer: Ferrari

John Surtees won four 500cc motorcycling world championships in 1956, 1958, 1959 and 1960 with the Italian MV Agusta team. His F1 career began at the 1960 Monaco Grand Prix when he retired on lap 17 after a transmission failure on his Lotus, but his potential as a driver rather than a rider became clear when he finished in second place in his second race at the British Grand Prix later that year. By 1963 he had joined another Italian team - Ferrari - and he took the world championship for the "Prancing Horse" in 1964. He never had the same level of success again - but his career continued until 1972, by which time he was competing with 'Team Surtees' as both a driver and constructor.

Like Surtees, Ferrari has also achieved success in multiple disciplines of motor racing. In addition to numerous world titles in F1, they have won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 24 Hours of Daytona, the Mille Miglia and the World Sportscar Championship.

Answer: Tyrrell

All three of Sir Jackie Stewart's championship victories were won with the support of team boss Ken Tyrrell. His first win in 1969 was in a Matra, a joint venture between Ken Tyrrell's team and the now defunct French car manufacturer of the same name. After an engine dispute, Tyrrell and Matra parted company and the team continued under the Tyrrell name to win a further two drivers' championships with Stewart (1971 and 1973) and one constructors' title (1971). After Stewart's retirement at the end of the 1973 season the team never had the same level of success and ended up being bought out and turned into the BAR team in 1999. It probably remains most famous though for its P34 car that competed in 1976 and 1977 (that was the one with six wheels)!

In addition to his three world championship titles (and trademark tartan cap), Jackie Stewart is also noted for his massive contribution to improving the safety of F1 over the years. He campaigned for a wide variety of safety measures that it would now be unthinkable to race without, such as full helmets, seatbelts, medical facilities and crash barriers.

Answer: McLaren

James Hunt was one of the last F1 champions to fully embrace the playboy approach to the glamorous life of a racing driver. Despite gaining the less than complimentary nickname of "Hunt the Shunt" in his early career, he went on to have a noted rivalry with the Austrian treble world-champion Niki Lauda (as immortalised in the 2013 Ron Howard film 'Rush') and to win the world championship in 1976 with a third-place finish in torrential rain at the Japanese Grand Prix. He retired from the sport part way through the 1979 season and went on to work as a F1 commentator for the BBC until his untimely death from a heart attack, aged just 45.

McLaren, by contrast, have been a fixture in F1 since 1966. The team was founded by New Zealander Bruce McLaren, but continued after his tragic death to become one of the most successful teams in the history of the sport. Drivers including Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna and Mika Hakkinen have won multiple titles with McLaren and other champions such have Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button have chosen to join the team.

Answer: Williams

Nigel Mansell made his F1 debut in 1980 with the Lotus team and finished second in the championship three times before he finally won the title in 1992, thanks to his dominant Williams FW14B. His second place finish in 1986 was probably the most painful of his three close calls - at the season finale in Adelaide, Australia he was a in a championship-winning position until his left rear tyre exploded dramatically on the Brabham straight, bringing his race (and championship hopes) to a premature end. Mansell also won the US Indy Car title in 1993 with the Newman/Haas Racing team.

Williams, founded by Sir Frank Williams, made their grand prix debut at the 1977 Spanish Grand Prix and went on to achieve great success in the 1980s and 1990s, winning a total of 16 drivers' and constructors' titles. Life as an independent team became harder in the 21st century, but the team proved they were still able to win on occasion - notable examples being Juan Pablo Montoya's victory at the 2004 Brazilian Grand Prix and Pastor Maldonado's win at the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix.

Answer: Williams

Damon's father, Graham Hill, had won the title in 1962 and 1968. He finally managed to emulate him in 1996, after finishing second to Michael Schumacher in each of the two previous years. His career was marked by various acrimonious battles with Schumacher - especially following a controversial accident at the final race of 1994 in Adelaide, which had handed the title to the German.

Hill's victory famously left the legendary F1 commentator Murray Walker lost for words - his memorable quote as Hill crossed the line at Suzuka to claim victory was "And I've got to stop, because I've got a lump in my throat". Sadly, Hill's team, Williams, were not so sentimental about his victory and had already decided to drop him for 1997 in favour of Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Hill was forced to defend his title in the unfancied Arrows car, but came close to taking a race win with it at Hungarian Grand Prix (foiled only by a hydraulics problem). He then took the Jordan team's maiden victory at the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix, before retiring the following year.

Answer: Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton nearly won the world championship in 2007 while driving for the McLaren team, despite it being only his rookie season. He went on to actually win it just a year later - taking the victory by a single point from Brazilian Felipe Massa by overtaking Timo Glock at the last corner on the last lap of the last race of the season. Although he and McLaren won another 12 races together over the next four years, no further titles seemed in his grasp and he moved to Mercedes for the 2013 season.

The move proved to be an astute one as regulation changes resulted in a significant mix-up of the F1 teams' pecking order in 2014. The McLaren became one of the least competitive cars on the grid in 2014 and 2015, while the Mercedes was by far the fastest car. This left Hamilton and his team-mate, Nico Rosberg, to fight it out for both championships. Hamilton duly came out on top to become Britain's second treble F1 world champion and first back-to-back champion.

Answer: Brawn

Brawn GP was (by some measures) statistically the most successful F1 team of all time - having achieved a 100% success record in both the drivers' and constructors' world championships. It was created shortly before the start of the 2009 F1 season when team principal, Ross Brawn, led a management buyout of the Honda team following the Japanese company's shock decision to withdraw from the sport. The team was duly named after Brawn and went on to dominate the first half of the season with their brilliant chassis and a hurriedly sourced Mercedes engine. Jenson Button won six of the first seven races of the season and hung on to that early lead to claim the championship win at the penultimate race of the season in Brazil. The team were then bought out by Mercedes at the end of the season, sealing their place in history as having won every championship they ever entered.

Jenson Button became the youngest ever British F1 driver when he started his career with the Williams team in 2000 at the age of 20 years and 53 days. In addition to his single year stint at Brawn, he also raced for Benetton/Renault, British American Racing (BAR) and McLaren.