British F1 Drivers - Race Winners Quiz

Answer: Juan Manuel Fangio

Sir Stirling Moss (who received a knighthood for services to motor racing in 2000) had a lengthy rivalry with Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio in the 1950s. Fangio took the world championship title in 1951 and then four years running from 1954 to 1957, but on the last three of those occasions, the championship runner-up was Stirling Moss. Unfortunately Moss's luck didn't turn in 1958 - he lost the championship to fellow Briton, Mike Hawthorn, by the grand total of one point, despite winning three more races than Hawthorn that season. In the end it was his Vanwall's lack of reliability that cost him as he suffered five mechanical retirements while Hawthorn had just two non-finishes.

Moss's 16 wins from 66 starts often net him the title of "the greatest driver never to win the world championship". His career was effectively ended in 1962 when he suffered a horrific crash during a non-championship race at Goodwood that initially left him in a coma and then with partial paralysis for the next six months.

1958 marked Hawthorn's only world championship title; Australian Jack Brabham won in 1959, 1960 and 1966; and American Phil Hill took his only title in 1961.

Answer: 2003 Australian Grand Prix

David Coulthard took his 13th win at the opening race of the 2003 season in Australia, while driving for McLaren. Sadly it proved to be a somewhat unlucky total to hit as it also turned out to be the final win of his career. Coulthard left McLaren at the end of the year for Red Bull Racing - where he had limited success, achieving a couple of third places, including a memorable one at the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix when he appeared on the podium dressed in a Superman cape thanks to his team's advertising tie-in at that race with the release of the film 'Superman Returns'. He retired from F1 at the end of the 2008 season - after a career spanning 15 seasons and 246 races.

The 2003 German Grand Prix was the last of Coulthard's 26 second place finishes, the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix was the last of his 23 third place finishes and he was seventh at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix (the inaugural F1 race in that city) - taking his last F1 championship points.

Answer: The Racing Dentist

Tony Brooks (born 1932 in Cheshire, England) raced in F1 from 1956 to 1961 for a variety of teams including Ferrari, Cooper, BRM and Vanwall. His nickname came from the fact that he had studied dentistry - following in the footsteps of his father who was a practicing dentist. Unlikely though it may seem, he was not the only motor racing driver in history to have been given the name 'The Racing Dentist' - the moniker was also used for American Indy Car driver and dentist, Jack Miller.

Although Brooks took six wins in his F1 career (a higher strike rate than you might imagine given that on average there were only nine races a season in those days compared to the 19 races included in the 2015 season) he actually only crossed the finish line in five of them. His first win was shared with fellow countryman Stirling Moss after they swapped cars part way through the race, and it was Moss that took the chequered flag. (Can you imagine team-mates in modern F1 agreeing to that sort of arrangement? - I can't!)

'The Professor' is a nickname often given to the four-time F1 world champion, Alain Prost. 'Bishop Brooks' and 'Doc Speedy' simply don't exist as F1 related nicknames.

Answer: Carbon fibre composite monocoque

The carbon fibre composite monocoque provided a revolution in the safety of F1 cars, due to its inherent strength compared to previous designs made from aluminium, and remained the material of choice for this section of a F1 car into the 21st century. The idea was pioneered by engineer John Barnard for the McLaren team; its debut was at the 1981 Argentine Grand Prix, with John Watson taking its inaugural victory six races later at the British Grand Prix. Later in the season Watson suffered a massive accident at the Italian Grand Prix but emerged unscathed - proving the very real contribution to driver safety made by the new technology.

Watson, from Belfast in Northern Ireland, won a total of five races in his eleven years in F1 from 1973 to 1983. He also made a brief comeback in 1985, standing in at McLaren for the injured Niki Lauda.

The first rear-engine car to win a F1 race was the Cooper T51 in 1959 (driven by Jack Brabham); the first winning F1 car with a turbocharged engine was the Renault RS10 in 1979 (driven by Jean-Pierre Jabouille); and although six-wheeled F1 cars have existed, they didn't take any race victories in the 20th century.

Answer: Ferrari

In 1999, Ferrari's driver line-up included Michael Schumacher of Germany and Eddie Irvine from Northern Ireland. Schumacher was the former world champion and the star driver expected to finally end Ferrari's run of 20 years without a driver's world champion (since South African Jody Scheckter in 1979) - the longest drought in the team's history to that point. While the team had a car capable of winning the world championship - it won the constructor's championship for the first time since 1983 - their challenge for the driver's championship appeared to have been scuppered when Schumacher broke his leg at the British Grand Prix and was consequently out of action for the next six races. Irvine took over as team leader, won three races (in Austria, Germany and Malaysia) and was the championship leader going into the final race in Japan. However, defending champion Hakkinen won both the race and the title. Ferrari were left to wait for victory for yet another year.

In his career Irvine started 147 F1 races, winning four of them and securing a further 22 podium finishes - all but three of which he achieved during his four years with Ferrari. He also drove for both the Jordan and Jaguar teams, but never for McLaren.

Answer: Nürburgring

Peter Collins competed in F1 between 1952 and 1958, spending his last three seasons in the sport with Ferrari. He was particularly noted for his sportsmanship - despite having been in a position to become Britain's first ever F1 world champion in 1956, he dutifully handed over his car to his team-leader Juan Manuel Fangio at the Italian Grand Prix and therefore gave Fangio the opportunity to win the fourth of his five world titles.

Collins's fatal accident occurred on 3rd August 1958 at the Nürburgring when he lost control of his car, hit a ditch and was flipped into a tree. He died from severe head injuries in hospital later the same day at the age of just 26. Sadly, at that time, deaths in F1 were a tragically frequent occurrence - three other drivers were killed during F1 races in 1958 including: Collins's team-mate Luigi Musso, fellow Briton Stuart Lewis-Evans; and American driver Pat O'Connor at the Indianapolis 500. The Nürburgring itself claimed the lives of five F1 drivers between 1954 and 1969.

Hockenheimring and AVUS are both other German racing circuits that have hosted the German Grand Prix. Zandvoort is in the Netherlands and hosted the Dutch Grand Prix.

Answer: Debut: Benetton, Finale: Jaguar

Despite the bad luck that surrounded both his entry to and exit from the sport, Johnny Herbert had a successful F1 career - winning three races (including, memorably, his home race at Silverstone) and standing on the podium a further four times.

His entry into F1 in 1989 with the Benetton team was nearly scuppered by an accident he suffered at Brands Hatch while driving in the 1988 International F3000 series. His car hit the barriers several times, destroying the front of it and leaving him with severe foot and ankle injuries. After narrowly escaping having to have his feet amputated, Herbert somehow managed to recover enough to drive at the 1989 season opening Brazilian Grand Prix, despite the fact that he was still unable to walk without crutches and had to be lifted into the car. Even more remarkably he brought the car home in fourth place, well ahead of his perfectly fit team-mate, Alessandro Nannini.

He went on to drive for the Tyrrell, Lotus, Ligier, Sauber, Stewart and Jaguar teams during his twelve seasons in F1. At his final race in Malaysia in 2000 his Jaguar suffered a rear suspension failure, pitched him into the barriers and brought his career full circle - he had to be lifted out of the car and stretchered off to the medical centre.

Answer: Watkins Glen

Robert McGregor Innes Ireland, known throughout his career as Innes Ireland, was born in Yorkshire, England in 1930. He made 50 F1 starts for Lotus, BRP (British Racing Partnership) and BRM and took three podium finishes in addition to his solitary victory at Watkins Glen.

The 1961 United States Grand Prix was the first to be held at the Watkins Glen circuit, which went on to host the event for twenty years. It was the final race of the season and Ireland recovered from qualifying in eighth position to inherit the lead when the cars of Stirling Moss and Jack Brabham both broke down. Although several other drivers challenged him for the position, they too suffered mechanical gremlins and Ireland was left to take the chequered flag. Although this is recorded as his only F1 victory, he also took victory in several non-championship F1 races (those races run to F1 rules but not part of the official championship) including both the Solitude Grand Prix (at the Solitudering in Germany) and the Flugplatzrennen (at Zeltweg, Austria) in 1961.

The incorrect options are all other US circuits that have hosted the United States Grand Prix.

Answer: Italian Grand Prix

Peter Gethin completed the 1971 Italian Grand Prix at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza at an average speed of 242.6 km/h (150.8 mph). The Monza circuit has always been one of the fastest F1 circuits around the world, but back in 1971 it primarily consisted of three long straights with just the Curva Grande, Curve di Lesmo and the Curva Parabolica providing any real need for the cars to slow down significantly. Therefore it provided prime conditions for setting the record for the fastest race in F1 history - by 1972 chicanes had been installed to slow the cars and improve safety. Gethin's record stood for 32 years until Michael Schumacher won the 2003 Italian Grand Prix at Monza with an average speed of 247.6 km/h (153.8 mph).

In addition to breaking the record for the fastest race in F1 history, Gethin's victory is also notable for being one of the closest finishes in F1 history. Peter Gethin's BRM took victory from Ronnie Petersen's March by the grand total of 0.01 of a second, while François Cevert in the Tyrrell was a massive 0.08 seconds further back in third! In fact the top five were covered by just over 0.6 of a second.

The Monaco, French and British Grand Prix were all held in 1971. The French and British races were held at the Circuit Paul Ricard and Silverstone Circuit respectively - both fast race tracks. However, the tight and twisty street circuit around Monte Carlo used for the Monaco Grand Prix was the slowest on the F1 calendar.

Answer: Reg Parnell, Roy Salvadori and Tony Rolt

Non-championship F1 races were a regular sight on the racing calendar in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, although they just about survived into the 1980s (when the Race of Champions was last run at Brands Hatch in 1983 and won by the 1982 world champion Keke Rosberg). They once made up the majority of races each year (in 1950 - the first year of the F1 world championship - there were 22 F1 races held, but only six counted towards the title). Reasons for holding them varied from allowing the continuation of historic races held since the early part of the 20th century, to providing extra races early in the season for teams to test their new cars. Some, such as the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch and the International Trophy at Silverstone were particularly prestigious and attracted the top drivers and teams.

Reg Parnell was first active in motorsport in the 1930s and returned to it after the Second World War, competing in F1 in the early 1950s and winning nine non-championship events. Roy Salvadori was active in F1 from 1952 to 1962 (also winning several non-championship races) but is probably best remembered for winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in 1959. Tony Rolt also won at Le Mans - in 1953, beating Stirling Moss into second place - and took six non-championship race victories in the same year.

The incorrect options were all American F1 drivers of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.