F1 Nationalities: Past and Present Quiz

Answer: Reg Parnell

In total 11 British drivers took part in the 1950 British Grand Prix, but it was Reg Parnell who came out on top as he was driving an Alfa Romeo - the dominant car of the 1950 season. Alfa Romeo had brought an extra fourth car to the British Grand Prix so that a home driver could compete alongside their formal line up of Giuseppe Farina, Juan Manuel Fangio and Luigi Fagioli. Parnell was unable to keep up the same pace as Farina, Fangio and Fagioli, but inherited third place and a podium finish when Fangio's car broke down in the latter stages of the race.

Parnell competed in a total of six F1 grands prix between 1950 and 1954 (four British Grands Prix and two French ones) but his first race remained the best result of his career. He also had a successful career in sportscars, taking top ten finishes in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Mille Miglia and the 12 Hours of Sebring.

Walker, Johnson and Gerard were all British drivers who competed in 1950 British Grand Prix for the English Racing Automobiles (ERA) team. They finished in 10th, 12th and 13th places respectively.

The winner of the 2019 F1 drivers' championship was Britain's Lewis Hamilton.

Answer: He didn't finish a race outside of the points

Keke Rosberg won the 1982 F1 world championship thanks to consistent points-scoring finishes, including victory at the Swiss Grand Prix along with five other trips to the podium. The season was a highly competitive one with a total of 11 different drivers winning the 16 races held, so Rosberg was by no means the only driver to claim a single race win that year. Despite his consistency, he did finish outside the points on one occasion (eighth place at the Italian Grand Prix), had three retirements, one disqualification (in Brazil), and his team - Williams - was one of several to boycott the San Marino Grand Prix (as part of a protest against the aforementioned disqualification).

Rosberg made his F1 debut in 1978 and his win in his 1982 championship year was also his first ever F1 victory. He recorded a further four wins for the Williams team from 1983 to 1985 before moving to McLaren in 1986 for his final season in the sport. His son, Nico Rosberg, also became a F1 world champion when he won it for Germany in 2016.

The runner-up in the 2019 F1 drivers' championship was Finland's Valtteri Bottas.

Answer: 1994 - with Benetton

Jos Verstappen made his F1 debut at the 1994 Brazilian Grand Prix with the Benetton team at the age of 22 as team-mate to the eventual champion, Michael Schumacher. He only got the job after JJ Lehto, the team's new regular driver, was injured in testing and took part in the first two grands prix of the season before handing the car back to Lehto. However, he was reinstated as the team's second driver on a more permanent basis just four races later, claimed his first podium finish with third place at the Hungarian Grand Prix and followed it up immediately with third place at Belgian Grand Prix as well. Those two races proved to be the high point of his career - he left Benetton at the end of the season, sat out most of the 1995 season after the collapse of the Simtek team and basically spent the rest of his career moving from one back-of-the-grid team to another.

Despite his short-lived success on track, Verstappen was the most successful Dutch driver to have raced in F1 until his son, Max, took his first win in 2016. Outside of F1, Jos Verstappen won a round of the A1 Grand Prix for the Netherlands in 2006 and the LMP2 class at the 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Third place in the 2019 F1 drivers' championship was claimed by the Netherlands' Max Verstappen.

Answer: Oldest driver to finish a race

Louis Chiron was born in 1899 and was a successful motor racing driver of the 1930s and '40s before the Second World War interrupted his career. He competed in the first world championship grand prix at Silverstone in 1950, took his only podium finish with third place at the next race in Monaco and remained a regular member of the F1 grid until the end of the 1951 season. He raced his own car in the latter part of the 1952 season and after that only took part in the occasional Monaco Grand Prix. He finished the 1955 Monaco Grand Prix in sixth place at the age of 55 years and 292 days - setting records for the oldest driver to start, finish and score points in an F1 race in the process.

Chiron also entered the 1956 and 1958 Monaco Grands Prix, but failed to qualify on both occasions - the latter of these attempts also resulted in him setting another record for the oldest person to enter a F1 race at the age of 58 years and 288 days.

Fourth place in the 2019 F1 drivers' championship went to Monaco's Charles Leclerc.

Answer: 2002

Michael Schumacher's F1 record number of world championship titles and race wins looked almost unbreakable for many years after his final retirement from the sport in 2012, but the 2020 season saw Lewis Hamilton eclipse his 91 victories and equal him as a seven-time world champion. Schumacher made his F1 debut in 1991, claimed his first win in 1992 and his first two world titles with Benetton in 1994 and 1995. He then made the move to the iconic Ferrari team where he achieved the majority of his F1 success and won five consecutive back-to-back world titles between 2000 and 2004. His Ferrari team were particularly dominant in 2002, when Schumacher took 11 victories, five second-places and one third place across the 17-race season to claim the world title with six races remaining.

Schumacher's career was characterised by his outstanding driving skills, his ability to work with and lead his team, his dedication to personal fitness and his sheer competitiveness and will to win. However, the latter was probably the cause behind several incidents for which he will also always be remembered - crashing into Damon Hill to secure his first title in 1994, crashing into Jacques Villeneuve in a desperate attempt to avoid losing the title battle in 1997 and 'parking' on the track at Monaco in 2006 to prevent anyone from beating his pole position time.

Fifth place in the 2019 F1 drivers' championship was taken by Germany's Sebastian Vettel.

Answer: Ferrari

Alfonso Cabeza de Vaca y Leighton was a member of the Spanish nobility and held the title of 11th Marquess of Portago. As a wealthy and privileged young man (whose godfather was King Alfonso XIII of Spain) he led a flamboyant and exciting sporting lifestyle that included being part of Spain's first Olympic bobsleigh team, riding in the English Grand National horse race and racing Ferrari sports cars, before he signed to race for the Ferrari F1 team in July 1956. He also once won a bet by flying an aeroplane under London's Tower Bridge!

De Portago's best F1 result for Ferrari was a second place at the 1956 British Grand Prix when he shared a car with Peter Collins. However, his career was cut short after just five races when he died in an accident caused by a punctured tyre at the 1957 Mille Miglia. The crash also claimed the lives of his navigator and nine spectators - including five children. It took more than fifty years before another Spaniard was able to better de Portago's results for the Scuderia - Fernando Alonso eventually became the first Spaniard to win a Grand Prix for the team in 2010.

Sixth place in the 2019 F1 drivers' championship went to Spain's Carlos Sainz.

Answer: Maurice Trintignant

Despite the fact that grand prix motor racing originated in France in the late 19th century, no Frenchman won a world championship F1 grand prix during the first five years of the series. The first French victory came when Maurice 'Le Petoulet' Trintignant, won the 1955 Monaco Grand Prix for Ferrari. Trintignant's F1 career lasted 15 seasons from 1950 to 1964 and resulted in a total of two victories (he claimed a second Monaco Grand Prix victory in 1958), eight other podiums and two fourth-place finishes in the world championship (in 1954 and 1955).

His unusual nickname dated back to the pre-championship era and the failure of his Bugatti during a 1945 race known as the Coupe de la Liberation. The car - which had spent the duration of the Second World War stored in a barn - turned out to have broken down because its fuel filter was clogged up with rat droppings... Presumably Trintignant saw the funny side of his nickname as after his retirement from the sport he returned to running his family vineyard and produced a range of wine called 'Le Petoulet'.

Seventh place in the 2019 F1 drivers' championship was claimed by France's Pierre Gasly.

Answer: Thailand

Prince Birabongse Bhanudej was a grandson of King Mongkut (or King Rama IV) of Siam, the monarch famously portrayed by Yul Brynner in both the stage musical and film version of 'The King and I'. He was brought up in England from the age of 13 and began motor racing in the 1930s with limited success. He continued his career after the war and represented Thailand (as Siam had by then become known) in the F1 world championship from 1950 to 1954. During that time he only managed to take three points finishes - fourth place in the 1950 Swiss Grand Prix and the 1954 French Grand Prix, and fifth at the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix - but did win a couple of non-championship events.

Prince Bira was the only driver from southeast Asia to compete in F1 during the 20th century. He was also an Olympian, having represented Thailand in sailing events at four consecutive Games between 1956 and 1972.

Eighth place in the 2019 F1 drivers' championship went to Thailand's Alexander Albon.

Answer: Brabham

In 1966 Sir Jack Brabham became the first man to claim an F1 drivers' world championship title while driving his own car. It made him a triple world champion and was the first of a total of four drivers titles to be claimed by the Brabham team, both during Sir Jack's time and after it came under the management of Bernie Ecclestone. Brabham began his F1 career with Cooper in 1955 but the first season in which he took part in the majority of the races wasn't until 1957. His first points finish was a fourth place at the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix and his first win came at the same race the following season. His 1959 championship win came after a relatively close battle with Tony Brooks of Ferrari and Stirling Moss of Rob Walker Racing (they all won two races each), but he absolutely dominated the 1960 season, taking five back-to-back victories while no-one else managed more than one.

Brabham left Cooper at the end of the 1961 season to set up his own team with engineer and designer Ron Tauranac. By the end of the 1963 season he had claimed the first podium by an owner-driver in F1 and American Dan Gurney took the team's first win at the 1964 French Grand Prix. Brabham's first win in his own car was the first of the four he won back-to-back in 1966 to secure his final world title and his team-mate Denny Hulme took the title the following year. Brabham retired from both driving and managing his eponymous team in 1970.

Ninth place in the 2019 F1 drivers' championship was taken by Australia's Daniel Ricciardo.

Answer: Pedro Rodriguez

Pedro Rodriguez made his F1 debut for the Lotus team at the 1963 United States Grand Prix. The first ever Mexican F1 driver was his younger brother Ricardo, who had entered the sport in 1961 at the age of 19, becoming the youngest driver to compete for Ferrari when he raced at that season's Italian Grand Prix. However, Ricardo's career was cut tragically short at just six races when he was killed while driving a Lotus car belonging to the Rob Walker Racing team in a practice session ahead of the non-championship 1962 Mexican Grand Prix. He had only been driving that car because Ferrari had decided not to enter the race.

By contrast, Pedro's F1 career lasted for 54 races over nine seasons. He became the first Mexican driver to win an F1 race when he claimed victory for Cooper at the 1967 South African Grand Prix and he repeated that feat at the 1970 Belgian Grand Prix. His best championship result was sixth place, which he managed in both 1967 and 1968. Sadly, he also lost his life to motorsport as he was killed while racing a Ferrari sportscar in July 1971 - at the time he was in fourth place in the F1 world championship and had claimed his seventh podium finish a few weeks prior.

Tenth place in the 2019 F1 drivers' championship went to Mexico's Sergio Perez.