List of Formula One World Champions

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The Formula One World Championship is awarded by the FIA to the most successful driver (World Drivers' Championship or WDC) and constructor (World Constructors' Championship or WCC), as determined by a pointscoring system based on results over the season. The WDC has been awarded every season since 1950, and the WCC has been awarded every season since 1958.

Before 1991 a driver could not count all of his results towards the championship - in the first season 4 races out of 7 were counted, and in the era of 16-race seasons, only 11 results from 16 counted. This was most significant in 1988, when McLaren drivers Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna were dominant. Prost finished 14 races in either first or second, retiring from the other two, while Senna won 8 races to Prost's 7, meaning that he only needed 3 further 2nd places to secure the championship irrespective of Prost's other results. This resulted in the anomaly that Prost took a record number of points, yet was not champion.

The exact points system has varied over the years. Originall the top 5 finishers scored 8-6-4-3-2 and the driver setting the fastest lap scored 1, but this was changed to 9-6-4-3-2-1 for the top 6 in 1960. 1991 saw a change to 10 points for a win, while in 2003 the championship started awarding points to the top 8 finishers, 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1. This has allowed more teams to score points regularly, and produced a more representative middle section of the standings, but (as demonstrated in 2005) it makes finishing race smuch more important). Under the old points system Fernando Alonso would still need another podium finish to secure the championship, as of following the Brazillian race.

The first World Drivers' Champion was Italian Giuseppe 'Nino' Farina and the first World Constructors' Champion was Vanwall. The first driver to score multiple Championships was Alberto Ascari in 1952 and 1953. German driver Michael Schumacher has won the most Drivers' Championships (seven) and Scuderia Ferrari have won the most Constructors' Championships (fourteen).

By year

By number of championships

Drivers

• 7 - Michael Schumacher
• 5 - Juan Manuel Fangio
• 4 - Alain Prost
• 3 - Jack Brabham, Niki Lauda, Nelson Piquet, Ayrton Senna, Jackie Stewart
• 2 - Alberto Ascari, Jim Clark, Emerson Fittipaldi, Mika Häkkinen, Graham Hill
• 1 - Fernando Alonso, Mario Andretti, Giuseppe Farina, Mike Hawthorn, Damon Hill, Phil Hill, Denny Hulme, James Hunt, Alan Jones, Nigel Mansell, Jochen Rindt, Keke Rosberg, Jody Scheckter, John Surtees, Jacques Villeneuve

Constructors

• 14 - Ferrari
• 9 - Williams
• 8 - McLaren
• 7 - Lotus
• 2 - Brabham, Cooper
• 1 - Benetton, BRM, Matra, Renault, Tyrrell, Vanwall

Reference

• " Hall of Fame". formula1.com. Accessed 26 September 2004.