These Formula 1 Drivers Led — But Never Won — The World Championship

With his win at the season opening Swiss Grand Prix, Piero Taruffi took an early lead for the 1952 World Championship — which he held until he was overtaken by Alberto Ascari in France. He dropped further back later in the season, ultimately finishing third. The Italian was never to contest a full F1 season again.

I have to be honest: Maurice Trintignant is one of the coolest names in motorsport. The French driver (whose middle name, delightfully, is Bienvenu), ascended to the lead of the 1955 F1 World Championship after the second race at the Monaco Grand Prix. He was to lose the lead to Juan Manuel Fangio almost immediately, and he never scored another point that season.

The highly contentious 1956 Formula 1 season changed hands multiple times. Despite the fact that Fangio took the checkered flat at the season opener, he actually shared a car with another driver and had to share the points for first place, leaving Jean Behra to ascend to the championship lead. He maintained that lead through the second race in Monaco before losing out to the next man on our list.

British driver Peter Collins tied for the lead of the F1 Championship with Stirling Moss in points, only ascending higher than his countryman thanks to better finishes. Collins held that lead through the French and British Grands Prix before losing out to Fangio in the penultimate race of the season.

While Stirling Moss lead the 1958 F1 Championship after the first race, Italian driver Luigi Musso took over the helm at the second event in Monaco. Unfortunately, Musso lost the lead in the next race and never had a chance to regain it after Musso was pitched from his car during the French Grand Prix. He died in the hospital later that day.

I’ve been reading my way through a handful of different historical F1 books that reflect on Moss’s era, and there’s a general consensus about the British driver: He never got a fair shake. Moss was regularly competitive, pushing underpowered cars to their absolute limit in the hope of being the British driver who could secure a Championship for a British team — but this was the era just before the garagistes had really started to figure things out. Moss survived a nasty crash at Goodwood but was forced to retire, never again able to pursue his World Championship hopes despite having led it twice.

While Bruce McLaren’s name has become almost synonymous with motorsport thanks to his eponymous team, he never took an F1 Championship. After a win at the season opening Argentine Grand Prix, McLaren led the 1960 season standings for four Grands Prix, until he was overtaken by eventual champion Jack Brabham. Three years later, in 1963, McLaren took the lead of the championship after the Belgian Grand Prix before being summarily overtaken by Jim Clark in the following race.

The 1961 F1 season was so compelling that it became the subject of one of the best racing books I’ve ever read, The Limit. Ferrari teammates Wolfgang von Trips and Phil Hill duked it out for the championship, with von Trips looking set to be an easy overall victor. Unfortunately, a crash in the penultimate race of the season took von Trips out of contention. During the Italian Grand Prix, von Trips and Jim Clark collided, sending the Ferrari ricocheting into the crowd. Multiple people died, including von Trips. Hill became the first American F1 Champion by default.

Despite not winning either of the first two rounds of the 1966 F1 World Championship, Lorenzo Bandini’s consistent points-paying finishes gave him the lead after the Belgian Grand Prix. That championship glory didn’t last long; by the end of the following race, he’d been superseded by Australian Jack Brabham.

One half of the Mexican racing brother duo, Pedro Rodríguez won the opening race of the 1967 F1 season in South Africa, which automatically left him in the lead of the championship. He was quickly passed by Denny Hulme in the following event at Monaco, and he slid down to his final finishing position in sixth for the season after missing a stretch of three races.

His South African Grand Prix win was the last ever victory for the Cooper F1 team.

As we head into the 1970s, F1 seasons got increasingly longer and therefore offered more opportunities for a title fight. The 1974 season kicked off with Denny Hulme in the lead of the championship before Swiss Ferrari driver Clay Regazzoni took over in the second event of the season. He held the lead for two races before he was usurped by Emerson Fittipaldi, who went on to take that year’s title.

Poor Carlos Reutemann. His 12 Grand Prix wins continually got him so close to the World Championship three different times, but it was never enough. He finished third overall three times, and second overall in 1981, when Nelson Piquet took the championship instead. Reutemann found post-race career success in politics.

After a win by Mario Andretti, the 1978 season kicked off with an American in the lead. It swapped over to Carlos Reutemann before Frenchman Patrick Depailler after the fifth race of the season, the Monaco Grand Prix. The lead lasted exactly one (1) race.

The 1979 season kicked off with Jacques Laffite in the lead after the Argentine Grand Prix, and he kept that lead until the third race of the season, the U.S. Grand Prix West. He ultimately ceded that lead to the next fella on our list.

Gilles Villeneuve is probably one of Canada’s biggest icons when it comes to motorsport, but he never did take that coveted championship crown. His series of great points-scoring finishes meant he did take the lead of the championship by Long Beach in 1979. He swapped with Laffite in Belgium, then further lost out to Jody Scheckter, who ultimately ended the season as the champion.

Alan Jones set the tone for the 1980 Formula 1 season when he won its first race — and ultimately the title — but he wasn’t the only driver in the fight that year. René Arnoux tried to become France’s next great hope when he ascended to the front of the title fight at the third race of the season in South Africa. He held onto the lead until Monaco, when he was overtaken by Nelson Piquet before Jones ran away with the title fight.

Another Formula 1 season, another French driver heading the title fight but not actually winning a championship. Keke Rosberg won the 1982 F1 title, but for a while, Alain Prost looked unstoppable. Then the title fight went over to the next gentleman on our list before ultimately coming to Didier Pironi’s hands at the British Grand Prix. Pironi had the pleasure of holding the lead through his home race in France, all the way to the Austrian Grand Prix, when Rosberg proved unstoppable.

The 1982 title was honestly a compelling one, and it even included a brief stint in the middle of the season where John Watson held the lead before losing it to Pironi. Watson and Pironi tied in points at the end of the season, with Pironi finishing ahead in the standings thanks to his better finishing record. Rosberg, meanwhile, finished a mere five points ahead of them both.

Eventual 1985 F1 Championship winner Alain Prost started out the season leading the title fight, but a great finish in the second race of the year pushed Michele Alboreto above him. He lost out to the next fellow on our list before once again jumping into the lead after the Canadian Grand Prix. He held that lead until the Austrian Grand Prix.

Elio de Angelis took the lead of the 1985 F1 season from Alboreto after the San Marino Grand Prix and maintained it through Monaco, though he did then lose it again to Alboreto.

In 1997, David Coulthard started off the season with a win in Australia, granting him the championship lead for two races, until he was overtaken by Jacques Villeneuve. Coulthard then had a similar outing in 2003, where he won the season opener but then lost the title lead to Kimi Raikkonen by the end of the second race.

Eddie Irvine had a great year in 1999, taking the lead of the championship after winning the opening race in Australia. He held it until the third race of the year, then retook the lead after the German Grand Prix. Irvine held on through Hungary, lost it, retook it in the penultimate race of the year, but ultimately finished the season just two points behind World Champion Mika Hakkinen.

Race One winner Giancarlo Fisichella took an early championship lead in 2005 before immediately losing it to Fernando Alonso in the next race. He quickly dropped out of the title hunt, finishing fifth overall.

The year of Lewis Hamilton’s first title was a truly contentious one in multiple ways — including the title fight. Hamilton took an early lead in the 2008 championship before being replaced by Kimi Raikkonen, retaking his spot after Monaco, and then fighting with Felipe Massa after the French Grand Prix. Massa started trailing soon after, always just behind Hamilton until the final race of the year.

Then, in 2010, Massa’s great start to the year earned him the championship lead by race three — but he had lost it by the very next race.

Robert Kubica took victory at the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix, but the moment of celebration was brief; Felipe Massa usurped him at the very next race.

Mark Webber came into play during the 2010 Formula 1 Championship after Monaco, when he launched into the lead of the title fight just ahead of his teammate Sebastian Vettel. Webber held that lead for just one more race before he was pipped by Hamilton, then retook the lead for just one race after Hungary. He usurped Hamilton after the Italian Grand Prix and held it until Alonso powered to the lead in Korea. Everyone, though, lost out to boy wonder Sebastian Vettel in the season finale.