Formula 1's top 5 debut seasons

Jacques Villeneuve

Jacques Villeneuve

There is no doubt that he owed much of his great debut season to the Williams car with which his teammate Damon Hill won the championship. But there is no taking away credit from the man who achieved one of the rarest of feats- pole position in his very first race! Only bad luck with an oil leak prevented him from equaling Giancarlo Baghetti’s record of winning his first ever race. Nevertheless, he was a match for Hill throughout the season and only the Brit’s metronomic consistency prevented Villeneuve from winning the title. He ultimately finished 2nd in the championship 19 points behind Hill. The goal of becoming world champion was finally achieved next year, in 1997, like Hamilton in equally dramatic fashion.

John Surtees

John Surtees in 2007

In earlier days, drivers tried their hands at all possible forms of motorsport but rarely did they achieve success in multiple formats. Not John Surtees though. Having won a staggering seven championships on two wheels, he wanted to establish himself in the four-wheel racing world. The statistics for the 1960 season- 3 DNF’s and 1 2nd place don’t do justice to Surtees’ heroic efforts.

Before jumping to any conclusions, it is important to know that Mr. Surtees won motorcycle championships in both the 350cc and 500cc categories in 1960- the same year he made his Formula 1 debut. So, he had minimal preparation time for the races but still managed a 2nd place in only his 2nd outing- mind you, a full month and a half after his first! He followed that up with a pole position in the next race. His performances didn’t go unnoticed and he grew from strength to strength in the following years finally becoming the only person ever to win world championships both on two wheels and four wheels.

Jackie Stewart

Jackie Stewart

This is the guy who rejected a drive in one of Colin Chapman’s cars alongside the great Jim Clark. A stupid decision? No! The extra experience he gained by not racing in Formula 1 that year stood him in good stead later on. Stewart was a man determined to win championships and there were two clear reasons behind not taking up the Lotus drive: first, as already mentioned, more experience; second he was not ready to play second fiddle to Chapman’s darling. Sometimes you just wonder how could a guy take such wise and measured decisions before even getting a faint taste of the sport. And if he had the ability to take such decisions, who would stop him from succeeding? Answer: No one!

The results immediately started to show when he joined BRM in 1965. 5 podiums including a win, finishing 3rd in the championship just 7 points behind his much more experienced world champion teammate Graham Hill. 3 years later he joined Matra and the rest is history.

Some of you might argue that ‘technically’ Guiseppe Farina was champion on ‘debut’. That is a valid point but here we are talking about those who joined Formula 1 after the inaugural season in 1950. Other than the above mentioned drivers, there have been many other notable performances by drivers in their rookie seasons- some showcasing tremendous skill such as Michael Schumacher, some outperforming the car – Mark Webber, others outperforming both the car as well as teammate- Fernando Alonso, but when you combine them all there are none better than our selected top 5.