Ranking The 10 Best Formula 1 Drivers Of The 1960s

If you are an F1 passionate you must have wondered who were the best drivers during a certain era. For the 1960s we got you covered with our ranking.

Before we get started let’s explain the methodology we used in order to create this ranking.

The Methodology

We gathered 6 statistics about the 13 drivers of the 1960s in our pool.

• Number of titles
• Number of wins
• Number of poles
• Win ratio: the number of wins divided by the number of starts
• Pole ratio: the number of poles divided by the number of starts
• Championship ratio: number of seasons where the drivers won divided by the total number of seasons raced

For all the metrics, we gave all 13 drivers a rank between 1 and 13. 13 points for the top drivers in that category and 1 point for the worst. We then added all 6 numbers and obtained a score on 78. We ranked the 13 drivers according to this system and picked the 10 best drivers. We gathered the stats from Wikipedia.

We only considered titles, victories, poles made between 1960 and 1969.

10 – Jochen Rindt

Jochen Rindt’s 1960-1969 stats	Value	Rank
Number of Titles	0 (1 in 1970)	6
Percentage of Seasons Won in the 1960s	0 %	6
Number of Wins	1 (6 overall)	2
Number of Poles	7 (10 overall)	9
Win Ratio	2,4 %	2
Pole Ratio	16,7 %	10
Total Score		35

Meet Jochen Rindt. The only man in history to have won the F1 World Drivers’ Championship posthumously. Jochen Rindt started racing in F1 in 1964 on a privately owned Brabham. During his first 2 seasons, in 1964 and 1965, Rindt obtained pedestrian results with only 4 points scored. He had uncompetitive cars. Despite this, he was considered to be the fastest driver in F1 partly due to his results in other racing competitions where he had decent cars.

Things got better in 1966 when he joined Cooper Maserati. He finished 3rd that season. But he was then again, handicapped by uncompetitive cars in 1967 and 1968. In 1969, things finally started to get better for him. He joined Lotus in their golden age. Rindt won his first race during the 1969 US Grand Prix. He also had 5 poles this season. It doesn’t seem like much but during the 1960s there were only 8 to 11 races per season. He had almost half the poles in 1969.

His fate ended brutally when he died in 1970 during the Italian Gand Prix. He had won 5 of the 8 previous races and secured a world title that was won posthumously at the end of the season.

9 – Jacky Ickx

Jacky Ickx’s 1960-1969 stats	Value	Rank
Number of Titles	0	6
Percentage of Seasons Won in the 1960s	0 %	6
Number of Wins	3 (8 overall)	5
Number of Poles	3 (13 overall)	5
Win Ratio	12 %	7
Pole Ratio	12 %	7
Total Score		36

Jacky Ickx was the runner up of the drivers’ championship in both 1969 and 1970. He had a relatively long career spanning over 20 years. For this ranking, we focused only on the stats he had in the 1960s.

Ickx started in F1 in 1967 during the Italian Grand Prix after having impressed teams during the free practice session. He then signed in 1968 with Ferrari. He won that year his first race, during the French Grand Prix, and had his first pole, obtained during the German Grand Prix. He went on to win 2 more races during the next seasons.

Being fast and consistent, Ickx won a total of 8 races in an F1 career that ended in 1979. He was never able to secure an F1 World title.

8 – Denny Hulme

Denny Hulme’s 1960-1969 stats	Value	Rank
Number of Titles	1	10
Percentage of Seasons Won in the 1960s	20 %	11
Number of Wins	5 (8 overall)	9
Number of Poles	1 (1 overall)	1
Win Ratio	10,2 %	5
Pole Ratio	0 %	1
Total Score		37

Denny Hulme won the title in 1967. He started racing in his native New Zealand and only joined Europe after meeting and befriending Jack Brabham. when Brabham created his F1 team in 1965, he hired Hulme. Against all odds, he won the title in 1967 then joined McLaren the following year and finished his F1 career there in 1974. Hulme died while racing during the Bathurst 1000 in Australia. He had a heart attack while driving his car.

He is the World Champ with the fewest pole positions and with a dramatically low pole ratio which didn’t help him in our ranking.

7 – John Surtees

John Surtees’s 1960-1969 stats	Value	Rank
Number of Titles	1	10
Percentage of Seasons won in the 1960s	10 %	7
Number of Wins	6	10
Number of Poles	8	10
Win Ratio	6,7 %	3
Pole Ratio	9 %	8
Total Score		75

John Surtees is the only F1 Champion who is also a motorcycling World Champion. After winning 7 titles in motorcycling in 10 years, he decided to join F1 in 1960. He impressed rapidly. On his second F1 race, he finished second just behind Jack Brabham during the 1960 British Grand Prix. Showing some skill, he was hired by Ferrari in 1963. In 1964, he won his only title with them with 2 wins and 2 poles.

After a disappointing 1965 season, he started to win again in 1966 with Ferrari. In this era, it was not rare to see F1 drivers participating in other competitions such as The 24 Hours of Le Mans. Surtees wanted to participate in the competition but Ferrari wouldn’t let him. They did not put his name in the starting line-up mainly because one of the drivers was the nephew of FIAT boss Gianni Agnelli. He quit the team right after the race. He went back to his previous team Cooper Maserati. This decision probably cost him a second title.

After Ferrari, he never had a competitive car again and raced until 1972 never winning the title again. Overall, he had a long career in F1 lasting 14 years but only won 6 races and had 8 poles.

6 – Jackie Stewart

Jackie Stewart’s 1960-1969 stats	Value	Rank
Number of Titles	1 (3 overall)	10
Percentage of Seasons Won in the 1960s	20 %	11
Number of Wins	11 (27 overall)	11
Number of Poles	2 (17 overall)	3
Win Ratio	22 %	11
Pole Ratio	4 %	2
Total Score		48

Obviously, being a 3 time World Champion makes Jackie Stewart one of the best drivers in history. He is rather low in our ranking because we only focused on the part of his career that took place in the 1960s. And in those years, he only won 1 title.

Jackie Stewart’s career started rather luckily. He was a mechanic in his father’s garage. He then started to work for one of his father’s client who owned race cars. He started to go with him to races before soon being offered a position as a driver. He then quickly went to F1 over a 2 year period where he impressed by his driving skills.

During his first season, and during only his 8th race, he won the 1965 Italian Gand Prix. He then went on to win 3 titles: in 1969, 1971 and 1973 with Matra and Tyrell. He retired the day before his 100th race, in 1973, after the tragic death of his teammate François Cevert.

5 – Stirling Moss

Stirling Moss’ 1960-1969 stats	Value	Rank
Number of Titles	0	6
Percentage of Seasons Won in the 1960s	0 %	6
Number of Wins	4 (16 overall)	7
Number of Poles	5 (16 overall)	7
Win Ratio	28,6 %	12
Pole Ratio	35,7 %	12
Total Score		50

Meet the most unlucky guy in F1 history. Nicknamed the crownless Champion, Stirling Moss ended runner up of the Drivers’ Championship 4 times in a row between 1955 and 1958. He is a legend with incredible stats.

Stirling rapidly passed all the levels of auto racing before entering in F1 in 1951 at only 22. He started to race with English teams with few successes in 1952 and 1953. He then decided to join Maserati in 1954 and quickly made a name for himself. Being subject to mechanical problems he could not win that year yet. However, he was noticed by the best teams. Mercedes made him Fangio’s teammate. But, Moss couldn’t beat Fangio. In 1955 however, he won the 1955 British Grand Prix. To this day, some say that Fangio let Moss win his home Grand Prix.

At the end of the 1955 season, Mercedes decided to leave the auto racing arena following the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans tragedy where 80 people lost their lives. During the event, a Mercedes lost control and crashed into an embankment separating spectators from the track. Some parts of the car flew into the public killing 80 people.

Moss then joined Maserati in 1956 whereas Fangio went to Ferrari. He was again beaten by Fangio in 1956 and subsequently by Mike Hawthorne in 1959. He never managed to win a title. During his last 2 seasons, in 1960 and 1961, he managed to win 4 races and obtain 5 poles over a span of 18 races. This is why he is rated so high in our rankings. He left the racing world in 1962.

4 – Phil Hill

Phil Hill’s 1960-1969 stats	Value	Rank
Number of Titles	1	10
Percentage of Seasons won in the 1960s	25 %	13
Number of Wins	3	5
Number of Poles	6	8
Win Ratio	10,3 %	6
Pole Ratio	20,7 %	11
Total Score		53

Hill had a short career in F1. He started in F1 in 1958 with Hawthorne as his teammate. He only raced for 51 races, 4 more than Hawthorne. After receiving initially a cold treatment by Enzo Ferrari, Hill is integrated to Ferrari in 1959 after the deaths of Luigi Musso and Peter Collins. Hill was brought along in order not to let Mike Hawthorne alone, the leader of the drivers’ championship at the time. After the 1959 season, where Hawthorne won the title, he left Ferrari leaving Phil Hill as the leader of the team.

During the 1960 season, Ferrari was no match for British teams. However, in 1961, a regulation change gave back the advantage to Ferrari who absolutely dominated that year. The title race was in contention between Phil Hill and Wolfgang Von Trips who was leading. During the 1961 Italian Grand Prix, Trips died after a violent crash that killed 14 spectators leaving the title to Phil Hill. He then quickly lost Enzo Ferrari’s support and left F1 in 1962.

He is the world champ who won the least races, tied with Mike Hawthorne. He is also the second less scoring champ in history.

Now we are entering an area filled with true F1 legends. Let’s see our top 3.

3 – Jack Brabham

Jack Brabham’s 1960-1969 stats	Value	Rank
Number of Titles	2 (3 overall)	13
Percentage of Seasons won in the 1960s	20 %	11
Number of Wins	11 (14 overall)	11
Number of Poles	11 (13 overall)	11
Win Ratio	12,1 %	8
Pole Ratio	12,1 %	8
Total Score		62

Meet the 3-time World Champion, Jack Brabham. Brabham actually won his titles in 1959, 1960 and 1966. This is why he is high in our ranking.

Jack Brabham is a quite rare driver in the history of F1. Before becoming a professional driver, he was actually an engineer and a mechanic. Having raced with success in New Zealand and Australia, Brabham went to try his luck in 1955 in Europe. He went to see Ferrari and Mercedes in order to get a job, they refused to hire him.

He then got the trust of John Cooper, founder of Cooper Cars, who allowed him to start racing in F1 in 1955. His first F1 season was not great even if he showed grit and talent. It wasn’t until 1959 that Brabham won his first race during the 1959 Monaco Grand Prix. He was driving a Cooper T51 that he fine-tuned with his mechanical skills. He would often work on the car until very late at night to perfect it. He won his first title in 1959.

Brabham then started to work on the next generation of Cooper cars, the Cooper T53, in association with the team’s engineering department. The car was so fast that it won 5 races in a row during the 1960 season allowing him to secure a second title.

By the end of 1961, Braham left Cooper in order to create his own F1 team: Brabham Racing Organisation. Between 1962 and 1965, he wasn’ very successful. This is mainly due to FIA regulations that limited the max displacement of engines to 1.5L. In 1966 however, this value was raised to 3.0L. Brabham was the first to use these new regulations as much as possible. His new BT19 was lighter and more powerful and reliable than its competitors. It allowed him to win 4 races in a row during the season, securing his final title.

To date, Jack Brabham is the only driver to have ever won the Drivers’ Championship with a car that he made. After that, he had some decent seasons and finally retired in 1970.

2 – Graham Hill

Graham Hill’s 1960-1969 stats	Value	Rank
Number of Titles	2	13
Percentage of Seasons Won in the 1960s	20 %	11
Number of Wins	14	12
Number of Poles	13	12
Win Ratio	14,4 %	10
Pole Ratio	13,4 %	9
Total Score		67

Graham Hill was the 1962 and 1968 World Champion. He started in a funny way in the racing world. For starters, Hill only obtained his driving license at 24. He was a mechanical engineer. One day, a friend of his invited him to try an F3 Cooper car. He was immediately hooked in. He left everything behind and decided to become a professional driver.

He then managed to befriend Colin Chapman, founder of Lotus. He started as a mechanic but had the right to drive the cars in minor racing competitions. Having shown enough talent, Lotus offered Hill a driving seat in the upcoming 1958 F1 season.

Between 1958 and 1960, the Lotus cars he drove were not competitive. He quit Lotus to join BRM in 1960. Although better than his previous Lotus, the car was still not good enough to allow him to win. It all changes in 1962 with the new BRM 56. The car was a true success allowing Hill to win 4 races out of 10 during the 1962 season. He secured his first world title.

Between 1963 and 1966, Hill won a few races but was never able to compete with Jim Clark. He left BRM and went back to Lotus in 1967. His teammate was his great rival: Jim Clark. After being dominated by Clark, Hill became the leader of the team following Clark’s tragic death during an F2 race in Hockenheim in 1968. He went on to win the title that year.

He continued to race until 1975 after leaving Lotus in 1970 but was never able to reach the same level of success.

1 – Jim Clark

Jim Clark’s 1960-1969 stats	Value	Rank
Number of Titles	2	13
Percentage of Seasons Won in the 1960s	25 %	13
Number of Wins	25	13
Number of Poles	33	13
Win Ratio	34,3 %	13
Pole Ratio	45,1 %	13
Total Score		78

No matter how we look at it, Jim Clark is the best driver of the 1960s. He is considered to be, along with Senna, Fangio, Schumacher and Hamilton, one of the best drivers of all time. In just 72 races, he won 25 times and got 33 poles. At the time of his 25th career win, he held the record of the highest number of wins in F1. At a time where F1 season consisted of 8 to 11 races, having 25 race wins is actually an incredible achievement.

Clark started in F1 in 1960 for Lotus. He hasn’t had much success during his first 2 seasons. He was making some mistakes and was involved in the accident that took Wolfgang Von Trips’ life. Things got better in 1962 when he won 3 races and got 6 poles. He lost the title to Graham Hill during the last race of the season after a mechanical failure.

He won his first title in 1963 after being absolutely dominant. He won 7 races, got 7 poles during a season which had 10 races. He then won 3 races and got 5 poles in 1964, losing the title to John Surtees. He then won again the title in 1965 against incredible opponents: Graham Hill, John Surtees and Jackie Stewart. He was again incredibly dominant, winning 6 races and obtaining 6 poles over the course of 10 races that season.

In 1966, his car was not as competitive which did not allow him to retain his title. He only won a race and obtained 2 poles. Things got better in 1967 when he won 4 races and obtained 6 poles. But this didn’t allow him to beat Hulme who won the title. He won his last race, the 1968 South African Grand Prix, before losing his life in a Formula 2 race in Hockenheim. His tyre rim went out during a turn causing him to lose control of the car.

With his dominance during his tenure as an F1 driver, Clark is considered to be one of the best of all time. His stats are crazy: he won 34% of the races he entered and had the pole 45% of the time! He got the pole nearly in half the races he entered.

Jim Clark died young, at 32 and he could have won many more titles if it hadn’t happened. Unequivocally, Jim Clark is our choice for the best F1 driver of the 1960s.