The 15 Most Controversial Formula 1 World Champions

Every name here has a title and an asterisk somebody insists on adding. Deliberate collisions, team orders, stewards' rooms and one retirement nobody saw coming.

1. 1
   Michael Schumacher

   Seven titles alongside the collisions at Adelaide in 1994 and Jerez in 1997, and the Monaco qualifying stop in 2006.
   1000pts
2. 2
   Ayrton Senna

   Three titles and two Suzuka collisions with Prost that decided the 1989 and 1990 championships.
   823pts
3. 3
   James Hunt

   The 1976 title decided partly in appeal rooms, won by a driver who treated the paddock's rules as optional.
   822pts
4. 4
   Max Verstappen

   Four titles won with a defensive style that has repeatedly forced the stewards to rewrite their own guidelines.
   685pts
5. 5
   Nelson Piquet

   Three titles and a habit of insulting rivals in print that would end a career today.
   621pts
6. 6
   Damon Hill

   The 1996 champion whose first title bid ended two years earlier when Schumacher collided with him in Adelaide.
   621pts
7. 7
   Keke Rosberg

   Took the 1982 title with a single win in a season so chaotic that eleven drivers won races.
   548pts
8. 8
   Alain Prost

   Four titles, the other half of the Suzuka crashes, and a reputation for winning politics as well as races.
   464pts
9. 9
   Fernando Alonso

   Two titles, then the centre of the 2007 McLaren spy affair and the 2008 Singapore race his team-mate was told to crash.
   464pts
10. 10
    John Surtees

    The only champion on two and four wheels, whose 1964 title came after his Ferrari team-mate Bandini spun title rival Graham Hill out in Mexico.
    365pts
11. 11
    Niki Lauda

    Three-time champion who walked away from the 1976 title decider in the rain and was judged for it for decades.
    249pts
12. 12
    Lewis Hamilton

    Seven titles alongside the Silverstone collision with Verstappen in 2021 and the disputed Abu Dhabi finish that cost him an eighth.
    249pts
13. 13
    Sebastian Vettel

    Four titles and the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix, where he ignored a direct team order and passed his team-mate.
    249pts
14. 14
    Nico Rosberg

    One title taken from his own team-mate amid a season of collisions, then immediate retirement.
    249pts
15. 15
    Jacques Villeneuve

    The 1997 champion who spent the era criticising the sport out loud and was stripped of his Suzuka result.
    249pts

Comments 2