Top 25 Formula 1 drivers of all-time
By Asher Fair
Top Formula 1 drivers of all-time: #11 – Alberto Ascari
Speaking of Alberto Ascari, he comes in just outside the top 10 on this list. Ascari, like Stirling Moss, only competed in a handful of races throughout his Formula 1 career, and we can only wonder what his numbers would have looked like had had competed for longer.
Unfortunately, he did not get the chance to do so, as he was killed in a crash at Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, which now has a corner named after him, in the second race of the 1955 season.
Unlike Moss, Ascari only competed in 32 races, and he managed to win not one but two world championships. No other driver in Formula 1 history has ever won two world titles with under 72 starts.
He won 13 times, all as a Ferrari driver, in those 32 races, giving him a winning percentage of 40.63%, which ranks second on the all-time wins list. He added 11 wins in non-championship Formula 1 events.
He won his titles in back-to-back seasons in 1952 in 1953, becoming the first world champion for Ferrari, which have gone on to be the most successful team in Formula 1 history, and the first driver to ever win consecutive championships.
And he could not have been more dominant during that two-year span. After missing the season opener in 1952 and retiring from the Indy 500, he won the remaining six races en route to winning the title.
The following season, he won his first three starts, although he missed the Indy 500, the second race on the schedule. So his winning streak officially ended at seven instead of nine. His seven-race winning streak remained a record until Michael Schumacher tied it in 2004 and Sebastian Vettel broke it in 2013 with a nine-race winning streak.