Grand Prix European Champion & World Champion

ZÜRIRING presents:
Grand Prix European Champion and Formula 1 World Champion

Ferdinando Minoia was an Italian racing driver who achieved significant success over his long career. Minoia was the first European Grand Prix champion, driving an Alfa Romeo, in 1931.

Hermann Paul Müller, also known as H. P. Müller, was a German motorcycle and racing driver. Under the points system used until 1939, H.P. Müller should have become European Champion in 1939 on Auto Union, but the outcome of that championship is disputed. The Supreme National Sports Commission declared Hermann Lang European Champion.

Alberto Ascari was an Italian racing driver. He competed in the World Automobile Championship from the early 1950s, where, with 13 Grand Prix wins and two world titles for Ferrari, he became one of the most successful drivers of his era. Four days after Ascari was pulled from the sea during the Monaco Grand Prix, he was privately testing a Ferrari sports car at Monza. For reasons that remain unexplained, he ran off the track, crashed and suffered fatal injuries.

Graham Hill was a British racing driver. The "moustachioed Londoner", as he was fondly known, competed in 176 Formula 1 Grands Prix between 1958 and 1975 and won the World Championship title twice, driving for B.R.M. and Lotus. He remains the only driver to have won the so-called Triple Crown of motorsport, an unofficial honour comprising victories at the Monaco Grand Prix in Formula 1, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Indy 500. In late November 1975, his twin-engined Piper aircraft, which Hill had bought with his Indy 500 winnings and was piloting himself, crashed onto a golf course. Flying too low on approach in thick fog, Hill clipped treetops near his home in North London shortly before landing.

Jackie Stewart is a former British racing driver and motorsport official. He competed in Formula 1 between 1965 and 1973, winning the World Championship three times in this class with Matra and Tyrrell. In 1973, Jackie Stewart surpassed previous record holder Jim Clark's 25 wins with 27 Grand Prix victories. Stewart's record wasn't beaten until 1987, by Alain Prost. Following a serious accident, Jackie Stewart campaigned tirelessly for greater safety on the racetrack. A detachable steering wheel and a master electrical switch that cuts off both the fuel pump and all possible sources of sparks have been standard at the latest since his initiative.

James Hunt was a British racing driver. He competed in Formula 1 between 1973 and 1979. Thanks to his lifestyle and image, he had the aura of a "pop icon" or the "rock star of Formula 1" in the 1970s. Hunt won ten Grands Prix and became Formula 1 World Champion in 1976 with McLaren.

Nelson Piquet is a Brazilian racing driver. Between 1978 and 1991, he started 204 Formula 1 Grand Prix races and became World Champion three times. Piquet is best known as the first Formula 1 World Champion to win the title with a turbo engine – in 1983 with BMW.

Nigel Mansell is a British racing driver. He competed in the premier motorsport class, Formula 1, between 1980 and 1995, becoming World Champion with Williams in 1992. Mansell also became IndyCar World Series champion in 1993, making him, to this day, the only driver to have held the reigning title in both series at the same time - if only briefly.

Mika Häkkinen is a former Finnish racing driver. Between 1991 and 2001 he started 161 Grand Prix races in Formula 1, motorsport's premier class, winning the World Championship twice during this time with McLaren-Mercedes. After a three-year break, Häkkinen made a comeback in 2005 as a DTM driver for Mercedes-Benz, before finally retiring at the end of 2007.

Lewis Hamilton is an English racing driver who, in his very first Formula 1 season in 2007, immediately became vice world champion, and in 2008 became the youngest world champion in Formula 1 history at the time, driving for McLaren-Mercedes. Since 2013, Hamilton has raced in Formula 1 for Mercedes. For this team, he won six further world titles, making him, with seven titles, the record world champion alongside Michael Schumacher. Hamilton also holds the records for most wins, podiums, pole positions, as well as career world championship points and laps led.

Tazio Nuvolari was an Italian motorcycle and racing driver. Tazio Nuvolari, known as the "Flying Mantuan", was already a legend in his lifetime and is still regarded today as one of the greatest racing drivers in history. In 1932 he won the European Grand Prix Championship driving for Alfa Romeo. In 1938 and 1939, Nuvolari was a works driver for Auto Union. The 1948 Mille Miglia was his last major race. Gravely ill, coughing and spitting blood, he took to the start and drove his two-litre V12 Ferrari 166 Spyder Corsa beyond its limits. However, a brake failure threw him out of the race, and he collapsed shortly afterwards. Nuvolari died at the age of 61 as a result of a second stroke. Ferdinand Porsche called him the "greatest driver of the past, present and future".

Hermann Lang was a German motorcycle and racing driver. Hermann Lang came from humble beginnings and had to fight his way hard to the top at a time when racing drivers often came from aristocratic or wealthy families. 1939 was Hermann Lang's most successful year, with the European Championship title on Mercedes. During the season a new points system was discussed, similar to the one used in Formula 1 after 1950, and under this system Lang had 23 points. Hermann Lang was the dominant driver that season, while H. P. Müller could only win a single race.

Mike Hawthorn was an English racing driver, Le Mans winner and 1958 Formula 1 World Champion driving for Ferrari. Mike Hawthorn always raced wearing a bow tie and white shirt. In January 1959, Hawthorn had a private race with Scottish team owner Rob Walker on a country road in heavy rain. In a left-hand bend, his Jaguar left the road and crashed into a tree. He died of severe head injuries.

Jim Clark was a British racing driver. Between 1960 and 1968 he started 72 Grand Prix races for Lotus in Formula 1 and became World Champion twice. Jim Clark is regarded as one of the greatest Formula 1 drivers of all time and became a role model for numerous later World Champions, including Jackie Stewart, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna. His 25 wins in Grands Prix counting towards the Drivers' World Championship stood as a Formula 1 record at the time of his death. It was the corner virtuoso Jim Clark himself who died on 7 April 1968 at Hockenheim on an almost straight section of track, in a Formula 2 race that meant little to him, apparently as the result of a slow puncture and tyre damage, when he left the track on the Waldgerade after the Motodrom and crashed his Lotus 48 into a tree. Marshals could only report that the car went into an unexplained slide and left the circuit.

Jochen Rindt was a racing driver, Formula 1 pilot and six-time Grand Prix winner. In 1970, during practice for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Rindt was fatally injured. His points lead that season was enough to make him, to this day, the only driver to become Formula 1 World Champion posthumously, driving for Lotus.

Keke Rosberg is a Finnish entrepreneur and TV commentator as well as a former racing driver. He competed in Formula 1, the premier class of motorsport, between 1978 and 1986, becoming World Champion there in 1982.

Mario Andretti, born in Montona, Italy, now Motovun, Croatia, is a former American racing driver. He competed in both the European-based Formula 1 World Championship, which he won in 1978 with Lotus, and the American IndyCar series, where he won the title in 1984.

Michael Schumacher is a former German racing driver. Schumacher competed from 1991 to 2006 and from 2010 to 2012 in a total of 307 Formula 1 World Championship Grands Prix. He holds the records for 7 World Championship titles, shared with Lewis Hamilton since 2020, and 77 fastest race laps. Michael Schumacher is the most successful Formula 1 driver of all time.

Kimi Räikkönen is a Finnish racing driver who won the World Championship title for Ferrari in 2007. He has won 21 races to date. Räikkönen is the first Ferrari driver since Nigel Mansell to win on his debut race for the Scuderia, and the first driver since Juan Manuel Fangio in 1956 to start that race from pole position.

Nico Rosberg is a former German-Finnish racing driver and investor. He competed with a Finnish racing licence until the end of 2003, and with a German licence from 2004 onwards. Rosberg started in Formula 1 from 2006. In 2016 he became the third driver competing under a German licence to win the Formula 1 World Championship with Mercedes. As the son of Formula 1 World Champion Keke Rosberg, he is the second driver to win the title after his father. A few days after winning his championship, he announced his retirement from Formula 1.

Rudolf „Karratsch“ Caracciola was a German racing driver and, before the Second World War, the most successful driver in Europe. During the famous Silver Arrows era from 1934 to 1939, he became European Champion three times driving for Mercedes, comparable to today's Formula 1 World Champion.

Nino Farina was an Italian racing driver and the first Formula 1 World Champion in history. In 1950 he joined the Alfa Romeo team. With three Grand Prix wins, he secured the very first Formula 1 World Championship ever held in 1950, ahead of Juan Manuel Fangio, driving an Alfa Romeo Alfetta 158. In 1966 Dottore Giuseppe Farina died when his Lotus Cortina hit a telegraph pole on an ordinary road in southern France near Chambéry.

Jack Brabham was an Australian racing driver who won the Formula 1 World Drivers' Championship three times, driving for Cooper and Brabham. From 1962, Jack Brabham began building his own cars and became World Champion in 1966 in a car of his own construction.

John Surtees was a British motorcycle and car racing driver. He is the only rider/driver in history to have become world champion in both the Motorcycle World Championship and Formula 1. He also owned his own Formula 1 racing team. On 19 July 2009, his son Henry was fatally injured in a Formula 2 race.

Emerson Fittipaldi is a former Brazilian racing driver and two-time Formula 1 World Champion. In 1972, driving a Lotus-Ford, he became the youngest World Champion in history up to that point, a record only broken by Fernando Alonso in 2005. Between 1984 and 1996, "Emmo" raced in the IndyCar World Series, winning the championship and the Indianapolis 500 in 1989. In 1993 he repeated his Indianapolis 500 victory. After a severe fire crash in 1996 and a crash in his private ultralight aircraft the following year, he ended his career as an active racing driver.

Jody Scheckter is a South African businessman and former racing driver. Between 1972 and 1980 he started a total of 112 Grand Prix races in Formula 1, becoming World Champion in 1979. Scheckter is remembered by a wide audience above all for being the last Ferrari Formula 1 World Champion for over 20 years, before Michael Schumacher won the title for the traditional team again in the 2000 season.

Alain Prost is a French racing driver. Between 1980 and 1993, he started in a total of 199 Grand Prix races in Formula 1. From 1997 to 2001, Prost ran his own Formula 1 team called Prost Grand Prix. Alain Prost is one of the most successful drivers in Formula 1 history: he was four-time World Champion and four-time runner-up with McLaren and Williams, and won a total of 51 Grand Prix races. His main rival was Ayrton Senna.

Damon Hill is a former British racing driver and current motorsport official. He competed in Formula 1, the highest class of motorsport, between 1992 and 1999 and became World Champion in 1996. As the son of two-time Formula 1 World Champion Graham Hill, he is the first driver to win the title just as his father did.

Jenson Button is an English racing driver who competed in 306 Formula 1 Grand Prix between 2000 and 2017, winning the World Championship title with Brawn in 2009 as only the tenth Briton to date.

Max Emilian Verstappen, born in 1997, is a Belgian-Dutch racing driver. The son of former racing driver Jos Verstappen was built in 2013 Kart-world champion and two-time kart European champion. He made his Formula 1 debut in 2015 and has driven for Red Bull Racing since 2016. At the age of 18 years and 228 days, Max Verstappen became the youngest driver in history to win a Grand Prix. He clinched his first world championship title in the final lap of the final race of the 2021 season, and won the title again in 2022.

Bernd Rosemeyer was a German motorcycle and racing driver. In 1936 he became European Grand Prix champion driving for Auto Union and was one of the best-known and most successful German racing drivers. Bernd Rosemeyer died in January 1938 during a record attempt at 430 km/h.

Juan Manuel Fangio was an Argentine racing driver. He shaped the early years of Formula 1 and became five-time World Champion in this class driving Alfa Romeo, Mercedes, Ferrari and Maserati – a record only surpassed by Michael Schumacher in 2003. It wasn't until 1961 that Fangio passed his driving test, since despite his successful career and talent, he had driven his entire career without a driving licence.

Phil Hill was an American racing driver. In 1961, Hill became Formula 1 World Champion by a margin of just one point, ahead of German racing driver Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips, who was fatally injured in the second-to-last race. He won driving for Ferrari, making him the first American to claim this title.

Denny Hulme was a New Zealand racing driver. Hulme's Formula 1 career began in 1965 with the Brabham team, in the final year of the 1.5-litre formula. In 1967 he won the Formula 1 World Championship with Brabham. Hulme suffered a heart attack in 1992 during a touring car race. He still managed to stop the car and park it neatly beside the crash barrier. By the time the marshals reached the car, Denny Hulme had already died.

Niki Lauda was an Austrian racing driver, entrepreneur and pilot. He competed in Formula 1 between 1971 and 1985 and became three-time World Champion driving for Ferrari and McLaren. During the German Grand Prix on 1 August 1976, Niki Lauda crashed severely before the Bergwerk section of the track. Almost 200 litres of petrol in the car partially spilled out and ignited immediately.

Alan Jones is a former Australian racing driver. Between 1975 and 1986, he competed in a total of 116 Formula 1 Grand Prix races and won the World Championship in 1980, becoming the second Australian to do so after Jack Brabham. Jones was also the first Formula 1 driver to become World Champion with the Williams team.

Ayrton Senna was a Brazilian racing driver. He became three-time Formula 1 World Champion with McLaren, driving from 1984 until his fatal accident at the Imola circuit at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. Senna's intense rivalry with Frenchman Alain Prost, against whom he fought out a total of four World Championships over the course of his career, attracted huge media attention. Because of his driving style, especially in the rain, Senna earned the nickname "The Magic".

Jacques Villeneuve is a Canadian racing driver. In 1995 he won the IndyCar title before competing in the top tier of motorsport, Formula 1, between 1996 and 2006, becoming World Champion with Williams in 1997. Villeneuve is one of the few drivers to have won both the IndyCar title and the F1 title during their career. He is also the son of Gilles Villeneuve, the Ferrari driver who was fatally injured in 1982 and is still revered as a legend by the Tifosi today.

Fernando Alonso is the first Spanish Grand Prix winner and World Champion in Formula 1 history, as well as a two-time automobile world champion. He won the Formula 1 World Championship title with Renault in 2005 and 2006. In 2019, Alonso also became World Champion in the Endurance World Championship with Toyota.

Sebastian Vettel is a German racing driver who has been competing in Formula 1 since 2007. He won the World Championship there with the Austrian team Red Bull in the 2010 season, becoming the second German after Michael Schumacher and the youngest driver to date to do so. By successfully defending his title in 2011, 2012 and 2013, he became one of only four drivers to win the World Championship four times in a row. From 2015 to 2020 he drove for the Italian team Ferrari. In 2021 Vettel drives for Aston Martin.

Ferrari-Challenge

Join us on a journey through the fast-paced years of Scuderia Ferrari. Can you beat the best time set by our racing drivers?

Rules:

Track

Le Mans
Nürburgring Nordschleife
Spa-Francorchamps (GP)

Car

Ferrari 250 GTO (1962
Ferrari 312T (1975)
Ferrari F2004 (2004)

Our racing drivers' best times:

Assembly time:

14:57,877

00:00,00

Name:

Nikolaj

Päde

Julien

Awaiting the record winner is a voucher for an overnight stay incl. dinner at Hotel Meilenstein, Langenthal

Take the Challenge to?

Book your guest drive now!

90 min. of pure driving fun on the Stage3Pro
Introduction and supervision by a coach
Consultation to the matching membership
incl. water/coffee

one-off CHF 120.-