The Most Famous

RACING DRIVERS from United Kingdom

This page contains a list of the greatest British Racing Drivers. The pantheon dataset contains 1,080 Racing Drivers, 171 of which were born in United Kingdom. This makes United Kingdom the birth place of the most number of Racing Drivers.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary British Racing Drivers of all time. This list of famous British Racing Drivers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of British Racing Drivers.

1. James Hunt (1947 - 1993)

With an HPI of 69.83, James Hunt is the most famous British Racing Driver. His biography has been translated into 51 different languages on wikipedia.

James Simon Wallis Hunt (29 August 1947 – 15 June 1993) was a British racing driver who won the Formula One World Championship in 1976. After retiring from racing in 1979, Hunt became a media commentator and businessman until his death. Beginning his racing career in touring car racing, Hunt progressed into Formula Three, where he attracted the attention of the Hesketh Racing team and soon came under their wing. Hunt's often reckless and action-packed exploits on track earned him the nickname "Hunt the Shunt" (shunt, as a British motor-racing term, means "crash"). Hunt entered Formula One in 1973, driving a March 731 entered by the Hesketh Racing team. He went on to win for Hesketh, driving their own Hesketh 308 car, in both World Championship and non-championship races, before joining the McLaren team at the end of 1975. In his first year with McLaren, Hunt won the 1976 World Drivers' Championship, and he remained with the team for a further two years, although with less success, before moving to the Wolf team in early 1979. Following a string of races in which he failed to finish, Hunt retired from driving halfway through the 1979 season. After retiring from motor racing, he established a career as a motor racing commentator for the BBC. He died from a heart attack when he was 45.

2. Ken Miles (1918 - 1966)

With an HPI of 69.25, Ken Miles is the 2nd most famous British Racing Driver. His biography has been translated into 25 different languages.

Kenneth Henry Jarvis Miles (1 November 1918 – 17 August 1966) was an English sports car racing engineer and driver best known for his motorsport career in the U.S. and with American teams on the international scene. He is an inductee to the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. As an automotive engineer, he is known for developing the Ford GT40 along with driver and designer Carroll Shelby, which won at Le Mans in 1966, 1967, 1968 and 1969. He and Shelby's efforts at Le Mans were dramatized in the 2019 Oscar-winning film Ford v Ferrari.

3. Jackie Stewart (b. 1939)

With an HPI of 66.00, Jackie Stewart is the 3rd most famous British Racing Driver. His biography has been translated into 60 different languages.

Sir John Young Stewart OBE (born 11 June 1939) is a British former Formula One racing driver from Scotland. Nicknamed the "Flying Scot", he competed in Formula One between 1965 and 1973, winning three World Drivers' Championships and twice finishing as runner-up over those nine seasons. He was the only British driver to win three championships until Lewis Hamilton in 2015. Outside of Formula One, he narrowly missed out on a win at his first attempt at the Indianapolis 500 in 1966 and competed in the Can-Am series in 1970 and 1971. Between 1997 and 1999, in partnership with his son, Paul, he was team principal of the Stewart Grand Prix F1 racing team. After retiring from racing, Stewart was an ABC network television sports commentator for both auto racing, covering the Indianapolis 500 for over a decade, and for several summer Olympics covering many events, being a distinctive presence with his pronounced Scottish accent. Stewart also served as a television commercial spokesman for both the Ford Motor Company and Heineken beer. Stewart was instrumental in improving the safety of motor racing, campaigning for better medical facilities and track improvements at motor racing circuits. After John Surtees' death in 2017, he is the last surviving Formula One World Champion from the 1960s. He is also the oldest living F1 winner.

4. Jim Clark (1936 - 1968)

With an HPI of 64.67, Jim Clark is the 4th most famous British Racing Driver. His biography has been translated into 50 different languages.

James Clark OBE (4 March 1936 – 7 April 1968) was a British racing driver from Scotland who won two Formula One World Championships in 1963 and 1965. A versatile driver, he competed in sports cars, touring cars, and in the Indianapolis 500, which he won in 1965. He was particularly associated with Team Lotus, driving for the team his entire Formula One career between 1960 and 1968. Clark was killed in a Formula Two racing accident in April 1968 in Hockenheimring, West Germany. At the time of his death, aged 32, he had won more Grand Prix races (25) and achieved more pole positions (33) than any other driver. Into the 21st century, he maintains several Formula One records, such as Grand Chelem and percentage-related ones. His record of highest percentage of laps in the lead in a season was only broken in 2023.

5. Graham Hill (1929 - 1975)

With an HPI of 64.20, Graham Hill is the 5th most famous British Racing Driver. His biography has been translated into 51 different languages.

Norman Graham Hill (15 February 1929 – 29 November 1975) was a British racing driver and team owner, who was the Formula One World Champion twice, winning in 1962 and 1968 as well as being runner up on three occasions (1963, 1964 and 1965). Despite not passing his driving test until 1953 when he was already 24 years of age, and only entering the world of motorsports a year later, Hill would go on to become one of the greatest drivers of his generation. Hill is most celebrated for being the only driver ever to win the Triple Crown of Motorsport, an achievement which he defined as winning the Indianapolis 500, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the Formula One World Drivers' Championship. While several of his peers have also espoused this definition, including fellow F1 World Champions Jacques Villeneuve (who also won the Indy 500), and Fernando Alonso (who also won the 24 Hours of Le Mans), the achievement is today most commonly defined as including the Monaco Grand Prix rather than the Formula One World Championship. By this newer definition, Hill is still the only driver to have ever won the Triple Crown, since Alonso has not won the Indy 500. Hill also won at Monaco with such frequency in the 1960s (5x; 1963, 1964, 1965, 1968, 1969) that he became known as "Mr. Monaco". Hill crashed at the 1969 United States Grand Prix and was seriously injured, breaking both his legs and ending his season. Although he would recover and continue to race until 1975, Hill's career would never again reach the same heights, and the Monaco Grand Prix victory earlier in 1969 would be his last victory in Formula One. Wins in the most prestigious races of all three of the major disciplines of motor racing cemented Hill's position as one of the most complete drivers in the history of the sport. Hill was also a well liked television personality and was frequently seen on television screens in the 1970s in a non-sporting capacity, appearing on a variety of programmes including panel games. Upon leaving Brabham, Hill set up his own team in 1973, operating under the name Embassy Hill. Hill continued to race, however after failing to qualify for the 1975 Monaco Grand Prix he retired from driving to concentrate on the day-to-day operations of the team. That same year, Hill and five other members of the Embassy Hill team were killed when the aeroplane Hill was piloting from France crashed in fog at night on Arkley golf course while attempting to land at Elstree Airfield in north London.Hill and his son Damon were the first father and son pair to win Formula One World Championships. Hill's grandson Josh, Damon's son, also raced his way through the ranks until he retired from Formula Three in 2013 at the age of 22.

6. Nigel Mansell (b. 1953)

With an HPI of 63.33, Nigel Mansell is the 6th most famous British Racing Driver. His biography has been translated into 52 different languages.

Nigel Ernest James Mansell, (; born 8 August 1953) is a British retired racing driver who won both the Formula One World Championship (1992) and the CART Indy Car World Series (1993). Mansell was the reigning F1 champion when he moved to CART, becoming the first person to win the CART title in his debut season, and making him the only person to hold both the World Drivers' Championship and the American open-wheel National Championship simultaneously. His career in Formula One spanned 15 seasons, with his final two full seasons of top-level racing being spent in the CART series. Mansell is the second most successful British Formula One driver of all time in terms of race wins with 31 victories, behind Lewis Hamilton with 103 wins, and is eighth overall on the Formula One race winners list, behind Hamilton, Michael Schumacher, Max Verstappen, Sebastian Vettel, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna and Fernando Alonso. He held the record for the most poles set in a single season, which was broken in 2011 by Sebastian Vettel. Mansell raced in the Grand Prix Masters series in 2005, and won the championship title. He later signed a one-off race deal for the Scuderia Ecosse GT race team to drive their number 63 Ferrari F430 GT2 car at Silverstone on 6 May 2007. He has since competed in additional sports car races with his sons Leo and Greg, including the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans, and was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2005.

7. Alfonso de Portago (1928 - 1957)

With an HPI of 63.16, Alfonso de Portago is the 7th most famous British Racing Driver. His biography has been translated into 25 different languages.

Alfonso Cabeza de Vaca y Leighton, 11th Marquess of Portago, GE (11 October 1928 – 12 May 1957), best known as Alfonso de Portago, was a Spanish aristocrat, racing and bobsleigh driver, jockey and pilot. Born in London to a prominent family in the peerage of Spain, he was named after his godfather, king Alfonso XIII. His grandfather, the 9th Marquess of Portago had been Mayor of Madrid while his father, who was President of Puerta de Hierro and a prolific golfer, died of a heart attack while showering after a polo match. His mother, Olga Leighton, was an Irish nurse. At age 17, Portago began displaying his flamboyant lifestyle by winning a $500 bet after flying a borrowed plane under London Tower Bridge. He twice rode the Grand National as "gentleman rider" and formed the first Spanish bobsleigh team with his cousins, finishing 4th in the 1956 Winter Olympics, shaving the bronze medal by 0.14 seconds.In 1953, he was introduced into the Scuderia Ferrari team, competing at the Carrera Panamericana, 1000 km Buenos Aires and several Grand Prix, including a win and second place at the 1956 Tour de France Automobile and 1956 British Grand Prix respectively. His promising career was cut short in May 1957 after his renowned Ferrari 335 S crashed near the village of Guidizzolo when a tyre burst while driving along a dead straight road at 150 mph (240 km/h) in the 1957 running of the Mille Miglia, killing Portago, his navigator, and nine spectators. The young age of the marquess who was 28 at the time of his death combined with his status as a sex symbol caused a shock amongst many, having several tributes and landmarks named after him, most notably the "Portago curve" at Jarama racetrack.The Marquess of Portago was seen by many as a true playboy of his time; "a tall, handsome and wealthy Spanish aristocrat who captured everybody's imagination". Gregor Grant famously said of him: "a man like Portago appears only once in a generation, and it would probably be more accurate to say only once in a lifetime. The fellow does everything fabulously well. Never mind the driving, the steeplechasing, the bobsledding, the athletic side of things, never mind being fluent in 4 languages. (...) He could be the best bridge player in the world if he cared to try, he could certainly be a great soldier, and I suspect he could be a fine writer".

8. John Surtees (1934 - 2017)

With an HPI of 62.36, John Surtees is the 8th most famous British Racing Driver. His biography has been translated into 47 different languages.

John Norman Surtees, (11 February 1934 – 10 March 2017) was a British Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and Formula One driver. On his way to become a seven-time Grand Prix motorcycle World Champion, he won his first title in 1956, and followed with three consecutive doubles between 1958 and 1960, winning six World Championships in both the 500 and 350cc classes. Surtees then made the move to the pinnacle of motorsport, the Formula One World Championship, and in 1964 made motor racing history by becoming the Formula One World Champion. To this day Surtees remains the only person to have won World Championships on both two and four wheels. He founded the Surtees Racing Organisation team that competed as a constructor in Formula One, Formula 2 and Formula 5000 from 1970 to 1978. He was also the ambassador of the Racing Steps Foundation.

9. Mike Hawthorn (1929 - 1959)

With an HPI of 61.89, Mike Hawthorn is the 9th most famous British Racing Driver. His biography has been translated into 48 different languages.

John Michael Hawthorn (10 April 1929 – 22 January 1959) was a British racing driver. He became the United Kingdom's first Formula One World Champion driver in 1958, whereupon he announced his retirement, having been profoundly affected by the death of his teammate and friend Peter Collins two months earlier in the 1958 German Grand Prix. He died in a road accident three months after retiring. With a total of three career World Championship Grand Prix wins, Hawthorn has the lowest number of Grand Prix wins scored by any Formula One World Champion. Hawthorn had also won the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans.

10. Stirling Moss (1929 - 2020)

With an HPI of 60.25, Stirling Moss is the 10th most famous British Racing Driver. His biography has been translated into 45 different languages.

Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss (17 September 1929 – 12 April 2020) was a British Formula One driver. An inductee into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, he won 212 of the 529 races he entered across several different motorsports competitions and has been described as "the greatest driver never to win the Formula One World Championship". In a seven-year span between 1955 and 1961, Moss finished in second place four times and in third place three times.

People

Pantheon has 192 people classified as British racing drivers born between 1900 and 2005. Of these 192, 81 (42.19%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living British racing drivers include Jackie Stewart, Nigel Mansell, and Lewis Hamilton. The most famous deceased British racing drivers include James Hunt, Ken Miles, and Jim Clark. As of April 2024, 21 new British racing drivers have been added to Pantheon including Tom Walkinshaw, John Rhodes, and John James.