{"id":666712,"date":"2026-05-13T13:07:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T13:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/666712\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T13:07:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T13:07:15","slug":"top-10-f1-drivers-of-the-1950s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/666712\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 10 F1 drivers of the 1950s"},"content":{"rendered":"

The topic of the greatest racing drivers is often hotly debated and a definitive answer is impossible. Nevertheless, it remains entertaining to try and, in the latest series of\u00a0Autosport top 10s, we\u2019re taking on the challenge by selecting the best Formula 1 drivers in each decade.<\/p>\n

For these lists, which kick off with the first decade of the world championship, we\u2019ve considered many factors, including level of success, machinery at their disposal, longevity and how highly the drivers were rated by their contemporaries.<\/p>\n

Successes (or failures) outside of the relevant decade are not considered and many drivers are eligible for more than one top 10.<\/p>\n

So, here\u2019s our pick of the best drivers who raced in the world championship between 1950 and 1959.<\/p>\n

10. Jack\u00a0Brabham
\n \"While <\/p>\n

While Brabham’s greatest successes were in the 1960s, his 1950s feats still gain him a place in this list<\/p>\n

Photo by: Motorsport Images<\/p>\n

Decade wins: 2
Decade poles: 1
Decade titles: 1 (1959)<\/p>\n

The great Australian\u2019s first world championship GP came in 1955 but\u00a0Brabham didn\u2019t become a serious F1 player until the final season of the decade, hence his position here.<\/p>\n

The Coventry Climax-powered T51 made the\u00a0rear-engined Coopers competitive almost everywhere in 1959. Brabham was perhaps fortunate to inherit his first points-paying victory at Monaco when runaway leader Stirling Moss\u2019s Rob Walker-entered Cooper broke, but he followed it up with a second at Zandvoort and third \u2013 the only driver to prevent a Ferrari 1-2-3 \u2013 at Reims.<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

When\u00a0Brabham won the British GP and left Aintree with a 13-point lead (when eight were awarded for victory) even he believed he was in the championship fight. Brabham then had two non-finishes (transmission failure and a crash) before a third at Monza gave him the advantage over title rivals Moss and Tony Brooks heading into the Sebring finale.<\/p>\n

Misfortune befell both Moss and Brooks in the United States and\u00a0Brabham took his first world title despite famously pushing his car over the line when it ran out of fuel.<\/p>\n

As well as the on-track success,\u00a0Brabham is here because of his contribution to the Cooper team, demonstrating a broad set of abilities that would become even more apparent in the 1960s.<\/p>\n

9. Jean\u00a0Behra
\n \"Behra <\/p>\n

Behra leads at the start of the 1957 British GP – a race he’d come close to winning before reliability cruelly denied him<\/p>\n

Photo by: Motorsport Images<\/p>\n

Decade wins: 0
Decade poles: 0
Decade titles: 0<\/p>\n

Behra was one of the leading drivers for much of the 1950s and it\u2019s ridiculous he never won a world championship race. Had he lived during an era of greater reliability, he surely would have.<\/p>\n

The Frenchman spent his early seasons driving for\u00a0Gordini, trying his best to snipe at the faster Ferraris and Maseratis despite the equipment often failing him. His best result with Gordini was third in the 1952 Swiss GP, though he did score four non-championship race wins, most notably beating the Ferraris at the 1952 Marne GP.<\/p>\n

Behra became a works Maserati driver in 1955 and stayed for three seasons. Although he usually played second fiddle to Moss in 1956 and Juan Manuel Fangio in 1957, he was a consistent frontrunner and took seven podiums in the 250F.<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

He should have been a winner in 1957.\u00a0Behra led for more than half of the 1957 British GP and still had a chance of staying out of reach of the recovering Moss\u2019s Vanwall when the clutch exploded.<\/p>\n

Non-championship wins with Maserati,\u00a0BRM and Ferrari machinery \u2013 as well as his pace in sportscars \u2013 underlined that Behra was one of the best drivers of his era. He had just fallen out with Ferrari when he was killed racing his own Porsche at Avus in August 1959.<\/p>\n

8. Peter Collins
\n \"Collins <\/p>\n

Collins caught attention driving for HWM at the start of the decade<\/p>\n

Photo by: Motorsport Images<\/p>\n

Decade wins: 3
Decade poles: 0
Decade titles: 0<\/p>\n

One of several British talents to emerge during the decade, Collins would surely have achieved more had he not been killed trying to beat Brook\u2019s\u00a0Vanwall at the Nurburgring in 1958.<\/p>\n

Having cut his teeth with\u00a0HWM and impressed in sportscar events driving for Aston Martin, Collins joined Ferrari in 1956. That meant he had the pacesetting D50 at his disposal.<\/p>\n

Fangio was the team leader and duly jumped into Collins\u2019 car at Monaco after the Argentinian had damaged his own Ferrari, the duo ending up second to Moss\u2019s Maserati. Had Collins not done so, he would likely have scored six points rather than three, splitting the haul with Fangio, who also took a point for fastest lap in the Brit\u2019s car.<\/p>\n

Collins took advantage of problems for\u00a0Fangio to win the Belgian and French GPs \u2013 and now led the world championship. Fangio rallied, taking a fortuitous victory in the British GP before dominating in Germany, where both D50s Collins drove retired.<\/p>\n

That made\u00a0Fangio the favourite to take the crown at the Monza finale, with Collins in mathematical contention. But when the reigning champion\u2019s car suffered broken steering, it was Collins who came in to hand his car over, giving up his own chance.<\/p>\n

Ferrari was less competitive in 1957 and Collins only scored two podiums but the 246 took the team back to the front in 1958. Collins and friend Mike Hawthorn battled the\u00a0Vanwalls of Moss and Brooks for supremacy, Collins leading a Ferrari 1-2 at Silverstone. But just two weeks later Collins made a fatal mistake during the German GP; he was 26.<\/p>\n

7. Jose Froilan Gonzalez
\n \"Gonzalez <\/p>\n

Gonzalez had a podium strike rate of nearly 60% across his career<\/p>\n

Photo by: Motorsport Images<\/p>\n

Decade wins: 2
Decade poles: 3
Decade titles: 0<\/p>\n

Gonzalez only made 26 world championship starts but was a big figure during the decade in more ways than one. The Argentinian\u2019s strength was an asset, playing its part in his famous success at\u00a0Silverstone in 1951 \u2013 which gave Ferrari its first points-paying F1 win \u2013 and hauling the monster 375 Plus sportscar to Le Mans 24 Hours victory in 1954.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also often forgotten that he came within 1.4 seconds of winning the \u2018race of the century\u2019, the 1953 French GP. Starting his Maserati on half-full fuel tanks, Gonzalez shot into the lead from fifth on the grid and led before stopping at half-distance. He then charged back, overtaking reigning champion Alberto\u00a0Ascari for third and finishing within sight of the famous Hawthorn-Fangio lead duel.<\/p>\n

Perhaps not quite on the consistent level of\u00a0Fangio and Ascari \u2013 he was team-mates to both \u2013 Gonzalez was capable of beating them on his best days. He was third in the 1951 points table behind them and went one better in 1954, when he took another brilliant Silverstone victory, beating Fangio\u2019s Mercedes W196 and Ferrari team-mate Hawthorn by over a minute.<\/p>\n

Gonzalez only made sporadic outings after 1954 but his incredible podium strike rate of nearly 60% underlines that he was invariably a force to be reckoned with.<\/p>\n

6. Giuseppe Farina
\n \"Farina <\/p>\n

Farina was F1’s first world champion – but it marked the start of his decline<\/p>\n

Photo by: Motorsport Images<\/p>\n

Decade wins: 5
Decade poles: 5
Decade titles: 1 (1950)<\/p>\n

Farina\u2019s best years were behind him when the 1950s \u2013 and the world championship for drivers \u2013 began, but he still became F1\u2019s first title winner. One of\u00a0Alfa Romeo\u2019s leading exponents before the Second World War, Farina was part of the Italian team\u2019s dominant line-up with the benchmark 158 in 1950.<\/p>\n

Including the non-championship races (some of which were high status), team-mate\u00a0Fangio was the strongest driver of 1950, but he didn\u2019t have the luck across the six points-paying rounds. Fangio had no finishes beyond his three wins, whereas Farina took a fourth (hampered by falling oil pressure) in Belgium. When Fangio\u2019s gearbox failed at the Monza finale, Farina took his third championship win of the season \u2013 and the title by three points.<\/p>\n

It was\u00a0Fangio who led Alfa\u2019s defence against the rising Ferrari threat in 1951, leaving Farina to take one victory and fourth in the points.<\/p>\n

Following\u00a0Alfa\u2019s withdrawal, Farina joined Ferrari. The 500 was the car to have in the world championship\u2019s F2 era, but Farina was overshadowed by Ascari. While his fellow Italian romped to 11 wins and two titles across 1952-53, Farina was restricted to just one victory \u2013 his last \u2013 at the Nurburgring after Ascari lost a wheel.<\/p>\n

There were only sporadic outings after that and Farina\u2019s 20th and final podium finish in the world championship came at the 1955 Belgian GP, where his Ferrari finished over a minute and a half behind Mercedes duo\u00a0Fangio and Moss.<\/p>\n

5. Mike Hawthorn
\n \"Hawthorn <\/p>\n

Hawthorn with the reliable Ferrari 246 won the 1958 title through consistency<\/p>\n

Photo by: Bernard Cahier \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Decade wins: 3
Decade poles: 4
Decade titles: 1 (1958)<\/p>\n

Just how good was Mike Hawthorn? Trying to answer that could fill a book, but there can be little doubt that on his best days he was capable of taking on and beating the finest drivers in the world, starring in\u00a0sportscars as well as F1.<\/p>\n

Having grabbed attention with impressive 1952 performances in a Cooper-Bristol \u2013 including a third place at the British GP \u2013 Hawthorn was signed by Ferrari. He sensationally won the 1953 French GP in a fight to the flag with\u00a0Fangio and finished fourth in the world championship.<\/p>\n

Ferrari was less competitive over the next couple of seasons, though Hawthorn won the Spanish GP at the end of 1954, one of only two races in which\u00a0Fangio\u2019s Mercedes W196 was beaten to victory.<\/p>\n

A switch to\u00a0BRM was not a success, but he did show the P25\u2019s pace by leading the British GP before trouble struck, and Hawthorn returned to Ferrari for 1957.<\/p>\n

The 801 was not one of Ferrari\u2019s best but it was reliable and Hawthorn took two podiums on his way to fourth in the standings. That included being on the receiving end of\u00a0Fangio\u2019s greatest drive at the Nurburgring, Hawthorn succumbing to the Maserati\u2019s famous charge but chasing the Argentinian on the final lap and finishing well clear of friend and team-mate Collins.<\/p>\n

It all came together in 1958. Armed with the reliable 246, Hawthorn put in a consistent campaign to score seven podiums. There was only one win \u2013 in France \u2013 but second place at the Moroccan finale was enough for Hawthorn to beat rival Moss by a single point.<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

Hawthorn, who had been diagnosed with kidney disease, then retired from racing, but died in a road accident on the Guildford bypass in January 1959.<\/p>\n

4. Tony Brooks
\n \"Brooks <\/p>\n

Brooks missed out on a drivers’ title, but did help Vanwall to the inaugural constructors\u2019 title<\/p>\n

Photo by: Motorsport Images<\/p>\n

Decade wins: 6
Decade poles: 3
Decade titles: 0<\/p>\n

The world championship records show that Brooks first arrived with BRM during its troubled 1956 campaign, but he\u2019d already made his mark on F1 the year before. While studying for his dentistry exams, Brooks travelled to the non-championship Syracuse GP for the cash-strapped Connaught and duly beat the works Maserati team. It was the first GP win for a British car-driver combination since 1924.<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

Brooks joined the British\u00a0superteam alongside Moss and Stuart Lewis-Evans as Vanwall boss Tony Vandervell pushed to end the Italian stranglehold on F1 in 1957. Brooks started the season with a battling second behind Fangio at Monaco after avoiding early chaos but his season was hampered by a crash at the Le Mans 24 Hours while driving for Aston Martin.<\/p>\n

His injuries meant he missed the French GP and failed to score any more points for the rest of the F1 season \u2013 except for a famous day at\u00a0Aintree. Brooks kept his Vanwall in the top six and, still suffering, handed it to Moss when his team-mate\u2019s car hit engine trouble. Moss charged on to score a famous breakthrough victory.<\/p>\n

Brooks ably supported team leader Moss in 1958 and took three victories at the Belgian, German and Italian GPs. He regarded his\u00a0Nurburgring victory as his greatest drive and Brooks\u2019s contribution helped Vanwall pip Ferrari to the inaugural constructors\u2019 title.<\/p>\n

One of the great drivers never to be world champion, Brooks\u2019s best chance came in 1959. Leading the Ferrari charge with the powerful but\u00a0front-engined 246, Brooks won the French and German GPs, but the cancellation of the Spa round, clutch failure at Monza and startline incident at the Sebring finale meant he finished second in the table to Brabham.<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

3. Alberto\u00a0Ascari
\n \"Excluding <\/p>\n

Excluding the anomalous Indianapolis 500s that counted for points, Ascari went undefeated in F1 for more than a year<\/p>\n

Photo by: Motorsport Images<\/p>\n

Decade wins: 13
Decade poles: 14
Decade titles: 2 (1952-53)<\/p>\n

Perhaps the only driver on\u00a0Fangio\u2019s level for the first half of the decade, Ascari could have won the 1951 title and dominated the two seasons that the world championship was run to F2 regulations. Had he not missed much of 1954 amid Lancia\u2019s struggles to get the D50 ready and then been killed testing a sportscar in May 1955, Ascari might have been higher on this list.<\/p>\n

The son of\u00a0pre-Second World War racer Antonio Ascari, Alberto proved himself to be an F1 frontrunner during 1949. He was then part of Ferrari\u2019s growing challenge to the dominant Alfa Romeo team when the world championship began and won both the German and Italian GPs in 1951.<\/p>\n

That gave\u00a0Ascari a shot at the title but Ferrari\u2019s decision to switch to smaller wheels for the Spanish GP finale proved disastrous and Ascari finished second to Fangio in the final table.<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

Ascari was the benchmark in the championship\u2019s F2 era, winning all but one points-paying GP in 1952 and winning five more the following season. Indeed, if you exclude the anomalous Indianapolis 500s that counted for points in the period, Ascari went undefeated in the championship for more than a year!<\/p>\n

Sporadic appearances in 1954 meant\u00a0Ascari could not defend his crown, but he starred in a cameo for Ferrari at Monza and the new D50 looked like having the potential to challenge the dominant Mercedes W196 heading into 1955.<\/p>\n

Ascari started second at the opening two rounds but accidents \u2013 including his infamous harbour dip when poised to inherit Monaco victory \u2013 meant he was still yet to score when he climbed aboard a Ferrari sportscar for the final time at the ill-fated Monza test.<\/p>\n

2. Stirling Moss
\n \"One <\/p>\n

One of the greatest drivers of his generation, the only thing missing from Moss’s record was an F1 title<\/p>\n

Photo by: Motorsport Images<\/p>\n

Decade wins: 12
Decade poles: 11
Decade titles: 0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a close-run thing between Moss and\u00a0Ascari for second on this list. Despite not winning a title, the Briton takes it because he was an F1 frontrunner for longer, took victories with more teams and was regarded as the undisputed top dog following Fangio\u2019s retirement.<\/p>\n

Having appeared in sporadic races in a variety of uncompetitive British machinery, Moss\u2019s first \u2018proper\u2019 F1 season came in 1954, when he drove a privateer Maserati 250F as advised by Mercedes boss Alfred Neubauer. Moss did well enough to be both invited into the factory Maserati team during the campaign and get signed by Mercedes for 1955.<\/p>\n

Moss played the dutiful understudy to\u00a0Fangio, finishing second at Spa and Zandvoort before taking his first world championship race victory at Aintree. It was easily enough for Moss to finish second in the drivers\u2019 table.<\/p>\n

Moss rejoined Maserati after the\u00a0motorsport withdrawal of Mercedes and was the biggest challenger to Ferrari, scoring two wins and splitting Fangio and Collins in the points.<\/p>\n

Moss took his third consecutive runner-up spot in 1957, having joined\u00a0Vanwall. Fangio and Moss were head and shoulders above the rest, winning all the points-paying GPs between them.<\/p>\n

With\u00a0Fangio waning and then retiring, Moss became the driver to beat in 1958. He won four of the 10 world championship GPs \u2013 three for Vanwall and one in a privateer Cooper \u2013 but unreliability cost him and Moss lost the title to Hawthorn by a single point.<\/p>\n

The championship meant less to Moss from that point and he was happy to play the underdog role at Rob Walker\u2019s team. Despite gearbox problems early in the season, Moss charged into 1959 championship contention with wins in Portugal and Italy. He was leading the US GP finale from pole when his Cooper\u2019s transmission failed and Moss finished third in the standings to\u00a0Brabham and Brooks.<\/p>\n

It was the fifth time (of an eventual seven) he had finished in the top three. Moss had scored more points than anyone else since 1955 and only\u00a0Fangio took more wins during F1\u2019s 2.5-litre era.<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

1. Juan Manuel Fangio
\n \"There <\/p>\n

There will be no surprise seeing Fangio top this list<\/p>\n

Photo by: LAT Photographic<\/p>\n

Decade wins: 24
Decade poles: 29
Decade titles: 5 (1951, 1954-57)<\/p>\n

Nearly twice as many wins as the next-best, five world titles scored with four different teams, and regarded as the best by many of his peers. And\u00a0Fangio never finished lower than second in the championship when he contested a full season! No other driver was going to top this list.<\/p>\n

Fangio was perhaps unfortunate not win the 1950 world championship, narrowly losing to Alfa Romeo team-mate Farina. He led the team in 1951 and secured his first crown when Ferrari blundered in the Spanish GP finale.<\/p>\n

A serious crash early in 1952 prevented a title defence and, when he returned,\u00a0Fangio\u2019s Maserati was no match for main rival Ascari\u2019s Ferrari. He still took victory at a dramatic Italian GP and finished second in the standings.<\/p>\n

Fangio won the first two points-paying GPs of 1954 in a 250F before joining the returning Mercedes team. He won four GPs from his six 1954 starts in the W196 to easily take his second crown.<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

Mercedes domination continued in 1955, Fangio ably backed up by Moss and winning four times in a shortened campaign thanks to the Le Mans disaster that led to the Silver Arrows\u2019 withdrawal at season\u2019s end.<\/p>\n

Fangio joined Ferrari for 1956 and, though it was an unhappy season for the Argentinian, he nevertheless took the title again. Team-mate and title contender Collins handing his car over to Fangio in the Monza decider underlined just how highly the maestro was regarded by his rivals.<\/p>\n

Fangio\u2019s best season was perhaps 1957, winning four of the seven championship GPs in the 250F. That included his sensational and famous victory at the Nurburgring, repeatedly smashing the lap record to catch the Ferraris of Hawthorn and Collins after a slow pitstop.<\/p>\n

That secured\u00a0Fangio\u2019s fifth crown, but Moss was a growing threat with Vanwall, winning the final two rounds. Fangio, by then 47, bowed out of F1 after finishing a distant fourth at the 1958 French GP, his incredible strike rate of 24 wins and 29 poles from just 51 world championship starts ensuring his place among the all-time greats.<\/p>\n

\"Where <\/p>\n

Where does Fangio rank in the all-time F1 greats?<\/p>\n

Photo by: Motorsport Images<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

We want to hear from you!<\/p>\n

Let us know what you would like to see from us in the future.<\/p>\n

Take our survey<\/a><\/p>\n

– The Autosport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The topic of the greatest racing drivers is often hotly debated and a definitive answer is impossible. Nevertheless,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":666713,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,82,245907],"class_list":["post-666712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports","tag-top-10-f1-drivers-of-the-1950s"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=666712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/666713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=666712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=666712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=666712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}