During Malaysia FP1, Ted Kravitz raised the question of which two participating drivers had won races with three teams. The answer is Alonso (Renault/McLaren/Ferrari) and Button (Honda/Brawn/ McLaren). I thought it would be interesting to look at the limited list of drivers that have won for more than one team or constructor.
| Stirling Moss (GB) | ||||
| Vanwall | 6 | Incl. shared drive | ||
| Lotus-Climax | 4 | Entrant: Rob Walker | ||
| Cooper-Climax | 3 | Entrant: Rob Walker | ||
| Maserati | 2 | |||
| Mercedes | 1 | |||
| Total | 16 | |||
| Alain Prost (FRA) | ||||
| McLaren | 30 | McLaren-TAG McLaren-Honda |
19 11 |
|
| Renault | 9 | |||
| Williams-Renault | 7 | |||
| Ferrari | 5 | |||
| Total | 51 | |||
| Juan Manuel Fangio (ARG) | ||||
| Mercedes | 8 | |||
| Maserati | 7 | |||
| Alfa Romeo | 6 | Incl. shared drive | ||
| Lancia-Ferrari | 3 | Incl. shared drive | ||
| Total | 24 | |||
| Jackie Stewart (GB) | ||||
| Tyrrell-Ford | 15 | |||
| Matra-Ford | 9 | See notes below | ||
| BRM | 2 | |||
| March-Ford | 1 | Entrant: Tyrrell | ||
| Total | 27 | |||
| Nicki Lauda (A) | ||||
| Ferrari | 15 | |||
| McLaren | 8 | McLaren-Ford McLaren-TAG |
2 6 |
|
| Brabham-Alfa Romeo | 2 | |||
| Total | 25 | |||
| Nelson Piquet (BR) | ||||
| Brabham | 13 | Brabham-Ford Brabham-BMW |
6 7 |
|
| Williams-Honda | 7 | |||
| Benetton-Ford | 3 | |||
| Total | 23 | |||
| Fernando Alonso (SPA) | ||||
| Renault | 17 | |||
| McLaren-Mercedes | 4 | |||
| Ferrari | 1 | |||
| Total | 22 | |||
| Carlos Reutermann (ARG) | ||||
| Ferrari | 5 | |||
| Brabham-Ford | 4 | |||
| Williams-Ford | 3 | |||
| Total | 12 | |||
| Gerhard Berger (A) | ||||
| Ferrari | 5 | |||
| McLaren-Honda | 3 | |||
| Benetton | 2 | Benetton-BMW Benetton-Renault |
1 1 |
|
| Total | 10 | |||
| Jody Scheckter (SA) | ||||
| Tyrrell-Ford | 4 | |||
| Wolf-Ford | 3 | |||
| Ferrari | 3 | |||
| Total | 10 | |||
| Jenson Button (GB) | ||||
| Brawn-Mercedes | 6 | |||
| Honda | 1 | |||
| McLaren-Mercedes | 1 | |||
| Total | 8 | |||
| John Surtees (GB) | ||||
| Ferrari | 4 | |||
| Cooper-Maserati | 1 | |||
| Honda | 1 | ‘Hondola’ | ||
| Total | 6 | |||
| Dan Gurney (USA) | ||||
| Brabham-Climax | 2 | |||
| Porsche | 1 | |||
| Eagle-Weslake | 1 | |||
| Total | 4 | |||
Only thirteen drivers have won for three or more different constructors. Stirling Moss tops the list with five. His wins with Cooper and Lotus chassis were customer-car entries by the R.R.C. Walker Racing Team so Moss ties with Fangio and Prost on wins for four teams. Juan Manuel Fangio won World Championships with all four teams he won races for (or indeed raced for) whereas no other driver has had title-success with more than two teams.
The Jackie Stewart-Ken Tyrrell partnership netted three titles and confusing statistics. Stewart won his first title in 1969 with Matra-Ford, for Matra International, which was run by Ken Tyrrell. Unfortunately, Matra had a quaint idea the team should use Matra’s engines so the Tyrrell Racing Organisation ran customer March-Fords in ’70 until the Tyrrell cars were ready to race. So Stewart won with four constructors but two or three teams depending how one counts it. Similarly, some would argue Jenson Button has only won with two teams. Jacques Laffite won the 1977 Swedish GP and two races in ’81 for Ligier-Matra so Matra have the unique distinction of winning as a constructor and as an engine-supplier but never as both together.
In 1967, John Surtees persuaded Honda their chassis stank. It was replaced with the Honda RA300 which was designed by Lola and won on it’s debut at Monza, and was thus nicknamed the ‘Hondola’. Lancia withdrew from racing in 1955, and facing financial trouble, handed their cars and designer over to Ferrari. So Fangio won his 1956 title driving a Lancia-Ferrari.
These drivers won for two teams:
| Michael Schumacher (Ger) | 91 wins | ||
| Benetton-Ford, Benetton-Renault, Ferrari | |||
| Ayrton Senna (BR) | 41 wins | ||
| Lotus-Renault, Lotus-Honda, McLaren-Honda, McLaren-Ford | |||
| Nigel Mansell (GB) | 31 wins | ||
| Williams-Honda, Ferrari, Williams-Renault | |||
| Damon Hill (GB) | 22 wins | ||
| Williams-Renault, Jordan-Mugen Honda | |||
| Kimi Räikkönen (FIN) | 18 wins | ||
| McLaren-Mercedes, Ferrari | |||
| Jack Brabham (AUS) | 14 wins | ||
| Cooper-Climax, Brabham-Repco | |||
| Emerson Fittipauldi (BRA) | 14 wins | ||
| Lotus-Ford, McLaren-Ford | |||
| Graham Hill (GB) | 14 wins | ||
| BRM, Lotus-Ford | |||
| David Coulthard (GB) | 13 wins | ||
| Williams-Renault, McLaren-Mercedes | |||
| Mario Andretti (USA) | 12 wins | ||
| Ferrari, Lotus-Ford | |||
| Alan Jones (AUS) | 11 wins | ||
| Shadow-Ford, Williams-Ford | |||
| Rubens Barrichello (BRA) | 11 wins | ||
| Ferrari, Brawn-Mercedes | |||
| James Hunt (GB) | 10 wins | ||
| Hesketh-Ford, McLaren-Ford | |||
| Ronnie Peterson (SWE) | 10 wins | ||
| Lotus-Ford, March-Ford | |||
| Denny Hulme (NZ) | 8 wins | ||
| Brabham-Repco, McLaren-Ford | |||
| Jacky Ickx (BEL) | 8 wins | ||
| Ferrari, Brabham-Ford | |||
| Rene Arnoux (FRA) | 7 wins | ||
| Renault, Ferrari | |||
| Juan Pablo Montoya (COL) | 7 wins | ||
| Williams-BMW, McLaren-Mercedes | |||
| Tony Brooks (GB) | 6 wins | ||
| Vanwall (incl. shared win), Ferrari | |||
| Riccardo Patrese (ITA) | 6 wins | ||
| Brabham-Ford, Brabham-BMW, Williams-Ford | |||
| Michele Alboreto (ITA) | 5 wins | ||
| Tyrrell-Ford, Ferrari | |||
| Giuseppe Farina (ITA) | 5 wins | ||
| Alfa Romeo, Ferrari | |||
| Clay Regazzoni (SWI) | 5 wins | ||
| Ferrari, Williams-Ford | |||
| Sebastian Vettel (GER) | 5 wins | ||
| STR-Ferrari, RBR-Renault | |||
| John Watson (GB) | 5 wins | ||
| Penske-Ford, McLaren-Ford | |||
| Bruce McLaren (NZ) | 4 wins | ||
| Cooper-Climax, McLaren-Ford | |||
| Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA) | 3 wins | ||
| Jordan-Ford, Renault | |||
| Heinz-Harald Frentzen (GER) | 3 wins | ||
| Williams-Renault, Jordan-Mugen Honda | |||
| Johnny Herbert (GB) | 3 wins | ||
| Benetton-Renault, Stewart-Ford | |||
| Didier Pironi (FRA) | 3 wins | ||
| Ligier-Ford, Ferrari | |||
| Patrick Depailler (FRA) | 2 wins | ||
| Tyrrell-Ford, Ligier-Ford | |||
| Pedro Rodríguez (MEX) | 2 wins | ||
| Cooper-Maserati, BRM | |||
| Jo Siffert (SWI) | 2 wins | ||
| Lotus-Ford, BRM | |||
| Maurice Trintignant (FRA) | 2 wins | ||
| Ferrari, Cooper-Climax | |||
Although differently named, Sebastian Vettel’s win with Scuderia Toro Rosso before his Red Bull Racing victories was with a different team but the same constructor, and the only example of this.
Mika Hakkinen holds the record of twenty wins with one team (McLaren-Mercedes) without ever winning for another. Other World Champions that have won races only for one team are Alberto Ascari (who never finished a race for another team), Mike Hawthorn, Phil Hill, Jim Clark (who only raced for Lotus), Jochen Rindt, Keke Rosberg, Jacques Villeneuve and Lewis Hamilton.
In 1954, Juan Manuel Fangio was due to drive for Mercedes but the car was not ready. So he drove and won two races for Maserati before joining Mercedes to win another five races and the title. In 1958, Stirling Moss won the season opener in Argentina in a Cooper-Climax winning three more races that season with Vanwall, but was runner-up to Mike Hawthorn despite Hawthorn only winning one race. John Surtees won his last race for Ferrari at Spa ’66 before leaving after one dispute too many, subsequently winning the last round of the season in Mexico in a Cooper-Maserati.
Jim Clark is the only driver to win races with one team and three different engine makes, Lotus-Climax, Lotus-BRM and Lotus-Ford.
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