This is a very macabre post, and I apologize if I offend anyone. I looked at all the past world champions to see when they passed away and under what circumstances.
Name (Championship season): Age at passing, cause.
Giuseppe Farina (1950): 59, Lotus Cortina he was driving on way to watch 1966 French GP hit telegraph pole in icy conditions.
Juan Manuel Fangio (1951, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957): 84, long illness.
Alberto Ascari (1952, 1953): 36, lost control while driving friend's Ferrari at Monza.
Mike Hawthorn (1958): 29, traffic accident in a Jaguar Mk1 3.4.
Jack Brabham (1959, 1960, 1966): still alive!
Phil Hill (1962): 81, Parkinson's.
Graham Hill (1963, 1968): 46, plane he was piloting crashed.
Jim Clark (1963, 1965): 32, crash at Hockenheim.
John Surtees (1964): still alive!
Denny Hulme (1967): 56, heart attack while racing M3 at Bathurst.
Jackie Stewart (1969, 1971, 1973): still alive!
Jochen Rindt (1970): 28, died in Monza.
Emerson Fittipaldi (1972, 1974): still alive!
Niki Lauda (1975, 1977, 1984): still alive!
James Hunt (1976): 45, heart attack.
And from then on, aside from Ayrton Senna (1988, 1990, 1991), everyone is still with us (knock wood): Mario Andretti (1978), Jody Scheckter (1979), Alan Jones (1980), Nelson Piquet (1981, 1983, 1987), Keke Rosberg (1982), Alain Prost (1985, 1986, 1989, 1993), Nigel Mansell (1992), Michael Schmacher (1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004), Damon Hill (1996), Jacques Villeneuve (1997), Mika Hakkinen (1998, 1999), Fernando Alonso (2005, 2006), Kimi Raikkonen (2007), Lewis Hamilton (2008), Jenson Button (2009), Sebastian Vettel (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013).
Interesting post.
ReplyDeleteI remember watching or reading somewhere (damn Google brain!) that while F1 was immensely dangerous in the 50's, 60's and 70's the champions didn't die on the track at the same rate as the other guys because what made them champions is the fact that they made fewer mistakes, thus they crashed less.