🇬🇧 Allan McNish

Allan McNish is a British racing driver now retired from competition, rated 7,062; this places him in the elite professional band, the level of race winners at the very top of the sport and drivers who beat them there. His career on record spans 33 starts across Formula 1 and the World Endurance Championship between 2002 and 2013. He competed at the highest levels of both single-seater and sportscar racing, though his record shows two distinct chapters: a brief spell in Formula 1 with Toyota in 2002 yielded 17 starts without a win or podium, and a later flourishing in WEC endurance racing that established him as a front-runner in that field.[1]

McNish's strength lay in sportscar racing. Over two seasons in the WEC from 2012 to 2013, he took 4 wins and 14 podiums from 16 starts, averaging a finish of P5.2 across his career. His 2013 season was particularly strong, producing 3 wins and 7 podiums in 8 rounds as he finished fourth in the championship. In that period he raced alongside three FIA Platinum-rated drivers, André Lotterer, Benoît Tréluyer and Marcel Fässler, who between them claimed multiple WEC LMP1 titles in 2012, 2013 and 2015. Against this elite field, McNish finished ahead of each of them in shared races, though the head-to-head records were marginal; he also scored notable victories over stronger drivers such as Mark Webber, beaten three times. His Formula 1 campaign, by contrast, was unsuccessful; he never reached a podium despite sharing the grid with Ralf Schumacher, a driver he beat twice despite Schumacher's superior rating and credentials.[2]

McNish has since transitioned to team leadership within motorsport, serving as principal of the Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler Formula E team and latterly as racing director of the Audi F1 Team, a role he took up in April 2026. He has also established himself as a pundit and mentor within the sport, providing commentary and guidance to emerging drivers on the Formula 1 grid.