🇬🇧 Cliff Allison

Cliff Allison was an elite professional racing driver, rated 7,072; a driver of this calibre represents the race-winning standard at the very top of the sport. His career in Formula 1 lasted four seasons from 1958 to 1961, spanning 17 starts across Lotus, Ferrari, Scuderia Centro Sud, and UDT Laystall. He scored one podium finish and averaged a classified position of sixth place, a respectable return in a highly competitive field. His single-seater racing placed him among drivers of the very highest standard; he shared races regularly with Jim Clark and Wolfgang von Trips, elite champions he occasionally beat, and with Stirling Moss and Jack Brabham, both of whom were stronger over their head-to-head records. Against Maurice Trintignant and Jo Bonnier, drivers of comparable standing to himself, Allison held broadly even records, finishing ahead in eight of sixteen combined races.[1]

Allison's most consistent performances came at Team Lotus, where he started eight times and was part of a team that produced 45 wins across its history and fielded drivers including the much stronger Carlos Reutemann. His record against Phil Hill, the 1961 Formula 1 champion, was notably poor; he finished behind Hill in six of seven shared races, suggesting a meaningful gap between them. His career was defined by competence and consistency at the very top level rather than by breakthrough moments; he showed he belonged among elite professionals but never won a Grand Prix or mounted a championship challenge. Allison passed away in January 2025.[2]