🇬🇧 Jim Clark

Jim Clark was a Scottish Formula 1 driver competing as an elite professional. Across nine seasons from 1960 to 1968, he raced for Lotus-Climax in the single-driver Formula 1 championship, a field that mixed amateur and semi-professional entrants with graded professionals on the same grid.[1]

Clark won two Formula 1 World Drivers' Championships, in 1963 and 1965. His 72 starts yielded 25 wins and 32 podiums, placing him among the record-holders in the sport at the time of his retirement. His record against the strongest opponents of his era was decisive; he beat Jackie Stewart, who would later win three world titles, six times in their head-to-head meetings. He was closely matched with Graham Hill and Dan Gurney, both established professionals who won multiple championships and races at the highest level, meeting each of them regularly throughout his career.[2]

Clark raced in a field defined by emerging talent and established champions competing on equal terms. Hill won the championship in both 1962 and 1968; Gurney was among the quickest Americans in Formula 1 during the period; Stewart would dominate the early 1970s. Clark's consistent advantage over such opposition, combined with his two titles and prolific win total, placed him at the front of the grid from the beginning of his indexed career through to 1968.