Johnny Claes is a racing driver from Belgium who last raced in Formula 1 for Ferrari. Claes has recorded 0 wins and 0 podiums from 24 starts.[1]
A Racer Rating of 4,371 ranks Claes 789th of 15,348 indexed drivers, on an Elo scale where the strongest reach the low five figures. It is built from every indexed race in the driver's file, decayed for time since their last race.
| 1955-06-19 | Circuit Park Zandvoort | P11 | −28 |
| 1955-06-05 | Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps | DNF | −80 |
| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Podiums | DNFs | Poles | Points | Pos | Gain/Loss | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 | ▸Formula 1 | Ferrari | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | P26 | −108 | 4,371 |
| 1953 | ▸Formula 1 | Connaught | 5 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | P20 | −194 | 4,479 |
| 1952 | ▸Formula 1 | HWM | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | P23 | +33 | 4,673 |
| 1951 | ▸Formula 1 | Talbot-Lago | 7 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | P20 | −139 | 4,640 |
| 1950 | ▸Formula 1 | Talbot-Lago | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | P23 | −21 | 4,779 |
| Rival | Rating | Raced | Ahead | Behind | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇮🇹 Nino Farina | 5,565 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 0% |
| 🇮🇹 Alberto Ascari | 5,339 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 0% |
| 🇫🇷 Louis Rosier | 4,858 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 0% |
| 🇦🇷 Juan Fangio | 6,092 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 13% |
| 🇮🇹 Luigi Villoresi | 5,038 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0% |
| 🇬🇧 Mike Hawthorn | 5,537 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0% |
| 🇮🇹 Piero Taruffi | 5,122 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0% |
| 🇬🇧 Bob Gerard | 4,954 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0% |
| 🇨🇭 Toulo de Graffenried | 4,915 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 25% |
| 🇨🇭 Rudi Fischer | 4,904 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0% |
Johnny Claes was a Belgian racing driver who competed in Formula 1 between 1950 and 1955, a period spanning the first years of the world championship. Over six seasons he made 24 starts, all for Ferrari or Talbot-Lago, and finished on average in tenth position. He completed his career without a podium finish; he raced principally against the leading drivers of that era, including five-time world champion Juan Fangio, two-time champion Alberto Ascari, and one-time champions Nino Farina and Mike Hawthorn. His head-to-head records against these rivals were decisively negative; he finished behind Ascari, Farina and Hawthorn in every shared race, and behind Fangio in seven of eight encounters. He did, however, finish ahead of Fangio once, and scored isolated results ahead of several other strong drivers including Harry Schell, Toulo de Graffenried, and Peter Collins.[1]
Claes's most substantial team connection was with Talbot-Lago, for which he drove thirteen times. The team itself won no races across its full history in the database and fielded drivers of whom the strongest was José Froilán González. Claes's career trajectory shows a driver active at the top level of international single-seater racing during its formative years, competing regularly against world-class opposition but unable to convert that experience into competitive results or advancement. His final recorded activity came in 1955, when he competed in two rounds without scoring points, finishing twenty-sixth in the final race. Away from racing, Claes was a noted jazz trumpeter and bandleader in Britain before his motorsport career.[2]