Ken Wharton is a racing driver from United Kingdom who last raced in Formula 1 for Vanwall. Wharton has recorded 0 wins and 0 podiums from 16 starts.[1]
A Racer Rating of 4,728 ranks Wharton 546th 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.
| 1955-09-11 | Autodromo Nazionale di Monza | DNF | −100 |
| 1955-07-16 | Aintree | P9 | +21 |
| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Podiums | DNFs | Poles | Points | Pos | Gain/Loss | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 | ▸Formula 1 | Vanwall | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | P26 | −78 | 4,728 |
| 1954 | ▸Formula 1 | Maserati | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | P27 | +77 | 4,806 |
| 1953 | ▸Formula 1 | Cooper | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | P20 | −105 | 4,730 |
| 1952 | ▸Formula 1 | Cooper | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | P13 | +35 | 4,835 |
| Rival | Rating | Raced | Ahead | Behind | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇦🇷 Juan Fangio | 6,092 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0% |
| 🇬🇧 Mike Hawthorn | 5,537 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0% |
| 🇦🇷 José Froilán González | 5,180 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0% |
| 🇮🇹 Nino Farina | 5,565 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0% |
| 🇮🇹 Alberto Ascari | 5,339 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0% |
| 🇮🇹 Piero Taruffi | 5,122 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0% |
| 🇩🇪 Karl Kling | 4,965 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0% |
| 🇮🇹 Felice Bonetto | 4,946 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0% |
| 🇦🇷 Roberto Mieres | 4,910 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0% |
| 🇫🇷 Louis Rosier | 4,858 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 67% |
Ken Wharton was a British single-seater racing driver who competed in Formula 1 between 1952 and 1955, accumulating 16 World Championship starts for Vanwall. He came to grand prix racing after success in trials, hillclimbs, rallying, and sports car competition, beginning his single-seater career in the 500cc Formula before progressing through Cooper machinery. His Formula 1 debut came at the 1952 Swiss Grand Prix, contested to Formula 2 regulations, where he started 13th and finished fourth; across his grand prix career he scored three championship points.[1]
Wharton's record against the front-running drivers of the early 1950s tells a clear story of a professional-level driver operating at the margins of a championship field dominated by much stronger competitors. He never finished ahead of Juan Fangio, the five-time champion who was the dominant force of the era, losing all six head-to-head encounters. He likewise finished behind Mike Hawthorn, Alberto Ascari, and Nino Farina in every race they contested together, and never beat José Froilán González or Piero Taruffi across multiple meetings. His occasional victories over mid-field professionals such as Harry Schell and Bob Gerard represented isolated results rather than patterns of superiority. Across classified starts his average finishing position was 7.4; he would retire from Formula 1 after the 1955 season.[2]