🇬🇧 Richard Attwood

Richard Attwood was an elite professional racing driver whose Racer Rating of 7,158 places him among the strongest competitors of his generation. This rating describes a driver who wins races at the very top level and regularly beats other elite professionals. Attwood competed in Formula 1 between 1964 and 1969, making 17 starts for Lotus-Ford and achieving a single podium finish. His average finishing position of P8.8 across classified starts reflects the competitive quality of his field; his head-to-head record shows him outgunned by the era's greatest drivers, particularly Jackie Stewart and Dan Gurney, both of whom finished ahead of him in every shared race. Against Graham Hill, a three-time Formula 1 world champion, Attwood managed one finished ahead of him across ten races together. He also scored wins against several professional-level drivers, including a single result over Richie Ginther, a much stronger professional.[1]

The Formula 1 record alone understates Attwood's standing in motorsport. His rating reflects a broader career as a successful sportscar driver that extended well beyond his single-seater work. While the database record here covers only his Grand Prix starts, contemporary sources identify him as a major works racing driver for Porsche, most notably winning the 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans as a driver of the Porsche 917. This combination of a respectable if modest Formula 1 career alongside demonstrated excellence in endurance racing at the sport's highest level explains his positioning as an elite professional rather than a merely competitive one; he was a driver of significant capability across multiple disciplines, even if the single-seater results alone would not suggest it.[2]