I typed this into google, and some of the answers were ridiculous. Some picked Mika Hakkinen, some picked Damon Hill, someone even said Nelson Piquet (not sure how you win 3 tites without deserving them). Who, apart from the obvious, annoying Jaques Villeneuve, is the most undeserving world Champion? On a results basis, you could argue Keke Rosberg, as he only won a single race, and relied on driver injuries and deaths to win the title. But he did it in a non-turbo williams, against the turbo nutters, so he doesn't get my vote at all. This may suprise you, but i've picked Kimi Raikkonen. He was never really in the running, until McLaren shot themselves in the foot, and even then relied on ferrari ordering Massa to move over in Brazil. And his title defence was laughably bad, getting soundly thrashed by Massa, and just losing interest afterwards. Which world champion from years gone by gets your vote?
Jacques stands out to me as a person that very nearly threw away a title in what was arguably the best car... But he won it, so despite the fact that it should have been Damon's second and back to back title.. grudgingly he deserved it. He massed the most points as he was meant to do. Will he ever be regarded as a great... Not likely. But a win is a win, be it by 1 point or 100.
I can't believe he made such a hard job of winning that title. If Damon Hill were still at williams in 1997, you have to imagine he would have won the title far sooner than jaques did.
Nah, from what i know of him, he had to work for it. He beat Jimmy Clark who had a lotus, not many drivers can claim to have done that.
Keke Rosberg for sure. One win in his WDC season. Relied on bad luck and mechanical problems to befall other competitors.
In the history of f1 there is not one undeserving world champion. These drivers became world champion because they made the most of the equipment they were given and took the chances on offer to them to get to that position. A lot of luck may be involved but to get luck you have to be in a position where you can seize that luck. It's the least you'd expect from them some might say but rather this thread should concentrate on those drivers who were given the car to win the world title but fell short badly meaning they never did. One springs to mind - Rubens Barrichello the self proclaimed master who claims to have set up those cars for Michael Schumacher to run away with world titles in. The truth is he was so well short of Schumacher's standards that he was beaten so comprehensively, effectively every time they got in a race car. The championship tables at the end of their seasons together showed just how superior Schumacher was to Rubens. Now I like Rubens. A great guy and a fantastic driver but it's laughable that he tries and convinces the world that he was somehow capable of beating Michael in the same equipment. Even more laughable was the people who believed him.
Can't forget Irvine then.. He even had an open shot at the WDC without Schumacher in the way and still muffed it up.
Nino Farina, Fangio should of won that year but car problems robbed him of about 3 wins that year, bit like vettel 2010.
Thing is there's titles that were undeserved, Prosts '89 title, schumachers 94 title, both won by cheating. If you have to resort to cheating you don't deserve the title.
True. And even then the excuses were emerging from him once again claiming as he did after Nurburgring 2009 that the team were solely backing Button and that they deliberately cost him the chance of a win by making him go on a 3 stop strategy. But as Ross Brawn so rightly pointed out - you don't win races setting the 12th fastest lap time. It's a shame someone like Rubens had to resort to such desperate attempts for public sympathy.
Hahaha… you're title is funny Hate! That said, and although I think Jaques Villeneuve was fortunate that Frank Williams dispensed with the (not inconsiderable) services of Damon Hill, I don't think he was really the most undeserving ever. If we go by individual World Championships, I think the least deserving is actually Michael Schumacher. Of his 7 titles, he really earned a couple; but in my opinion, his final act to gain his first in 1994 was a complete disgrace - regardless of the unscrupulous activities of Briatore (I tried to warn people of this at the time) which, to say the least, by-passed the regulations that same year.
Mika Hakkinen in 99....<ooohhh contravertial> but yeah he was lucky shumi broke his legs and barely beat the number 2.
I'm gonna cop it now but.... Hamilton in 2008, because Glock suddenly lost over 20 seconds on the last lap of the last race. I'm quite glad that I live on the other side of the world because people would now hunt me down if I didn't.
Dont forget to include Massa losing near certain victories in Singapore and Hungary through sheer bad luck.
That was who I would nominate. If it were not for Villeneuve and Pironi's accidents, Rosberg would not have been in with a shout. He won just one race that year and was not a title contender in any other year he raced.
