The best F1 drivers ROBBED of being world champion and Felipe Massa is one of them

Felipe Massa beats his chest next to a composite of F1's drivers title trophy — Photo: © IMAGO

Robbed F1 champions

The best F1 drivers ROBBED of being champion and Felipe Massa is one of them

These drivers came insanely close to being champions

Dan Ripley Global Editor

Professional F1 journalist and analyst

Sunday 2 November 2025 13:54 Updated: 14:17

Would you look at that, it's that time of the year when we look back on Lewis Hamilton pipping Felipe Massa to win his first world championship.

You remember? Sunday November 2, 2008. Martin Brundle's immortal snippet: "Is that Glock?" as Hamilton passed the Toyota driver at the final corner to collect the point he needed to win the 2008 F1 title in the most dramatic of circumstances at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

What about the furious Ferrari mechanic headbutting the team garage in response? No, seriously watch it here!

Article continues under video

But perhaps the most memorable part for this author is race winner Massa, dignified in defeat on the podium and emotionally saluting to his fans in the aftermath.

Taking nothing away from Hamilton's season but this should have been Massa's crowning F1 moment as a world champion. I'll let you know why in a moment as I bring you F1's greatest drivers who were robbed of title glory.

Felipe Massa

The big argument made for Massa is how the Singapore Grand Prix should have been annulled - there's even a court case about the Marina Bay race. Renault's race-fixing enabled Fernando Alonso to pick up a win following a deliberate Nelson Piquet crash that directly led to Ferrari panicking during a Felipe Massa pit-stop, costing him the win and any crucial points as they left the fuel hose on his car.

But there was one other race that did in for Massa and that was the Hungarian Grand Prix. Having bullied Lewis Hamilton to take the lead at the first corner, he dominated the race before an engine failure with just three laps left saw him lose 10 huge points in the championship battle. Fine margins never favoured Massa in 2008.

Position	Driver	Team	Points
1	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	98
2	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	97
3	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	75

Juan Pablo Montoya

It's easily overlooked but among Michael Schumacher's iron fist domination of F1 between 2000 and 2004, the 2003 season was one of the best in the sport's history.

Now looking at the history books and it's hard to imagine Montoya being nothing more than an outsider as he finished 11 points down on Schumacher in a 10-points for a win era.

But with two races to go he was in a title fight with Kimi Raikkonen and the German. He was eliminated from the title race in the USA after he suffered from being given a debateable drive-through penalty after a collision with Rubens Barrichello, and in the following race in Japan he retired while comfortably leading the race.

An extra point gained from not being handed a dubious penalty and a reliable Williams in Japan was all Montoya needed to secure a fully deserved world championship. The Colombian was a monster of a driver in 2003.

Position	Driver	Team	Points
1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	93
2	Kimi Raikkonen	McLaren	91
3	Juan Pablo Montoya	Williams	82

Eddie Irvine

Time to get the tin-foil hats out. Eddie Irvine really should have won the 1999 world championship. The puzzling sudden loss of pace in his Ferrari at the final race in Japan where race winner Mika Hakkinen pipped him to the title is weird enough.

That may not justify suspicion that Ferrari wanted Michael Schumacher to end their 20-year drivers' title drought and not Irvine, but there was one race where Irvine's collapse was out of his hands and fully on Ferrari in something ludicrous even by their slapstick standards.

It's the European Grand Prix and Irvine makes a pit-stop. Only problem is there are three wheels waiting for him. Once the fourth mechanic brings out the fourth wheel, two of the pit-stop team then start talking to each other while a helpless Irvine is stuck on the jacks and losing valuable time. It's a timeless F1 moment improved measurably by the sublime commentating from Murray Walker and Martin Brundle.

The 'major-mal-mis-organisation problem' cost Irvine half-a-minute. A 30 seconds that could have seen him bag valuable points and his only world championship.

Position	Driver	Team	Points
1	Mika Hakkinen	McLaren	76
2	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari	74
3	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Jordan	54

Gilles Villeneuve

Son Jacques Villeneuve eventually brought home the championship in 1997, but his father Gilles is a Ferrari legend without winning a world title, and damn he was good enough to capture one.

Arguably the most entertaining driver of all time by the way he would hustle a car round a corner in any way physically possible and yet still be damn quick, Villeneuve was set to become one of F1's major stars.

Sadly a 1982 qualifying crash robbed the talented Canadian of his life and so it was the 1979 championship where he would come closest to winning a title.

Running second place in Monaco behind Ferrari team-mate and eventual champion Jody Scheckter, Villeneuve developed a mechanical problem that would cause him to retire, robbing him of the points to become champion.

Position	Driver	Team	Points
1	Jody Scheckter	Ferrari	51
2	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	47
3	Alan Jones	Williams	40

Stirling Moss

Arguably the greatest driver of all time never to become champion. Moss went damn close, finishing second place four times in a row between 1955 and 1958 and then third three times between 1959 and 1961.

If he was less sporting he would have been champion. In 1958, Moss won the Portuguese Grand Prix late on in the season, with title rival and British compatriot Mike Hawthorn disqualified for restarting a car in the wrong direction of the circuit.

Moss however saw the incident and protested against the decision, allowing Hawthorn to reclaim his second place. Moss would go on to lose the championship by one point to Hawthorn.

Position	Driver	Team	Points
1	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari	42
2	Stirling Moss	Cooper-Climax/Vanwall	41
3	Tony Brooks	Vanwall	24

Written by

Dan Ripley - Global Editor

I've been a massive F1 fan since the mid 1990s and continue to study the history of the sport long before that. As an experienced motor sport reporter covering F1, MotoGP and the LeMans 24 Hour race, being part of GPFans has allowed me to work with a diverse team with all sorts of different backgrounds in watching the sport and given me a greater appreciation of F1.

View full biography

F1 Juan Pablo Montoya Felipe Massa Gilles Villeneuve Eddie Irvine Stirling Moss