There have been quite a few great Formula One drivers who have hailed from the United States although it has been a long time since a man wearing the stars has won a race.
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Formula One will return to the United States for the first time in 2023 with the second iteration of the Miami Grand Prix. After the Azerbaijan GP, drivers will have the opportunity to go racing on a street circuit, without the hassle of a sprint race on Saturday. This will give the teams ample time to understand the track and temperatures so that they can fine tune their cars to the best of their abilities ahead of the main race on Sunday, May 7. After four races already this season, Red Bull are running away with the constructors’ championship but there is all to play for between teammates Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez in the drivers’ championship.
This year, race fans in America will see something they had been missing for the longest time, an American driver. Logan Sargeant’s career with Williams might not have gotten off to the brightest of starts but the rookie has shown great potential, and home support might just be what he needs to get his season up and running. So far, Sargeant has not scored a point in his first four races. Doing it at one of his home Grands Prix would be a fitting end to his points drought.
There have been quite a few great Formula One drivers who have hailed from the United States although it has been a long time since a man wearing the stars has won a race. Here is a look at the five best American drivers who have raced in Formula One.
Mario Andretti is, unsurprisingly, at the top of our list. Born in Montona (then Italy, now Croatia) in 1940, Andretti’s family moved to Nazareth, Pennsylvania when he was a young child. There, he experienced his first taste of racing alongside twin brother Aldo at a nearby dirt track. It was the beginning of a journey that would lead him all the way to Formula One, where over the course of a Grand Prix career that spanned the 1960s and the 1980s, he amassed 12 race victories, 19 podium finishes, 18 pole positions, and a world championship.
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Given that he began by juggling sporadic F1 appearances with a number of US-based championships, Andretti’s record is all the more impressive. However, his potential was shown by his pole position for Lotus at Watkins Glen in 1968 and his victory for Ferrari at the 1971 season opener in Kyalami. It didn’t take long for Andretti to establish himself as a consistent race winner when he switched to racing full-time for the Lotus team, where he made his debut. He eventually challenged for the F1 championship, which he won in 1978 while dealing with the tragedy of teammate Ronnie Peterson’s passing.
Richie Ginther made 52 F1 starts in the 1960s while competing for teams like Ferrari, BRM, and Cooper, but it was his time at Honda where he helped the Japanese automaker win its first Grand Prix, cementing his place in history. As a result of their shared upbringing in Santa Monica, California, Ginther’s career with fellow American Phil Hill turned out to be intertwined with just one victory. As Hill’s racing endeavours intensified, Ginther assisted in the car preparation. In 1954, they teamed up twice for the terrifying Carrera Panamericana road race, finishing second each time.
Hill, who was born in Florida and raised in California, began his career as a mechanic before moving to Europe to pursue his racing dreams. He first signed with Jaguar before switching to Ferrari, where he would eventually become the first American to win the F1 championship. Hill made his first appearances in a red Maserati later that season, achieving back-to-back podium finishes in Italy and Morocco to send a message to his rivals after making his racing debut at the 1958 French Grand Prix in a Maserati driven by Jo Bonnier. The team’s new rear-engined’sharknose’ 156 gave Hill what he needed to mount a title challenge through 1961, but teammate Wolfgang von Trips had the same idea. Hill continued to finish on the podium in 1959 and claimed his first victory on Ferrari ground in 1960.
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In 86 Grands Prix from the late 1950s to the early 1970s, Gurney established himself as one of America’s best drivers, competing for teams like Ferrari, BRM, Porsche, Brabham, and McLaren as well as founding his own organisation, Anglo American Racers (AAR). Gurney almost right away showed promise, finishing second in his second Ferrari race at the 1959 German Grand Prix. However, he left the team just as they were about to unleash their powerful 156, which fellow American Hill used to win the championship in 1961.
Revson, a native of New York, started racing sports cars while a student at the University of Hawaii. He soon switched to F1, crossing the pond to establish himself in the UK and compete across Europe in the early 1960s. Reg Parnell, a former F1 driver who had founded his own team, gave Revson a chance for 1964 after being impressed with what he saw, but the British driver’s passing on the eve of the season and the Lotus 24’s lacklustre performance only allowed for a few fruitless races.
