Who is formula 1 champion 2011

Here he is winning in Alabama in But Palou, 24, has just made history by becoming the first-ever Spaniard to win the IndyCar world championship title. What is IndyCar, anyway? So, that's what the name is all about, but what is the sport itself? How does it differ from Formula 1? This one belongs to team McLaren, with whom Fernando Alonso competed in the Indianapolis as well as in Formula One photo: McLaren Indy As for which out of Formula 1 or IndyCar is the toughest challenge, this is a grey area and usually subjective; F1 drivers who have had little or no success have shone in IndyCar, and Formula One multiple world champions have had poor results in IndyCar.

An international all-rounder Sporting history shows that IndyCar drivers usually start out in Formula 1 and then make a sideways move — Emerson Fittipaldi also won a world title on Ganassi's team, and others such as Mario Andretti and Nigel Mansell enjoyed success in the field — but Palou bypassed the more high-profile end of motorsport en route to IndyCar, via an initial spell on the Japanese Super Formula circuit, competing in three races in the British Formula 4, a Formula 3 Grand Prix in Macao, China and two seasons in the GP3 Series.

Sporting trendsetters Whilst not concerned about seeking fame for himself, Palou does hope IndyCar catches on in Spain and is keen to place it firmly on the sporting map in his home country.

Related Topics Sport. Oh, and before you sink your teeth into the rankings down below, bear in mind that we're talking within the context of world champions and therefore, placing lowly is by no means an insult. Darn near impossible? Yeh, I'd say they sum up compiling this ranking pretty well. So much has changed in F1 over the decades that no matter how much you know the driving styles and cars behind each driver, you're never going to be able to come up with the perfect answer. I don't confess to know every detail about every champion, it goes without saying, but looking at dominance across an era as well as their victorious seasons particularly has led to something a little like what we have above.

However, while I'll happily admit that the mid-table areas are pretty fluid, I feel confident about the top four and back my decision to crown Hamilton as the undisputed GOAT of the sport.

That proved to be the peak of his F1 career though as he moved to Caterham in before retiring. While he has yet to win a race, he has finished third in class at Le Mans twice and once overall. He made the headlines last July for reportedly crashing a McLaren supercar in Monaco. After a largely disappointing first season back, was certainly an improvement for the seven-time World Champion but still not great as he was again beaten by his Mercedes team-mate.

He spent one more year in F1 before retiring for good, and tragedy struck just a year later when a skiing accident caused serious brain damage. Little is known about his condition today, but we can only hope he is able to watch his son, Mick, make his F1 debut this year.

Keep fighting, Michael. In , Rosberg was starting to establish himself as one of the best around, getting the better of Schumacher and regularly finishing well inside the points. Five years later, he became World Champion, getting the better of Hamilton in an intense battle. After swiftly retiring on the back of such success, he became a TV pundit and also has an often-memed Youtube channel. Massa was never the same driver for Ferrari after his head injury in and this was evident in as, for the second year in a row, he played second fiddle to Alonso and rarely challenged for podiums, let alone wins, himself.

After leaving Ferrari a year later, he found more success with Williams, getting five podiums, and has been in Formula E since leaving F1 at the end of Finishing the season down in P5 and being comfortably beaten by team-mate Jenson Button, few would have expected at the end of that Hamilton would become, statistically, the best driver of all time.

He has done just that in the years since though, breaking numerous records and joining Schumacher on seven titles. Oh, and he is now officially Sir Lewis Hamilton. Not bad going. Going into on the back of the heartbreak of losing the title in the season finale, Alonso could not challenge for the Championship again and had to settle for fighting for podiums and the odd win.

Quite frankly, we cannot wait. Webber pushed Vettel close in and had been the stronger Red Bull driver for much of the year but he could not do the same in , being outperformed in a team that had clearly selected the German as their lead driver.

It was the same story in and , and his biggest success ended up coming away from F1 as he won the WEC title in These days, you can find Webber on TV for Channel 4, where he has become one of the best pundits around. After stealing his first title in , Vettel stormed to his second in , winning 11 races and failing to finish in the top three only twice.

He followed it up with two more World Championships, becoming one of the most successful drivers ever. Things have not gone as well since he left Red Bull in though, as he failed to win a title with Ferrari and left with his tail between his legs after being outclassed by Charles Leclerc. Joining Aston Martin for , he needs to prove he has still got it.

Notification msg. He did not score any points either in the 1o other races he competed in that year, but things have worked out alright since… To be precise, Ricciardo has seven wins and 31 podiums to his name at the time of writing and has proven himself to be one of the best drivers in the sport. Narain Karthikeyan After first driving in F1 in , Karthikeyan returned to the grid in but, in a poor car, failed to finish higher than P17 in his eight races.

Timo Glock After enjoying two seasons in the midfield with Toyota, Glock became a backmarker in when he joined Virgin and stayed there in , spending the season stuck at the back of the grid. Vitantonio Liuzzi The Italian enjoyed a six-year career in F1, scoring 26 points in that time, but none for HRT in , which proved to be his last year as an F1 driver.

Heikki Kovalainen After struggling alongside Lewis Hamilton at McLaren, Kovalainen ended up in a significantly slower car soon afterwards as he signed for Lotus.