GPBlog's Top 50 drivers in 50 days - #40 - Jacky Ickx

Ickx began his F1 career in F2 cars, entering in to the 1966 and 1967 German Grands Prix at the Nurburgring in Matras backed by Ken Tyrrell.

In the 1967 event, Ickx set the third fastest time in qualifying despite the difference in cars between him and the F1 stars. He had to start at the back due to his class of car, but made good progress in the race before retiring.

He won the F2 title that year and convinced Ferrari to sign him up for 1968 and he immediately outperformed Chris Amon, taking a first Grand Prix win in the French race at Rouen.

He made the move to Brabham for 1969 and had a successful season, winning in Germany and Canada and finishing on the podium on three other occasions.

Unfortunately for the Belgian, Jackie Stewart was in superb form, winning six of the first eight races to take his first title, leaving Ickx to take a distant P2 in the championship.

Ickx had only two seasons under his belt but was already looking like a champion in the making, and was expected to challenge as he rejoined Ferrari for 1970.

However, he failed to score points in the first four races, with reliability and collisions denting his title aspirations. Ickx’s season finally got off the ground with P3 in the Netherlands, but two further reliability issues in the next two races saw him trail Jochen Rindt by 35 points after the German GP, despite taking P2 at Hockenheim.

Rindt was sadly killed in qualifying at the Italian Grand Prix and after victory in the previous race in Austria, Ickx had a chance of taking the title.

Retirement at Monza left Ickx needing to win all three remaining races to take the title from Rindt, and although he did so in Canada and Mexico, P4 in the penultimate race at Watkins Glen meant Rindt became the first and to this day only man to be posthumously awarded the F1 title.

Ickx began the following season well, battling Stewart in the early rounds, but reliability ended his challenge once again as he had to watch Stewart run away with another title.

Ferrari wasn’t the best place to be in the early 70s, and Ickx moved to Lotus for 1974, where he was outperformed by Ronnie Peterson.

Lotus then slipped down the grid as Ferrari improved and Ickx spent the rest of his career with backmarker teams such as Wolf, Ensign and Ligier, retiring in 1979 to concentrate on his Sportscar racing career.

Ickx was a very good driver, as shown by his six 24 Hours of Le Mans victories, but was a victim of poor reliability and an unfortunate career choice, which meant he left F1 without a title.

Belgium’s best ever driver in F1, Ickx won eight races and finished runner-up twice in the championship, so he ranks 40th on our list.