2022 Hall of Fame Award: The nominees

Despite this success, the cool-headed Finn isn’t often the first choice when fans are asked to recall an F1 legend – but the relatively low-profile he has kept has helped fuel a cult-status amongst aficionados.

Born in the Finnish city of Vantaa in 1968, Häkkinen swept through junior titles before making it to F1 in 1991 with Lotus. The Finn endured seven tough years from then – including a near-fatal accident at the ’95 Australian GP – before the floodgates opened with a win at Jerez two years later.

He hit peak form just as McLaren introduced the MP4-13 in ’98, the combination being almost unstoppable. Häkkinen beat Michael Schumacher to that year’s title, before doing the same against Eddie Irvine in ’99.

The McLaren man would lose out to the strong challenge of Schumacher and the Ferrari F2000, competing in one more season before no longer having the motivation to block out the huge risks F1 entailed, leaving the sport for a sabbatical which would turn into retirement.

For those who view the late-90’s V10 era as one of F1’s peaks, the quirky yet cool Finn is a true icon.
Mika Häkkinen bio

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Alan Jones

Alan Jones might have been Frank Williams’s very first world champion, but no one ever superseded him as the archetypal Didcot/Grove driver in the decades of success which would follow.

An Australian who was gruff, strong and full of determination, Jones filled the ‘Man’s man’ caricature which Williams’ leading pair felt was necessary to wrestle a brutal ground-effect car to race wins, a first drivers’ championship in 1980 and help bring home a constructors’ crown that same year.

The son of tough Australian national racing hero Stan, Jones arrived in the UK in 1970 with £75, fighting his way up the junior series. Super-sub F1 rides with Embassy Hill and Surtees were followed by a more permanent Shadow drive, the Australian able to show his talent in the handy DN8.

Williams decided he was the perfect man to lead the team forward, and once united with the FW07 in 1979, the Melbourne-native became one of F1’s most potent forces.

Jones claimed the 1980 world championship after a classic battle with Nelson Piquet, before retiring at the end of the following season.

The former champion did attempt a comeback a few years later, but it was time as the living embodiment of Williams’s brute racing force for which he’ll always be remembered.
Alan Jones bio

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Carlos Reutemann

How the charismatic Carlos Reutemann somehow contrived to lose the 1981 world championship is regularly cited as one of the F1’s greatest mysteries, however it was in some ways unsurprising for a driver who was as enigmatic as he was compelling.

The brilliant Argentinian enjoyed success almost all the way through his top-level career, taking podiums in his second season at Brabham and a hat-trick of wins the following year.

Reutemann would become synonymous with Gordon Murray’s BT44, before switching over to Ferrari at the end of 1976. More wins would come in the 312T, before a slightly unhappy season in the already-outdated Lotus 79.

It was at the end of his career that Reutemann came closest to topping the racing world. The Argentinian found the Williams FW07 to his liking and, starting on pole for the final round at Caesar’s Palace in 1981, just had to finish ahead of Nelson Piquet and keep Jacques Laffite out of the top two to win the title.

However, in the race he inexplicably fell down the field, before gearbox trouble left him in eighth with Piquet winning the title.

Reutemann would retire two GPs into ’82, with Patrick Head believing “his heart just wasn’t in it anymore.” It is the mystery and magic of Carlos Reutemann which sees him up for a place in our Hall of Fame.
Carlos Reutemann bio

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Sebastian Vettel

Though almost all of Sebastian Vettel’s success may have come in the first half of his career, the sheer brilliance of his early years proves his candidacy for a place in our Hall of Fame.

Scoring a point on his debut at Indianapolis in 2007, it was in 2008 that the young German would really make history. Vettel put in a scintillating performance at the wheel of a Toro Rosso to dominate a wet Italian GP, becoming F1’s youngest ever winner at 21 years and 74 days.

He gained an instant promotion to the senior squad, taking four wins in 2009 before total domination began in 2010 with defeat of Fernando Alonso for his first F1 title.

Three more straight championships followed, and with them records such as most consecutive wins (nine in 2013).

Vettel then achieved his dream of emulating Michael Schumacher by moving to Ferrari for ’15, but although he challenged for the title in 2017 and 2018, the performance level satisfied neither side.

An Aston Martin move heralded the twilight of his career from 2021, with Vettel admitting his mind had moved onto environmental campaigning and other causes close to his heart as he called it a day a year later.

However, the affable German had long sealed his place as an F1 legend.
Sebastian Vettel bio