What is the greatest F1 car to never win a championship grand prix?

A few freakishly one-sided seasons apart – 1988, 2002, 2004 and 2016 come to mind – quick but not super-quick F1 cars would usually win the odd grand prix. There have been some exceptions, of course, which set me thinking: which was the greatest F1 car never to win a championship grand prix?

I ended up with a short-list of six: Matra MS120, March 711, Shadow DN5, Brabham BT45B, Williams FW06, Benetton B196. I am absolutely certain that you are already either (a) decrying my selection or (b) yelling the names of other F1 cars at your PC/Mac/iPhone, and please feel free to convert those declamations into comments below. But, for me, Chris Amon should have won and so nearly did win championship grands prix in the sonorous V12-engined Matra MS120 in 1971 and 1972. To be fair, he won the non-championship F1 Argentine Grand Prix in the car in 1971, but only 10 F1 cars were entered, the field was stretched to 15 only by the addition of five Formula 5000 cars, and Rolf Stommelen took the pole in a Surtees TS7: hardly a stellar driver/car combo.

Ronnie Peterson finished nine championship grands prix in his March 711 ‘tea tray’ in 1971, five times in the first three, second at Monaco, Silverstone, Mosport and, famously, Monza, just 0.01sec behind Peter Gethin’s winning BRM P160 in the slipstreamer to end all slipstreamers. He finished second in the drivers’ world championship that year, too.

Jean-Pierre Jarier put his Shadow DN5 on the pole for the first two championship grands prix of the 1975 F1 season, Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo, but he failed to finish either. Indeed, he finished only three championship grands prix all year. Jarier’s team-mate Tom Pryce put the car on the pole for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone that year, but after a while the Northamptonshire heavens opened and he crashed out at Becketts on lap 21. He won the non-championship F1 Race of Champions at Brands Hatch in the car though, from the pole, carving fastest lap.

The 1978 Williams FW06, Patrick Head’s debut F1 design, was dinky and elegant, and, alongside Maurice Philippe’s 1978 Tyrrell 008 (with which Patrick Depailler won that year’s Monaco Grand Prix), was the finest and fastest pre-ground-effect Cosworth/Hewland/Goodyear F1 car. Alan Jones finished second in the FW06 at Watkins Glen, albeit well beaten by Carlos Reutemann’s Ferrari 312 T3, but it was at Long Beach that Jones could have won in the car. From eighth on the grid, he worked his way up to second, again behind Reutemann’s Ferrari.

The Williams was clearly the quicker of the two cars in the corners, but the grunt of the flat-12 in the back of the Ferrari kept Reutemann ahead on the straights. Even so, Jones might well have won had his front wings not begun to deform, owing to a fabrication problem. Then his Cosworth V8 developed a misfire and he limped home seventh. Nonetheless, he had driven the fastest lap.

The Benetton B196 took its drivers to 10 podiums in 1996, eight for Jean Alesi and two for Gerhard Berger; but, with respect to those two fine drivers, had the Benetton boys still had Michael Schumacher, who had won F1 world championships in their cars in both of the previous years, the B196 would surely have won a grand prix or two.

You may have noticed that I skipped the Brabham BT45B. The reason is that, in my humble opinion, it is the greatest F1 car never to win a championship grand prix, so I have saved it until last. Stunningly attractive, its hunky lines accentuated by its red and blue Martini livery, one of the most splendid ever to grace any racing car, it was powered by the potent Alfa Romeo flat-12 that had been successful in sports car racing but proved both heavy and unreliable in its debut F1 season, 1976. Carlos Reutemann and Pace failed to score a single podium finish in the car that year, and, by Monza, Reutemann had slung his hook, joining Ferrari after Niki Lauda’s Nürburgring accident.

The following year, 1977, the B-spec version of the BT45 became the second-fastest F1 car in the world, shaded only by the Lotus 78 ‘wing car’, and it could and should have won championship grands prix, plural. Pace finished second in Buenos Aires, driving a BT45 not yet upgraded to B-spec, crashed out in Sao Paulo, then was killed when the twin-engined Cessna private aircraft in which he was a passenger flew into the eastern face of the Serra da Cantareira mountain in the south of Brazil. The next day Pace’s team-mate, John Watson, put his BT45 (also not yet upgraded to B-spec) on the pole for the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch, then finished third in the race.

Pace’s place at Brabham was taken by Hans-Joachim Stuck. Watson had DNF’d in both Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo, but soon he began to get to grips with his BT45B. He finished sixth at Kyalami, qualified sixth at Long Beach, qualified sixth again at Jarama, then put it on the pole at Monaco, 0.41sec quicker than anyone else, only to retire with a broken gearbox. Next time out, at Zolder, Watson qualified on the front row again, and led, then was clumsily punted off by the Lotus 78 of Mario Andretti, who locked up into the Kleine Chicane on lap one, ending both their races on the spot. At Anderstorp, Watson qualified second, led at the start, and finished fourth.

Now we come to the France-Britain-Germany trifecta that I mentioned at the beginning of this what-might-have-been reminiscence, and it is here that the BT45B earns its place as the greatest F1 car never to win a championship grand prix. At Dijon, Watson led from lap five to lap 79, until, on lap 80 out of 80, running short of fuel, his Alfa Romeo flat-12 skipped a couple of beats, allowing Andretti to nick a lucky win. Watson finished second, just 1.55sec behind. At Silverstone, Watson was on the front row again, this time alongside James Hunt’s McLaren M26. Watson led then was slowed by a fuel system problem that eventually stopped him on lap 61. At Hockenheim, Watson was on the front row yet again, this time alongside Jody Scheckter’s Wolf WR2, but his Alfa Romeo engine gave up on lap nine. Stuck finished a fine third.

Stuck finished third again at Osterreichring, while Watson drove fastest lap en route to a disappointing eighth. The next two grands prix, Zandvoort and Monza, were not great for the Brabhams, but, at a wet Watkins Glen, Stuck qualified second, and led, then, struggling to change gear smoothly with a suddenly inoperable clutch, spun off as the rain came down more heavily.

The 1977 Brabham-Alfa Romeo BT45B was fast, looked beautiful, sounded fantastic, and led five championship grands prix on merit. It all but won in Dijon and it should have won at least once more. So, yes, in my opinion, it is the greatest F1 car never to win a championship grand prix.