The Greatest F1 Champions That Never Were - Part 1

On Easter Sunday, Formula One mourned the loss of Stirling Moss, considered one of the greatest drivers in the sports 70 year history.

Moss is considered by many as the greatest driver never to win the World Championship, winning 16 Grand Prix for Mercedes and Vanwall.

A four-time F1 world championship runner up, Moss's near misses in capturing the elusive crown are well documented, including most notably in 1958 when he defended title rival Mike Hawthorn from getting disqualified from that years Portuguese Grand Prix, resulting in Hawthorn winning the title by a solitary point.

Moss is in good company as we look at the other great 'champions who never were'.

Juan Pablo Montoya

The Colombian arrived in F1 with a prestigious record on US soil, having won the 1999 CART championship and the 2000 Indy 500 (as a rookie), making him one of the favourites to challenge Michael Schumachers reign in the early 2000's.

He enjoyed an eye catching first season at Williams in 2001 which culminated in his first victory at that seasons Italian Grand Prix but was let down by a string of reliability failures on his car alongside many personal errors on track.

He vastly improved in 2002 but was powerless in stopping the immovable force that was Schumacher and Ferrari but was right in the tile fight in 2003 and was only one point behind the German with four rounds to go but a controversial drive through penalty and a change in that season tire rule meant JPM missed out once more.

2004 was a poor year for the grove outfit meaning the Colombian moved to McLaren for 2005 hoping for more success winning four races that season and finishing 4th overall after not fully adapting to the car's set up.

Montoya left F1 half way through 2006 after McLaren fell down the pecking order and moved to NASCAR after recording seven victories in his five years in the sport.

Felipe Massa

The Brazilian will probably be the closest to winning a world championship on this list after narrowly missing out by a point to Lewis Hamilton in 2008, after the Brit passed Timo Glock with just two corners remaining at that years season finale in Brazil.

Massa had humble beginnings to his career starting out as a Ferrari Junior, driving for Sauber in Formula One's midfield, achieving some notable points finishes that were arguably above the cars potential.

This earned him a seat at Ferrari for 2006 and he achieved his first pole and victory in that season's Turkish Grand Prix and ended the season by winning in his hometown of Sao Paulo.

A slightly more impressive 2007 saw Massa pick up three victories but still finished the season in 4th place, as his team mate Kimi Raikkonen became the last Ferrari driver to date to win the drivers title.

2008 was Massa best shot at a title and battled with Lewis Hamilton for the seasons duration eventually missing out by a point after crossing the line as world champion elect but the weather and Hamilton had other ideas and stole the title away from Massa in the sports most dramatic finish.

Five winless years at Ferrari followed after his career was blighted by suffering a head fracture at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix from which i believe his confidence never truly recovered before moving onto to Williams for the final four years of his largely impressive career.

Gilles Villeneuve

The iconic Ferrari driver had hopes of becoming world champion, before his career was cut short following his death at the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix.

A driver tipped for greatness, the Canadian narrowly missed out on the 1979 crown by four points to teammate Jody Scheckter.

He managed two of F1's most memorable victories at Monaco and Spain respectively in 1981, but never hit the heights again before his life was tragically hut short at the following years Belgian Grand Prix.