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Part 3 of F1 World Drivers Champions

This is the last part of the Formula One World Drivers Champions trilogy. In this article we present you the modern legends of F1 racing. F1 legends like Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost and Micheal Schumacher are featured in this episode of the same topic.

Here is the third and final list of F1 drivers who have achieved the rare feat.

Ayrton Senna: 1988, 1990, 1991

Ayrton Senna da Silva was a three-time Formula One world champion. He was killed in a crash while leading the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, and remains the most recent GP driver to die at the wheel of a F1 car.

Senna made his F1 debut in 1984 and won six GP over the next three seasons. Senna joined McLaren-Honda in 1988 and went out to win his first World Championship, a feat which he repeated again in 1990 and 1991. He moved to Williams in 1994, but suffered a fatal accident at the third race of the season at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Italy.

Ayrton Senna is regarded as one of the greatest drivers in the history of F1. He was recognised for his qualifying speed over one lap and held the record for most pole positions from 1989 to 2006. He was among the most talented drivers in extremely rain-affected conditions. He also holds the record for most victories at the prestigious Monaco GP for 6 times and is the third most successful driver of all time in terms of race wins. Senna had 162 GP entries, 41 Grand Prix wins and 65 Pole Positions to his credit in his short career.

Nigel Mansell: 1992

Nigel Ernest James Mansell was the World Champion in 1992. He has 191 Grand Prix entries, won 31 Grand Prix and holds 32 Pole Positions. He is also credited for winning the CART World Series in 1993 and the only person in history to hold both titles simultaneously. He was the first person to win the CART title in his debut season.

His career in F1 spanned 15 seasons, with his final two full seasons of top-level racing being spent in the CART series. Mansell remains the most successful British F1 driver of all time in terms of race wins with 31 victories and is fourth overall on the F1 race winners list behind Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost, and Ayrton Senna.

Alain Prost: 1985, 1986, 1989, 1993

Alain Prost is a four-time F1 Drivers' Champion in 1985, 1986, 1989 and 1993. Prost won more titles than any driver except for Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher. From 1987 until 2001 Prost held 51 GP victories, a record for most Grand Prix till Schumacher surpassed Prost's total of 51 victories at the 2001 Belgian GP. In 1999, Prost received the World Sports Awards of the Century in the motor sport category. He has 200 GP entries and holds 33 Pole Positions.

Alain Prost made his F1 debut by joining the McLaren Formula One team in 1980 at the age of 25. His first F1 victory came at home: a French driver in a French car in the 1981 French GP at Dijon. Alain Prost is often called 'The Professor' for his cerebral approach to racing. In his first year with Ferrari, Prost won five races. Prost returned in 1993 with Williams-Renault to win seven more races - bringing his total to a then record 51 - and take his fourth driving title.

Damon Hill: 1996

Damon Graham Devereux Hill won the Formula One World Championship in 1996. Damon Hill is the son of Graham Hill who was a F1 World Champion in 1962 and 1968. He is the only son of a world champion to win the title so far. He has 122 Grand Prix entries and won 22 Grand Prix and has 20 Pole Positions to acclaim. Damon Hill became a test driver for the Williams F1 team in 1992. He was unexpectedly promoted to the Williams race team the following year and took the first of his 22 victories at the 1993 Hungarian GP. During the mid 1990s, Hill was Schumi's main rival for the F1 Driver's Championship. Hill won the 1996 World Drivers' Championship, but was dropped by Williams for the following season. He went on to drive for the less competitive Arrows and Jordan teams, and in 1998 gave Jordan its first win.

Jacques Villeneuve: 1997

Jacques Joseph Charles Villeneuve won the 1995 CART Championship, the 1995 Indianapolis 500 and the 1997 F1 World Championship, making him only the third driver after Mario Andretti and Emerson Fittipaldi to achieve such a feat. No other Canadian has won the Indianapolis 500 or the F1 Drivers' title so far. In 1996 Williams brought him to F1 racing, where he started from pole at the first race of the season.

In 1997, Villeneuve fulfilled his fast and the furious promise, winning seven races and taking the driving title in spectacular fashion. Jacques Villeneuve has 165 GP entries, 11 GP titles and 13 Pole Positions to add to his fame.

Mika Hakkinen: 1998, 1999

Mika Pauli Hakkinen is a two-time F1 World Champion. In his ten year old career, Mika Hakkinen won 20 GPs, has 165 GP entries and achieved 26 Pole Positions. Hakkinen joined Lotus in 1991 and qualified 13th for his GP debut in Phoenix. Häkkinen joined McLaren in 1993 as test driver later to be promoted as a regular diver after Monza, when Michael Andretti left F1. Häkkinen's McLaren race debut at Estoril was impressive. Häkkinen took more podium finishes to add to his sole podium of 1993, including a second place in Belgium. This Finnish driver finished the year fourth in the Drivers' Championship with a tally of 26 points and the following year, he finished fifth in the Drivers' Championship, scoring a total of 31 points.

Hakkinen emerged as the winner of F1 World Championship in 1998 and carried the title with him the following year before he retired by mid-2000 because of an accident. Hakkinen's archrival Michael Schumacher has said that Hakkinen is the man he respected the most during his F1 career.

Michael Schumacher: 1994, 1995, 2000-2004

Michael Schumacher is the only seven-time F1 World Drivers' Champion. He is considered as the greatest driver the motorsport has ever seen. He is the only German to win the F1 World championship and is credited with popularizing F1 in Germany. Schumi as he was called will always be remembered for his 250 GP entries, 68 Pole Positions and 91 GP titles.

Schumi made a stunning F1 debut in 1991 with the Jordan-Ford team at the 1991 Belgian GP and tasted his first victory at the 1992 Belgian GP.

After winning two championships with Benetton in 1994 and 1995, Michael Schumacher moved to Scuderia Ferrari in 1996 and won five consecutive drivers' titles with them from 2000-2004. Schumacher holds many records in F1, including most drivers' championships, race victories, fastest laps, pole positions, points scored and most races won in a single season. Schumi is the only F1 driver to have an entire season of podium finishes, a feat he accomplished in 2002. After the 2006 F1 season Schumacher retired from race driving.

Fernando Alonso: 2005, 2006

Fernando Alonso Diaz is notable for winning the F1 World Driver's Championship title at the age of 24 years and 58 days, breaking Fittipaldi's record of being the then youngest F1 World Drivers' Champion. After retaining the title the following year, Alonso also became the youngest double Champion. In 2007, he became the second F1 driver, after Schumi, to score at least 100 points for three consecutive seasons. He has also least number of races to score 500 points at the 2008 French GP. On September 28, 2008 he became the first person ever to win a night race in F1. The Spaniard can be accredited with 136 GP entries, 21 GP wins and 18 Pole Positions.

Kimi Raikkonen: 2007

Kimi-Matias Raikkonen was the 2007 F1 World Drivers' Champion. He entered F1 as a regular driver for Sauber-Petronas in 2001. He joined McLaren-Mercedes in 2002 and became a title contender by finishing runner-up in the 2003 and 2005 championships. Switching to Ferrari in 2007, Kimi became the highest paid driver in motorsport. In turn his move to Ferrari saw him secure his first F1 World Drivers' Championship, beating McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso by one point. To date, Kimi Raikkonen has 153 GP entries, won 18 GP and achieved 16 Pole Positions.

Lewis Hamilton: 2008

Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton is the youngest ever F1 World Champion to have won the championship at the age of 23 years. He became a McLaren F1 driver for 2007, making his F1 debut. Coming from a mixed-race background, with a black father and white mother, Hamilton is often labelled "the first black driver in F1". As of now, Lewis Hamilton has 48 GP entries, won 10 GP and holds 15 Pole Positions, in his second year at the pinnacle of motorsport. He has stated that he wants to stay with the McLaren team for the rest of his F1 career.