Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes
The most successful driver-team partnership of all-time in F1 has had its last dance with Lewis Hamilton's 12th and final season at Mercedes. Since 2013, the F1 record-books have undergone a major re-write with most of Michael Schumacher's records falling to Hamilton. He won 84 races and six championships at Mercedes, eclipsing Schumacher's 72 and five, respectively. It was the partnership that transformed Hamilton from 'regular F1 world champion' to the ranks of contender for greatest of all-time.
Michael Schuacher and Ferrari
Most of the next generation of F1 racers will be inspired by Hamilton at Mercedes, but for this current one, that honour fell to Schumacher and Ferrari. Schumacher transcended F1 during his victory-laden spell at Ferrari where he helped turn the faltering Maranello outfit into a crushing force from also-rans. There was a healthy dollop of controversy thrown in along the way for a driver who set new F1 benchmarks in terms of commitment and team-building.
Jim Clark and Lotus
This is perhaps one of the greatest unknowns in F1 history: Just how many titles Jim Clark would have won had he not been killed. A two-time world champion by 1965, Clark also collected the Indy 500 in 1965, making him the only person to win at the Brickyard and claim the F1 title in the same year. After his death in an F2 race at Hockenheim in April 1968, Lotus team-mate Graham Hill would go onto win the title that year, with Jochen Rindt being crowned the posthumous 1970 world champion. Emerson Fittpaldi and Mario Andretti would add further titles before 1978 - when Clark would have been 42. His 25 grand prix wins from just 72 starts, all for Lotus, still place him 10th in the all-time wins list and he is third in the all-time wins percentage list for drivers at 34.72% only behind Juan Manuel Fangio (47.06%) and Alberto Ascari (40.63%).
Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull
This entry was perhaps the most difficult, but simply put, without Sebastian Vettel at Red Bull, there would be no Max Verstappen and Red Bull. Vettel is still perhaps the shining jewel in the Red Bull junior driver programme, claiming 38 wins and scooping his four world titles from 2010 and 2013. To this day, he remains the youngest-ever F1 world champion aged 23 years, 134 days.
Ayrton Senna and McLaren
The red and white McLaren and the yellow and green helmet. Never has there been a more iconic livery and helmet combination and arguably, Senna still remains the McLaren driver, some 31 years after he left the team. He earned 35 of his 41 wins and all three titles for the team and some of F1's most iconic moments came from the partnership.
Most read
