Like Ferrari, components including the engine are built in-house, and from its world championship debut at the British Grand Prix in 1951 to its last official start in F1 in 1977 as Stanley BRM, the team achieved 17 victories and 11 pole positions.
Some of the best drivers of the day raced the BRM and won seven points-paying races.
For this list Autosport assessed the level of success drivers had with the BRM, their impact on the team and how well they were there. We don’t take into account what they have achieved with other teams.
The “BRM starting point” includes both world championship and non-championship F1 races, in part because teams stick with F1, even though F2 became the focus of others in 1952-53.
10. Peter Gethin
Gethin wins 1971 Italy GP by 0.01s
Photo by: Motorsport Images
BRM Year: 1971-73
BRM started: 23 ( 15 champions, 8 non-champions)
BRM wins: 2 ( 1 champion, 1 non-champion)
Gethin was already a multiple Formula 5000 champion when he joined BRM from McLaren midway through 1971. His third race for the team was the Italian Grand Prix, which has since become F1’s most famous race, and helps explain Gethin’s place on this list.
After losing the lead early on, Gethin struggled to get himself back into the slipstream of the winning fight. He then won a remarkable drag race, beating Ronnie Peterson’s March by 0.01 seconds to finish in the top five by 0.61 seconds. Gethin average
RACE OF MY LIFE: Peter Gethin at the 1971 Italian Grand Prix
Gethin The rest of the time at BRM was more troublesome as the team gradually lost its competitive V12 engine with age. However, he did win the non-championship at Brands Hatch in 1971, which was cut short by the fatal crash of his teammate Jo Siffert.
9. Joe Bonnier
Bonnier’s time at BRM gave the team much-needed momentum into the 1960s
Photo by Motorsport Images
BRM Year: 1958-60
BRM starts: 24 (17 champions, 7 non-champions)
BRM wins: 1 (Championship)
Not 1st place, but Bonnier did a great job and will forever be in BRM history Taking his place at the top, he brought the team a long-awaited maiden World Championship Grand Prix win.
Bonnier made his first BRM race in late 1957 and again at the end of the race in 1958, before the full campaign the following season. Reliability was still an issue, but the front-engine P25 was competitive and arguably the third fastest car of 1959.
After extensive testing at Zandvoort, BRM is ready for the Dutch Grand Prix. Bonnier took BRM’s (and himself) first world championship pole, just ahead of Jack Brabham and Stirling Moss’ Coopers.
Bonnier has been in contention, with BRM leading Brabham by 14.2 seconds when an early challenge from Masten Gregory’s Cooper ended with Moss’ fade and late charge ending in a transmission glitch.
” BRM co-founder Raymond Mays at BRM
Bonnier will only score once again this season, finishing fifth at the German Grand Prix, but his 10 – plus two by teammate Harry Scheer in Portugal Points Moss selected 6 in BRP’s P25 – helping BRM to rank third on the manufacturers list.
Bonnier stayed in 1960 as BRM used a P25-based P48 for the rear engine, and joined Graham Hill and Dangerney. Predictably, they proved they were quicker, but continued unreliability issues meant Gurney didn’t score while Bonnier finished fifth, while BRM finished fourth in the constructors’ championship. Both he and Gurney then went to Porsche.
8. Jean-Pierre Bertoise
Bertoise’s only F1 victory at the 1972 Monaco Grand Prix
Photo by Rainer W. Schlegelmilch / Motorsport Images
BRM Year: 1972-74
BRM starts: 45 (40 champions, 5 non-champions)
BRM wins: 2 (1 champion, 1 non-champion)
Bertoise mains on the list The reason is that he won the last World Championship Grand Prix for BRM – one of the best results in the team’s history. The Frenchman’s dominance in the slippery 1972 GP in Monaco made him a car One of the greatest one-hit wonders in sport history.
More: F1’s top 10 one-hit wonders
Beltoise joined BRM just as it last started to decline, despite Marlboro sponsorship. Tony Southgate’s P180 wasn’t a success and the V12 was starting to be left behind by the ever-evolving Cosworth DFV.
Aside from his success at Monaco, Bertoise did not score in 1972, although he finished second at the Silverstone International Trophy and won the Brands Hatch victory race, both of which All events are non-championships.
During his tenure, Beltoise tended to be in the lead when BRM drove a staggering number of drivers and up to 5 drivers cars in certain races. “Beltoise was good,” recalls Southgate. “Good feedback and a pleasure to work with.”
Beltoise was a more consistent points threat in the 1973 P160E, which scored more than New teammates Niki Lauda and Clay Regazzoni used the P201 for the South African Grand Prix in 1974. The struggling team was a declining force, with Bertoise’s retirement from F1 at the end of the campaign, as was the support of Owen’s “factory”, which kept Stanley BRM on for three fruitless seasons.
7. Richie Kinser
Always a BRM challenger, Ginther never really reached the heights of the team
Photo: Motorsport Images
BRM Year: 1962-64
BRM starts: 41 (29 champions, 12 non-champions)
BRM Wins: 0
Not winning, but Ginther got nine Of the world champion BRM podiums (and the other two in non-championship events), only Hill was better.
A respected test driver, Ginther joined the team from Ferrari just as BRM’s new V8 helped lift it up to the front of the 1500cc F1. Ginther had a more troublesome season than title contender Hill, but on a famous day at Monza, he went 1-2 to BRM’s first World Championship.
The proven P57 and Ginther’s mechanical sympathy helped produce the incredibly consistent 1963 campaign. The American has points in eight of 10 races, including five podium finishes, and is third in the standings behind Lotus’ runaway champions Jim Clark and Hill.
Kinser had trouble in 1964, both in his personal life and on the track, but had two more runners-up finishes in the excellent P261. Ginther left to join Honda in 1965, helping BRM to finish first and two seconds in the constructors’ championship during his three seasons there.
PLUS: Celebrating America’s Forgotten F1 Championship
6. Juan ·Manuel Fangio
Fangio joined BRM during its toughest times
Photo credit: Motorsport Images
BRM Year: 1952-53
BRM starts: 6 (all non-champions)
BRM WIN: 0
AMBITIOUS, COMPLEX V16 LIFE Calm down and failed to achieve its goals. When it is perfected enough, the World Championship has temporarily abandoned F1 and adopted F2 rules instead, and BRM has become a joke for many people.
BRM never took on the challenge of F2 and continued with the 1.5-litre P15, competing in non-championship F1 and Formula Libre. Mace managed to get Fangio, the 1951 world champion, to test a machine his team had been working on for a long time.
After one takeoff, Fangio on the Forkingham test track was faster than the V16 had been before. and agree to participate in the competition. “Fangio was the first to fully grasp it,” Mace said in BRM
Fangio and teammate Jose Froilan Gonzalez were leading the early stages of the 1952 Albi GP, but both succumbed to engine problems. Dundrod’s Ulster Trophy has a similar story, but more to come.
Rubery Owen bought BRM from the original Trust prior to the 1953 season. Alfred Irwin has been a major supporter of the project from its inception, and his control has reinvigorated the agency. The 1953 Albi GP got another boost.
The V16 has had some small successes, but it still needs to prove itself against the best F1 opponents. At Albi, separate preliminaries for the F1 and F2 cars then yielded a combined grid for the main race, and BRM had a rare chance as Ferrari entered 375 for Alberto Ascari, then On the way to the world championship double. Giuseppe Farina also appeared in Ferrari’s Thinwall Special, so all three world champions were in attendance.
Fangio beat Ascari for pole position, followed by Gonzalez and Ken Wharton’s BRM, and Farina fifth. Fangio narrowly beat Ascari in the first corner, still leading a frantic race when Ferrari cried enough.
Fangio won his warm-up and with Ascari and Farina both out, BRM looked set to dominate the final. But the rubber didn’t reach 500 Amazing power from the +bhp V16, all three cars suffered tire failure. Only Gonzalez can finish the race – second only to Louis Rossier’s Ferrari – but Fangio has proven that the V16 can challenge the best cars in the world.
“This game means Earth to us,” wrote Mace, who dedicates an entire chapter to the event in his book. “BRM has redeemed itself. When I heard the cheers, it was one of the greatest moments of my life. Albi was the turning point.”
According to reports, Fangio will BRM Called “the best car I’ve ever driven,” he did it three more times in the V16. He never triumphed like Gonzalez, Reg Parnell, Wharton and later Peter Collins – but Fangio was the man to prove it on the biggest stage, and his support means a lot .
5. Joe Seifert
Siffert leads the BRM of the 1971 Austrian Grand Prix
Photo: Motorsport Images
BRM Year: 1971
BRM starts: 15 (11 champions, 4 non-champions)
BRM wins: 1(Championship)
Siffert joined BRM in 1971, The second violin of mainly racing teammate Pedro Rodriguez, who is also his great rival in the JW Auto Gulf Porsche sports car team.
Frustrating issues, including an ignition coil issue, denied both drivers a strong early season. Then, Rodriguez lost Rodriguez after BRM’s fatal crash in a Ferrari at the Norisring Interserie in July, with Siffert taking over as team leader. , designer of the 1971 P160. “I don’t know why.”
The Swiss made a sensational win from pole at the Austrian Grand Prix, leading Jackie Stewart in the early stages and dealing slowly in the late stages puncture. He might have won at Monza next time, if it weren’t for the gearbox issue, usually BRM’s strong suit, teammate Gethin did win.
PLUS: Lost legend Jo Siffert’s 10 greatest drives
Siffert in this A second-place finish in the season-ending United States Grand Prix meant BRM beat Ferrari for the constructors’ runner-up title, with the 35-year-old finishing a career-high fifth in the drivers’ standings.
Unfortunately, there is one more F1 event on the schedule, the non-championship victory hatch for Brands. Siffert qualified on pole and was recovering from a poor start, but a mysterious defeat – different theories remain – pushed him closer to the Hawthorns hurdle. Siffert was trapped in the car and died in the ensuing fire, and BRM lost its second lead driver in less than four months.
PLUS: Commemorating Switzerland’s first F1 champion
4. Let · Behra
Behra “lives, talks, dreams and thinks about cars” according to BRM co-founder Mays
Photo by Motorsport Images
BRM Year: 1957-58
BRM wins: 2 (non-championship) matches)
BRM was at a low ebb in 1957. With Mike Hawthorne and Tony Brooks both gone after poor reliability and major accidents, the P25 hasn’t lived up to its potential.
Behra established himself as a top driver at Gordini and Maserati before driving the P25 (in his own name) at the Caen GP. It wasn’t the strongest field but Behra’s victory from pole was a huge boost for BRM, with the French close behind, 1-2-3 at the BRDC International Trophy at Silverstone lead the team.
“He lived, talked, dreamed and thought about cars,” Metz recalled. “Wherever we are, whatever the occasion, he does nothing but talk about how we can improve the car. He is passionate about the car company he drives.
“Caen may not be grande epreuve
Behra, who joined full-time in 1958, led the early stages of the Monaco Grand Prix and finished third in the Dutch round, albeit behind teammate Harry Schell due to an ignition failure. Sadly, Unreliability limited Behra to one more point for the remainder of the race.
He left to join Ferrari, but the tumultuous relationship broke down mid-season. Behra was well-received at BRM Welcome, if he hadn’t been killed in an Avus crash while driving his Porsche sports car, he might have found his way back to Bern in 1960.
3. Jackie Stewart
Stuart at the 1966 Monaco Grand Prix Victory
Photo: Motorsport Images
BRM Year: 1965-67
BRM starts: 35 (29 champions, 6 Non-championship)
British F3 champion Stewart’s 1965 season was one of the best rookie seasons in F1 history. The Scot won the non-championship BRDC International Trophy at Silverstone, his fourth at BRM First start, fifth in F1 and four podiums in his first six world championships.
His first GP win was with teammate Hill A mistake was made as the pair dominated the Italian Grand Prix, with Stewart third in the points standings in 1965 behind Clark and Hill.
After winning the 1966 Tasman Championship Later, ahead of Hill and Clark, Stewart won the Monaco Grand Prix. He was one of many to be caught in the early downpour of the Belgian Grand Prix and suffered a crash that sparked his safety campaign and forced him to miss The French Grand Prix that followed.
Stewart narrowly missed out as 1962 world champion left Clark, who joined Lotus, to beat Hill in the standings and become team leader.
BRM is now in the middle of the H16 aberration, Stewart in 1967. Even so, there were some star moments including a second at Spa despite having to let the car Stay in gear.
Plus: Jackie Stewart’s greatest F1 car
Stewart leaves to join Ken in 1968 Tyrrell’s Matra business. It is true to say that his influence in the BRM is limited, but the inexperienced Scot still leads and has more wins than the others, but one of the drivers on this list.
2. Pedro Rodriguez
Rodriguez in After winning the 1970 Belgian Grand Prix
Photo by Rainer W. Schlegelmilch / Motorsport Images
BRM Year: 1968 Years, 1970-71 (plus private entries in 1969)
BRM starts: 41 (33 winners, 8 Non-championship)
BRM wins: 2 times (1 time champion, 1 time non-champion)
Rodriguez’s first job at BRM in 1968 was stable. He won three podiums and starred in the Wet French Grand Prix. But it was actually his second period with the team that got him so high on our roster.
The BRM had a difficult season in 1969 that led to some changes including Southgate. He wrote the P153, and it got BRM back on track despite still poor reliability.
Rodriguez held off Chris Amon’s entire March with a superb showing at the Belgian Grand Prix to give BRM their first win in four years.
PLUS: Pedro Rodriguez’s greatest game
Rodriguez in Scored in four of the last five games Rodriguez only lost the win at Watkins Glen due to splashes and sprints in the closing stages.
In 1971, Rodriguez joined Siffert, still the leading driver team that is now top-flight F1 again, equipped with BRM’s last great car, the P160.
Rodriguez won the non-championship Spring Trophy at Oulton Park and finished second in the wet Dutch Grand Prix after a duel with Jacky Ickx’s Ferrari.
Despite potentially losing second place at the French Grand Prix due to a coil failure, Rodriguez is still fighting for second place as it approaches the halfway mark. Except the Mexican will never start another Grand Prix, suffering a fatal injury during a rare weekend of international races without a duty for BRM.
The team lost its talisman.
PLUS: Remember the best F1 driver in Mexico
1. Graham Hill
Hill Won F1 World Championship for BRM Doubled in 1962
Photo by Motorsport Images
BRM Year: 1960-66
BRM Start: 98 (64 champions, 34 non-champions)
BRM wins: 14 (10 champions, 4 non-champions)
If the Clark-Lotus combination was the one to beat in the 1500cc F1 era, the Hill-BRM kit is its most consistent competitor .
Hill joined BRM in 1960 and had two tricky seasons before the P57 and V8 1500cc engine was ready for 1962, although he did make a splash at the 1960 British Grand Prix achievement to become a star.
PLUS: Graham Hill’s Greatest Game
1962 Season to be Hill and Clark The matchup between them has won 7 of the 9 matches. The Lotus 25 is generally faster, but the P57 is more reliable. When Clark suffered an oil spill in the final in South Africa, Hill swept the victory and drivers’ title, while BRM took the constructors’ title.
Hill was limited to two wins in 1963 Lotus and Clark dominated, but it was enough to finish runner-up in both tables.
Hill, Clark and Ferrari’s John Surtis were all vying for the 1964 title. Each of them experienced their own doom, and the battle in Mexico entered its final stages.
Given Clark’s late-stage issues, Hill could have been the champ if he hadn’t been involved in a contentious conflict. Lorenzo Bandini’s Ferrari. He was one of only two drivers (the other being Alain Prost in 1988) to lose his driver’s crown due to the drop rule, which gave him 39 points instead of 41. Surtis scored 40…
Hill had to be Clark’s second-in-command again in 1965, when he was challenged by teammate Stewart. Hill stopped the rookie and scored arguably his biggest victory at Monaco, but as the three-liter era began, the BRM’s attention turned in the wrong direction.
A winless 1966, Hill left the following year, Lotus and Clark formed a super team. Still, Hill’s track record and finicky approach to car setup make him a winner on this list.
His 1962 title made BRM the world’s top result in British industry.
Hill tops this list with leading BRM to F1 peak
Photo by Sutton Images
