Greatest F1 Team Principals

[ralphrj]

Interesting article on Autosport on the greatest (statistically speaking) Team Principals in F1 history.

Rank	Team Principal	Team(s)	Drivers Titles	Teams Titles	Total Titles
1	Ron Dennis	McLaren	10	7	17
2	Frank Williams	Williams	7	9	16
3	Toto Wolff	Mercedes	7	8	15
4=	Colin Chapman	Lotus	6	7	13
4=	Jean Todt	Ferrari	6	7	13
4=	Christian Horner	Red Bull	7	6	13
7	Flavio Briatore	Benetton & Renault	4	3	7
8	Ken Tyrrell	Matra & Tyrrell	3	2	5
9=	Marco Piccinini	Ferrari	1	3	4
9=	Jack Brabham	Brabham	2	2	4
9=	John Cooper	Cooper	2	2	4

[ralphrj]

StevieBee said:

No Ross Brawn? A quick fag packet calculation from memory is 8 constructors championships and 8 drivers (Benetton, Ferrari and Brawn).

I was thinking that perhaps their definition of Principle is 'Owner' but that's not the case with some of those on the list.

I would define Team Principal as the head of the operation rather than owner (although many of them are both). Jean Todt and Christian Horner have only ever been employees.

In the case of Ross Brawn, he was only Team Principal in the final years of Honda, the single year of Brawn and the first 4 years of Mercedes so his total is 2 titles.

Unless I have missed someone then Brawn is the only person other than Ron Dennis, Frank Williams, Toto Wolff, Jean Todt, Christian Horner or Flavio Briatore to have lead a team to a title in the last 40 years.

[ralphrj]

blackmme said:

The stat's don't lie here, for me Ron was the greatest. He took a team heading down the grid fast and completely transformed it and ultimately F1.
In the mid to late 80's Ron set a model for corporate and operational excellence that every other team then copied/emulated or they ended up leaving the sport.

If I tried to write my view it would be this word for word!

So I'll just quote you instead.