Tony Brooks

British racing driver who won six Grands Prix and finished runner-up in the 1959 World Championship with Ferrari, all while working part-time as a dentist — the last amateur to genuinely challenge for an F1 title.

Tony Brooks won six Formula 1 Grands Prix from just 38 starts, finished runner-up in the 1959 World Championship, and delivered the first international Grand Prix win for a British car in over 30 years at the 1955 Syracuse Grand Prix — a record that prompted Stirling Moss to later call him 'the most underrated great driver of them all.' Brooks joined Vanwall in 1957 and 1958, winning Grands Prix and finishing third in the 1958 World Championship, before moving to Ferrari for 1959. That season he came agonisingly close to the title, winning the French and German Grands Prix and finishing runner-up in the championship to Jack Brabham. Fellow driver Stirling Moss, his teammate at Vanwall, later called Brooks 'the most underrated great driver of them all', comparing his effortless style to Jim Clark's. Brooks was renowned for his exceptional pace on fast, dangerous circuits, particularly the 14-mile Nürburgring Nordschleife, where his speed was reportedly a factor in the fatal 1958 crash of Ferrari teammate Peter Collins, who was attempting to keep pace with him. Despite his obvious talent, Brooks lacked the fierce personal ambition that drove contemporaries such as Moss, and never fully committed himself to chasing the championship at all costs. Brooks retired from Formula 1 in 1961 with six Grand Prix victories and ten podiums from just 38 starts, an exceptional strike rate. He died on 3 May 2022 at age 90, the last surviving Grand Prix winner from the 1950s.

Effortless, smooth driving style particularly suited to fast, dangerous circuits

Praised by contemporaries including Stirling Moss as one of the most naturally gifted drivers of the 1950s

• Won the non-championship Syracuse Grand Prix on his international debut (1955)
• Joined Vanwall and won his first championship Grand Prix (1957)
• Finished runner-up in the World Championship with Ferrari (1959)