Jack Brabham

Sir John Arthur "Jack" Brabham, AO, OBE (born 2 April 1926 in Hurstville, died 19 May 2014 in Gold Coast) was an Australian racing driver and the first Australian World Champion who competed in Formula One from 1952 onwards, becoming World Champion in 1955, 1956 and 1957. A Royal Australian Air Force flight mechanic during the war, he ran a small engineering workshop before starting racing midget cars in 1948. Success in Australian and New Zealand championships saw him entered for Ecurie Australie in the 1952 Australian Grand Prix, driving an HWM-Alta, where he failed to qualify in an altogether anonymous performance. Unnoticed, he became interested in the European scene and decided to attend the British Grand Prix in the Tasman off-season.

Dorino Serafini had suffered an accident in the preceding French Grand Prix, and upon arrival in Silverstone, he discovered that he was in no shape to drive. Brabham being the only free driver in the paddock available to replace Serafini, he was reluctantly hired by Ferrari. While he comfortably prequalified, his first outing was difficult, and he had the merit of finishing the race in a lowly 13th place. However, he had learned quickly, and when Ferrari fired Juan Manuel Fangio after the Italian Grand Prix, Brabham was the only driver on the Ferrari books willing to step in as replacement. Qualifying 15th, he profited from attrition to finish fourth. He was promptly hired as third driver for the 1954 season.

Ever the opportunist, Brabham won his first full-time race for Ferrari, the attrition-filled 1954 Monaco Grand Prix. Paired with another podium in Belgium, he scored 14 points that year, vaulting him into sixth place in the championship. As financial problems developed at Ferrari, he moved to Alfa Romeo in 1955 to drive the new AR161. Before the season started, he dominated the non-championship Grand Prix de Rouen-les-Essarts, but the season itself wasn't as easy. Faced with opposition as unreliable and inconsistent as his own machinery, he proved quick, but occasionally off the pace. Nonetheless, he was in eighth place going to the season-ending Italian Grand Prix, with only 9 points. As most other contenders retired, Brabham could vault into the lead for a comfortable victory, taking the championsip with a record low of 18 points.

As Alfa Romeo disintegrated from the inside, Brabham bailed to Gordini and their new Type 56, which would prove to be the dominant car of 1956. Behind its wheel, Brabham scored five pole positions, four fastest laps and three race victories to storm to a second world title and equal the record six race victories of Giuseppe Farina, B. Bira and Consalvo Sanesi. Following this title, Brabham moved to B.C.M.A. where, despite recurrent reliability issues, he was able to win a then-record four races to win a third consecutive world championship with a last-race victory over Stirling Moss, who had led the whole year.

Brabham later founded his own team in the 1960s, which won numerous races, notably in non-championship events and the Tasman Series, and also competed in Formula One.

Complete Alternate Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	WDC	Pts.
1952	Ecurie Australie	HWM 52	Alta 1.5 L4s	MON	ENG	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER	NED	ITA	USA	AUS DNQ				NC	0
1953	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 555	Ferrari 555 2.5 L4	MON	NED	BEL	FRA	GBR 13	GER	SUI	ITA	USA 4					17th	3
1954	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 555	Ferrari 555 2.5 L4	MON 1	FRA 8	BEL 3	NED Ret	GBR Ret	SUI 6	GER Ret	USA Ret	ITA Ret					6th	14
1955	Alfa Romeo SpA	Alfa Romeo AR161	Alfa Romeo AR2V8 1.5 V8	MON Ret	FRA Ret	BEL 1	GBR 8	SCO Ret	SOV Ret	ITA 1							1st	18
1956	Equipe Gordini	Gordini Type 56	Gordini G/258A L4	MON Ret	FRA 1	BEL 1	GER Ret	GDR Ret	IRL Ret	SCO Ret	GBR 1	ITA Ret	THA Ret				1st	27
1957	British Commonwealth Motorsport Association	B.C.M.A. RP.1001	B.C.M.A. A/AS Wyvern 2.5 L6	MAR Ret	MON Ret	FRA 1	BEL Ret	NED 1	IRL Ret	GBR 1	GER Ret	ITA Ret	ESP 2	USA 1			1st	42
1958	British Commonwealth Motorsport Association	B.C.M.A. RP.1001 Mk. II	B.C.M.A. A/AS Wyvern B 2.5 L6	AUS Ret	MON Ret	FRA Ret	NED INJ	BEL 2	GER Ret	GBR 8	POR 3	ITA 1	MAR Ret	USA Ret			6th	19
1966	Kent Racing Organisation	Brabham BT19	Repco 620 3.0 V8	RZA ENT	BRA ENT	MON ENT	BEL ENT	FRA ENT	GBR ENT	NED ENT	GER ENT	AUT ENT	SWE ENT	ITA ENT	MEX ENT	USA ENT

* denotes season still in progress