He was the ‘win or bust’ F1 driver who took 25 victories but only finished second once

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Lewis Hamilton is the most successful Formula 1 driver ever with seven world championships and 105 Grands Prix victories. He’s won 28.8% of the races he’s contested.

Hamilton’s success rate has dropped during F1’s ground-effect era after a period of dominance at Mercedes. He’s only won two out of 78 races in this generation of cars.

But 28.8% is still one of the best records among drivers who have stood on the top step at least 25 times. It ranks him ahead of Jackie Stewart (27.3%), Alain Prost (25.6%) and his idol, Ayrton Senna (25.5%).

Hamilton comes in a fraction behind his fellow seven-time champion Michael Schumacher (29.6%), while Max Verstappen has held onto a 29.8% win rate as Red Bull’s dominance comes to an end.

But all of these legendary drivers are outshone by Jim Clark, who remarkably won 25 of the 72 races he started before a fatal accident in 1968. Better than one-third, it’s one of the finest victory percentages ever seen in motorsport.

Mario Andretti marvels at the ‘amazing’ mentality of Jim Clark

One of the remarkable things about Clark is that he almost never finished as the runner-up. He only did so once, following home John Surtees at the 1963 German Grand Prix.

The Scotsman failed to finish 28 times in an era where reliability was far patchier. Speaking on the Beyond the Grid podcast earlier this year, Mario Andretti fondly reminisced about the man nicknamed ‘Mr Smooth’.

Andretti, who won the F1 title in 1978, has firsthand experience of Clark. They both raced in the Indy500 in 1965, ’66 and ’67.

“Quiet and unassuming? Absolutely,” Andretti said. He was regarded as the man, no question.”

Host Tom Clarkson interjected: “I love the stat – 25 wins from 72 starts in Formula 1, only one second place. Jimmy was win or bust.”

And Andretti replied: “Yeah, win or bust. Amazing.”

What Ayrton Senna said about boyhood hero Jim Clark

Jackie Stewart is a huge admirer of Clark, his fellow Scotsman. He feels his nickname was certainly justified.

Indeed, Stewart credits his delicate driving style for taming a Lotus car that was ‘very fragile’, so much so that it endangered its previous occupants.

Senna, who was born in 1960, idolised Clark when he was a small child. He described him as ‘my boyhood hero’.

Senna called Clark ‘the best of the best’, one of the highest compliments that could possibly be paid. He won two world championships, but the consensus is that his talent merited more.