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John Surtees is the only person in history to win world titles in F1 and MotoGP, but he notoriously left Ferrari “in protest” during the 1966 season just to regret his decision.
The Briton first emerged as a force to be reckoned with on two wheels as he made his name on motorcycles in the 1950s. Riding for the dominant MV Agusta also helped Surtees to win his maiden 500cc title during the 1956 season, which he backed up in 1958, 1959 and 1960.
Still to this day, only four riders have ever won more premier class motorcycle titles than the four that Surtees secured with MV Agusta. He even lifted the 350cc title in 1958, 1959 and 1960, only to then switch two wheels for four and move to Formula 1 permanently in 1961.
Team Lotus had already offered Surtees a taste of F1 during the 1960 season, and even saw him take his maiden podium at Silverstone in the British Grand Prix. Two years with Yeoman then saw Surtees move to Ferrari in the 1963 season, and his F1 title then followed in 1964.
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John Surtees quit Ferrari ‘in protest’ in 1966 only to realise he made a ‘mistake’
Surtees won the 1964 F1 drivers’ championship by just one point over his British compatriot Graham Hill, thanks to Ferrari ordering teammate Lorenzo Bandini to let him finish second in the season-ending Mexican Grand Prix after a late oil leak threatened to destroy his title bid.
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Yet while Ferrari played the team game to ensure Surtees won the 1964 title, tension behind the scenes in Maranello reached boiling point in 1966 and he quit the team after the second round. It ultimately cost them both the title, as Jack Brabham instead climbed to the top.
Surtees joined a Ferrari team in need of new life in 1963, and he even had to overcome the pride of Italy starting 1964 with a car that was behind schedule to win the title. Ferrari also focusing on the 24 Hours of Le Mans also meant their engineers did not always prioritise F1.
Noticing Ferrari’s need for large-scale changes behind the scenes, Surtees tried to push the Scuderia to adapt. However, how Surtees tried to make Ferrari change and the reactions he got from their engineers laid the path for his abrupt departure and move to Cooper in 1966.
“In doing that, I fell foul of certain people, which led to me leaving in protest,” Surtees told Mark Hughes in 1998. “Which, in hindsight, was a mistake.
“But in an Italian team – and I found this in motorcycles, as well as [in] cars – you need to be sure of yourself, and behave as if you are sure of yourself, and then prove it by performance. Otherwise, you’re finished.”
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Some would argue that Ferrari sacked Surtees in 1966, rather than he quit the Scuderia, due to his falling out with their then-team manager Eugenio Dragoni at Le Mans. Either way, the Briton left Maranello one week after he scored a superb win in the 1966 Belgian Grand Prix.
Surtees overcame torrid conditions to score what proved to be his final F1 Grand Prix win as a Ferrari driver in the rain at Spa. He ultimately scored two further world championship race wins before retiring from F1 in 1972, after which he still remained involved in motorsport.
After the death of his son, Henry Surtees, during a Formula 2 race at Brands Hatch in 2009, the legend of two and four-wheel motorsport set up the Henry Surtees Foundation. John Surtees died at the age of 83 in March 2017 after being treated for a respiratory condition.
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