Has there ever been a driver who won a tittle when he was young and then go through several years(5 to 10) of?

Question

mediocre performance and then suddenly out of the blue wins another tittle?

Answer 1

Jacques Villeneuve is one that never came back from the lows lol!!! He was at his prime in 95,96,97 and after that never had the cars to do as well as his talent (which he certainly had) clearly could...

Niki Lauda never really had a low... he just got bored and wanted to fly planes instead....

Jack Brabham won his first two titles at the end of the 50s.. then waited till 66 for his next and last...

Mario Andretti took pole on his F1 debut in 1968... but didn't win a title until 1978... mainly because of a lack of a regular drive and his Indycar and other racing commitments in the USA...

Alain Prost won his last title 13 years after his debut in 1980... but then he did win 3 others in between that...

Can't think of any others...

Answer 2

Lauda (7 seasons)

Brabham (6 seasons)

G.Hill (6 seasons)

& M.Schumacher (5 seasons)

are the drivers with the longest gaps between world titles. Brabham was the driver who was least successful in the entretemps - when he started his golden summer of 1966 by winning the French GP, it was almost six years since his previous victory! His poor performance is mainly explained by his forming of his own team and the extra work required to make it a success.

Answer 3

I think Fernando Alonso may be joining this list the way he's going. . .

Answer 4

Nicki Lauda was champion in 1975& 77, then did very little, quit F1 at end of 79 to start a airline company(!) Came back in 1982 and won his 3rd championship in 1984 by half a point from Alain Prost!!