10 PETER GETHIN
BRM years 1971-73
BRM starts 23
BRM wins 2
Gethin was already a multiple Formula 5000 champion when he joined BRM from McLaren partway through 1971. His third race for the team was the Italian Grand Prix, which became one of F1’s most famous events.
After losing the leading pack early on, Gethin worked himself back into slipstreaming range of the battle for victory. He then won a remarkable drag race to beat Ronnie Peterson’s March to the line by 0.01 seconds as 0.61s covered the top five. Gethin averaged a then-record 150.76mph.
The rest of Gethin’s time at BRM was more troubled as the team lost competitiveness with its ageing V12 engines. He did, however, win the non-championship 1971 Victory Race at Brands Hatch, a contest shortened by the fatal crash of his team-mate Jo Siffert.
9 JO BONNIER
BRM years 1957-60
BRM starts 24
BRM wins 1
Though not of the first rank, Bonnier was a solid performer and will always have a place in BRM history as the driver who gave the team its long-awaited maiden world championship GP victory.
Bonnier first raced for BRM at the end of 1957, and did so again at the close of 1958 before a full campaign the following season. Reliability was still a problem, but the front-engined P25 was competitive.
After extensive testing at Zandvoort, BRM was ready for the Dutch GP. Bonnier took BRM’s first world championship pole, just ahead of the Coopers of Jack Brabham and Stirling Moss. Bonnier was always in
