Formula One drivers from Australia Formula One drivers from Australia There have been 17 Formula One drivers from Australia, 14 of which have taken part in at least one race since the championship began in 1950, and 3 failed to qualify. Two drivers have won the World Drivers' Championship: Jack Brabham, who won it three times, and Alan Jones, the most recent Australian world champion. One driver is currently active in the sport. Two Australian drivers won the World Drivers' Championship, Jack Brabham in 1959, 1960, and 1966, and Alan Jones in 1980. Brabham is the only driver to win the title in one of
1997 Formula One World Championship wins. Villeneuve won seven races, but would never win a Formula One Grand Prix again before his 2006 retirement. 1997 also saw the retirement of Gerhard Berger after many years in the sport, as well as the first race wins for Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Mika Häkkinen. As of 2018, this was the last time the championship was won by a non-European driver. The following teams and drivers competed in the 1997 FIA Formula One World Championship. Three new teams came into Formula One in 1997: Prost, who replaced Ligier; Stewart, who arrived with the backing of the Ford Motor Company;