There are twenty seven men who have claimed the title World Champion in the history of Formula One. Most, if not all, are ambassadors for the sport which any other field of endeavour would be proud to claim. But what of the current crop of drivers looking to add their names to the list? Karl Ludvigsen considers the pretenders to the throne

We've been pretty darn lucky in our World Champion drivers so far. There've been 27 so far, and scarcely a dud among them. This has been a boon and a blessing for Formula One racing and its world-wide reputation.

Among our champions are some of the greatest men in the modern history of motor racing. The multiple champions in particular stand out as great sportsmen as well as racing drivers. Nothing I could say would add lustre to the stellar reputation of Juan Manuel Fangio as both man and racer. Throughout his lifetime he was rightly respected as the doyen of the sport for his honesty and rectitude as well as his unmatched achievements on the track.

Other multiple champs who've left their mark on the sport include Jackie Stewart, who raised the drivers' game in terms of both professionalism and safety. Four-time champion Alain Prost wasn't nicknamed 'The Professor' for no reason. He was as savvy a driver as has ever taken the wheel. Prost doesn't deserve to be remembered as a failed team chief. Triple champ Jack Brabham introduced a shrewd new appreciation of chassis tuning to the sport as well as a new legend of success in a driver's own automobile. 'Black Jack' was and is a man of tremendous stature.

Jim Clark? What can be said â??? the very picture of the modest champion and promise unfulfilled. The same could, I think, be said for different reasons of Mika Hakkinen. Epitome of the hard trier who made it look easy, Graham Hill spoke for the sport both on and off the track. Two who were known as much for forceful determination as well as sheer speed were Niki Lauda and Ayrton Senna. Neither was lacking in ego, but both gave a great deal back to the sport that had enriched them.

The first double champion, Alberto Ascari, was a demon on the track and a 'bourgeois Milanese' at home. As such he had a lot in common with another double champion, Emerson Fittipaldi, who remains an exemplar of sheer enthusiasm for motor racing as does his countryman Nelson Piquet. We now know what dedication Piquet brought to his teams during the heyday of his triple-crowned career.

Among our singleton World Champions are some of the sport's greatest ambassadors. John Surtees, Phil Hill, Jody Scheckter and Damon Hill are men who stand for excellence in everything they undertake. And as for Mario Andretti, Formula One is lucky to have him listed among its champions. Mario alone lifts the other 26.

Love him or loathe him, Michael Schumacher has burnished the champion's crown. He's had his errant moments â??? for which he's been punished â??? but over more than two decades of racing, who hasn't? As a family man he's matured to a more relaxed and even amusing demeanour that does motor racing proud, without losing that special edge and concentration that has brought him seven world titles.

And then there are the one-offs, the men whose presence on the list of 27 is a bit of a surprise, in some cases even an aberration. Mike Hawthorn is the first of these, along with Jochen Rindt unable to tell us what he'd be like as a reigning World Champion. Denny Hulme and Alan Jones are others, forceful Antipodeans who were in the right place at the right time. At the raffish end of the scale are James Hunt, Keke Rosberg and Jacques Villeneuve. I see them as takers rather than givers where the World Championship is concerned. That doesn't make them less interesting as people, but none would be ranked as a great representative of the sport.

Which brings me to our current contenders. Among those jostling for title success around and after Michael, and who have the machinery to make their mark, are Rubens Barrichello, Juan Montoya, Kimi Raikkonen, Giancarlo Fisichella and Fernando Alonso. How would we rate these as racers and men? Who would make fine World Champions? All of them would, save one.

I've gone right off Kimi. After Brazil in 2001 I hailed his arrival on the scene, calling him 'The Real Deal'. I thought then that he had what it took to get to the top. He proved it in the 2003 season. But Raikkonen hasn't worn well. What looked like calm forbearance now smacks of selfish petulance. His monosyllabic grunting is a bore. And his off-track behaviour isn't promising. I realise that on the club scene the New Big Thing is whipping it out, and I suppose if you're making $19 million a year you'd be tempted to flaunt that 'mine's bigger than yours'. But it's unprecedentedly sleazy for a World Championship contender.

So in this and future seasons I'll be urging on the other contenders. I'll be putting the hex on one particular McLaren-Mercedes. I'll be cheering on the next World Champion. As long as it's Anyone But Kimi.

About the author:
Long time columnist at Atlas F1, Karl Ludvigsen is an award-winning author and historian who managed racing programs for Fiat in America in the late 1970s and Ford of Europe in the early 1980s. He is the author of seven books about racing drivers and numerous books about classic racing cars and engines, all of which draw extensively on the many images in his Ludvigsen Library in Suffolk, England.