Chris Amon
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Chris Amon (born 20 July 1943 in Bulls, New Zealand) was a New Zealand Grand Prix driver of the 1960s and 1970s, widely accepted to be one of the best drivers never to win a F1 Grand Prix. He moved to England in 1963 to drive his first GP as a 19-year old. In the 1963-66 period he raced for Lola, Lotus, Brabham and Cooper but virtually as a fill-in driver. At the same time he was competing in sports car racing where he came to wider attention when winning the 1966 Le Mans 24hrs co-driving a Ford GT-40 with fellow Kiwi Bruce McLaren.
The following year he was personally recruited and signed by Enzo Ferrari and was promoted to the F1 team mid-season. He finished third in the Monaco GP in his first race for the team, (ahead of McLaren who was fourth but behind Kiwi Denny Hulme who won the race and became world champion that year). Three more podium finishes saw him retained for 1968 when his best result was second in the British GP but the Ferrari's competitiveness was only middling so he left the team in mid-1969. (It was widely considered a move of great folly, but Ferrari never won a championship from 1965-74 inclusive.)
In 1970 he signed to lead the new March team and gained two second places, but moved to Matra in 1971 and was leading the French GP by miles when a puncture cost him his first GP win. Third in the French GP was his best finish in 1972 and in 1973 he moved to the small Italian Tecno team with a point won on debut in Belgium being his only one of the year.
Amon tried running his own car in 1974 but the venture failed. Despite some spirited drives in 1975 and 1976 for Ensign his F1 career was over and he retired back to his farm near Bulls in New Zealand.
Despite never winning a F1 GP, Amon won numerous other notable races as well as the Le Mans 24hrs. He won the Daytona 24hrs, Monza 1000, and International Trophy (Silverstone). Non F1 GPs which he won were the Argentine (1971), and in the Dino Ferrari, the Australian (1969) and New Zealand (1968 and 1969). He also won the Tasman Cup, which was raced on several New Zealand and Australian circuits, and which attracted the current top F1 racers each year.
In the early 1980s, Amon was known for his television appearances on motoring programme Motor Show, hosted by anchorman Dougal Stevenson, where he test-drove the cars featured on each episode around a track. In one test, he exposed the dangers of the contemporary Suzuki van under heavy braking. Subsequently, he consulted for Toyota New Zealand and tuned the models to New Zealand tastes, initially with the 1984 Toyota Corolla. Much was made of Enzo Ferrari's acclaim for the driver in television commercials. Amon's influence would be felt in many future Toyota models and contributed to the rise of that company in that country in the 1980s.
Amon participated in 102 grands prix, debuting on June 9, 1963. He achieved 11 podium, and scored a total of 83 championship points.
Complete Formula One results
(Note: grands prix in bold denote points scoring races.)
| Yr | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1963 | Lola | MON | BEL | DUT | FRA | GBR | DEU | ITA | USA | MEX | SAF | Lotu | ||||||
| 1964 | Lotu | MON | DUT | BEL | FRA | GBR | DEU | AUT | ITA | USA | MEX | Lotu | ||||||
| 1965 | Lotu | SAF | MON | BEL | FRA | GBR | DUT | DEU | ITA | USA | MEX | Lotu | ||||||
| 1966 | Coop | MON | BEL | FRA | GBR | DUT | DEU | ITA | USA | MEX | Brab | |||||||
| 1967 | Ferr | SAF | MON | DUT | BEL | FRA | GBR | DEU | CAN | ITA | USA | MEX | Ferr | |||||
| 1968 | Ferr | SAF | SPA | MON | BEL | DUT | FRA | GBR | DEU | ITA | CAN | USA | MEX | Ferr | ||||
| 1969 | Ferr | SAF | SPA | MON | DUT | FRA | GBR | DEU | ITA | CAN | USA | MEX | Ferr | |||||
| 1970 | Marc | SAF | SPA | MON | BEL | DUT | FRA | GBR | DEU | AUT | ITA | CAN | USA | MEX | Marc | |||
| 1971 | Matr | SAF | SPA | MON | DUT | FRA | GBR | DEU | AUT | ITA | CAN | USA | Matr | |||||
| 1972 | Matr | ARG | SAF | SPA | MON | BEL | FRA | GBR | DEU | AUT | ITA | CAN | USA | Matr | ||||
| 1973 | Tecn | ARG | BRA | SAF | SPA | BEL | MON | SWE | FRA | GBR | DUT | DEU | AUT | ITA | CAN | USA | Tyrr | |
| 1974 | Amon | ARG | BRA | SAF | SPA | BEL | MON | SWE | DUT | FRA | GBR | DEU | AUT | ITA | CAN | USA | BRM | |
| 1975 | Ensi | ARG | BRA | SAF | SPA | MON | BEL | SWE | DUT | FRA | GBR | DEU | AUT | ITA | USA | Ensi | ||
| 1976 | Ensi | BRA | SAF | USAW | SPA | BEL | MON | SWE | FRA | GBR | DEU | AUT | DUT | ITA | CAN | USA | JPN | Ensi |