Bruno Giacomelli is the most dominant driver in history.

Many now, falsely, believe that Charles Leclerc holds the record for the most Formula 2 wins in a single season, with seven in his sole 2017 campaign. But, the record is actually held by Giacomelli, with eight wins in his 1978 title-winning campaign. Adding to Giacomelli’s brilliance is that his season only contained 12 races, whilst Leclerc’s held 22, giving Giacomelli a 66% win percentage, whilst Leclerc only won 31.82%. Furthermore, whenever he finished a race, the Italian was on the podium, unlike Leclerc. It wasn’t like Giacomelli was racing against pushovers, either. His rivals included Derek Daly, Eddie Cheever, Future F1 Champion Keke Rosberg, and Elio De Angelis. Only one of Leclerc’s title rivals has made it to F1—Alexander Albon. Additionally, Leclerc had 8 pole positions from 22 races whilst Giacomelli scored 8 from 12 races, showing his unequivocal dominance in raw speed too. In the teammate battle, in races where both teammates finished, Leclerc finished ahead of Antonio Fuoco 73.3% of the time whereas Giacomelli finished ahead of Surer, of considerably greater pedigree than Fuoco, 87.5% of the time with Giacomelli finishing behind Surer only once—third to Surer’s second. Therefore, it is well beyond a reasonable doubt that Bruno Giacomelli’s 1978 European Formula 2 season is the most dominant season in Formula 2.

Jim Clark’s 1963 season was a season in which Clark achieved 100% of all points available, thanks to a rule in which only a driver’s 6 best results counted. Yet, it is not as dominant as first appears. While Clark did win more races than Giacomelli- 70% of his races to Bruno’s 66% – in races in which they finished, Giacomelli had a 100% podium finish rate, whilst Clark only had a 90% podium rate. Clark even had a non-points scoring round, which should be of particular note as one teammate—Trevor Taylor—managed to score points in that round. Both were beaten by a teammate once – Giacomelli 3rd to Surer’s 2nd at Mugello while Taylor finished 6th to Clark’s 8th at Monaco. Speaking of teammates, Clark had been in Formula 1 for 3 years and had scored three wins and six podiums while only one of his 4 teammates had any experience in Formula 1 before the 1963 season—Trevor Taylor—who had scored one point in Formula 1 at the time and would only go on to score a total of eight. This shows Clark was given soft teammates who would not challenge him, ensuring his dominance. Giacomelli also had two DNFs – a mechanical retirement from the lead at the Nurburgring and being taken out from the lead at Donington meaning he may well won 10 from 12 if things had gone differently. Finally, Clark only had to race 1 other Lotus 25, whereas Giacomelli was racing at least 9 other March 782s, meaning Bruno had far greater competition when considering equipment and drivers. Thereby, it is proven that Giacomelli was far more dominant than Clark, as Clark did not even score in every round he finished.

Another season which is often branded as the most dominant season in motorsport is Michael Schumacher’s 2004 season. Initially, mathematically, Schumacher is the more dominant driver, with Giacomelli only winning 66% of races to Schumacher’s 72.22%. However, Schumacher only scored 10 poles from 18 races—a disappointing 55.56% compared to Giacomelli’s 66% pole ratio. Furthermore, in the teammate battle, Schumacher only beat Barrichello in 75% of races when both finished, compared to Giacomelli beating Surer 88.89%. Additionally, Schumacher’s Ferrari team won 88.24% of races compared to Polifac BMW Junior Team winning only 66% of the races, showing that Schumacher had a better car, thus Giacomelli was the vastly more dominant driver.

Alberto Ascari’s 1952 season is, officially, the most dominant F1 season in history. His win percentage of 75% is initially impressive, however as Ferrari 87.5% of the races (all but one) it is by far the most dominant car, ergo the fact that Ascari lost two should have greater importance placed on it than Giacomelli’s two finishes in which he did not win, as two other teams won multiple races in Giacomelli’s season. Additionally, one of Ascari’s teammates—Piero Taruffi—won the first round whereas none of Giacomelli’s teammates did, proving that manufacturer competition was greater for Giacomelli, so the fact that he managed to achieve the same win percentage proves that Giacomelli was the most dominant driver. Furthermore, Giacomelli’s pole percentage of 66% is greater than Ascari’s 62.5%, stopping any disputes that Ascari had the greater raw speed. In the teammate battle, Ascari only beat his teammates 75% of the time, whereas Giacomelli beat his teammates 87.5% of the time, once again showing his dominance. Consequently, the fact that Giacomelli is the most dominant driver in history cannot be challenged.

AJ Foyt’s 1964 USAC Championship Car season is the most dominant in American open- wheel racing history. He won ten of the fourteen races that year, giving him a win percentage of 71.43%, once again lower than Giacomelli’s. Furthermore, his qualifying record is severely disappointing— only taking 15.38% of the pole positions, Giacomelli taking four times as many pole positions despite having 1 fewer round to do so in—the Pikes Peak round had no pole position as it was a time trial. There is no teammate battle to compare for Foyt, as his Ansted Racing team ran only his car, meaning they could give their full attention to AJ’s car. Foyt’s record is further discredited, however, by the fact that he was one of only four drivers to enter and qualify for every championship round that year and so had a clear advantage over his rivals, unlike Giacomelli who had 12 rivals who qualified for every round and 17 who entered every round. But, as Foyt only managed two pole positions and yet ten wins, it suggests his car was the most fuel efficient so had to stop less, the golden ticket to victory on a calendar that consists entirely of ovals as the 1964 season did. Hence, as Foyt had the best car for ovals and only 4 season-long rivals, with Parnelli Jones scoring over double Foyt’s pole positions that year, he can by no means be considered more dominant than Giacomelli.

In conclusion, Giacomelli’s raw speed combined with his consistency and a dominant number of wins in a car that was in no way dominant proves that his 1978 European Formula 2 season was the most dominant season by a single driver in history. His raw speed is formidable, as proved by his 66% pole percentage. Giacomelli scored 161% of the points of his closest teammate—Surer’s—points, despite one more retirement than Surer, showing that he obliterated his teammates. His win percentage was only matched by Ascari in a much more dominant car, shown by the fact that Giacomelli was the only driver to win for Polifac BMW Junior Team. For that reason, Giacomelli was far more dominant than Ascari considering their respective machinery. Adding to this is the fact that Giacomelli scored 75.93% of the total points available in the season and 91.1% of the points available in the races in which he finished. He also finished ahead of his teammates in 90% of the races he finished, another figure unbeaten by anybody and only matched by Clark who had teammates comparatively far less experienced than him and considering the fact that Clark failed to score in one round while Giacomelli never failed to finish on the podium, Clark can hardly be considered dominant. Giacomelli also achieved 3 grand chelems, as Clark did, but Giacomelli did so in a far less dominant car, again proving his ability to outdrive the car and dominate in machinery that had no business dominating. Moreover, Giacomelli scored over 50% of the points of his team, despite himself being ¼ of the team, showing he was clearly the greatest driver in his team – who were all of the same if not more experienced in the series, with all his teammates starting European Formula 2 in 1977 as he had – unlike drivers such as Farina and Clark who had vastly more inexperienced teammates and still managed to lose race wins to them, unlike Giacomelli. His closest championship rival—Marc Surer—did not win a race that season, such was Giacomelli’s dominance, and yet Surer would go on to be ranked the 17th best Formula 1 driver of all time in a research paper from the Sheffield Methods Institute (Formula for success: Multilevel modelling of Formula One Driver and Constructor performance, 1950–2014) and other rivals including future Formula 1 world champion Keke Rosberg, who had had a year more in the series at the time, still being annihilated. For that reason, Giacomelli’s dominance should be held in the highest esteem as it was against such extremely strong opposition. Additionally, Giacomelli ran 5 rounds in the Formula 1 world championship in the same year, meaning he was not able to give his full attention to his Formula 2 championship so could well have been even more dominant. Thus, the overriding theme of Giacomelli’s season is that his dominance was immense and would have been even greater if it was not for mechanical troubles—a trend that would plague him throughout his career—yet was still irrefutably the most dominant season in motorsport history.