Nigel Mansell

Mansell won thirty-one Grands Prix and needed thirteen seasons to win a championship, losing the 1986 title on a tyre failure at Adelaide with nineteen laps to go and the 1987 one to a practice crash at Suzuka.

When it finally came in 1992 it was overwhelming: nine wins from sixteen races in the Williams FW14B, with its active suspension and traction control, and the championship settled by August.

He left for American open-wheel racing the following year and won that championship too, as a rookie — the only driver to hold both titles at the same time.