50 replies to this topic

[lustigson]

With Mr J.A.L. Button becoming a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE), as did his World Champion predecssor, Mr L.C. Hamilton, I wonder which other current or past racing drivers, in Formula One, but in other championships, too, have received either honours or earned educational degrees?

I understand the first World Drivers' Champion, E.G. 'Nino' Farina, was a Doctor of some sort, as well as the 1987 Jim Clark Cup winner Dr. J.C. Palmer. Of the current crop, doesn't M. Gené Guerrero have some sort of degree in engineering? And I reckon M. Schumacher must have received some sort of honour from his native Germany, too.

[potmotr]

I think Pedro de la Rosa has an honours degree in accountancy doesn't he?

[Galko877]

And I reckon M. Schumacher must have received some sort of honour from his native Germany, too.

I'm not sure of that. But he did get an honour from Spain: the Prince of Asturias Award at the end of 2007. As well as Fernando Alonso (of course) two years before.


http://en.wikipedia....Asturias_Awards

[BRK]

It's been brought up before,I know,but Gene holds a degree in economics,I think,while Rosberg jr. has one in aeronautical engineering.

[potmotr]

Hulkenberg has a degree in something doesn't he?

[Galko877]

I think,while Rosberg jr. has one in aeronautical engineering.

I know he studied it, but did he finish school?

[potmotr]

I know Oliver Turvey has some kind of quite technical engineering degree which he completed.

[dank]

I know he studied it, but did he finish school?

Nope. I don't think he even started his course did he? Wasn't it at Imperial College?

[potmotr]

I know he studied it, but did he finish school?

Rosberg gained a place in some top engineering school I think, but didn't take up his place.

He was in F1 full time from 2006, an age when he would have still been studying.

[sir jackie walker]

I remember seeing Mika Häkkinen with some decoration. It must have been Knight 1st Class or Knight of the Order of the Lion of Finland.

[JPW]

Sebastien Loeb was made Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur earlier this year in France, an honor that Alain Prost received before (as did Sir Frank Williams).

Jean Todt was made Grand Officier de la Légion d'honneur in 2007, he also was awarded the Malaysian title of "Datuk".

[potmotr]

Vijay Mallya is a Doctor, not sure of what...

Nigel Mansell is an honoury police constable in the Isle of Man, and apparently even arrested someone once.

[dank]

Vijay Mallya is a Doctor, not sure of what...

According to Wikipedia:

He was educated at La Martiniere Boys' College, Kolkata and completed his degree from St. Xavier's College, Calcutta under Calcutta University. He was conferred a Doctorate in Philosophy in Business Administration by the University of Southern California USC.

[potmotr]

Philosophy in Business Admistration!

Seems to have served him well.

I'd actually be interested to know how many of the current F1 driver pool finished high school.

Drivers are getting younger and younger, with many racing away from home as professionals in their teens.

For instance, Robert Kubica was living in Italy aged 15 to race karts full time, so when did he finish his schools?

New Zealand's Brendon Hartley was living in Europe aged 15 and racing in Formula Renault.

I remember a piece with Nick Heidfeld at his old High School where he said he'd left a year early to focus on racing.

[Formula]

I believe Luca Badoer has some sort of qualification in architecture.

[potmotr]

I'm pretty sure Michael Schumacher is a qualified mechanic.

[Hypnotise]

I heard MS was lousy student only thinking about racing

[potmotr]

I heard MS was lousy student only thinking about racing

He wouldn't be the first mechanic who was a lousy student!

[BRK]

Yeah,my bad about Rosberg-only went by his comments about becoming an aero engineer at Williams F1 had he not found a place in F1.

[BMW_F1]

let me get this straight, both button and lewis went to and completed college?

[Les]

Going into the past Nigel Mansell went to college before F1 and I'm pretty sure he's a qualified mechanic, Gilles Villeneuve too I believe.

Heard something about Kimi Raikonnen being a plasterer or a plumber or something once. Sure that's not true.

[SAFC09]

Peter Windsor has a degree in bull ****

[Anssi]

Rosberg gained a place in some top engineering school I think, but didn't take up his place.

He was in F1 full time from 2006, an age when he would have still been studying.

That's right - he got a place but decided to pursue a race driver career instead.

He tested the Williams F1 car when he was 17 years old. Kinda puts into perspective going to a University... if he gets a chance to test a F1 car that young (on merit, as he did) then it's likely his career will be in car racing instead of going to a University to study something else.

[potmotr]

Heard something about Kimi Raikonnen being a plasterer or a plumber or something once. Sure that's not true.

I read somewhere that Kimi's Dad is a plumber or something, so his boy may have learned a few tricks.

The Timo Glock family business is scaffolding, and Timo is quite handy at putting up a metal gantry around your terrace!

[Anssi]

As far as I know Kimi is a car mechanic.

His dad has been a taxi driver (not sure if I confuse this with Mika Häkkinen's father because he's said to have worked as a part-time taxi driver, but I think I recall this right) and a bouncer.



Mika Häkkinen is a welder.



Heikki Kovalainen is an Abiturient (or "baccalaureate"? more appropriate in English?) ("ylioppilas" in Finnish). That degree does not give a profession. Its main task is to prepare people for university studies.


Jyrki Järvilehto (J.J. Lehto) is also an Abiturient. His Finnish Wikipedia page mentions his dad had told him he would have to stop his car racing hobby if he wouldn't get the degree. I don't know if he has any further degrees to his name.

Keijo Rosberg is also an Abiturient. I don't know if he has any further degrees to his name.

Edited by Anssi, 31 December 2009 - 14:31.

[BMW_F1]

let me get this straight, both button and lewis went to and completed college?

from wiki...

Only the two highest ranks admit an individual into knighthood automatically, an honour allowing the recipient to use the title "Sir" (male) or "Dame" (female) before his or her first name (though one can be knighted separately from the Orders of Chivalry). Honorary knighthoods, given to individuals who are not nationals of a realm where Elizabeth II is Head of State, permit usage of the honour as a post-nominal but not as a title before their name. These recipients are classified as honorary members of the Order they receive, and do not contribute to the numbers restricted to that Order as full members do.

There is also a related British Empire Medal, whose recipients are not members of the Order, but who are nonetheless affiliated with the Order. The British Empire Medal has not been used in the United Kingdom or its dependencies since 1993,[1] but is still used by the Cook Islands and by some other Commonwealth nations.

The Order's motto is For God and the Empire. It is the most junior of the British orders of chivalry, and the largest, with over 100,000 living members worldwide.[2]

This has nothing to do with any educational degree.. It has do with King Arthur stuff.. LOL..

Edited by BMW_F1, 31 December 2009 - 17:54.

[Bloggsworth]

By far the most qualified driver racing at the moment is Milka Duno who has Masters Degrees in Organizational Development, Naval Architecture, Maritime Business, and Marine Biology, and worked as a naval engineer - doesn't make her any faster, though she was a regular winner in sports cars.

Edited by Bloggsworth, 31 December 2009 - 18:56.

[P123]

from wiki...


This has nothing to do with any educational degree.. It has do with King Arthur stuff.. LOL..

I was wondering when somebody might bring this up. Somehow we went from MBE's to discussing educational qualifications......

[Eau Red]

Rumor has it that Button & Hamilton have also been awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class, from the Ministry of Magic. Must be a British thing?

[ensign14]

Mark Donohue had a BA in mechanical engineering from an Ivy League institution (Brown). Perhaps the most highly qualified F1 driver. Quite a few of the toffs before the War were Oxbridge (Seaman and Prince Bira for example) but whether they graduated is another matter.

Doesn't the Stig have a BA (Oxon)?

[B Squared]

Mark Donohue set the stage many years ago with a mechanical engineering degree from the Ivy Leagues Brown University.

Good job ensign - you beat me to it!

B²

Edited by B Squared, 31 December 2009 - 22:54.

[LittleChris]

Mark Donohue had a BA in mechanical engineering from an Ivy League institution (Brown). Perhaps the most highly qualified F1 driver.

Jonathon Palmer qualified as a Medical Doctor ( not sure what he specialised in ) and how about Tony Brooks who qualified as a Dentist. Surely both of them must qualify pretty highly since they would've had to have had degrees before taking on years of further study ?

Happy Noo Year all

Edited by LittleChris, 01 January 2010 - 00:42.

[Professor Arturo]

Heinz-Harald Frentzen is a qualified undertaker. Not sure what's involved to gain it.

Edited by Professor Arturo, 01 January 2010 - 01:05.

[FonzCam]

let's try to get this back on topic...

A quick google and it seems that loads of people in F1 have honorary degrees I'm sure there are many more but a few minutes searching gave me these
Brawn (Brunel)
Bernie (Imperial)
Brundle (East Anglia)
Sid Watkins (Liverpool)
Stewart (Michigan, Edinburgh, Glasgow Caledonian and Cranfield),
Dennis (Surrey)
Whitmarsh (Solent)
Smedley (Teeside)
Richards (Warwick)
D Hill (Northampton)
Jordan (Dublin Insititute of Technology, Ulster)
Di Montezemolo (Modena)
Murray Walker (Bournemouth)
Byrne (Trento)

Honorary degrees seem to be given away like candy to anyone in the public eye these days. MBEs and OBEs seem to be given to every athlete to wins a major prize in their sport. The CBE is a much more exclusive honour because there are only 8960 Commanders in the order at any one time, in F1 I think it's just Ron and Sir Frank who are CBE.

Quick list of honours and the F1 champions who have them.

OBE - Prost, Brabham, Stewart, Clark, Surtees, Hulme, Mansell, D. Hill
MBE - Jones, Hamilton, Button
Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur - Prost
Knight Bachelor - Stewart
AO (Officer of the Order of Australia) - Brabham
OQ (Officer of the Order of Quebec)- J. Villeneuve

[Nick Planas]

Quick list of honours and the F1 champions who have them.

OBE - Prost, Brabham, Stewart, Clark, Surtees, Hulme, Mansell, D. Hill
MBE - Jones, Hamilton, Button
Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur - Prost
Knight Bachelor - Stewart
AO (Officer of the Order of Australia) - Brabham
OQ (Officer of the Order of Quebec)- J. Villeneuve
[/quote]


I seem to recall from my childhood that Graham Hill received an OBE as well, after his second championship win, but there's no mention of it on Wikipedia.

[ff1600]

Mansell is an aerospace engineer.

[lustigson]

I seem to recall from my childhood that Graham Hill received an OBE as well, after his second championship win, but there's no mention of it on Wikipedia.

If this is N.G. Hill's tombstone, he was indeed an OBE.

[Misk]

let me get this straight, both button and lewis went to and completed college?

No, they received an M.B.E - http://en.wikipedia...._British_Empire - for their services to British Sport/Motor racing.

Edited by Misk, 01 January 2010 - 19:44.

[Chicken McNuggets]

Max Mosley received an honorary degree from Northumbria University, UK in 2005 I think. And for Smedley, it's spelt Teesside, BTW...

[SAFC09]

And for Smedley, it's spelt Teesside, BTW...

The Smoggies do get pissed off when people make that mistake

[WebBerK]

Jonathon Palmer qualified as a Medical Doctor...

Happy Noo Year all

Valentino Rossi is a Doctor too.

Fernando Alonso is the Prince of PayDrivers.

Gil de Ferran dropped his Engineering College to race in England. His dad Luc de Ferran was the head of engineering of Ford Brazil and now has some executive hole in the company.

[WebBerK]

Honorary degrees seem to be given away like candy to anyone in the public eye these days. MBEs and OBEs seem to be given to every athlete to wins a major prize in their sport. The CBE is a much more exclusive honour because there are only 8960 Commanders in the order at any one time, in F1 I think it's just Ron and Sir Frank who are CBE.

Quick list of honours and the F1 champions who have them.

OBE - Prost, Brabham, Stewart, Clark, Surtees, Hulme, Mansell, D. Hill
MBE - Jones, Hamilton, Button
Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur - Prost
Knight Bachelor - Stewart
AO (Officer of the Order of Australia) - Brabham
OQ (Officer of the Order of Quebec)- J. Villeneuve

Ron Dennis also has an honorary diplom by some major English University.
It's amazing how far Ron developed McLaren in a kingdon of engineers.

[FonzCam]

Ron Dennis also has an honorary diplom by some major English University.
It's amazing how far Ron developed McLaren in a kingdon of engineers.

I'm not sure I'd call the University of Surrey a major university (it's average sized and somewhere between 20-40 in the various rankings) but yes he has an honorary doctorate.

Interesting to see G Hill's gravestone if he's OBE then it's just Hawthorn and Hunt without honours. When Scheckter became champ South Africa wasn't in the commonwealth so that explains him, Hawthorn would probably have received an OBE or MBE if he hadn't died so soon after becoming champion. Hunt is an interesting one, I can only assume his off track behaviour and playboy image is the reason they didn't award him anything.

Interesting to note and the most impressive award is Guy Edwards who was awarded a Queen's Gallantry Medal for saving Lauda at the 1976 German GP.

As for Teesside it was a typo and to be honest I was more worried double checking that I'd got "Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur" correct

[midgrid]

I know Oliver Turvey has some kind of quite technical engineering degree which he completed.

He has an engineering degree from Cambridge (Fitzwilliam College), and is the first racing driver to receive an Extraordinary Full Blue from the university.

[giacomo]

Alain Prost is an OBE? How and why?

[Just waiting]

Mark Donohue set the stage many years ago with a mechanical engineering degree from the Ivy Leagues Brown University.

Good job ensign - you beat me to it!

B²

Jim Hall, who raced in F1 early in his career (a little known fact) had a mechanical engineering degree from a university in california (started to say Southern Cal, but I can not remember exactly),

[hay!]

Graham Hill was awarded the O.B.E. in 1969

[agent99]

Alain Prost is an OBE? How and why?

I'm glad I'm not the only one who wondered that. I realise you can get honorary ones if you're not British, but why him rather than any others before or since, and it isn't as if he had much of an attachment to Britain either. Ma'am obviously wasn't much of a Mansell/Senna fan at the time...

[giacomo]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who wondered that. I realise you can get honorary ones if you're not British, but why him rather than any others before or since, and it isn't as if he had much of an attachment to Britain either. Ma'am obviously wasn't much of a Mansell/Senna fan at the time...

Or a mistake of wikipedia?

[ensign14]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who wondered that. I realise you can get honorary ones if you're not British, but why him rather than any others before or since, and it isn't as if he had much of an attachment to Britain either. Ma'am obviously wasn't much of a Mansell/Senna fan at the time...

I can just about see the logic, after all he won four world titles with British-based teams...nobody else has ever done that.