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Winning the F1 world title is the ultimate goal of any driver. It takes years of hard work, dedication, drive, and some luck as well. However, there is a famous quote that reaching the top of the mountain is not as tough as staying on top.
The quote holds true in F1 as well as throughout the history of the sport, there have been multiple drivers that have climbed to the top, won the title, and then for some reason, they were not able to sustain the same level of performance that had brought them to the top.
In this piece, we will look at the three drivers whose performances fell off the cliff after winning their first title.
Jacques Villeneuve (1997 F1 champion)
By the end of the 1997 season, Villeneuve was on his way to becoming one of the most accomplished drivers in the history of the sport. He was the 1995 Indycar champion, in 1996 he was the runner-up in his debut season and by 1997 he was an F1 World Champion.
However, Williams' downfall in 1998 coincided with Villeneuve's as well, as the Canadian did not pick up even a single race win after the 1997 season.
After the 1997 season, Villeneuve's career went into a decline as he moved to less competitive teams like BAR, Renault, and Sauber in the future and was never able to regain the glorious heights of his Williams years.
Why did he suffer such a decline? It's hard to say, but once Villeneuve found himself out of the championship reckoning with less competitive cars, he was unable to make the kind of impact that he usually did earlier in his career.
Kimi Raikkonen (2007 F1 Champion)
Kimi Raikkonen's career is one of two halves. The first half saw him as easily one of the fastest drivers on the grid. He had some breathtaking drives with McLaren through these years and this phase culminated with him winning the title in 2007 with Ferrari.
The second half saw him lose that edge, which made him an undeniable force on the grid. Post-2007, Raikkonen was still a competent F1 driver, but was he still an elite? Not really.
He lost to Felipe Massa as his teammate (in 2008), he was demolished by Fernando Alonso (in 2014) and Sebastian Vettel (from 2015-2018) in the same team.
Looking back, it did appear that Raikkonen had eased off in his career once he had won the title and it showed in his performance levels.
Keke Rosberg (1982 F1 Champion)
The father of Nico Rosberg, Keke was a charismatic figure up and down the grid during his time in F1. He was amongst the upper echelons of drivers during his time and duly won the title in 1982.
However, after his title win, things did start to unravel for the Finnish driver as he saw drivers like Nelson Piquet and Alain Prost take over from him as the gold standard in the sport. After winning his title in 1982, Keke's performances fell off a cliff and he was unable to challenge for the title ever again.
Why did that happen? It had more to do with the fact that the other drivers raised their level of professionalism to an entirely new level and Rosberg just could not keep up with it.
