Top 5 Austrian F1 drivers of all time

#3 Gerhard Berger

Gerhard Berger competed alongside some of the true greats of the sport in the late '80s and early '90s

There's a strong argument that can be made that Gerhard Berger is one of the best drivers to never win an F1 driver's title. This is in part due to the fact that the Austrian ace was driving during F1's "Golden years" of the late 80's and early 90's. Berger had to overcome the results of some horrific crashes, such as his awful incident at Imola in 1989 and his road car accident in 1984, both of which could've ended his life.

A brief debut for ATS at the end of 1984 put him on the F1 radar, and after a decent season with arrows in '85, Benetton hired the big Austrian for 1986. This would be the breakthrough year for the then 26-year-old, as he'd take his first win thanks to an ingeniously simple no-stop strategy in Mexico. Berger's rise continued for 1987, as Ferrari came calling and he joined Formula 1's most prestigious team, Enzo Ferrari's final driver signing. 4 wins in three years was a good return, especially considering McLaren's dominance during this time, a team he'd join and partner Ayrton Senna at for 1990. Senna and Berger had an excellent relationship on and off the track, during a time when the Brazilian legend won two of his three titles.

They say that Ferrari never asks you to join them twice, but that wasn't the case with Berger, as he rejoined the Italian outfit for 1993. He'd claim Ferrari's first win in 4 years at the Hockenheimring in 1994 (a track he was particularly good at) and finish his joint-highest in the driver's championship that year, third overall. Berger would retire after returning to Benetton, being in a unique position of claiming the team's first and last victories, 11 years apart.