- Eddie Irvine could become the eighth driver and the third Briton to win the Formula One title for Ferrari on Sunday. The following is a look at the others: 

1979 - Jody Scheckter (South Africa) 

Also raced for McLaren before Ferrari, team orders played a crucial role in his triumph. Daredevil team mate Gilles Villenueve was the title rival going into the Italian GP at Monza and many expected the late Canadian to win. Scheckter had to finish in front of Villenueve to take the title and he led from the start, followed closely by his team mate who obeyed orders against overtaking when Ferrari were leading 1-2. 

It was his last win. Scheckter retired the following season after finishing 19th overall. 

1977 and 1975 - Niki Lauda (Austria) 

Still Ferrari's most successful driver with 15 wins. 

Won his first title with five wins at the age of 26. He then survived a terrible crash and burns at the Nuerburgring in 1976 when he was leading the championship after six victories. He received the last rites but survived and returned after three races. Lauda led with just the Japanese GP left but handed Briton James Hunt the title by one point when he pulled out on the second lap in torrential rain. 

Lauda then reclaimed the title in 1975. The Austrian also won for McLaren in 1984 and now runs his own airline. 

1964 - John Surtees (Britain) 

The only man to win world titles on two wheels and four. He was 500cc motorcycling champion with MV Agusta in 1956, 1958, 1959 and 1960, also taking the 350cc title in 1958, 1959 and 1960. Left Ferrari in 1966. Surtees won the title after a three-way battle with Graham Hill and Jim Clark going into the final race in Mexico City. Clark broke down on the last lap and Surtees took the title from Hill by one point. 

1961 - Phil Hill (U.S.) 

A quiet Californian, Hill also won the title by one point after his aristocratic German Ferrari team mate Wolfgang Von Trips, who had led the championship, died at Monza in a second lap crash that also killed 13 spectators. Hill excused himself from the victory celebrations and Ferrari withdrew from the final race of the season at Watkins Glen. 

1958 - Mike Hawthorn (Britain) 

The flamboyant Hawthorn won only three GPs in his career but beat compatriot Stirling Moss to the honours - again by one point - to become the first Briton to win a Formula One world title. Hawthorn won just one race in the entire season. He died in a car crash in southern England in 1959. 

1956 - Juan Manuel Fangio (Argentina) 

This was the fourth of five titles for arguably the greatest driver of all time. He moved to Ferrari at the age of 44 when Mercedes pulled out of motor racing following Pierre Levegh's horrific crash at the 1955 Le Mans 24 Hours race that killed 80 spectators. He and Enzo Ferrari did not get on and the relationship soured, Fangio joining Maserati in 1957. 

1953 and 1952 - Alberto Ascari (Italy) 

One of the greats, Ascari died on the track just as his father Antonio had 30 years previously. Alberto was killed at Monza in private testing in 1955 after chalking up 13 GP wins for Ferrari. Antonio had died at the 1925 French GP in an Alfa Romeo. Alberto won nine consecutive races between June 1952 and the end of 1953 and then went from champion to last in 1954 when he moved to Lancia and finished 24th overall. 
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