Top 10: Motorsport's super siblings

10 Warwick (GB)

Derek: b Aug 27^th, 1954

Paul: b Jan 29^th, 1969; d Jul 21^st, 1991, Oulton Park, GB

Former superstox champion Derek Warwick became a star of Formula Ford, F3 and F2 and made a natural graduation to F1 in the early 1980s. That he didn’t win in 146 starts over the next 12 years – particularly in the superb 1984 Renault RE50 – is well documented. But he remained one of the good guys, especially when he tackled sportscar racing and won the world title and Le Mans 24 Hours in 1992. That he was still winning – and not moaning – in tin-tops in the late 1990s cemented his place in the hearts of British race fans. Tragically, younger brother Paul never got the chance to do the same. Hailing from the same superstox grounding, he followed his big bro – and hero – into conventional racing. There were flashes of speed in F3 but not the results he craved. A move to European F3000 in mid-1990 led to a fragmented and frustrating few months. In year two in the formula, this time in the British series, it all clicked. With four wins in the first four outings people began to big-up Warwick Jr. Then came round five at Oulton Park on July 21^st. Equally cruelly, Derek believes to this day that Paul was better…

9 Fittipaldi (BR)

Emerson: b Dec 12^th, 1946

Wilson: b Dec 25^th, 1943

Emerson and Wilson became the first brothers to race in the same grand prix when they lined up for Lotus and Brabham respectively for the Spanish GP at Jarama in 1972. They also hold the distinction of being the first brothers to score points in the same race – a feat they managed in Argentina at the start of ’73. That, though, is where the similarities – in terms of success ­– end. Emerson was a double world champion and 14-time GP winner who went on to take a Champ Car crown and two Indy 500 wins later in his career. Elder brother Wilson, however, managed just two F1 points finishes in his 35 starts. However, rather than throw in the towel completely Wilson hung up his helmet and set about forming the family Copersucar/Fittipaldi team. That he persuaded Emerson to drive in the squad for five seasons says much about his steely character. 

8 Labonte (USA)

Bobby: b May 8^th, 1964

Terry: b Nov 16^th, 1956

Uniquely in NASCAR racing circles, the Texan Labonte brothers are the only siblings to have won stockcar racing’s premier league, the Winston Cup, as it was known when Terry (1984 and ’96 for Chevrolet) and the younger Bobby (2000 for Pontiac) triumphed. With 1,619 top-level starts and 43 wins between them, they’re right up there with the big scorers. Add to that 11 Xfinity, née Busch, wins for Terry and 10 (plus the ’91 crown) for Bobby and it’s phone-book style numbers all round. Keeping matters on a even keel, both the Labontes can count a single third-tier truck victory on their CVs, as well as a single IROC title after both defeated both their fellow stockcar racers and single-seater aces in the US one-make series.

7 Ferté (F)

Alain: b Oct 8^th, 1955

Michel: b Dec 8^th, 1958

The veteran French Ferté brothers underwent similar apprenticeships. Both graduated from their national F3 series with the title, Alain in 1980 and Michel in ’83, and both won the prestigious Monaco F3 race in consecutive years.

The next step on the ladder, European F3000, proved a harder nut to crack, with their time in the series overlapping in 1985-’86. Neither man won a race, a runner-up spot (once for Alain, three times for Michel) proving to be a career best.

Giving up on their F1 dream gave both men the chance to shine in a variety of machinery, again with similar levels of success. They dabbled in various tin-top and sportscars series and would once again find themselves racing in the same event in 1989 – this time in the same Group C TWR Jaguar at the Le Mans 24 Hours. Alain set the race’s fastest lap, although the car would finish eighth after delays. More than a quarter of a century later, Alain can still be found pedalling in various sportscar enduros, while Michel tried his hand at ice racing, while also keeping his sportscar eye in with a number of prototype and GT outings until the mid-noughties.

6 McRae (GB)

Alister: b Dec 20^th, 1970

Colin: b Aug 5^th, 1968; b Sep 15^th, 2007, Lanark, Scotland

The offspring of five-time British rally champion Jimmy McRae were always going to be talented and Colin and younger sibling Alister soon applied their natural ability – and utter fearlessness – to off-road motorbike endeavours. Cars followed and it wasn’t long before both McRaes, led by Colin, put the fear of god into their rival national rally competitors. Colin’s back-to-back British titles in the Prodrive Subaru Legacy in 1991-’92 led to a full-time move to the WRC with the Anglo-Japanese superteam. The result? Colin became the most successful British driver in rallying history and the youngest world champion in ’95. That same year, Alister added an eighth British rally crown to the family CV and began his move to the top flight. While Colin flourished, Alister languished, unable to add to the fame of the name. Colin’s death, in a helicopter crash in 2007, robbed rallying of its biggest star. Undeterred, Alister has continued the family tradition with a number of campaigns in the World and Asia-Pacific Rally Championships.

5 Brabham (AUS)

David: b Sep 5^th, 1965

Gary: b Mar 29^th, 1961

Geoff: b Mar 20^th, 1952

They might not have emulated their thrice world champion father Sir Jack Brabham, but Geoff, Gary and David all forged good careers of their own. Geoff, the oldest of the Aussie trio, spent much of his career in the USA. Ten Indy 500 starts produced a best of fourth, in 1983. But it was the IMSA sportscar series in which he really gelled, with four straight titles between 1988 and ’91 for Nissan. His finest hour, though, was victory at Le Mans in 1993 aboard Peugeot’s Group C 905 screamer.

Middle brother Gary showed good speed in British F3, winning six races and taking second overall in 1988, before landing the British F3000 crown a year later. The less said about his F1 inauguration with the Life squad in 1990 the better. He retired in ’95 after a brief spell in Indycar.

It’s young David who has kept the Brabham name in lights. After success in British F3 and no such luck in F1 with, yup, Brabham, it was sportscar racing in which ‘Brabs’ soon became a big hitter. He racked up numerous wins for Panoz, Aston Martin and Acura in all the prototype and GT classes. His outright victory at Le Mans for Peugeot in 2009 after umpteen attempts, added to LMP1 title success in the ALMS, are his finest moments. He still competes in sportscar events and has sampled the delights of historic racing at Goodwood.  

4 Fabi (I)

Corrado: b Apr 12^th, 1961

Teo: b Mar 9^th, 1955 

To single out Teo’s infamous F1 record – three poles, no laps led – is to overlook this diminutive Italian’s speed and versatility. Sure, plenty of people have been in the wrong place at the wrong time in F1, and Teo’s 64-race record with Toleman/Benetton and Brabham – he took just two podium finishes – was nothing to get excited about. Outside F1, however, the numbers look good: three European F2 wins, five Indycar victories and the 1991 world sportscar championship for Jaguar. Younger brother Corrado went one better in F2 by winning six times and securing the 1982 title in a works March-BMW. But his F1 career never really got going – he fought with a nasty Osella in 1983 before subbing for Indycar-committed Teo at Brabham three times in ’84. When the boys’ father died that same year, Corrado took over the family transport business and drew a line under his racing exploits. 

3 Schumacher (D)

Michael: b Jan 3^rd, 1969

Ralf: b Jun 30^th, 1975 

Nothing to add about Michael of course, apart from a quick recap of his eye-watering F1 stats (to date!): seven world titles, 91 wins, 68 poles, 77 fastest laps and 1566 points. Sure, Michael’s record gives the Schumacher family all the help it needs here, but don’t forget that Ralf won six GPs – that’s as many as Jochen Rindt and Gilles Villeneuve – and took six poles, eight fastest laps and 329 points. As a former German F3 race winner (as was Michael, of course) and Formula Nippon title winner, his early credentials were sound, too. Misunderstood at times, probably at both Jordan and Williams, and very much in his elder bro’s shadow, Ralf nonetheless proved himself worthy of 11 seasons in the top flight. In the right mood, and car, he was world championship material – witness his 2003 campaign with Williams.

2 Rodriguez (MEX)

Pedro: b Jan 18^th, 1940; d Jul 11^th, 1971, Norisring, Germany

Ricardo: b Feb 14^th, 1942; d Nov 1^st, 1962, Mexico City

Still, the best thing to emerge from the Mexican talent pool, these former push-bike and motorcycle champs, who moved seamlessly to four wheels, are still revered among fans old enough to have seen them in action and those young enough to wish they had. Ricardo exuded latent talent, his death in the non-championship 1962 Mexican GP in Rob Walker’s Lotus aged just 20 cruelly extinguishing the potential. A front-row start on his F1 debut – in a sharknose Ferrari at Monza in ’61 – was ample proof of that. Elder brother Pedro flew the flag in F1, sportscars, NASCAR and rallying for another nine years, taking two GP wins, Le Mans and Daytona 24 Hours glory and adding his name close to the top of everyone’s list of greatest all-rounders.

1 Unser (USA)

Al: b May 29^th, 1939

Bobby: b Feb 20^th, 1934

Without a doubt the most successful American racing family of all time, the Unsers cleaned up in premier-league Indycar competition in the 1960s and 70s. It was Al, five years his brother’s junior, who began the trend in 1965 by taking the first of 39 top-flight race wins. He was still winning 22 years later, courtesy of his fourth Indy 500 win. Bobby, too, started his winning run in the mid ’60s and kept it going until the start of the ’80s thanks to 24 victories in USAC/CART events, including three Indy 500 wins of his own. But it wasn’t just big single-seaters that made the Unser name so famous. Both men won the terrifying Pikes Peak hillclimb – Bobby 13 times – and both finished fourth in NASCAR’s top draw, the Daytona 500, in consecutive seasons. Add in a Daytona 24 Hours win for Al in 1985 and an IROC crown for Bobby in ’75 and we’re running out of space. 

And not forgetting these other successful siblings:

Bobby and Donnie Allison

Jacques and Jean-Marie Almeras

Jeroen and Sebastiaan Bleekemolen

Tino and Vittorio Brambilla

Peter and Phil Brock

Martin and Robin Brundle

Kurt and Kyle Busch

Eddie and Ross Cheever

Tim and Tom Coronel

Derek and Vivion Daly

Alex and Will Davison

Jordi and Marc Gene

Ian and Leo Geoghegan

Duncan and Patrick Huisman

David and James Hunt

Rick and Todd Kelly

Buddy and Jacques Lazier

Greg and Leo Mansell

Rick and Roger Mears

David and Richard Morgan

Ian and Jody Scheckter

Henning and Petter Solberg

Ricardo and Rodrigo Sperafico

Jackie and Jimmy Stewart

Harri and Henri Toivonen

Jacky and Ricardo van der Ende

Etienne and Shaun van der Linde

Gilles and Jacques Villeneuve Sr

Graham and Peter Whitehead

Bill, Dale and Don Whittington

Justin and Stefan Wilson

Joachim and Manfred Winkelhock

Images courtesy of LAT