John Surtees during practice at Zandvoort, 1964, photo by Harry Pot / Anefo, Nationaal Archief, CC0 1.0. (CROPPED) - Credit links at the end of the content
Motorsport has never lacked great drivers or legends, but John Surtees’s story has always felt different.
In the long history of motorsport, there have been many champions, but only one man truly crossed its greatest divide and mastered both sides of it. John Surtees remains the only human being to win world titles on motorcycles and in F1.
The John Surtees story
So I think to understand why he stands alone, you have to go back to where it all began.
From Tatsfield to the World Stage
John Norman Surtees was born in 1934 in Tatsfield, a small village in Surrey, England.
And motorsport was never a distant dream in his household. His father ran a motorcycle dealership, and from a young age John Surtees was surrounded by engines, spanners, and the smell of fuel.
He was not just riding motorcycles, he was understanding them, constantly learning how they worked long before he ever raced professionally.
However, in 1955, at just 21 years old, everything changed. After joining the MV Agusta factory racing team, John Surtees earned the nickname figlio del vento, the “son of the wind.”
At that age, he was already incredibly fast, almost unbeatable for his time. Everyone talked about him, and even engineers trusted him because he could explain exactly what a machine was doing beneath him.
Total Domination on Two Wheels
Before Formula One ever knew his name, John Surtees was already dominating the world of motorcycle racing.
Riding for MV Agusta, he had become one of the very best. In an era when riders often competed in multiple classes on the same weekend, Surtees thrived in every race. He didn’t just win—he dominated.
Between 1956 and 1960, John Surtees won seven motorcycle World Championships—four in the 500cc class, the most dangerous category of the time, and three in the 350cc class.
By 1960, he had dominated motorcycles completely, and then he did the unexpected.
Nowadays, there’s no one capable of switching from two wheels to four. The last to attempt it was Valentino Rossi in 2007, during a Ferrari test. Reports say he was even offered a seat, but he refused—and nothing like it has happened since.
The Leap That Should Have Failed
Switching from motorcycles to cars is difficult—it’s a completely different world. But moving from motorcycles to Formula One? At the time, no one had ever done it.
Surtees climbed the junior formulas quickly, mastering what challenged other drivers. While most struggled with weight transfer and braking, he drew on instincts honed from years of balancing a machine at its very edge.
At the time, the Italian team Scuderia Ferrari took notice. In 1963, they signed John Surtees, and just a year later, he made history in Formula One.
John Surtees Ferrari Crown
John Surtees 1964: This F1 season was one of the most chaotic ever, Surtees entered the final race in Mexico with a championship still on the line, what followed was one of the most dramatic title deciders the sport has ever seen.
John Surtees secured the F1 title, with that result, he became something entirely new in motorsport history, a motorcycle champion and a F1 champion, two worlds that rarely spoke to each other, united by one driver.
It remains one of the most extraordinary achievements the sport has ever witnessed.
This photo was taken at the second race of the 1964 Championship in the Netherlands, the season when Surtees won the title driving his Ferrari 158. We have also included credit to the photographer and confirmed the year of the image.
The John Surtees F1 Team: Vision Without Glory
In 1970, John Surtees founded his own Formula One team, the Surtees Racing Organisation, aiming to compete with the very best. He took on the dual role of driver and team manager.
By 1972, he retired from racing, not from decline, but to concentrate completely on managing his team.
It was an ambitious project led by a man who understood racing better than most of his rivals but yet F1 is unforgiving, especially to independent teams.
Despite solid engineering foundations and respected drivers like Mike Hailwood and John Watson, Surtees’s team never reached the very top. They scored points and even earned two second-place finishes, but victory always remained just out of reach.
John Watson in the Surtees TS16-05-4 Ford-Cosworth at the 27th Daily Express International Trophy, Silverstone 1975, photo by Gillfoto, CC BY‑SA 3.0 Unported – SOURCE: Wikimedia Commons
Another factor was money. Surtees was not the only team to struggle financially—many privateer teams in the 1970s faced similar challenges and folded early. The rapid evolution of F1 technology also worked against him, and by 1978, the Surtees team withdrew from Formula One entirely.
Remembering John Surtees
When Surtees passed away in 2017, motorsport lost more than a champion—it lost a bridge between eras, disciplines, and philosophies.
He was never loud. Never desperate for attention. His greatness was built quietly, one lap at a time, across two wheels and four.
And that is why his achievement still feels untouchable.
There may be faster cars now, safer bikes, and more advanced technology. But there will probably never be another John Surtees.
FEATURED IMAGE CREDIT: John Surtees during practice at Zandvoort, 1964, photo by Harry Pot / Anefo, Nationaal Archief, CC0 1.0. (CROPPED)
