Which Formula 1 driver was the first World Champion from South Africa?

Jody Scheckter was the first Formula 1 World Champion from South Africa.

Scheckter won the 1979 World Drivers’ Championship with Ferrari. He secured the title after winning the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, where teammate Gilles Villeneuve finished second and Ferrari achieved a one-two result.

His championship season included six podium finishes and three victories. Scheckter had previously won Grands Prix for Wolf and Tyrrell, establishing himself as a fast but increasingly measured competitor.

South African driver John Love had already finished second in the 1967 South African Grand Prix, but he never won the world title. Scheckter retired from Formula 1 after the 1980 season and later worked in technology and organic farming.