Lewis hamilton world champ to world chump ,as any other world champion done so badly the year after winning it?

May be...

Nikki Lauda 1985 with McClaren
Damon Hill 1997 with Arrows

Damon Hill?
Didn't he move to Arrows, and have a torrid season?

What about Nigel Mansel? Didn't turn up in 93, too scared of having Prost to deal with again.
Came back as a publicity stunt in 1994, did ok. 1995 too fat for his car

Jody Scheckter became the first reigning world champion to fail to qualify for a GP in Canada in 1980. He only scored 2 points all season and retired after the last race. His car was poor, but he made it look worse. His 19th place in the drivers championship is the worst in F1 history for a champion who defended his title for the whole season. The only champion to place lower than Scheckter for a title defence is Alberto Ascari in 1954, finishing 25th with 1.14 points; however he only took part in four of the nine races that season and got his points by setting fastest laps - he didn't finish a race.

That's much more pathetic than either Lauda (who WON in his final season, 1985, and finished 10th in the championship) or Hill, who got on the podium and actually drove very well with an unreliable and uncompetitive car to finish 12th in the title race in 1997.


EDIT

Dodgy indeed. Scheckter simply lost his mojo after winning the title. The car was poor as well. Ferrari didn't follow the trend of ground effect cars, and lost the gamble. Scheckter only twice qualified in the top 10, never higher than 8th, and got his points by finishing 5th at Long Beach, a lap behind in a race where 14 of the cars retired.

As a comparison, his teammate Gilles Villeneuve qualified 7 times in the top ten, with a best of 3rd. He got in the points four times. He even led a lap of the Brazilian GP.

Admittedly, 1980 was the worst season in Ferrari's history...10th in the constructors championship with no wins, poles, fastest laps or even podiums...however Scheckter didn't get near to his teammate in effort or results.

There have been others such as Scheckter but it's much more pleasing seeing it happen to Hamilton.

Bozo Boy, what sort of baccy did I actually send you?

Brilliant answer, as ever, from rosbif.

But, we're only 7 races into the season. Let's all just calm down and see how it ultimately pans out. :-)

Allan quietly picks up Bozo's dummy and hands it back to him!

Guess I'm having a little trouble understanding the reasons behind your uncharitable name calling. If you've been paying any attention at all for the last 7 rounds, you might have noticed that at least two teams (McLaren & Ferrari) have been behind the eight ball vis-Г -vis catching up with 2009 rules changes and what that portends for each team.

Ferrari has gained some ground, but McLaren - not necessarily just Hamilton or Kovalainen themselves - are still struggling. It's got to be obvious to even the most obtuse that Hamilton hasn't gone from - what did you call it? Oh yeah - champ to chump in half a season. Of course, some might feel good name calling and downing that which they could never, in their wildest dreams, ever have hopes of achieving.

WOW - do you know what really sounds dodgy to me, mate? Some of the immaturity that seems to rage here by many who post both questions and answers.

EDIT: Bozo's dummy is called Bozo Jr, as I'm certain Allan now knows more about than I do...dsl xbox live