Two weeks ago we began compiling the list of the bottom 10 F1 drivers of all time – the 10 worst F1 drivers.
Here’s how the shortlist stands at the moment along with some of your remarks. Is there anyone missing from it? And who doesn’t belong there?
In alphabetical order…
Philippe Adams
Giovanna Amati
Michael Andretti – “11th in the championship in 1993, in the same equipment that Senna took to second place” Scootin159
Enrico Bertaggia
Andrea de Cesaris – “You can’t say he didn’t have opportunities” D Winn
Pedro Chaves
Jean-Denis Deletraz
Pedro Diniz
Johnny Dumfries
Bernie Ecclestone – “Attended the 1958 Monaco and British rounds but didn’t qualify.” Ratboy
Jean-Marc Gounon
Yuji Ide – “He only lasted three races before the FIA took away his superlicence.” Francois
Taki Inoue
Ukyo Katayama
Rupert Keegan
Claudio Langes
Giovanni Lavaggi – “Would still have been infamously bad in a decent car.” Robert McKay
Perry McCarthy
Tarso Marques – “He was always off pace, he was always in trouble.” Daniel
Fran?â?ºois Migualt
Rikky von Opel
Massimiliano Papis
Al Pease – “Only driver to be black flagged for driving too slow.” Chalky
Hector Rebaque
Ricardo Rosset – “At the Spa 98 mass pileup he drove full speed into the wreck like some kind of computer game.” TommyB
Otto Stuppacher
Esteban Tuero
Alex Yoong
Alex Zanardi
(NB. Chanoch Nissany not included because he was never entered entered for a race)
To get things start I think Diniz, Dumfries, Katayama and Zanardi don’t belong on the list:
Pedro Diniz did a respectable job alongside Damon Hill in 1997. Johnny Dumfries wasn’t hopeless but he was, as Clive James said, in a team “where even the Portaloo was set up for [Ayrton] Senna.” Katayama had his days and some of Zanardi’s drives for Jordan and Lotus in his pre-CART/Williams days showed the raw talent that F1 never tapped into.
Who else would you add, and who else would you take off?
Read the original discussion on the bottom 10 F1 drivers
Fernando
30th May 2008, 15:04
Ralf Shummy
Juan Pablo Montoya
Takuma Sato
Scott Speed
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
30th May 2008, 15:07
Care to offer any reasons for those choices Fernando?
Fernando
30th May 2008, 15:24
Ralf Shummy – Just never could get out of his brothers spot light… I love Toyota and all, I own 2 but he just made it seem like as if those Toyo’s were horrible, I mean they are not great but his driving made them horrible.
Montoya – His driving was fair at best, he was a mistake prone idiot that made McLaren’s look like Super Aguri’s. Now he’s in NASCAR doing OK because, IMO even the best NASCAR drivers would be last place finishers in F1.
Sato – I think speaks for himself not much explaining to do here.
Speed – Pretty much the same as Montoya in my eyes goes to NASCAR and does OK.
Pete Walker
30th May 2008, 15:41
It seems a bit unfair having Perry McCarthy on the list, he never had the chance to show his F1 credentials in the farce that was Andrea Moda. Had some promising test runs though.
Montoya? Ok, he had lacklustre days, but he also had days where he was nigh on untouchable. There’s no way he should be on this list.
Incidently, there’s a well known website that might help add to the list: http://www.f1rejects.com/
Fernando
30th May 2008, 15:50
Ok maybe Montoya was not as bad I make him out to be, but there was just something about him I didn’t like, and with the machinery he had at his disposal I would think he should of been better. I mean come on 5 RET in 2006 and he only raced half the season.
Pete Walker
30th May 2008, 15:50
…which was mentioned in the previous post. I wish you could edit these damn things!
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
30th May 2008, 15:54
It should go without saying that drivers who’ve won races don’t belong on this list.
How about Jean-Louis Schlesser? Two participations, one DNF, in the second he was 1.4s slower than his team mate and collided with the leader while being lapped.
Or Ricardo Zunino? Another of Nelson Piquet’s team mates who probably didn’t belong in F1. At Monaco in 1980 Piquet was fourth on the grid and Zunino didn’t even make it into the race.
TommyB
30th May 2008, 16:39
Montoya could have been world champion in 03! Saying hes the worst driver in history is a joke
Kris
30th May 2008, 16:40
I was about to post asking Diniz to be removed, but I see you beat me to it. Zanardi had a specific problem braking, if I recall correctly, which is hardly the same as being rubbish.
As for the winner, from recent years I’d look no further than Ide, Im afraid I’m a little young to comment on past atrocities.
Dan M
30th May 2008, 16:47
Scott speed wasn’t great, but he wasn’t the worst driver out there either, for the most part he and Luizzi has similar lap and qually times…
I’m by no means a Nascar fan, but just because drivers chose Nascar does not mean they cannot turn right, they just make more money turning left.
Montoya DNF’ed so much in his final season because he lost interest in F1. He had already had a deal to race in Nascar the following year.
underdog
30th May 2008, 17:01
Besides those in the list, the worst driver that I can recall at the moment is Mazzacane.
DanielPT
30th May 2008, 17:15
Zsolt Baumgardtner – Scored a point (lucky guy, due to attriction) but was particulary hopeless and was there because of the money.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
30th May 2008, 17:15
Ah yes, Mazzacane:
Grands Prix started – 21
Best race classification – 8
Best grid position – 19
Qualified last for 13 of the 17 races in 2000. Dropped by Prost four races into 2001.
James B
30th May 2008, 17:23
I think Toranosuke Takagi should be on the list.
He took out both Minardi’s in separate accidents in the 1999 Italian GP, and managed to continue, before spinning out on his own.
Other than that, his career never really got going.
James B
30th May 2008, 17:36
Marco Apicella.
He holds the record for the shortest Formula 1 career, (about 800 metres) and that was his only appearance in F1.
Robert McKay
30th May 2008, 18:39
How good/bad/indifferent was Vincenzo Sospiri? The other unfortunate who got the 1997 Lola with Rosset? I genuinely don’t know, any info would be interesting.
Ratboy
30th May 2008, 19:32
Hope this helps Rob
Vincenzo Sospiri
Formula One
races attended 2
races won 0
pole positions 0
points 0
Dont think he actually qualified due to the 107% rule thay had at that time?
qazuhb
30th May 2008, 19:48
I think Arturo Merzario would deserve a place here… if only to let him win something anyway. But perhaps to put him among the Top Ten noblest and most perseverant of all time would be the right choice
qazuhb
30th May 2008, 22:46
Arturo was so determined to continue racing despite having no results in sight, that he used whatever sponsors were available, even a funeral home :”La Varesina SOFAM”. You can see a photo of his rear wing complete with funeral ad, near the bottom of this brazilian fan’s blog:
http://powerbymidea.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html
Fer no 65
30th May 2008, 23:36
wait… Tuero can’t be there…! he’s a very good driver! you can’t judge just because he raced a Minardi only one season!
Im sure you won’t understand it, but Tuero really is a very good driver…
Jimmy Kahn
30th May 2008, 23:55
JP Montoya won 7 GPs while Schumi/Ferrari were at their best.
Jonesracing82
31st May 2008, 0:25
JPM??????????????
r u serious?
i wished he was still there in these non driver aids cars!
how the hell can he b on this list? he had worked out how to overtake schumacher! something Damon Hill never worked out!
MartyP
31st May 2008, 0:41
Perhaps we shouldn’t jump the gun on Vincenzo Sospiri.
Lola rocked up in 1997 despite originally intending to enter the sport in 1998. The team’s main sponsor, MasterCard, put the pressure on Lola to rush the project and as a result they arrived in Melbourne with a car that hadn’t even seen a wind tunnel. Lola essentially modified their Champcar chassis for F1, and it was over 10 seconds off the pace. It was probably slower than the Lola F3000 car.
Sospiri was 2 seconds per lap quicker in it than Rosset, so maybe his inclusion here would be unfair.
the limit
31st May 2008, 3:52
Damon Hill did learn to overtake Schumacher, its just the part where you pass without both of you crashing that he didn’t master. Sometimes it was his fault, others it wasn’t. But atleast he was a champion!!
Was Montoya one of the worst drivers, no! Could he have done better, I think so! When the car was good, and he knew it, he was towards the front and fighting. When the car was crap, different story.
Most drivers are a bit like that, but JPM is talented and doesn’t deserve to be on this list. Ralf Schumacher, well, he suffered due to his name.
Could you imagine Tiger Woods child playing golf for a living. Everybody would be expecting him to be like his dad, it doesn’t work that way.
Sato proved, on occasion, that he could cut it. Indianapolis 2004 and Montreal 2007 spring to mind, but he was accident prone, but who isn’t?
Speed, I don’t know? Probably on the list, about halfway on the list I think. Only two years in F1, not much opportunity.
Its really the drivers who had plenty of chances, plenty of years to shine and didn’t who deserve to be on the ‘chumpionship’ list. And I think you covered all the bases.
Oh, I forgot. I am probably going to cheese someone off here, but what about Ralph Firman? Fisichella comfortably saw him off at Jordan. Where is he on this list?
Jonesracing82
31st May 2008, 8:27
re: the limit!
passing without crashing is part of overtaking and Hill didnt manage it! if u take them off it’s not overtaking!
u said u should have drivers on the list that had plenty of seasons then suggest ralph firman?
in all seriousness there are heaps of drivers u could put and alot of them didnt even get a full season as they didnt deserve to, some got more than they deserve!
sChUmAcHeRtHeGrEaTeStEvEr
31st May 2008, 9:20
firman was pants lets be honest.
my vote goes to rosset just for the fact his mechanics changed the letters aroun in his name to make TOSSER thats brilliant haha
the limit
31st May 2008, 14:05
Your right, maybe suggesting Firman was a bit harsh,
he didn’t have that long in the sport did he. I knew that last comment of mine would ruffle some feathers, its just that Firman is one driver who stands out in my mind for some reason?
Vertigo
31st May 2008, 14:57
Nothing wrong with suggesting drivers that weren’t in F1 for too long, because if they didn’t do too many races, it was probably for a good reason – they were crap.
theRoswellite
31st May 2008, 15:08
A couple of points:
1) Comparing drivers who are, for the most part, driving less than competitive machinery is very speculative at best.
2) If you believe, as I do, that F1 is the pinnacle of motor sports, then anyone able to drive at this level should be congratulated.
3) I would think most of us would be jealous of anyone who was goo
theRoswellite
31st May 2008, 15:10
….to finish.
…good enough to ever drive any F1 car in any race.
4) This list seems more demeaning than anything else.
Brar Soler
1st June 2008, 1:10
theRoswellite
For all my live I had thinked like you. But when the Ricardo “pile up” Rosset phenomenum hapenned I changed my mind. Now I´m also ashamed he was brazilian. That Monaco un-spin manouver was either shamefull…
He made a statetemend about the Mclaren brakes (that could brake the inside Wheel more then the outer one) that is Phisically impossible.
(Sorry for my Brazilian English)
AndyWolf
1st June 2008, 20:09
Well, I’m going to stick up for Takuma Sato. OK he’s never going to be World Champ, but I think he’s had some half decent drives over the years.