Mike Andretti didn't get a fair crack at McLaren - he caught the backlash of Senna's indecision about whether to drive in '93, because Dennis signed Hakkinen as a race driver and then when Senna condescended to drive in all the races Dennis gave all the testing to Hakkinen; so Mike did no testing (unlike JV before 1996) and also got hit by the tyre limitation rule for '93 so that he couldn't pound round on old tyres to learn the circuits and the car. Current no-hoper: Baumgartner - has never won a race of any kind, apparently, though that may just be in major formulae like F3, F3000. Paul M
Same as Yoong! Although I think it's safe to say Baumgartner is much less inept in F1 than Yoong was.
I loved Ricardo 'Rocket' Rosset!! My friend and I used to always cheer him on. It saves your throat as you usually only ahd to cheer for a few laps!! I remember when he spun during qual at Monaco in the swimming pool section. The car was pointing in the wrong direstion so he floored the throttle and stuffed the car into the barrier! His car had to be removed with a crane!!
Taki Inoue was bad but not everyone knows the real story. I spoke to Taki years ago at Daytona for a while. He fully admitted that he was out of his element but at that time you could buy a ride and that is exactly what he did. No one exactly knows where he got the cash from but he did contest just over one full GP season with Arrows. Now here is the part few people know. Taki first drove a GP car in the first practice session of his first GP! Not only that, he only ever drove a GP car during official practice and qualifying. Not once did he ever test. Under those circumstances and with the car he had Taki actually did not do that bad.
Believe it or not, and this gentlemen, is documented. Mi Andretti was never slower than one two time world champ M Hakkinen during testing at Mclaren. On top of that he was within a second of Senna most of the time. In his first year of F1. My choice for worst driver has to be Andrea De Cesaris.
I agree that Andrea de Crasheris should make this fine list. Re: Michael: How many times did he make it to the finish line?
Andretti caused a major accident at the GP of Brazil in 1993, crashing and flying over Berger..... both lucky to have escaped unscratched!
Michael made the line 6 times, had the car let him down once at hungary and wrecked the rest of the time, not too good by anyone's book, but i think he should have had another crack at it. Senna was on his side and didn't like the way he was being treated either from what i understand.
I know i'm gonna get some flak from any female members out there but another driver to add to this list is Giovanna Amati, who driving a brabham for 3 races in 92 was 11 seconds slower than pole man Nigel Mansell in Brazil . As a reference she was 5 seconds slower than her teammate Eric Van de Poele. Never made it past pre-qualifying. Aparently she isn't a bad driver and has had some success, she just had no business in F1.
Desiree Wilson 1980 in Brands Hatch comes to mind. I watched her in that Williams "replica". Didn't get far with it though. But I don't want to bash her too much, after all she remains the only F1 driver I ever saw. And hey: She sat in that cockpit, I didn't so more power to her.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Vos Verstappen. What am I talking about? No one has mentioned Jos Verstappen because no one remembers him.
This is true but then again what good is sitting in it if you aren't gonna do anything in it. I shouldn't talk though, i never went any further than a spec racer ford. That was a blast to drive.
Yeah but Mansell only won one road race, all the rest of his wins were on ovals. Having the most experienced driver ever to set your car up helps. When they had a falling out and Mario cut him off from the set up sheets the next year he didn't win a single darned race. Never even really came too close. Plus Senna lived in Portugal, not exactly close either. Michael once said he could be at the factory in 5 hours or so door to door.
I believe Senna lived in Monaco. Didn't he go straight to his apartment infuriated after crashing while leading the Monace GP?
Well I got myself into a F1 once and drove it nicely, but any of the "loosers" we mention here would have driven circles around me. Well maybe not Delatraz, he seems to have had the same amount of experience...as in none previous.
The worst was the Japanese driver Inoue who was run over by the marshals car after he blew up his race car. He was achingly slow. He was also run into by the safety car at Monaco.
He had a house in Portugal and another in Brazil. I do recall his having a residence in monaco as well but then again i'd have an apartment there too if i made that much money, to avoid paying taxes. From what i understand he never even went back to the pits he just went straight home. I'm sure residents were a little surprised to see Senna walking around in his race suit, lol.
How did you manage to do get into an F1? There's something i need to try before i die, lol. I actually did pretty well in the spec racer from what i could see from the smile on the instructors face.
Just a matter of money: http://www.formel-1-fahren.de/ Sorry, all German. Anyway, I did the level 1 course, which lets you do about 30 laps around Le Luc (former AGS team test track) in a F3. Then 10 laps in a 1991 AGS F1 with a Cosworth engine. Recently they bought a bunch of Ex Arrows paddle shifting cars from the nineties and repainted them in Mc Laren and Ferrari look a like livery. That's now their level 2 course. Something I should go for one of these days. Needless to say it was a ton of fun.
Past F1 anecdotes: Heard in the press room: "Hey guys, it's starting to rain. You better get your cameras out, or you'll miss deCaeseris' crash". When Honda execs were examining the McLarens: "How can anyone see in such a small mirror?" "Don't worry. This is Nakajima's car -- there's never anyone behind him."
