Worst Driver Ever

[Setantra]

Who, in your opinion, is the WORST driver ever to grace the cockpit of an F1 car.

My nominations are......Tiago Monteiro, Zsolt Baumgartner, Jan Magnussen, Esteban Tuero, Luciano Burti, etc.

Enjoy.

[Dani Filth]

OMG . OMG . you put Bellof on tha list ??

prepare to get your ass kicked

[BootsOntheSide]

Bellof? What a ridiculous inclusion, this guy nearly won Monaco as a rookie from 20th on the grid. Tuero did well considering his youth and inexperience, and Magnussed had a lot of talent but somehow showed little of it in F1.

In recent years I'd say Jean Denis Deletraz is probably the worst, but the overall standard was a lot lower in the 50s and 60s - beyond the obvious superstars there were a lot of private entries and gentleman racers involved, and far less people ever had a chance to try their hand at racing.

[Setantra]

Originally Posted by BootsOntheSide

Bellof? What a ridiculous inclusion, this guy nearly won Monaco as a rookie from 20th on the grid.

Nearly won it? So did De Cesaris, Pironi, Senna etc. But, Patrese won, after spinning at the hairpin. So, therefore, not much of an achievement on Bellofs part, then.

[Kicking-back]

Originally Posted by Setantra

Nearly won it? So did De Cesaris, Pironi, Senna etc. But, Patrese won, after spinning at the hairpin. So, therefore, not much of an achievement on Bellofs part, then.

You're confusing two different races there.

[Super Tourer]

We have done these sort of threads in the past and I've never found they canvass positive comment. I find it hard to believe that anyone could list Bellof amongst that company.

[Dani Filth]

he saved himself by editing the post

[Gore]

It was '84 when Bellof almost won, and '82 when Patrese did. As I recall, Senna was catching Prost at a second a lap in the wet when the race was stopped, while Bellof was catching Senna at a similar rate. I think Senna vs Bellof could well have been the theme of late '80s, early '90s F1 had things worked out differently.

Anyway, back on topic, Jean-Denis Deletraz would have to have my vote for a) qualifying an F1 Larrouse at the '95 Portugese GP in a time that would have put him near the back of the F3000 grid the same weekend, and b) stalling on the racing line coming out of the hairpin.

[Formula1Fanatic]

Originally Posted by Gore

Anyway, back on topic, Jean-Denis Deletraz would have to have my vote for a) qualifying an F1 Larrouse at the '95 Portugese GP in a time that would have put him near the back of the F3000 grid the same weekend, and b) stalling on the racing line coming out of the hairpin.

You mean in a Pacific We would have seen Deletraz a lot more if Pacific had survived

Giovanni Lavaggi was also a pretty bad driver. His biggest achievement and moment was Portugal 96 when he was involved in the Villeneuve/Schumacher moment and finishing higher than Pedro Lamy

The worst drivers of the Millenium is Mazzacane and Yoong. Yoong would have been better in the mid 1990's since he was constantly 2 seconds off the pace from everyone else.

Phillppe Adams. Giovanna Amati. Gary Brabham. Claudio Langes. Pedro Chaves and Volker Weidier are also bad drivers

[Kicking-back]

Originally Posted by Formula1Fanatic

Phillppe Adams. Giovanna Amati. Gary Brabham. Claudio Langes. Pedro Chaves and Volker Weidier are also bad drivers

None of them are "bad drivers".

Okay, they may not be F1 standard, but they're still among the best drivers on the planet.

[mike_slh]

Take off Magnussen and add Alex Yooung,he was a joke

[Xpunk75]

1.Andre "Decrasheres" Dechetheres or whatever has name was.
2.Micheal Andretti (he hardly finished an F1 race)
i cant think of anymore i dont really remember the guys who were just for the sucks. lol

[Setantra]

Apologies, Prost won it in controversial circumstances.

[ASCII Man]

Deletraz surely...

Philippe Adams springs to mind as well, every single Belgian with a remote interest in motorsport is terribly sorry to unleash that guy on F1...

[ensign14]

Otto Stuppacher.

At Monza 1976, on his GP debut, he was 8 seconds off the next slowest guy (Merzario).

At Mosport, for his 2nd, he was 7 seconds off the next slowest.

At Watkins Glen, for his 3rd, he was 6 seconds off Henri Pescarolo, who had practice problems. The next slowest guy who had a trouble-free practice was 20 seconds ahead of him...

They used to have a 110% rule, then a 107% rule, as a cut off for DNQing. With Otto, his best performance would have required a 115% rule; his worst would have needed a 127% rule...

Needless to say he DNQ'd every time. At Monza he was too slow, even though technically he out-qualified Hunt et al after the Italian stewards cheated, so he would not have been allowed to race. Before you blame his old Tyrrell for his lack of pace, Alex Pesenti-Rossi (an average F2 driver) got the same model to the grid a few times fairly handily.

[Mosport67]

Originally Posted by ensign14

Otto Stuppacher.

You took the words right out of my mouth. Otto just didn't have it.

I remember him seeing him trundle around Mosport.

[BootsOntheSide]

I know this is off-topic, but I was thinking about Monaco 1982 a few nights ago. It looked like Patrese recieved outside assistance when he rejoined after the spin, so presumably they should've dtopped scoring the car. The thing is, no one else completed the full distance, with Pironi and de Cesaris stopping on the final lap and everyone else being lapped. So how would the result have gone if it had continued until someone else completed 78 laps, and where would Patrese have been classified?

[ensign14]

Originally Posted by BootsOntheSide

I know this is off-topic, but I was thinking about Monaco 1982 a few nights ago. It looked like Patrese recieved outside assistance when he rejoined after the spin, so presumably they should've dtopped scoring the car. The thing is, no one else completed the full distance, with Pironi and de Cesaris stopping on the final lap and everyone else being lapped. So how would the result have gone if it had continued until someone else completed 78 laps, and where would Patrese have been classified?

Had they completed the final laps, it would PROBABLY have been:

1. Mansell
2. de Angelis - they were both a lap down on Patrese, so both would have "unlapped" themselves on their way to 76 laps
3. Pironi - no-one else would have completed 75...
4. de Cesaris - other than Andrea
5. Patrese - he had completed 74 laps when he spun
6. Daly - he completed 74 laps, but after Patrese did
7. Henton - he was 35 seconds short of being 2 laps behind Mansell, so would have completed 2 more laps than he actually did as the chequered would have dropped 35 seconds behind him as he finished his 73rd, so he would have completed 74 laps, but in a slower time than Daly
8. Prost - he completed 73 laps
9. Surer - he would have completed 71, he was well behind Mansell "on the road"

Of course, had Mansell and Elio eased off entirely, Surer could have made an extra lap up; from a World Championship perspective, the Loti would have been better off to park just before the finishing line and wait for the Tyrrell and Arrows unlap themselves before crossing, so Ferrari would have had 2 points rather than 4.

Unless they could not have got themselves restarted, in which case Superhen would have won.

So not much different from the final result, apart from Chunky's last 1-2...

What this has to do with the glacially slow Stuppacher, I have no idea.

In terms those who actually drove in F1, ladies and gentlemen, I give you the magnificent Ticinese lawyer Ottorino Volonterio. His finest WC appearance was at the 'Ring in 1956, when he got around in qualifying 14 minutes plus in his new 250F - needing a whopping 146% rule to get in. Fortunately for posterity, no such rule was in place, and the gallant Ottorino pottered around to finish his 16 laps. OK, the race was 22 laps, so he was losing around 1 mile in every 3, but at least he DID finish...he has 2 other WC events, taking over other cars, so it is impossible to tell from the lapchart whether he was just as slow there, but given that on his debut in 1955 his car dropped 3 places in 4 laps in the middle of the race it would not be too odd to think that’s when he took over. His F1 swansong was at Monza ’57, taking over Andre Simon’s car, and finishing 22 laps behind…

But his other GP results were, um, not good. He made his debut in the WC formula in the Gran Premio dell’Autodromo di Monza** in 1952, in a Ferrari 166 that lasted 4 laps. He was on the last row of the grid, but there are no times, so it is impossible to tell whether he outqualified Ruggiero, Bianchetti and de Tornaco. But given his later performances I think not.



He had an aged Maserati 4CLT/48 from the de Graffenried stable in 1953, which he used to ill effect athe Ulster Trophy. He qualified last but one for heat 1, in a time of 6 minutes 38. A minute and 20 from pole. Faster than Archie Bryde, who seems to have had serious problems and did not finish a lap, but over 30 seconds slower than Horace Richards who was an habitué of the back row in his career.



Later in the year he entered at Rouen but the car only “pottered around the paddock” and never made it onto the track (per Sheldon).



His last drive in the 4CLT before moving to the A6GCM was at Goodwood, where he retired in the Madgwick Trophy, having out-qualified Rodney Nuckey by the expedient apparently of setting a time…


In Maserati A6GCM:
1955 - GP di Napoli - 7th out of 7 finishers, qualified last, 6 laps behind 6th placed Berardo Taraschi

Redex Trophy - 11th out of 11 - finishing behind the likes of Charles Boulton and Michael Young

GP di Siracusa* - retired - qualified last, pole time was 2'03" and his time was 2'58", next slowest (Scarlatti) was 28 seconds quicker, ran last before retiring

1956:

GP di Napoli - he BEAT someone! 5th out of 6 finishers, he finished ahead of the hapless Taraschi, 4 laps ahead, albeit 7 laps behind Scarlatti

1957: in the 250F:

GP di Napoli - lasted 4 laps, qualified last, 24 seconds behind next-slowest Halford and 40 seconds from pole



* = first British car winning a GP


** = the race in which Fangio was nearly killed


Even the appallingly slow Adams and Deletraz were a bit closer to the pace...dammit, even Amati was.

[Patrese256]

Originally Posted by BootsOntheSide

I know this is off-topic, but I was thinking about Monaco 1982 a few nights ago. It looked like Patrese recieved outside assistance when he rejoined after the spin, so presumably they should've stopped scoring the car.

According to Riccardo "I was very cautious when I came to Loews, but I couldn't control it and I spun. Afterwards someone objected that the marshals had pushed me. I didn't feel any push. I think they pulled me back a little, as I was in an unsafe position, stuck in the middle of the track. Then they let go. The moment I released the brakes the car started to roll. I went down the hill, let the car get some speed, grabbed second gear and it started - with the Cosworth it was always quite easy to do a bump start."

[luke]

Originally Posted by Setantra

Who, in your opinion, is the WORST driver ever to grace the cockpit of an F1 car.

My nominations are......Tiago Monteiro, Zsolt Baumgartner, Jan Magnussen, Esteban Tuero, Luciano Burti, etc.

Enjoy.

Tiago Monteiro has only had one race, give him a chance....

Baumgartner turned out to be better than what was thought of him, especially compared to his first qualifying session when he was all over the place, yet he was consistent, and brought the car home, as a result out shinned Bruni.

[Snips1]

Originally Posted by Setantra

Who, in your opinion, is the WORST driver ever to grace the cockpit of an F1 car.

My nominations are......Tiago Monteiro, Zsolt Baumgartner, Jan Magnussen, Esteban Tuero, Luciano Burti, etc.

Enjoy.

Magnusen??????

[luke]

There's no need to be offensive, question the post not the poster.
And it's only his view.

[mark_l]

Ricardo Rosett must rank fairly high up on the list of Bad F1 drivers.

Trying to perform a spin turn at Monaco and clouting the barrier causing retirement.

Driving into an obvious crash at Spa in the wet, cars going in all directions and he drives straight towards it with the foot buried to the floor.

[GaryM]

Taki inoue

"A pay-driver pure and simple, the much maligned Taki had an adventurous GP career - his F1 stint included being flipped over by the safety car at Monaco, and being infamously run over by the marshals' car in Hungary"

These were the highlights of his f1 career i think!

[Kicking-back]

Originally Posted by Snips1

Magnusen??????

Personal attacks are not going to get you very far, sir.