Worst Driver of the Noughties

[Dan Fielden]

I know its a bit of a negative thread and i don't intend to cause offence to anyone or bash any drivers but i think we can all accept that there have been some questionable drivers in F1 in the past. That age old sayin theres always one springs to mind.

I would just like to know who (if any) you guys think could win that un-enviable title?

I would have to go with Tarso Marques. I remember watching him in 01 and alot of it was painfull. Frequently outside the 107% rule, often off the road and when he was alowed to race finishing 4 laps down was a result. Yes his team mate was a 19 year old Fernando Alonso but even the equally questionable Alex Yooung wasn't over 1 second a lap slower in the races.

Your thoughts?

[jab]

[ECW Dan Selby]

Gotta be Ide for me.

Selby

[richie_h]

Ide all the way, is he the 1st person to have his super licence withdrawn in recent years?

[neilap]

Remember Alex Yoong? He was pretty poor too.

[csirl]

Browsing the list of drivers on the "Formula One Rejects" website http://www.f1rejects.com/drivers/index.html is good for jogging the memory on some truely forgetable drivers

For the noughties, I'd agree Ide is the worst followed byAlex Yoong & Tarso Marques.

[Dan Fielden]

Ha, I think the fact Ide din't even come to mind suggests you are all right lol

[F.O.F.]

well, It's this Vs. this

Both dire...But my vote goes to Ide, only really because I seen more of him.

[Dan Fielden]

Ohh my god, that Ide Lap was disgracefull. Someone needs to explain the fundementals of carying speed through a corner all the way to the exit and explain that his car has a 7th gear.

That must have been an out lap surely!

[neilap]

My god, that lap was horrible. At first I did not get it, I thought he was just doing a warm up lap but then he had to correct etc. Ok, my vote has changed.

Originally Posted by F.O.F.

well, It's this Vs. this

Both dire...But my vote goes to Ide, only really because I seen more of him.

[F.O.F.]

I couldn't believe it either, it's bloody disgraceful! I've done better laps on the playstation for god's sake.

[chillibowl]

in fairness that was one of his first times in that car which was barely even ready for that weekend to begin with...that said his destruction of Albers a few races later was much worse
those uniforms were sweet though

[steve nielsen]

Giovanni Lavaggi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cBjRArH25I

and Taki Inoe

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pa3GrLfprM

[Marbot]

Michael Schumacher was "worst" at cheating (still waiting on 'Crashgate' to tell us otherwise).

But yes, you'd have to pick Ide as being the most hapless in an F1 car in an F1 GP.

[jab]

There have usually been vindicating circumstances with a lot of the "poor" drivers

Ide was incredibly inexperienced in F1 machinery - he wasn't that bad in FNippon, having finished 3rd in the championship. However he has since been involved in a rather large accident at Suzuka a couple of years ago at the start of a FNippon race so it's fair to say he's quite crash happy

Yoong was also inexperienced and probably made to look worse than he actually was by his exceptional team mates (). He has since won in A1 GP, proving he's not fundamentally untalented. And an all-round nice guy too

Marques had plenty of bites at the cherry. Yes, he was bringing plenty of money, but again I don't think he was totally woeful. Got a top 10 or two. Again suffers from being compared to a brilliant team mate in his last stint, and also replaced some pretty handy drivers in 96 and 97. Last I heard he was trying to get a Midland drive for 2006

Even Mazzacane wasn't that bad and picked up a couple of top 10s. Didn't look great in 2001, though. Just makes you wonder what a better driver would've done in the Minardis in the 2000s

The Piquets and Grosjeans who flopped in decent machinery all usually had good records in the lower formulae. Yamamoto had a reasonable record as well

"Worst driver" is open to interpretation. Ide was the worst performer if you look solely at F1, but least talented is a different matter. I honestly don't know. Maybe Marques

[ECW Dan Selby]

Originally Posted by steve nielsen

Giovanni Lavaggi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cBjRArH25I

and Taki Inoe

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pa3GrLfprM

Noughties not nineties

Selby

[F.O.F.]

I don't care what decade it's from, I'll always watch a video of Taki Inoe being run over

:edit: didn't that happen twice?

[WapFlap]

Must be Ide. But I remember Alex Yoong going out first and trying to Qualify in Monaco in 2002 where he missed the St. Devote corner and then in the next shot you saw Mika Salo smiling But Alex did some okay things as well, Ide was worse...

[Chiefy]

I think it's Sakon Yamamoto for me. He was younger than Yuji Ide and he had a lot more F1 races following his appointment - but he only managed one 12th place to Ide's 13th.

[Osella]

I'm sure one of the Super Aguri drivers managed 7th fastest lap in Brazil once? New tyres maybe, but you still have to put the lap together. Perhaps it was Yamamoto.

[jab]

Originally Posted by Osella

I'm sure one of the Super Aguri drivers managed 7th fastest lap in Brazil once? New tyres maybe, but you still have to put the lap together. Perhaps it was Yamamoto.

It was indeed Yamamoto. Sato had 9th fastest lap and finished 10th

[Dan Fielden]

Originally Posted by jab

There have usually been vindicating circumstances with a lot of the "poor" drivers

Even Mazzacane wasn't that bad and picked up a couple of top 10s. Didn't look great in 2001, though. Just makes you wonder what a better driver would've done in the Minardis in the 2000s

In fairness though Mazzacane 11th place early teen finishes were usually if not always due to other cars blowing up or falling of the track, one of the reasons i haven' tmentioned Mazzacane is because he was normally quite good at bringing the car home and out qualified Gene twice in 00. (enough for prost to take a chance for 01, however the 8M from PSN may have helped abit)

With regards to decent drivers in the minardis they did have Alonso in 01, Webber in 02 and Verstappen in 03 so it wasn't totaly lacking talent they just had realy sh1te engines for the most part.

[jab]

I think Mazzacane actually finished 8th at the Nurburgring in 2000 (the forgotten wet race of the last 10 years) - retirements or no retirements, that's still impressive, because he managed to keep it on the track, and to finish first, first you have to finish

Although I contest you putting Verstappen in the same sentence as Alonso and Webber

[Dan Fielden]

Originally Posted by jab

Although I contest you putting Verstappen in the same sentence as Alonso and Webber

ha ha ha i see that may cause some raised eyebrows however he may not be an f1 great however he didn't look out of place in a grand prix. He also got the Minardi on Provisional pole in France in 03 in Qualy 1 or 2 (not sure exactly). He beat Ralph Firman by quite a margin the lap after which i think is good going. Was he a million miles away from Schumacher at benneton?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlwuMxtl4AU

[jab]

Originally Posted by Dan Fielden

Was he a million miles away from Schumacher at benneton?

Hard to tell, given that they weren't exactly driving identical cars

I don't think Jos was that bad (some good performances in the Simtek in 95, good in the wet for Arrows etc) but I think some people tend to rate him a bit too highly. Salo had the edge on him at Tyrrell, he didn't look great at Stewart, and, despite all the whinging about his appointment at Sauber, de la Rosa matched him at Arrows. The rest of the time he was partnered with paying rookies (Schiattarella, Rosset, Bernoldi, Wilson)