Worst grid of formula one drivers?

[MaxMotus]

Give us your entry to the worst 26 formula one drivers past or present?

In pole position is Tiffany Dell.....

[Sideways-Fast]

Gooood one!
Here goes.....

Giovanna Amati
Tiff ( TV tart ) Needell
Pedro Diniz
Tarso Marques
Enrique Bernoldi
Jonathan Palmer
Ian Ashley
Huub Rotten Garter (!)
Andrea De Crasheris
Roberto Moreno

To be continued.......

[Chofar]

What is the name of the first place of the grid ?

.....Pole-Position !


What is the name of the last place of the grid ?


.....Paul Belmondo !!

(French joke of the late eighties)

[HiRich]

Was it Michael Bleekmolen (I think his son's now racing) who was entered in the 76 Italian Grand Prix. To be fair, he had run something like six Formula Ford races, and was desperately out of his depth.
What sticks in my mind was that he was so slow he managed to glaze the brake pads through under use.

[ensign14]

Very cruel with some. Needell and Ashley were not entirely clueless. And Rothengatter got a 2nd place in F2.

But, for starters, based on their F1 performances - and extenuating circumstances will apply in some cases...

Ottorino Volonterio
Otto Stuppacher
Jean-Denis Deletraz
Joe Kelly
Giovanna Amati
Gimax
Bernie Ecclestone
Bernard Collomb
Jo Vonlanthen
Enrico Bertaggia
Vic Wilson
Philippe Adams
Adrian Campos
Roelof Wunderink
Ricardo Zunino
Massimo Natili
Dave Walker
Michael Bartels

[Adam43]

Originally posted by ensign14
Bernie Ecclestone

Surely this should be limited to people who got to the grid of an F1 race.

Actually I think that may be harsh.

Did anyone see that picture of Bernie in a Formula Libre (I think) race in Autosport a few weeks back. He sneaked on to the row ahead of where he qualified. Cheaky, but classic Bernie!

[Sile]

Don't forget Miguel Angle Gurrera, Slim Borgud and Giorio Francia

[Vitesse]

Michael Andretti ....

[D-Type]

Hector Rebaque?

[rodrigomarban]

Why should we include Héctor Rebaque? If I'm not mistaken he did around 15 points in F1, some of them with a very poor car, including one point he did with a car of his own. He would have finished 2nd in the 1981 Argentina GP if not for a mechanical failure.

Pay-drivers are really the ones who should be included in this list, IMHO.

[marcus]

I couldnt say any of them were terrible , they all made it there whether it be by talent or money just making it to F1 is something special in my books and they all should deserve the respect for doing that

[Fiorentina 1]

Taki Inoue on pole for that one for sure, then Huub Rothengather, Slim Borguud, Giovanni Lavaggi, Claudio Langes, Jiovanna Amati, Hector Rebabaque, Lamberto Leoni, Patrick Gailard, Michael Bartels, Miguel Angle Guerra, Ian Ashley, Divina Galica, Desiree Wilson, Eliseo Salazar, David Kennedy, Gary Brabham, Emilio Di Villota, Alberto Colombo, Gimax, Michael Bleekemoelen, Riccardo Paletti {sorry}, Giorgio Francia, Jean-Dennis Delatraz, Gaston Mezzacane & Gianfranco Brancatelli. DNQ for Ricardo Lodano from Colombia who was supposed to race an Ensign in 81 (I think) but didn't get the super license in time.....He would have made this grid for sure!

[D-Type]

Originally posted by rodrigomarban
Why should we include Héctor Rebaque? If I'm not mistaken he did around 15 points in F1, some of them with a very poor car, including one point he did with a car of his own. He would have finished 2nd in the 1981 Argentina GP if not for a mechanical failure.

Pay-drivers are really the ones who should be included in this list, IMHO.

Because when Mario and Ronnie were sweeping the board with the Lotus 78 and 79, he was at the back of the grid with the same car.

I accept that he later improved and whilst his main function at Brabham was to provide the funding to pay Piquet's wages he did on occasions turn in adequate no 2 driver performances.

[Chris Townsend]

Surely Jo Vonlanthen has to feature in here somewhere?

[verglas]

Anyone remember Richard Robartes??? One time Brabham pilot..

[Gaz170]

Almost any Japanese driver........

[KA]

Originally posted by Sideways-Fast

Andrea De Crasheris

I wouldn't include de Cesaris in this category- yes, he could be a liability at times, but you don't achieve a career of 200+ GP starts without having the ability to do a decent job, and on his day he could be a pretty effective racer- remember Belgium in 1991? Everyone always remembers it for Schumacher's F1 debut with Jordan, and often seem to forget the fortunes of the other Jordan that weekend- Andrea was running 2nd behind Senna when the engine overheated late in the race...

[Sile]

Not to mention how well he did in the Alfa in 82 & 83!

[ensign14]

Originally posted by KA
I wouldn't include de Cesaris in this category- yes, he could be a liability at times, but you don't achieve a career of 200+ GP starts without having the ability to do a decent job...

You could do if your dad was boss of Marlboro Italy. He had 17 crashes in 16 races in 1981...wildly fast but no brains.

Having said that, I was cheering him on at Belgium in 1991 as well - he seemed to have an affinity with Spa.

Robarts would belong - too much too soon. Rikky von Opel too, and maybe Larry Perkins (sorry Aussies, buit when he had the 2nd Brabham he did nothing with it, compared to (say) Rolf Stommelen in the same era).

[Richard Young]

The net is much too wide here....and therefore catching a number of very quick but un-moneyed people who could well have been stars but for a shortage of moolah.
Kenny Acheson for example, Tony Trimmer or possibly Damien Magee ?
Other more worthy candidates possibly include Francois Migault, Conny Andersson, Leo Kinnunen, most hopefuls from Holland, George Eaton, Jo Schlesser, Bernard Collomb (did somebody mention him already ?) Andre Pilette, sundry 'one-off' Americans, Dieter Quester (was Hubert Hahne there too ?) and folk like Mr Cabral from Portugal or Sig Volotta from Spain who got into their national Grands Prix.
And how about a few 'one off' stars - drivers who might well have rocketed onward were they not treated like local no-hopers.
I seem to recall that Moises Solana was a bit sharp...and Gary Hocking. Anyone remember some more ?

[Redlake27]

I don't think any of this lot should have ended up in an F1 car........

Allen Berg (totally blitzed by Piercarlo Ghinzani....!)
Giovanni Lavaggi
Giovanna Amati,
Michael Bartels,
Jean-Dennis Delatraz,
Gaston Mezzacane,
Tarso Marques,
Franco Forini
Phillipe Adams
Ralph Firman
Nicolas Kiesa
Ricardo Rosset
Taki Inoue
Perry McCarthy
Paul Belmondo
David Brabham
Pedro Chaves
Ricardo Zunino
Naoki Hattori
Alex Yoong

[DNQ]

Great topic. I don't have time to list a full grid at the moment, but in my opinion, these are the five worst f1 drivers ever:

Gaston Mazzacane
Paul Belmondo
Jean-Dennis Delatraz
Giovanni Lavaggi
Al Pease

[davemorganfan]

Mike Beuttler is a strong candidate here. Pootled around at the back of F1 races for years and never got any better. Alex Soler Roig? Brett Lunger? Francois Hesnault? Tony Settember? Keep 'em coming.

[KA]

Originally posted by Richard Young
The net is much too wide here....and therefore catching a number of very quick but un-moneyed people who could well have been stars but for a shortage of moolah.
Kenny Acheson for example, Tony Trimmer or possibly Damien Magee ?

It does show how much success or failure can be influenced by being in the right place at the right time- OK, there are plenty of names mentioned so far who it's pretty clear were total no-hopers at F1 level, but equally there are plenty of drivers who might have been able to turn in perfectly competent perfomances in F1 given a half-decent car to drive, rather than the total sheds they found themselves trying to qualify- Gabriele Tarquini springs to mind here.

Just how do you judge the abilty of, say Perry McCarthy on the basis of him trying to qualify possibly the worst F1 car of the last 20-odd years with the team not even really trying to get the car into the race....?

[krt917]

Absolutely spot on KA. It's almost impossible (though interesting) to do. This is largely because most of those that spring to mind only had one or a handful of starts, usually in cars of dubious competitiveness at best! Tiff Needell, for example, didn't really get much of an opportunity and, apparently, he did tell them they had a chassis problem (which turned out to be correct) and wasn't believed because of his inexperience.

It's also interesting to note that some drivers have gone on to be pretty good in other categories, such as Sportscars. Although these categories aren't at the pinnacle, it does suggest that some drivers aren't as bad as F1 made them look. Bernd Schneider hasn't done too badly since leaving F1!

Finally, the most surprising nomination so far is Jonathan Palmer. I reckon he was quite handy - he deserved a better chance. And, he did win the Jim Clark Trophy (for drivers of non-turbo cars) in the 1987 F1 season and mixed it with the turbos on occassion. I'm not sure who would be on my list (have to go away and think about that), but he definitely wouldn't be!