Oh boy this is one funny website. It's got me thinking: Which Formula 1 drivers of the last 15 years do you think are the worst ever? Not necessarily the unluckiest, but the worst in terms of incompetence, lack of talent, stupidity, lack of fitness, etc.
LOL, no way! You're gonna have to run into a nuclear bomb proof shelter to escape backlash from that comment! To qualify for the worst-ever shortlist, they'd have to have never won a race nor got pole position. Even a single championship point is highly unlikely!
Hmm, I think Swiss driver Jean-Denis Délétraz of the 1994 (Larrousse Ford F1) and 1995 (Pacific Ford) seasons would have to take the cake. http://www.f1rejects.com/drivers/deletraz/biography.html Here are some of his achievements in Formula 1: Australia 1994 - DNF. gearbox failure lap 57. "He was, as Autosport put it, "staggeringly slow", to the point where he was lapped by Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill on lap 10. In nine laps, he had already fallen behind by some 80 seconds." Also got 3 speeding penalties that weekend. Portugal 1995 - "On Friday qualifying at Estoril, he let the revs drop too low at the uphill double-hairpin complex and stalled the car right on the racing line. He needed the marshals to push-start him, and for that his times for the day were disqualified. Now this happened simply because Délétraz was driving too slowly; whether this was because of inexperience with the car, too conservative an approach, or the fact that he was just plainly struggling, is not known. Regardless, this particular event moved the hardened press corps so much, the straight-talking Nigel Roebuck proclaimed that Délétraz made Lavaggi look "like Nuvolari". Strike one." "Saturday qualifying saw him...dead last, over 12 seconds slower than pole-sitter David Coulthard, more than 5 seconds behind the cumbersome Fortis and almost 7 seconds away from his own team-mate, Andrea Montermini. His time would have only qualified him 22nd for the F3000 support race. To add further insult, when the usually-polite Damon Hill was asked for his opinion of Délétraz, he was quoted as saying: "Let's hope he breaks down early in the race." Strike two." During the race... "After three laps, Délétraz was already 40 seconds behind, and he was lapped after only seven tours. This led Roebuck to scathingly describe Jean-Denis' performance as a "very special interpretation of Grand Prix driving". Eventually, Délétraz retired after 14 laps with cramp in his left arm. It came as a surprise to himself, especially when it was the first time in his career that he had to retire with a physical problem. But while Estoril's sweepers are undeniably demanding with heavy G-force loadings, it came as a surprise to the rest of the paddock that his cramp was in his left arm, when Estoril was a clock-wise circuit where the right arm does more work. Strike three." Europe 1995 - "In Friday qualifying he posted a time only 9.1 seconds slower than Coulthard who was fastest, a second behind the Fortis and just over 3 seconds adrift of Montermini. Rain meant no improvement was possible on Saturday, although he did tangle with a Tyrrell after a misunderstanding." "In the race, Délétraz toured slowly around at the back, and actually finished in 15th and last place, a notable achievement, albeit 7 laps down." After this race, he was fired. Pacific Ford team principle explains: "He was defaulted on payment and on ability alone we are not prepared to keep him."
When you are talking about an unknown driver on a backmarker team it might be difficult to discern whether it was the car or the driver that was awful. However, when a driver gets a drive with one of the top teams and still stinks up the place, you have a good idea that he is the cause. Therefore I nominate: Michael Andretti Alex Zanardi w/Williams
Alex Yoong has to be the worst of the last 5 years. In all the junior formulas he was in before Formula 1, he didn't win anything. While in Formula 1 in 2001 and 2002, he was the slowest by far. Then when he went to Champ car, he also failed miserably there. Now he's here racing V8 supercars... and still hasn't won anything.
Everyone acknowledged that Deletraz drove the car much much too slowly. He also wasn't fit enough, having to retire from one the races because of this.
My two choices: - Giovanni Lavaggi Nobleman turned F1 driver that did nothing but stand in the way when lapped. Lavaggi was apparently a nice bloke but that was it. He partnered with Deletraz at some point in sports cars !! http://www.f1rejects.com/drivers/lavaggi/index.html - Pedro Diniz I'm actually surprised Diniz is not on f1rejects.com. Extremely bad driver whose wealthy father (owner of a supermarket chain in Brazil) promoted his F1 carreer. After he was done driving his father bought a stake in Prost's team and Pedro served as a manager (or something) until the team's demise.
You can add one achievement to that list: Crashed a historic JPS Lotus in the historic Monaco GP. Ouch! One of the British car mags regularly runs a column where they cover one of the worst F1 drivers of all times. Pretty funny stuff. I hate to say it, but my countryman Delatraz qualifies. Another one that comes to mind: Foitek Junior, son of a Swiss Ferrari distributor in Zurich. Nice and talented fellow, but F1 was way over his shoulders. My personal worst F1 drivers of all times: Michael Andretti I actually missed him, when he had to make room for a certain Fin. We had bets whether Michael would crash before or after the first corner...
Wow, you guys are pretty harsh on M. Andretti! Yeah, he didn't exactly kick butt, but I think that fast Finnish guy replacing him made him look worse than he is. Has J. Button or Mark Webber have a podium finish in their first year in F-1? (Not a rhetorical question, I don't recall...) Maybe not a horrible result (his 3rd place finish in his last race) considering he never really raced in any of the European tracks before.
First off: I like the Andrettis, including Michael. But he didn't take F1 seriously enough, commuting transatlantically is not gonna cut it. Actually Michael as the new CART Champion going to F1 and faile miserably until booted out midseason was half of the proof which racing championship is king on the hill. The other half of the proof came from freshly crowned F1 Champion Mansell going to CART and winning the season in his rookie year. If there ever was a question about the supremacy of F1 it got answered right then and there. And that was when CART actually had relatively good drivers.
I agree. JPM has bad moments, but after all he managed to qualify on pole and win once in a while. The really bad F1 drivers don't even see the start line. Or not much else of the race once they pass it. PS: Maranelloman, in response to those pictures, which so far you have only posted about 53 times: There are very unflattering shots of Michael as well and that pass in Imola was at least an attempt at getting at Michael. Plus the fact, that he was able to control the car with all four wheels on the grass speaks actually for him. If you want to beat up JPM, pick his lackluster performance in Shanghai where Ralf drove circles around him.
Admiral, Your Deletraz pick cant be beaten ... the comments are real funny Also agree on Yoong - guy was perenially useless.
Délétraz does take the cake, but after watching Mr. 107% (Yoong) during the Porsche Supercup support race at the Chinese GP, someone needs to spend some of his sponsorship money and send him to Skip Barber. I never saw him take the same line through turn 13 and I watched every session!!!
Deletraz came immediatly to mind however I think that the criticism of Diniz is excessive. He did outqualify World Champion Damon Hill when they were at Arrows together on a number of occasions and was a very reliable driver. Never really complained and did not fly off the road either. A good F1 driver but never champion material. Maybe a win or two if the car was exceptional; certainly not an F1 reject.
AAH!! NO WAY!! I won't stand here and allow you to sully the reputation of the best nickname in recent memory--"Johnny Carwash" Seriously, I seem to remember Ricardo Rosset making some seriously bad drives. Most notably his infamous "over-the-top" manouever in the rainy start in Spa.
How about that Williams test driver who got to run in Monza and drove right into Senna thus giving the tifosi a rather sudden Ferrari victory? Not sure on this, but that might have been his one and only GP.
I think you are referring to Jean Louis Schlesser. Nephew of Jo Schelsser he made his only GP in Italy at Monza subbing for sick Nigel Mansell at the age of 40. Now a multiple winner of the Dakar Rally, JLS is hardly an F1 reject just wrong place wrong time in Monza.
I, for one, can not get enough! Thank you M-man! Reminds me that my rants are indeed, TRUE! BZZZZT!!! "WRONG! You are the weakest link!" The fact that he was in the grass in the first place on this turn speaks volumes about his lack of self described "I was just born with good car control" HACK! HACK! PUKE! PUKE! Sorry, I just could not contain myself. Consider it done! "but....but....(snivel, snivel) the other drivers just would not get out of MY way.....(piss,moan,etc.,etc...)" Man, I still feel ill.... Jim ps If you had not already figured it out Whiney P. is at the top of my list. And next year will prove it.
I don't know how I'm going to be able to wait until next season! I know, I know. Every year is going to be better than last year. But I seriously believe that 2005 is going to be a great season.
