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Who is the worst F1 driver that you know of? I remember Yuji Ide who was absolutely pitiful and a couple other's, who would be your nominees?
Worst F1 driver?
- Thread starter SteveO1965
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- GTP_SteveO1965
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- lipming
Yeah, and he finished most of his races unclassified.
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This is a tough one, since lots of drivers in the pre-turbo era were in cars from entrants that were decidedly second-class or even Formula Two, just to make up the numbers. I'm sure there's a few drivers that really didn't belong, but that's hard to quantify.
Sometimes a bad driver looks bad because the car is terrible or hasn't been given the experience beforehand to deal with an F1 car.
Although Jean-Denis Deletraz is right down at the bottom of my personal Modern F1 rankings. Mind you, he would probably beat me in any sort of race, even if he had a wheelbarrow, and I, in my car.
Sometimes a bad driver looks bad because the car is terrible or hasn't been given the experience beforehand to deal with an F1 car.
Although Jean-Denis Deletraz is right down at the bottom of my personal Modern F1 rankings. Mind you, he would probably beat me in any sort of race, even if he had a wheelbarrow, and I, in my car.
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I guess every driver that is named in this thread would beat me in a three lap race even if i had a two lap head start lol, but i am interested in those drivers that got a seat but definitely did not deserve to be in F1.
How about Andre de Cesaris?
He holds two distinctions in Formula One: the longest career without a race victory (208 grand prix starts), and also his unofficial title of 'Andrea de Crasheris'
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Taki Inoue
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Ralf?
Actually maybe not, I think he was the 3rd best driver in F1 at some point.
Don't look at Ralph's last season at Toyota and base that as the summation of his career. He's talented and quick, but unfortunately by the end of his career, lost motivation and was gifted an uncompetitive car.
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- Ardius_
He wasn't the worst, but he wasn't very good, lets be honest.
boiltheocean
Premium
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I'd say he built his own reputation of retiring his car. He got a lot better, but people don't forget when you have a decent car and you retire it for half the season.
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I agree but with a name like Schumacher he was always going to be compared to Michael and i dont think that was fair, in his own right i think he done well.
Again i agree but he did have a lot more mechanical retirements than most others and that damaged him more than it should have IMO, i am a big fan of Ralphs as you can see
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Christjian Albers.
When Felipe Massa left the pits with the fuel rig still attached, it was a problem on the part of the team, not Massa. When Albers drove away from the pits in Magny-Cours with the fuel rig still attached, it was because he was an idiot with a chequebook.
When Felipe Massa left the pits with the fuel rig still attached, it was a problem on the part of the team, not Massa. When Albers drove away from the pits in Magny-Cours with the fuel rig still attached, it was because he was an idiot with a chequebook.
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- GTP_Sigma
I wasn't being too serious. Ralf became a bit of a running joke here at GTP I believe after he stated that he was the 3rd best driver in f1. I'm sure its not confined to GTP though.
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Nope, F1 Rejects and Uncyclopedia are running with it as well.
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Enrico Bertaggia
Failed to qualify for any of the six GP's he entered with a best pre-qualifying effort of 11th.
His post-F1 career was one mostly of fail too.
Failed to qualify for any of the six GP's he entered with a best pre-qualifying effort of 11th.
His post-F1 career was one mostly of fail too.
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Yeah, he was definitely one that made up the numbers in pre-qualifying; but then again, Roberto Moreno only qualified that same pitiful Coloni 4 times in 1989. Late next year, put Moreno in a Euro Brun, and he can only get through twice into the races. He gets the chance of a lifetime to race the Benetton, and he's almost as quick as Nelson Piquet in a car in which he had no experience.
It's so hard to tell, since it's so rare for a backmarker to suddenly get a shot to a top-flight car. Alessandro Nannini goes from a Minardi to a Benetton in 1987-88, and Fisichella from a Minardi to a Jordan in 1996-97, and Trulli going from a Minardi (notice a trend here?) to a competitive Prost-Mugen in mid-1997. Mika Salo sort of proved himself in 1999, when he jumped from an Arrows into a temporary Ferrari drive. Now that test drivers seem to get the "call" when in need, it's becoming rarer. Pedro de la Rosa showed he could be a consistent runner and good qualifier when taking up the McLaren-Mercedes seat vacated by Montoya in 2006.
Alex Yoong may have been last on the grid a lot in 2002, but his times were close to his teammate, and he was never much more than 2-4 seconds away from the pole sitter in the Minardi (possibly the worst car at the time, although Arrows was down there).
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Giovanna Amati. Got her first F1 test because she was courting Flav. In 92 she spun about 6 times in practice in Kyalami with the Brabham team and ended up 9 seconds behind Mansell's fastest time. Never got out of pre qualifying or within 3 seconds of her teammate Eric van de Poele in three races.
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Although, thanks to her, we got Damon Hill into a race seat. 👍
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Yeah, Kovalainen was probably the best rookie of 2007; he was certainly the most improved. Where Hamilton took nine straight podiums inhis first nine events, Kovalainen went from untried tail-ended to taking podiums of his own. He was more improved than Hamilton, so he gets my vote as the best rookie.
