The worst driver in F1 History

[Galahad]

Galahad's average qualifying lap time-based Worst F1 drivers of the 1980s:

6. Francois Hesnault - an average of 1.4s/lap slower in qualifying in 1984 than Andrea de Cesaris?!
5. Hector Rebaque - 1.7s/lap slower than Nelson Piquet in 1980-81 (note: was also terrible in the 1970s)
4. Adrian Campos - 1.9s/lap slower than Alessandro Nannini in 1987
3. Huub Rothengatter - 2.7s/lap slower than Jonathan Palmer in 1987
2. Johnny Dumfries - 3.4s/lap slower than Ayrton Senna in 1986
1. Satoru Nakajima - 3.8s/lap slower than Ayrton Senna in 1987, and 1.0s/lap slower than (a fading) Piquet in 1988-89

 

[Il_leone]

Galahad I guess you might have a list for 90's ,00's ,10's then?

 

[F1Brits_90]

Two Grand Prix winners do not fit the catogry of 'Worst F1 Driver Ever'. I'm really sorry you don't like them and maybe they aren't the best drivers but to class them above drivers that have been seconds off the pace of the whole field is frankly either spiteful or idiotic.

spot on as i said Maldonado was rather good in 2012. the Spanish GP wasnt handed to him like Monaco 1996. it was very good win where started from pole outqualifed Alonso on merit & fended off an attack from alonso for final 25 laps

then didnt he also qualify on front row in Singapore

 

[F1Brits_90]

heikki kovalainen. or is that too harsh

 

[Il_leone]

spot on as i said Maldonado was rather good in 2012. the Spanish GP wasnt handed to him like Monaco 1996. it was very good win where started from pole outqualifed Alonso on merit & fended off an attack from alonso for final 25 laps

then didnt he also qualify on front row in Singapore

He dropped like a stone after that and is accidents must have cost more than the sponsorship he bought in such the regularity of it

Since I mentioned Maldonado I will go then to his predecessor Andrea De Cesaris pre 1991 version - nicknames Andrea De Crasharis - famously junked a lot of chassis although he scored 2nd places - his driving was described as scary by his peers. Were it not for his backers his career would have not have lasted long. He also had a knack of refusing to acknowledge the blue flags




You mentioned Heikki - he was everything Alonso was not - ice cool and approachable but he also not ruthless enough. Whilst he refuses to blame Mclaren when he was teammate to Lewis about the lack of pace. It just did not work out at Mclaren and he did rebuild his reputation at Lotus/Caterham against Trulli - he outqualified him in 2011

Certainly he failed at the highest level but the teammates he did well enough against Fisi and Trulli. Was he another victim of Flavio's mismanagement to massage Alonso's ego

-

 

[RasputinLives]

heikki kovalainen. or is that too harsh

Another Grand Prix winner! Obviously worse than Phillipe Adams.

 

[Galahad]

Worst F1 Drivers of the 1990s:

6. Satoru Nakajima - 1.5s/lap slower than Jean Alesi in 1990, and 1.1s/lap slower than Stefano Modena in 1991.
5. Paolo Barilla - 1.7s/lap slower than Pierluigi Martini in 1990
4. Claudio Langes - 1.6s/lap slower than Roberto Moreno in 1990
3. Ricardo Rosset - 1.5s/lap slower than Jos Verstappen in 1996, and 1.5s/lap slower than (rookie) Tora Takagi in 1998
2. Paul Belmondo - 1.7s/lap slower than Karl Wendlinger in 1992, and 1.0s/lap slower than Bertrand Gachot in 1994
1. Taki Inoue - 2.2s/lap slower than Gianni Morbidelli, and 0.7s/lap slower than (rookie) Max Papis in 1995

 

[Il_leone]

Galahad I don't think Langes even started a race

Belmondo and Inoue less said about them the better

 

[Galahad]

Galahad I don't think Langes even started a race

It doesn't get much worse than that.

Honourable mentions to Esteban Tuero and Michael Andretti, who just missed out.

 

[F1Brits_90]

Another Grand Prix winner! Obviously worse than Phillipe Adams.

but this is not on Maldonado frame. he only won because massa engine blew as he was 30secs behind at that point

 

[RasputinLives]

But he won and scored points and had multiple F1 team contacts

Phillipe Adams was like 8 seconds a lap down.

 

[F1Brits_90]

Pedro Diniz, Esteban Tuero & then embarrment of riches from Minardi Gaston Mazzacane, Alex Yoong ,Gianmaria Bruni, Zsolt Baumgartner, Patrick Fiersacher who managed to come last in 6 car USA GP. then what about rio Hariyanto

these were my main ones from what ive watched & all had a season or worrying in some case more than 1

 

[RasputinLives]

Pedro Diniz is the only pay driver I can think of that became a none pay driver and actailyl got so good midfield results in the end.

 

[The Artist.....]

RasputinLives - Niki Lauda started out as a pay driver...

 

[RasputinLives]

I wasn't born when he won his F1 titles so I wouldn't be able to remember that

 

[Il_leone]

It doesn't get much worse than that.

Honourable mentions to Esteban Tuero and Michael Andretti, who just missed out.

Agree Tuero was fed with a silverspoon just to get into F1

Andretti - Was terrible because he wanted to spend Christmas at home instead of doing testing nor did he bother to build a relationship with the team mechanics.

 

[Il_leone]

Pedro Diniz is the only pay driver I can think of that became a none pay driver and actailyl got so good midfield results in the end.

Murray Walker use to back Pedro Diniz up by saying he was not as bad as people make him out to be and certainly not just a pay driver.
I just checked he actually outscored Jean Alesi in 1999 ! Yes Jean Alesi and scored as many points as Mika Salo in 1998

 

[Il_leone]

but this is not on Maldonado frame. he only won because massa engine blew as he was 30secs behind at that point

Heikki's teammates were of much better quality than Maldonado's and he beat them

 

[Il_leone]

Just saw a video of Rosset why he was poor in F1 clearly not ready for it and his 2nd in F3000 was because it was no competition driving for the best team

 

[Galahad]

Worst F1 Drivers of the 2000s:

6. Ricardo Zonta - 0.667s/lap slower than Jacques Villeneuve in 2000
5. Antonio Pizzonia - 0.771s/lap slower than Mark Webber in 2003
4. Giorgio Pantano - 0.837s/lap slower than Nick Heidfeld in 2004
3. Ralph Firman - 0.858s/lap slower than Giancarlo Fisichella in 2003
2. Tarso Marques - 0.995s/lap slower than Fernando Alonso in 2001
1. Alex Yoong - 1.475s/lap slower than Mark Webber in 2002