Poll Worst Driver Currently in F1

[Publius Cornelius Scipio]

whilst I agree that on average the current crop of F1 drivers is not great, I took the liberty to look at the list of entrants from some of the golden years... I chose 1981 and 1974. Here are a few "intersting" names from those years

1981
Kevin Cogan
Ricardo Zunino, yes the chap who got an F1 driver only because he happened to be on the stands of the US GP when Lauda retired and Bernie, or so the story goes, made an announcement over the tannoy asking if among the spectators there was any driver with a valid superlicence willing to have a go with one of his cars...
Hector Rebaque, famous for driving possibly the best car of his era and not achieving much, also famous for his family's wealth
Slim Borgudd, played with Abba, I hope that as a drummer he was better than as a driver
Ricardo Londono
Eliseo Salazar, a chap who had his moment of fame when he took out Piquet at Hockenheim and was savagely kicked and punched on live TV by a furious Piquet
Derek Daly, as a driver he didn't achive much
Siegdrid Stohr, probably unlucky but he had a seriously poor F1 career
Jacques Villeneuve Snr
Beppe Gabbiani, despite the fact that the guy thinks that he was on a par with people like Patrese, he couldn't qualify his car in minor sports car races at some regional championship, even his own son thought that he was hopeless. As per Rebaque, his dad's money made quite an impression
Giorgio Francia, he was essentially a test driver in an era when test drivers weren't up an coming hotshots but rather car mechanics come good, but still very poor as a driver

1974
Richard Robarts
Rikky Von Opel, apparently no as bad as some people think but still not up to F1 standards
Bertil Roos
Jose Dolhem
Dieter Quester, very nice and charming but hopeless
Tom Belso
Mike Wilds
Dave Charlton
Guy Edwards, I know that many people think that he was a nice chap, but in racing terms he didn't achive results worthy of F1
John Nicholson
Ian Scheckter
Paddy Driver, great story, no meaningful results
Eddie Keizan
Ian Ashley
David Purley, great guy but not much talent
Eppie Wietzes

just to put things into perspective

 

[siffert_fan]

More perspective:

In 1974 there were 33 TEAMS!!!! Therefore NOBODY assured of a starting spot, unlike today's situation.

 

[Clay]

Worst driver in F1's history: Al Pease.

 

[RasputinLives]

No. Bernie Ecclestone.

 

[cider_and_toast]

No. Dave Walker

 

[Ruslan]

More perspective:

In 1974 there were 33 TEAMS!!!! Therefore NOBODY assured of a starting spot, unlike today's situation.

And that is the way it should be in the future !!!

 

[Olivier]

Another stellar year? 1994

Pedro Lamy
Philippe Adams
Paul Belmondo
Taki Inoue
Yannick Dalmas
Hideki Noda
Jean-Dennis Deletaz

 

[Titch]

I don’t remember of these people.

 

[RasputinLives]

It's not exactly on topic but I think this is an ideal thread to remind you all that Phillpe Alliot drove a McLaren once.

 

[cider_and_toast]

So what? Luca Badoer was seen as the right man to drive a Ferrari.

 

[Greenlantern101]

Sirotkin vs Stroll in 2018 - Racing Statistics

Lance Stroll currently beating Sirotkin. Yet vote is heavily for Stroll being the worst driver.

I had no idea CTA was such a socialist haven. Down with the rich.

 

[Publius Cornelius Scipio]

Another stellar year? 1994

Pedro Lamy
Philippe Adams
Paul Belmondo
Taki Inoue
Yannick Dalmas
Hideki Noda
Jean-Dennis Deletaz

Pedro Lamy was generally considered one of the very best drivers of his generation. As for Yannik Dalmas he wasn't too shabby either and did quite well with sport cars

 

[RasputinLives]

Greenlantern101 both Stroll and Sirotkin have been basically driving a shopping trolley all season and both have shown flashes of putting that car places in race and qualifying it should never even dream of being and have also shown flashes of complete numptiness. Exactly what you'd expect from a rookie and a softmere.

How anyone can judge them as 'worst driver on the grid' when there is no reference point to gage them with I don't know.

Hence why I went Hartley. You can see where that car can be and you can see him consistently not doing that.

 

[Clay]

I voted for Sirotkin because he’s slower than Stroll who was much slower than Massa last season, so we do also have a reference in this case.

 

[RasputinLives]

I guess that is a reference but a flimsy one. Stroll as a rookie verses Massa as race winning veteran can be seen as a little harsh - especially if you look at actually results rather than pace as it was Stroll who landed those. I do see your point though.

My main point really was that you can't make a true judgement of anyone driving that Williams because it is by far the worst car in the field. Both Stroll and Sirotkin could be driving the seasons of their life for all we know but it makes no difference because of how far behind the machinery is. It's much easy to have a point of reference with the rest of the grid as their cars are at least near to the pace of others so you make a call on what input the driver is having.

For instance I don't rate Marcus Ericsson as a driver but it's quite clear he is having a very good season.

 

[F1Brits_90]

thats what I was saying I have sympathy for stroll & sirotkin, because they driving a shocker of car & they might be great drivers but if true & drivers have no confidence in car because they dont know when the arrive if they will still have downforce. like at Silverstone when they arrived at stowe, the car stalled & they had no downforce. I challenge any F1 driver in that car to look good

what about 2001, that in hindsight looked a bad year
Luciano Burti
Tarso Marques
Gaston Mazzacane
Alex Yoong
Tomas Enge
Enrique Bernoldi
Ricardio Zonta

 

[cider_and_toast]

There was a time when the large number of back marker teams contributed healthily to the front end of the grid.

Teams like Theodore, Ensign, Toleman and Minardi all gave debuts to future world champions.

Triple word champion Niki Lauda started his career paying to drive for BRM.

Interestingly, modern F1 has become more like the modern music charts. When I was growing up in the late 70's and 80's, records would generally enter the top 40 outside the top 10 and climb the charts. Some would make it to the top spot but it would take a couple of weeks. Very few would enter the top 10 directly and even fewer would ever enter at number 1. (For context, the Beatles only had 1 of their 17 number 1's enter the chart at the top spot). These days, F1 drivers generally enter the grid at their highest point of opportunity and then fall away. Much like modern singles that enter the charts in the top 5 each week. They may climb a spot or two but generally fall back.

Its absolutely clear that some of the drivers being named here were not good enough to be at the sharp end of the grid however, given the opportunity and the right car, some of them may have gone on to win races.

Never forget, Eddie Irvine was almost a world champion for Ferrari.

 

[Publius Cornelius Scipio]

in the Stroll v Sirotkin fight, IMHO Sirotkin is better despite the fact that Stroll often is ahed of him in the races, but Stroll had a huge testing programme before his debut whereas Sirotkin is having to learn the hard way and also IMHO the fact that apparently the seating position is so wrong for Sirotkin that after a few laps he can barely drive. Also it seems that Sirotkin is not involved in silly situation as often as Stroll

 

[Angel]

Never forget, Eddie Irvine was almost a world champion for Ferrari.

Only because Michael Schumacher had that accident (at Silverstone if I recall correctly) and broke his leg. Ferrari never really wanted Eddie to be world champion I bet. I get your point though. Eddie was also a character, we don't get many of those in F1 anymore sadly, they all follow the corporate line the majority of the time.

 

[RasputinLives]

Is character another word for dick?