Here are ten of the worst drivers F1 has ever seen but who gets the wooden spoon? Before you make your choice here is some background on each of the contenders Yuji Ide In 2006 Ide had his superlicense revoked after failing to qualify within five seconds of pole position at any of the four grand prix he entered and making a general nuisance of himself during the races. Driving an outdated Super Aguri was never going to be easy but Ide made it infinitely more difficult by not being able to communicate with his team in English. He finished just one race, the Australian Grand Prix, in 13th but three laps down. Franck Montagny was quickly drafted in to replace him and Ide returned to his native Japan to race in Formula Nippon and the Super GT championship. Chanoch Nissany After taking up motor-racing as a hobby at the grand old age of 38, it should have been no surprise that Nissany was 13 seconds off the pace when he made his F1 debut with Minardi during practice for the 2005 Hungarian Grand Prix. He reportedly said over the radio: "Guys, I'm coming in, I'm having too much grip." Well that will tend to happen in an F1 car Taki Inoue As well as being one of F1's most hopeless drivers, finishing just five races from 18 attempts, he was also involved in two of the sport's most bizarre accidents. At the 1995 Monaco Grand Prix he stalled during first qualifying and had to be towed back to the pits at the end of the session. Nothing too abnormal about that, but as he sat in the cockpit with his Footwork roped to a tow truck, he was hit and flipped by a Renault Clio course car driving full pelt around the circuit. Fortunately Inoue was wearing his helmet, and despite mild concussion, still took part in the race. The second incident was at that year's Hungarian Grand Prix. Inoue retired on lap 14 with engine failure, and as he hustled marshals to get a fire extinguisher, he was hit by a course car at low speed. He staggered on his feet for a few seconds before clutching his leg and falling to the ground. He retired from F1 for good at the end of the season. It was probably for the best. Luca Badoer As an F3000 champion and highly regarded Ferrari test driver, Badoer's inclusion on the list can easily be debated. However, it's hard to ignore the fact that he has competed in the more F1 races than any other driver without scoring a point. He was undoubtedly held back by terrible cars in his early career, driving for BMS Scuderia Italia, Minardi and Forti. Ten seasons as a Ferrari test driver then followed before he was finally given a chance to race for the team in 2009. Sadly his dream of racing for Italy's No.1 team soon turned into a nightmare. While team-mate Kimi Raikkonen took a third place and a win at the European and Belgian Grand Prix, Badoer qualified plumb last at both events and was over a second off the pace in the races. As a result of his poor performances the British press saddled him with the nickname Look-How-Bad-You-Are. Esteban Tuero From the age of seven he was groomed to be a racing driver and by his 18th birthday he was competing in Formula One's feeder series F3000. But unlike Fernando Alonso or Lewis Hamilton, Tuero rocketed through the ranks as a result of his sponsors' money rather than any outstanding talent. With just enough experience to gain a superlicence he made his debut with Minardi aged 19 but immediately looked out of place. Commentator and ex-F1 driver Martin Brundle said: "I don't like to see these guys out there with so little experience. To be honest, it annoys me, people like that, with zilch credibility." He finished the season with 12 retirements from 16 starts before returning to his native Argentina to race in touring cars. Al Pease There were many private entrants from the early years of F1 who could qualify for this list, but Pease stands out from the crowd. He distinguishes himself by being the only F1 driver ever to be disqualified for being too slow. Driving an uncompetitive Eagle-Climax in the 1969 Canadian Grand Prix, he was several laps down at the time but still determined to have a scrap with anybody who came up behind him. When a rather dastardly swipe nearly took Jackie Stewart out of the race, team owner Ken Tyrrell lodged a complaint with the stewards and Pease was shown the black flag. Paul Belmondo Son of Jean-Paul Belmondo, the star of cult French film Breathless, Paul entered 27 races in Formula One between 1992 and 1994 before his funding ran out. He only qualified for seven of them, and one of those he had to retire from due to physical exhaustion. Driving for the failing March team in 1992 and the hopeless Pacific outfit in 1994, he barely gave himself an opportunity to shine. But given his poor performances in the junior formula, he probably should never have been in F1 in the first place. Giovanna Amati Amati made her Formula One debut testing for Benetton, around the same time she was rumoured to be in a relationship with team principal Flavio Briatore. In 1992 she got a race drive at the failing Brabham team, but was way off the pace and span six times during her first practice session at Kyalami. After failing to qualify for the next two rounds she was finally dropped in favour of Damon Hill. Marco Apicella He had the shortest F1 race career in history, competing in just one grand prix and making it to the apex of the first corner before being clouted out of the race by JJ Lehto's Sauber. To be fair to Apicella he was probably capable of more, having achieved the odd podium in European F3000, but it wasn't to be and his one-race contract with Jordan wasn't extended. He then moved to Japan where he won the Formula Nippon championship and continues to race in the Super GT sportscar championship today. Jean-Denis Deletraz He made his grand prix debut at the 1994 Australian Grand Prix with Larrousse, when the cash-strapped F1 team ditched its long-serving driver Eric Comas in favour of Deletraz and his sponsor's money. He surprised many by qualifying off the back of the grid, but during the race it quickly became clear that he was out of his depth. He was passed by the leaders after just 10 laps, and by the time he retired midway through the race, he had been lapped a further nine times. He competed at just two more grand prix, again paying for his drive, but this time at Pacific. He retired from the first at Estoril with cramp but managed to finish the second, at the Nurburgring, in 15th position - albeit seven laps down. Despite his terrible F1 experience, Deletraz proved to be a very competent sports car driver and twice won in his class at the Le Mans 24 Hours. Thee choice is yours.
Seriously you are a moderator are you supporting such threads? No offence Meph.. but I really think it is taking it too far. This is not 606, this is not606 ;P
He is asking who is the worst driver, I don't see being a moderator has anything to with it , can u explain how it's to far ?
Read the footnote before you make a decision it is just a bit of fun none of the contenders are current F1 drivers, and I think they know they were pretty bad
If this was 606, some WUM would have put Hamilton/Schumacher/Alonso in the poll to wind up his fans. This list is a true list of genuine terribleness!! So much medicority its hard to chose who the worst is! I'd say Delatraz, but would also like to nominate Giovanni Lavaggi.
Sorry meph, I thought it was going to be about current and recent drivers and another hamilton/webber/Scumacher blah blah thread. Though I suspect that this might come to that in the end. We will see.
This site is always worth a read. Brings back some great memories and horror stories of drivers, teams and events from years gone by! http://www.f1rejects.com/drivers/index.html
I love F1 Rejects... I was so glad that they finally put out another podcast recently.... Always hilarious stuff.
If you cant figure it out, you are definitely the wrong man for the job. Or maybe just a boy? But if I have to tell you, being a moderator you should statue a good example and try to steer away from hatred and negativism. I am starting to think that this was not the forum I thought it to be as it more and more show to be many of the things i couldn't stand with 606. But maybe it is just me who need a break from all this. And I mean no disrespect, I just think it is plain wrong. And can not for the love of god understand why people like to talk about how bad them drivers are instead of how good they are.
[video=youtube;K0e0GWCzpD4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0e0GWCzpD4[/video] just to support my choice of yuji ide
I only remember Luca Badoer But I saw one very "clumsy" Swedish driver in a lower formula stopping just before the finishing line to celebrate his win, to have number two passing him to claim the flag lol.. This was in a lower forumla and i do not remember his name. That doesn't say he is bad, but one of the worst mistakes I ever saw.
What the hell you talking about ? What hatred are you going on about? All I saw was who was the worst formula 1 driver ever and I responded jokingly Schumacher . So this thread was also changed after I answered
I thought you understood my point but obviously I was mistaken, people celebrate monumental failure just as much as success, just look at Eddie the eagle he knows he was crap and laughs with us and we loved him for trying. This is not a negative thread.
@meph, sorry getting alot of things together in the same post there. Those posts in the beginning was because I thought it was going to be about current drivers. I understand that this is clearly not meant to be a negative thread. But I had to reply to Jager who also posted Michael Schumacher before the poll and description was up, which i think is wrong. And it is not because of who he said. I would have reacted the same way whoever he had written of the current drivers. In that reply I was airing my feelings of other threads lately. I am absolutely fed up with the negativism lately. But yes I understand now that this is not meant to be negative(and is not negative) and I really hope it can stay not negative. @Jager I am having a bad hair day or something, feel free to delete and edit out these posts if you want. I really wish i would had waited a few minutes before I replied now.
