24 replies to this topic

[Andrew Hope]

Just a curious question - does anyone know of any drivers to race in a 'major' race series in the last decade or so, that had a comparatively late start to his career? Most drivers in touring cars, sports cars and single seaters seem (from what I've read) to have been karting since age 10, some much earlier, but are there any drivers racing that didn't start until their late teens or early 20s?

Cheers,

Andrew

[noikeee]

Damon Hill (he did bikes though)
Tiago Monteiro
Bruno Senna
Vitaly Petrov according to some other poster on this board
Sebastien Loeb

Edited by paranoik0, 25 October 2009 - 21:47.

[scheivlak]

Takuma Sato (started age 19 with karting)

[potmotr]

Robert Doornbos started quite late.

[scheivlak]

Bruno Senna

Started age 4 with karting.
We've been told that his uncle praised him....

[scheivlak]

Robert Doornbos started quite late.

Good one. He was a VIP box spectator at the 1998 Belgian GP IIRC and liked what he saw.

[postajegenye]

Sébastien Loeb was a competitive gymnast and he started racing at the age of 21.
He first participated in a WRC in '99, aged 25, but his first full season as a WRC driver was 2003, aged 29. He's won all the championships since 2004.

[noikeee]

Started age 4 with karting.
We've been told that his uncle praised him....

Yeah but dropped karts after his uncle died, and only came back to cars at the age of 20/21.

[ensign14]

Giovanni Lavaggi did not start racing until he was 26, in Fiat Pandas. But he was an embryo compared to Chanoch Nissany, who only took up the sport when he was 38. Still hope for me then.

[Andrew Hope]

Thanks for the replies.

[UPRC]

Was Ralph Firman late starting his career, or just getting to F1?

[Galko877]

It could be wrong but I have read Graham Hill couldn't even drive until his early 20s. But those were different times, of course.

[THE "driverider"]

Milka Duno and it didn't help her at all (or anyone else for that matter). The Malcolm in the Middle star Frankie Muniz has started racing and has improved but not much (don't expect to see him at USF1).

Bruno Senna did karting until Ayrton died and then to make things worse a year later his Father died in a Motorcycle accident. Bruno's name got him into Motorsport, his skills kept him in.

Edited by THE "driverider", 27 October 2009 - 11:47.

[The Ragged Edge]

Robert Doornbos started quite late.

And you can tell. He was rubbish and thats putting it kindly.

[Enkei]

And you can tell. He was rubbish and thats putting it kindly.

He was quite decent. Better than Albers and perhaps even Verstappen.
When he replaced Klien he did not set the world on fire, but he was on par with him I'd say.

[Hairpin]

And you can tell. He was rubbish and thats putting it kindly.

Quite an achievement for a rubbish driver to reach F1. Having reached F1 he made some damn good races and impressed many. Seems like you have some fundamental problems of putting things into a perspective.

[noikeee]

Doorknobs was alright, last time they gave him a shot for 5 or 6 races he was on par with Coulthard.

[D.M.N.]

First name that came into my head when reading this thread was Allan McNish.

[jeze]

Doorknobs was alright, last time they gave him a shot for 5 or 6 races he was on par with Coulthard.

He was third in Champ Car as well... No matter if that last year wasn't comprising of that many good drivers, but he was still a match for Bourdais halfway into the season.

[FPV GTHO]

IIRC Webber didnt get into karts until he was about 13, which was pretty late by F1 standards.

[BMW_F1]

He was third in Champ Car as well... No matter if that last year wasn't comprising of that many good drivers, but he was still a match for Bourdais halfway into the season.

not doing so good this year in Indy.. being outclassed by his teammates Rahal and Servia..

[Victor_RO]

First name that came into my head when reading this thread was Allan McNish.

Not really a late start at first, his first test in a F1 car was some time in the very early 1990s for McLaren, as far as I can remember from a thread on TNF. But he raced in F1 too late in his career, indeed.

[potmotr]

And you can tell. He was rubbish and thats putting it kindly.

Doorbos was pretty good all things considered.

He gave DC a run for his money and outqualified him a few times.

And as we know, DC was no slouch.

[Bbbut]

IIRC Webber didnt get into karts until he was about 13, which was pretty late by F1 standards.

Sutil started karting with 13/14 as well. And he did not even practice any sport before, he was a aspiring pianist.

[billm99uk]

Damon Hill (he did bikes though)

Sato did bikes too

Well, pushbikes