92 replies to this topic

[Dan333SP]

So I came across a picture of a car called the HR100, built by Penske for Hector Rebaque to replace a customer Lotus 79 in 1979. As these things tend to do, this got me into a wikipedia rabbit hole of looking through statistics and histories of cars and teams. I knew of Hector, but I never realized he was actually Piquet's teammate at Brabham when Nelson won the WDC in 1981.

 

Out of 15 races, Piquet had 7 podiums, 3 of which were wins. Rebaque had 4 total points finishes, and managed to not even qualify at Monaco, a race where his teammate took pole. It seems to be the consensus that Rebaque was essentially the pay driver on Brabham so that Bernie E could fully invest in a fight for the title with Piquet, and lure BMW in for an engine supply, but even by pay driver standards he was way off the pace at most races. I can't find qualifying stats, but I'd have to imagine it was 15-0 to Nelson unless he had a problem at some event.

 

I guess I have 2 questions-

 

1. Has there ever been a worse full-season teammate to a WDC than Rebaque?

 

2. Has any other driver failed to qualify for a race on merit (not mechanical issues) for which his teammate took pole?

 

It surprised me to learn that he actually took a win in CART in 1982 at Road America, but retired shortly thereafter because of a wreck.

Edited by Dan333SP, 11 September 2015 - 15:21.

[PayasYouRace]

Dave Walker didn't score a single point as Emerson Fittipaldi's team mate in 1972. Can't get worse than that.

[Laura23]

List of drivers who didn't win races in the same season as their team-mate won the title:

 

Webber in 2013. Vettel won title.

Barrichello in 2001. Schumacher won title.

Lehto/Verstappen/Herbert in 1994. Schumacher won title.

Berger in 1990. Senna won title.

Rosberg in 1986. Prost won title.

Daly/Andretti/Reutemann in 1982. Rosberg won title (only had one race win himself though.)

Rebaque in 1981 (failed to grab even a podium). Piquet won title.

Mass in 1976. Hunt won title.

 

I can't be bothered going further back right now but Rebaque was clearly the worst of that lot.

[Lights]

Dave Walker didn't score a single point as Emerson Fittipaldi's team mate in 1972. Can't get worse than that.

 

This surely tops it.

 

This century, I'd say it's a close call between Kovalainen in 2008 and Fisichella in 2005/6.

[Dunc]

Rebaque was probably the worst. 

 

More recently, I'd say Heikki was pretty poor in 2009 - no podiums whilst Lewis managed two wins and three other podiums in a car that was well off the pace at the start of the season.  Kimi has been a pretty poor teammate to Vettel this season, if you go purely by results and performance .

[FerrariV12]

Walker is statistically the worst. Strangely enough he didn't fit the profile of a typical useless pay driver, I don't think he brought money and JPS-backed Lotus didn't really need it anyway, he'd dominated F3 in 1971 which got him his break. Maybe the extra power and demands of F1 machinery were too much for him, not sure.

 

He was probably a punt from Chapman which didn't come off, as opposed to Rebaque, where I agree Bernie's likely strategy was get a pay driver and throw everything behind Piquet for the WDC - it worked to be fair.

[dierome1987]

Ironically enough, Piquet Jr. and Fernando Alonso (2008-2009).

 

He wiped the floor with that kid in their one and a half years together.

Edited by dierome1987, 11 September 2015 - 16:25.

[SilverArrow31]

kovalainen.... he finished 7th when his teammate won. Which pains me because I rather like the fellow.

 

Edit: this was only for the years when they the wdc driver actually won the championship.

Edited by SilverArrow31, 11 September 2015 - 16:27.

[Collombin]

Rindt wasn't exactly tested by Miles much in 1970.

Dave Walker was indeed brilliant in F3 but just couldn't translate it to the highest stage. Was it his style not being suited to the 72, or was it that Lotus were putting all their efforts behind Emerson? Bit of both I suspect. I've read the arguments from both sides.

[scheivlak]

Rindt wasn't exactly tested by Miles much in 1970.

Dave Walker was indeed brilliant in F3 but just couldn't translate it to the highest stage. Was it his style not being suited to the 72, or was it that Lotus were putting all their efforts behind Emerson? Bit of both I suspect. I've read the arguments from both sides.

This is an earlier thread about Dave at TNF: http://forums.autosp...54-dave-walker/

 

I remember that there was a very insightful article about Dave at the F1 Rejects site, it's a pity that it's vanished....

[Briz]

So I came across a picture of a car called the HR100, built by Penske for Hector Rebaque to replace a customer Lotus 79 in 1979. As these things tend to do, this got me into a wikipedia rabbit hole of looking through statistics and histories of cars and teams. I knew of Hector, but I never realized he was actually Piquet's teammate at Brabham when Nelson won the WDC in 1981.

 

Out of 15 races, Piquet had 7 podiums, 3 of which were wins. Rebaque had 4 total points finishes, and managed to not even qualify at Monaco, a race where his teammate took pole. It seems to be the consensus that Rebaque was essentially the pay driver on Brabham so that Bernie E could fully invest in a fight for the title with Piquet, and lure BMW in for an engine supply, but even by pay driver standards he was way off the pace at most races. I can't find qualifying stats, but I'd have to imagine it was 15-0 to Nelson unless he had a problem at some event.

 

I guess I have 2 questions-

 

1. Has there ever been a worse full-season teammate to a WDC than Rebaque?

 

2. Has any other driver failed to qualify for a race on merit (not mechanical issues) for which his teammate took pole?

 

It surprised me to learn that he actually took a win in CART in 1982 at Road America, but retired shortly thereafter because of a wreck.

 

Doesn't really meet your requirements but comes pretty close to both of them - Johnny Dumfries in 1986. His teammate (Senna) was one of the contenders for the title while Dumfries scored 3 points. He also failed to qualify for the Monaco GP where Senna qualified 3rd.

[PlatenGlass]

This century, I'd say it's a close call between Kovalainen in 2008 and Fisichella in 2005/6.

I'd say a couple of the Vettel/Webber years could be contenders.

Edited by PlatenGlass, 11 September 2015 - 16:53.

[DampMongoose]

Dave Walker didn't score a single point as Emerson Fittipaldi's team mate in 1972. Can't get worse than that.

 

Dave Walker didn't complete the full season.  He was dropped for Italy and Canada.  I still think he's the worst but the OP did ask for full season team mates.

[PayasYouRace]

Dave Walker didn't complete the full season.  He was dropped for Italy and Canada.  I still think he's the worst but the OP did ask for full season team mates.

 

OK Mr. Pedantic, though he did do the last race of the season, USA, so he did complete the season as Fittipaldi's teammate, which I consider to be good enough. Let's face it, it's not like those two races would have made all that much difference to his season.

[DampMongoose]

OK Mr. Pedantic, though he did do the last race of the season, USA, so he did complete the season as Fittipaldi's teammate, which I consider to be good enough. Let's face it, it's not like those two races would have made all that much difference to his season

 

Consider away then.

[PayasYouRace]

Consider away then.

 

Now are you going to correct the posters who suggested years when neither team mate was world champion?

[johnmhinds]

I'd say a couple of the Vettel/Webber years could be contenders.

 

Why? He was on the podium for like 1/2 of the races between 2009 and 2013.

[DampMongoose]

Now are you going to correct the posters who suggested years when neither team mate was world champion?

 

No, you brought it up instead.

[Heisenberg]

Kovalainen was absolutely terrible in 2008. He couldn't even get podiums in a season where his team mate won races and even the champhionship... A very mediocre driver. I'm not sure if McLaren wanted a solid number 2 but they couldn't find one or that they simply wanted someone to bend over for Hamilton. 

Edited by Heisenberg, 11 September 2015 - 17:14.

[johnmhinds]

Kovalainen was absolutely terrible in 2008. He couldn't even get podiums in a season where his team mate won races and even the champhionship... A very mediocre driver. I'm not sure if McLaren wanted a solid number 2 but they couldn't find one or that they simply wanted someone to bend over for Hamilton. 

 

Huh? 2008 was the best year of his career, and he won a race... 

[krobinson]

Toss verstappen

[Spillage]

I posted this a while ago on another thread, but I think it'llbe useful here. A list of seasons in which drivers won titles while their teammates did not win races:

 

1954 - Fangio - 6 wins. (Marimon, Musso, Bira, Mantonavi, Ascari, Villoresi, Mieres, Moss, Schell, Rosier, Godia, Kling, Herrmann, Lang)*

1957 - Fangio - 4 wins. (Moss, Behra, Menditeguy, Scarlatti, Schell, Herrmann)

1962 - G. Hill - 4 wins. (Ginther)

1963 - Clark - 7 wins. (Taylor, Arundell, Spence, Rodrigeuz)

1965 - Clark - 6 wins. (Spence, Mitter, Geki, Solana)

1966 - Brabham - 4 wins. (Hulme, Irwin)

1969 - Stewart - 6 wins. (Beltoise, Servoz-Gavin)

1972 - Fittipaldi - 5 wins** (Walker, Wisell)

1973 - Stewart - 5 wins. (Cevert, Amon)

1976 - Hunt - 6 wins. (Mass)

1981 - Piquet - 3 wins. (Rebaque)

1982 - Rosberg - 1 win (Reutemann, Andretti, Daly)

1986 - Prost - 4 wins (Rosberg)

1990 - Senna - 6 wins (Berger)

1994 - Schumacher - 8 wins (Versappten, Lehto, Herbert)

2001 - Schumacher - 9 wins (Barrichello)

2013 - Vettel - 13 wins (Webber)

 

*A unique achievement because that season Fangio became still the only man to win the WDC having driven for two different teams in the same season. None of his teammates at Maserati or Mercedes won a race all year!

**Another unique - Fittipaldi's teammates (Dave Walker for most of the season and Reine Wisell at the end of it) didn't score a point between them.

 

1991 probably should count because, of course, Senna handed Berger victory in the final round. One could also make a strong but slightly more contentious case that Vettel did the same in Brazil in 2011. But whatever, the record book says Berger and Webber won those races, so they're not going in the list. 

 

Please note also that not all the teammates on that list drove a full season. It'd be harsh to criticise Peter Arundell for not winning a race for Lotus in 1963, for instance, because he only drove in one Grand Prix.

[Seanspeed]

It's difficult to say because there was always larger gaps between teammates in the past. Having something like a second difference between pole and 2nd wasn't uncommon even in the early 90's.

Also gotta remember that points scoring positions only went down to 6th position for the longest time.

Basically, you've gotta look past statistics here. Really look at who performed terribly in their given, but relative, circumstances.

[Henri Greuter]

If WDC is not mandatory anymore, I think I can add another interesting one:

 

Francois Hesnault at Brabham in 1985, team mate to Piquet, eventually conceding he was out of his depth and leaving.

 

Statistically another great one and very painful too is:  Alex Zanardi. Coming back to F1 as twice CART champion to Williams in 1999 and failing to score a single point while his team mate at least had 35.

 

Having brought up Hesnault, it needs to be reminded however that becauase of Piquet never wanting a strong team mate aside him, it ain't that strange that he is ever so often the team mate of drivers mentioned here in this thread. Many a times he had team mates who were sponsor picks, harmeless enough for him to be acceptable or pay drivers (Hesnault bringing in some Pernod money)

 

 

Henri

[chhatra]

Heikki Kovaleinen in 08.

He never once had race leading pace compared to Lewis who was always up there.

[DampMongoose]

As Henri said, if WDC is not required Senna vs Nakajima would be a big gap, I don't remember Nakajima finishing in the points very often.

Quite a difference to an indifferent Piquet too?

Edited by DampMongoose, 11 September 2015 - 18:06.

[scheivlak]

Heikki Kovaleinen in 08.

He never once had race leading pace compared to Lewis who was always up there.

Well, he drove the fastest lap in Australia, where also lead for 8 laps. Surely that was a race leading pace then 

[Collombin]

Sigh. The danger of letting people loose with statistics.

Moss and Fangio were not team mates in 1954 (Moss was a customer at the time Fangio drove for the team) and his sole drive alongside Fangio in 1957 was where he was only guesting as Vanwall weren't competing there. He lost several laps in the pits in that one race, and once he switched teams won several GPs that season. And the Peter Arundell reference was called unfair.........

[Dan333SP]

It's difficult to say because there was always larger gaps between teammates in the past. Having something like a second difference between pole and 2nd wasn't uncommon even in the early 90's.

Also gotta remember that points scoring positions only went down to 6th position for the longest time.

Basically, you've gotta look past statistics here. Really look at who performed terribly in their given, but relative, circumstances.

 

I did a little more digging on Rebaque. He lost the qualifying battle 15-0 like I thought, here are their positions on the grid for each race-

 

Long Beach: NP 4th, HR 15th
Interlagos: NP 1st, HR 11th
Argentina: NP 1st, HR 6th
Imola: NP 5th, HR 13th
Zolder: NP 2nd, HR 21st
Monaco: NP 1st, HR DNQ
Jarama: NP 9th, HR 18th
Dijon: NP 4th, HR 15th
Silverstone: NP 3rd, HR 13th
Hockenheim: NP 6th, HR 16th
Austria: NP 7th, HR 15th
Zandvoort: NP 3rd, HR 15th
Monza: NP 6th, HR 14th
Montreal: NP 1st, HR 6th
Las Vegas: NP 4th, HR 16th

 

He had a couple races where he finished 4th, but in each case he was a lap down on the winner and only finished ahead of some real backmarkers like ATS and Ossella, super-high attrition races. I'd be interested to know the average qualifying time gap between him and Piquet, based on grid slots I'd think it is at least 2 seconds.

Edited by Dan333SP, 11 September 2015 - 18:32.

[aportinga]

List of drivers who didn't win races in the same season as their team-mate won the title:

 

Webber in 2013. Vettel won title.

Barrichello in 2001. Schumacher won title.

Lehto/Verstappen/Herbert in 1994. Schumacher won title.

Berger in 1990. Senna won title.

Rosberg in 1986. Prost won title.

Daly/Andretti/Reutemann in 1982. Rosberg won title (only had one race win himself though.)

Rebaque in 1981 (failed to grab even a podium). Piquet won title.

Mass in 1976. Hunt won title.

 

I can't be bothered going further back right now but Rebaque was clearly the worst of that lot.

 

Berger and Rosberg - Wow!

[Dan333SP]

Berger and Rosberg - Wow!

 

In Keke's defense, I think he was well ahead after a fantastic start in Australia but eventually retired with a puncture. He was past his prime as far as motivation goes that year, but he still had quickness in him that he could channel when needed.

[PlatenGlass]

Why? He was on the podium for like 1/2 of the races between 2009 and 2013.

If we're looking at individual years, I don't think Fisichella or Kovalainen's campaigns can be seen as any worse than Webber's 2011 in what was a dominant car.

[PlatenGlass]

If WDC is not mandatory anymore, I think I can add another interesting one:
 
Francois Hesnault at Brabham in 1985, team mate to Piquet, eventually conceding he was out of his depth and leaving.
 
Statistically another great one and very painful too is:  Alex Zanardi. Coming back to F1 as twice CART champion to Williams in 1999 and failing to score a single point while his team mate at least had 35.

Bit harsh on Zanardi to use this thread to have a go at him! At least with Hesnault he had a WDC team-mate, just not in the relevant year. But with Zanardi, it's gone from worst team-mate to a WDC to driver who was a bit rubbish!

[byrkus]

Dave Walker didn't complete the full season.  He was dropped for Italy and Canada.  I still think he's the worst but the OP did ask for full season team mates.

 

IIRC, in Italy the team transporter had an accident, and thus only arrived with one car. Walker would normally drive the 2nd one, as he did all season beforehand.

[Henri Greuter]

Bit harsh on Zanardi to use this thread to have a go at him! At least with Hesnault he had a WDC team-mate, just not in the relevant year. But with Zanardi, it's gone from worst team-mate to a WDC to driver who was a bit rubbish!

 

 

Sorry if the choise of words is rotten. I have no intentions to have a go at Zanardi. But the fact remains that it is by far one of the worst results ever for any driver in F1 compared to his team mate, I can't change that, sorry.

I had a lot of respect for Zanardi because of his CART exploits. I still can't comprehend what went wrong with him at Williams that year.

His exploits after sept. 2011 don't need to be mentioned anymore to kow that he was a class act. But that one year witl Williams....

 

Henri

[midgrid]

This is an earlier thread about Dave at TNF: http://forums.autosp...54-dave-walker/

 

I remember that there was a very insightful article about Dave at the F1 Rejects site, it's a pity that it's vanished....

Thanks to the Internet Archive, you can still read it!

[DampMongoose]

IIRC, in Italy the team transporter had an accident, and thus only arrived with one car. Walker would normally drive the 2nd one, as he did all season beforehand.

I thought it was when Lotus found out he'd tested another teams F2 car?

Edit: what year did Lotus enter the Italian Gp as World Wide Racing? Was that a reason for only one car?

Edited by DampMongoose, 11 September 2015 - 20:27.

[midgrid]

I did a little more digging on Rebaque. He lost the qualifying battle 15-0 like I thought, here are their positions on the grid for each race-

 

Long Beach: NP 4th, HR 15th
Interlagos: NP 1st, HR 11th
Argentina: NP 1st, HR 6th
Imola: NP 5th, HR 13th
Zolder: NP 2nd, HR 21st
Monaco: NP 1st, HR DNQ
Jarama: NP 9th, HR 18th
Dijon: NP 4th, HR 15th
Silverstone: NP 3rd, HR 13th
Hockenheim: NP 6th, HR 16th
Austria: NP 7th, HR 15th
Zandvoort: NP 3rd, HR 15th
Monza: NP 6th, HR 14th
Montreal: NP 1st, HR 6th
Las Vegas: NP 4th, HR 16th

 

He had a couple races where he finished 4th, but in each case he was a lap down on the winner and only finished ahead of some real backmarkers like ATS and Ossella, super-high attrition races. I'd be interested to know the average qualifying time gap between him and Piquet, based on grid slots I'd think it is at least 2 seconds.

Long Beach: +0.72 seconds

Brazil: +2.698 seconds

Argentina: +1.435 seconds

San Marino: +1.531 seconds

Belgium: +3.39 seconds

Monaco: +3.478 seconds

Spain: +1.172 seconds

France: +1.3 seconds

Britain: +2.59 seconds

Germany: +2.14 seconds

Austria: +1.279 seconds

Netherlands: +1.895 seconds

Italy: +1.023 seconds

Canada: +0.971 seconds

Las Vegas: +1.41 seconds

[byrkus]

Well, who knows. I heard at least three different reasons. One was a transporter accident; the second was Walker's unofficial F2 car testing; and the third was Colin Chapman's fear of repercussions of Italian authorities because of Rindt's accident at 1970 Italian GP, so they intentionally entered only one car - under banner of "World Wide Racing", instead of normal JPS banner. So, who knows.

[Dan333SP]

Long Beach: +0.72 seconds

Brazil: +2.698 seconds

Argentina: +1.435 seconds

San Marino: +1.531 seconds

Belgium: +3.39 seconds

Monaco: +3.478 seconds

Spain: +1.172 seconds

France: +1.3 seconds

Britain: +2.59 seconds

Germany: +2.14 seconds

Austria: +1.279 seconds

Netherlands: +1.895 seconds

Italy: +1.023 seconds

Canada: +0.971 seconds

Las Vegas: +1.41 seconds

 

Average gap of 1.802 seconds. I was close, thanks for the research work!!

[johnmhinds]

If we're looking at individual years, I don't think Fisichella or Kovalainen's campaigns can be seen as any worse than Webber's 2011 in what was a dominant car.

 

He was 3rd in the championship, got 10 podiums, one of which was a win.

 

He finished in the top 5 in every race apart from the one he retired in lol.

 

How can that make him the worst team mate ever? 

[PlatenGlass]

He was 3rd in the championship, got 10 podiums, one of which was a win.
 
He finished in the top 5 in every race apart from the one he retired in lol.
 
How can that make him the worst team mate ever? 

It doesn't. I was replying to the post about worst this century that mentioned Fisichella and Kovalainen.

[jonpollak]

Y'all are blurring the lines between TNF and RC. 😱 Jp likes this.

Edited by jonpollak, 11 September 2015 - 21:24.

[Dan333SP]

So my curiosity has now morphed into wondering whether a database exists that has average teammate qualifying gaps over a season compiled for all seasons since 1950. That, to me, seems like a better way of quantifying just how much worse a driver a given teammate was to a WDC, like Rebaque's 1.8 seconds.

 

Of course, even for that metric there are issues, like Dave Walker in all likelihood having inferior Cosworths/chassis bits at Lotus in 1972.

 

Interesting posts, thanks guys. Glad this wasn't moved to anorak-land (TNF) just yet.

[Amphicar]

Well, who knows. I heard at least three different reasons. One was a transporter accident; the second was Walker's unofficial F2 car testing; and the third was Colin Chapman's fear of repercussions of Italian authorities because of Rindt's accident at 1970 Italian GP, so they intentionally entered only one car - under banner of "World Wide Racing", instead of normal JPS banner. So, who knows.

The year when Lotus only entered 1 car for the Italian Grand Prix because of Colin Chapman's fear of legal repercussions following Rindt's death the previous year was 1971. Dave Walker was only entered for one GP in 1971 - the Dutch GP, for which Lotus entered 3 cars, with Walker driving the 4WD Lotus 56B. The rest of that year the normal Lotus line-up was Fittipaldi & Wissell. In 1972 Lotus also only entered 1 car for the Italian GP and that was because Fittipaldi's normal car had been damaged in an accident en route. 1972 was the season when Dave Walker was Fittipaldi's normal team-mate. 

[scheivlak]

Thanks to the Internet Archive, you can still read it!

Fantastic, thanks 

 

Some quotes:

 

"The South African GP was not until early March, but Lotus flew Fittipaldi’s car directly to Kyalami, partly so that Emerson could conduct tyre testing there prior to the race. This scenario would be repeated at other times throughout the season, giving the Brazilian a distinct advantage over Walker on race weekends. Walker’s car, meanwhile, was sent back to Britain, and being used by mechanics to smuggle bottles of Argentinian wine in its fuel tank - such that when it arrived in South Africa, they found one bottle still there!

 

The weekend at Kyalami was relatively uneventful. Walker qualified 1.3s behind Fittipaldi, and although his time compared well with those from a year before at the same track, he found himself 19th on the grid with Emerson in 3rd. Fittipaldi ended up finishing 2nd, whilst Walker had a late-race battle with François Cevert’s Tyrrell before coming home a lapped 10th. It was the first time he had completed a Grand Prix distance, but having been used to much shorter F3 sprints, his physical condition was being sorely tested.

 

His mechanic Hart recalls: “We had to lift him out of the car after the race. He never got himself fighting fit, he was overweight - he didn’t help himself at all. I remember in Argentina the guys said, “You’ve got to go down to this restaurant, the steaks are fantastic.” So we went down, the things were bigger than a table-mat and they were brilliant. Walker had two of them! We all struggled to get halfway through ours but he ordered another!”

 

(.....)

 

Then came the Austrian round. Practice and qualifying told a familiar tale, Fittipaldi on pole, the other John Player Special car near the tail of the field, in 19th and 2.84s behind. But at a power circuit such as the Österreichring, there was a reason for the discrepancy; Walker was still using a Cosworth series 9 DFV engine, whereas Fittipaldi was on a series 12. Come race day, after going behind team manager Warr’s back, Walker pleaded directly with Chapman to have a series 12 engine fitted to his car.

The Lotus boss agreed, and gave him the engine which Fittipaldi had used at the Nurburgring. With around 300-400 hours on the engine already, it was unlikely to last the race (and it did not), but Walker claims the difference was profound: “I will never forget it - even though it only lasted six laps before the thing blew up. Instead of cars going past me on the straights, I was actually able to pull up alongside and outbrake them into corners - a physical impossibility with the engines I’d had before.”

 

Once again, though, Walker’s account of what happened out on the circuit did not always seem to match with reality. His mechanic May recalls, “He came back and said, “I had an engine problem, I think I just caught it.” Rex and I went out to sit with the car so that bits didn’t get pinched from it. And as we walked there, we could see this oil slick about a quarter of a mile long, bits of piston and engine, all over the track! And I thought, yeah, right, you just caught it, didn’t you?”

 

(.....)

 

One of the threads throughout the Walker story is that the team did not seem to believe in him - or perhaps did not want to believe in him. He was unfamiliar with the circuits - he had only been to Zandvoort, Jarama, Monaco and the British circuits before - and he was also unfamiliar with the Lotus 72D with its extreme anti-squat and anti-dive. After one half-day pre-season test, Walker never tested again, whereas Fittipaldi was getting regular hit-outs, often at upcoming Grand Prix tracks in the week leading up to the race.

Team manager Warr did not seem to give Walker any breaks; Walker had to go behind him and talk to Chapman directly to get a better engine in Austria. And yet generally Dave had little to do with the Lotus founder: “I never talked to him in between races, never had any meetings or discussions with him, he was almost a non-identity to some extent.” Perhaps, as a result, Walker also never had the benefit of some of Chapman’s legendary motivational skills that could bring the best out of a driver.

[Collombin]

Bit confused - surely the anti squat and anti dive were ancient history by the time of the 72D configuration?

Only found out recently that the World Wide Racing black and gold colours were kind of a pilot scheme as to whether the JPS livery would work well on an F1 car. I think they needn't have worried.....

[4Wheeldrift]

This surely tops it.

 

This century, I'd say it's a close call between Kovalainen in 2008 and Fisichella in 2005/6.

 

I think that's a bit harsh on Fisi.  He won a race in each of those seasons and was on the podium several times.  In fact he ran his World Champ team mate hard enough that he sparked the sulk from which it is not clear that ALO has yet recovered!

[PlatenGlass]

I think that's a bit harsh on Fisi.  He won a race in each of those seasons and was on the podium several times.  In fact he ran his World Champ team mate hard enough that he sparked the sulk from which it is not clear that ALO has yet recovered!

Plus also, Flavio run teams had a habit of having only one driver that was able to do well. And generally speaking, there is a continuum between drivers getting equal support and one being massively favoured, and I'm not convinced Kovalainen had the full support of McLaren either.

[Spillage]

Sigh. The danger of letting people loose with statistics.

Moss and Fangio were not team mates in 1954 (Moss was a customer at the time Fangio drove for the team) and his sole drive alongside Fangio in 1957 was where he was only guesting as Vanwall weren't competing there. He lost several laps in the pits in that one race, and once he switched teams won several GPs that season. And the Peter Arundell reference was called unfair.........

I plead guilty. It was a hastily compiled list.