Worst F1 drivers to have won a race...?

[Agent Orange]

thegreenhell said:

I'm surprised that Vettel has had so many mentions in this thread.

Me too. Can only see two people that mentioned Vettel. One was joking [me] the other was half joking.

[The Hypno-Toad]

woof said:

Smollet said:

Maldonado on that day drove excellently to hold off a very determined Fred. I'd say he thoroughly deserved the win.

That would have been the day that he had a those special Maldonado tyres that were delivered for his car only ?
That race was a total fix. I honestly believe that a deal was done on that day for him to win.

Please tell us more about these special tyres. I have always thought that Maldonado's victory that day was incredibly dodgy & it would explain a lot.

[Redlake27]

The Hypno-Toad said:

woof said:

Smollet said:

Maldonado on that day drove excellently to hold off a very determined Fred. I'd say he thoroughly deserved the win.

That would have been the day that he had a those special Maldonado tyres that were delivered for his car only ?
That race was a total fix. I honestly believe that a deal was done on that day for him to win.

Please tell us more about these special tyres. I have always thought that Maldonado's victory that day was incredibly dodgy & it would explain a lot.

I don't believe this was the case. It was a circuit where the teams were struggling with tyres, and Williams did a better job.

Williams, and particularly Maldonado, were quite competitive in early 2012. He harried Alonso for 5th place in the season opener, and was battling with Hamilton for 3rd in Valencia. He was in the front running mix in Monaco qualifying until his thuggish Perez wheel banging moment.

It was an unusual win, but not a fluke. Williams seemed to have a better handle on the quirky 2012 tyres than many other teams at that stage of the year.

In Monaco 96, Panis had the best strategy and drove a feisty race. It put him in the right place when the leader retired.

There's been some debate on Trulli and Fisichella. Trulli was quick as Alonso in 2004. He was a driver better than the one win suggested. Fisichella deserved a couple of his wins, and came close to winning early in his career with Jordan (97 Argentina and Hockenheim).

For me, the Heikki win at Hungary was a very lucky 'underserved' one. That gets my vote.

[oyster]

Agent Orange said:

Smollet said:

Agent Orange said:

I'm tempted to say Vettel because I cannot recall a single win of his that stands out in the memory.

Dare I say it too.. and I like the guy but Johnny Herbert in the 1995 British GP?

But I'm going to say Alessandro Nannini in Japan 89 for which no one recalls the winner just Senna and Prost. Don't think he managed to finish more than a couple of races in his first few seasons and then got that single win in Japan 89. Senna and Prost took each other out and Nannini inherited 1st. With Prost out Senna charged back from the pits, caught and easily past Nannini who put up pretty much zero resistance.

Race finished Senna 1st, 2nd Nannini but then of course Senna was disqualified and Nannini inherited 1st.

So Vettel a multiple GP winner and 4 times champion is the worst driver to ever win a race?
I give up.
If you want a poor example look no further than Senna who'd endanger someone else's life to win a GP. Now that to me and I think any rational person would agree but there are many Senna apologists here. He caused the decline in F1 and should've been kicked out of F1 when he admitted to deliberately taking Prost out. A more odious man I cannot think of.

Before you give up maybe you need to read that again.

"I'm tempted to say Vettel..."

"But I'm going to say Alessandro Nannini in Japan 89"

I didn't say Vettel. I said Nannini.

The same Nannini who scored 6 other podiums in his short career apart from that win in Japan?
The same Nannini who was being lined up by Ferrari to replace Nigel Mansell in 1991?
The same Nannini who was a match for 3 time champion Piquet up until his helicopter accident?

Given your comment about Vettel, and lack of knowledge on Nannini are you sure you feel confident in your F1 knowledge?

[Agent Orange]

oyster said:

The same Nannini who scored 6 other podiums in his short career apart from that win in Japan?
The same Nannini who was being lined up by Ferrari to replace Nigel Mansell in 1991?
The same Nannini who was a match for 3 time champion Piquet up until his helicopter accident?

Yes that's the one. Seems we're talking about the same Nannini.

oyster said:

Given your comment about Vettel,

Which was tongue in cheek though I'll maintain none of Vettel's wins have excited me. In addition I said Nannini not Vettel....

oyster said:

and lack of knowledge on Nannini are you sure you feel confident in your F1 knowledge?

Are you serious? Since when did enjoying a sport become a dick swinging contest?

Of course I'm not confident in my F1 knowledge. I'm a lifelong fan rather than someone who studies or makes a living out of it. Of course my knowledge will be incorrect at times and patchy.

My opinions are not though.

[DeuxCentCinq]

350Matt said:

Thierry Boutsen
1990 hungary GP

He won in Adelaide as well, after 90% of the field spun out or crashed.

[NewMetalSystem]

Jochen Mass?

[woof]

The Hypno-Toad said:

woof said:

Smollet said:

Maldonado on that day drove excellently to hold off a very determined Fred. I'd say he thoroughly deserved the win.

That would have been the day that he had a those special Maldonado tyres that were delivered for his car only ?
That race was a total fix. I honestly believe that a deal was done on that day for him to win.

Please tell us more about these special tyres. I have always thought that Maldonado's victory that day was incredibly dodgy & it would explain a lot.

It does seem far fetched but Maldonaldo has never shown that talent before or after. I just can't believe it wasn't fixed. It's not without precedent

[Smollet]

NewMetalSystem said:

Jochen Mass?

That was half a GP

[thegreenhell]

woof said:

The Hypno-Toad said:

woof said:

Smollet said:

Maldonado on that day drove excellently to hold off a very determined Fred. I'd say he thoroughly deserved the win.

That would have been the day that he had a those special Maldonado tyres that were delivered for his car only ?
That race was a total fix. I honestly believe that a deal was done on that day for him to win.

Please tell us more about these special tyres. I have always thought that Maldonado's victory that day was incredibly dodgy & it would explain a lot.

It does seem far fetched but Maldonaldo has never shown that talent before or after. I just can't believe it wasn't fixed. It's not without precedent

Playing Devil's Advocate for a moment, not because I like him but because I dislike allegations of race fixing, but that was the only season in F1 where's he's had a decent car, and the 2012 Williams was a decent car. He was also GP2 champion in 2010 with six wins, so he could obviously drive well in the right circumstances.

His other results in that 2012 season would have been much better too had he not crashed so often, or been penalised a total of 38 grid places for stupidity. That season he also qualified second in Singapore and third in Belgium (before a grid penalty moved him back). In Australia he binned it into the wall while challenging Alonso for fifth, and in Valencia he took out Hamilton when trying to take third place from him on the penultimate lap.

To me the only unusual thing about that Barcelona win was the fact that he managed to complete a full race weekend at the car's full potentential without fking up in any way.

[Kaiser_Wull]

LeapingDeere said:

No it's just my opinion of him, I think he's overrated

In the mordern (ish) era I think the strongest candidate is Nannini.

Panis runs him close but I rate all of Alesi, Maldonado, Trulli, Kovalanien above them.


Anyone considered Ralf Schumacher......? My god he was awful at Toyota and they paying him $20 million a year. He's the winner for most overpaid by a country mile.

What in the wide world of sports is Alesi doing in that list? He was a great driver. His sole win may have been the result of good fortune, but he lost out on several likely wins because of ill fortune. If only he'd gone to Williams when he had the opportunities (1990 for 1991 and 1995 for 1996)..................

[Roverload]

Pastor Maldonado, Complete goon!

[Smollet]

Kaiser_Wull said:

What in the wide world of sports is Alesi doing in that list? He was a great driver. His sole win may have been the result of good fortune, but he lost out on several likely wins because of ill fortune. If only he'd gone to Williams when he had the opportunities (1990 for 1991 and 1995 for 1996)..................

Alesi deserved to win a lot more. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[Alex Langheck]

Some Gump said:

@ everyone dissing Panis...


My memory is fuzzy, but I seem to think 2 or 3 people stacked ahead of him by pusing too hard, and 3/4 of the entire grid crashed behind him trying to keep up.

IMO a fantastic drive in average machinery.

I'm pretty sure he was quickest in warm up. He also overtook plenty and was the quickest on the circuit, even while Hill was still in the race.

[swisstoni]

May as well ask who's the stupidest theoretical physicist. I doubt anyone on here is qualified to make the call.

[FeelingLucky]

oyster said:

The same Nannini who scored 6 other podiums in his short career apart from that win in Japan?
The same Nannini who was being lined up by Ferrari to replace Nigel Mansell in 1991?
The same Nannini who was a match for 3 time champion Piquet up until his helicopter accident?

Given your comment about Vettel, and lack of knowledge on Nannini are you sure you feel confident in your F1 knowledge?

I have no axe to grind RE: Nannini, in fact I quite rated him, but the the fact is Japan '89 was won outright by somebody other than Nannini, and corrupt politics conspired to gift him that win.

[jeffw]

1000TCR said:

I have to say that I was a bit disappointed too. After he beat Loeb in a Peugeot 307 WRC and Schumacher in a Ferrari 360 at the Race Of Champions 2004 I thought he would become one of the all time greats in F1...

I was always surprised as well having watched him destroy the other 'Champions' in Paris RoC. Expected a Senna'esque career which never happened.

[FW18]

Mr_Thyroid said:

The McLaren was crap in 96. But Panis did some good overtakes - if I remember correctly only Hill and Alesi retired ahead of him with mechanicals - everyone else crashed.

Kovalainen gets my vote - did one or two good qualifying in 08, lucked into a win after something happened to Massa (from memory) otherwise never looked like a contender. I don't understand why Lotus picked him at the end of last year.

Panis showed that in 1997 he was a man on a mission and could have won in Argentina and Spain that year, it was a shame that he broke his legs lafter on in that year and that he wa stuck in a dog of a Prost for several years.

[Halmyre]

Dingle Dell said:

1000TCR said:

I have to say that I was a bit disappointed too. After he beat Loeb in a Peugeot 307 WRC and Schumacher in a Ferrari 360 at the Race Of Champions 2004 I thought he would become one of the all time greats in F1...

I don't think ROC is a great way to judge a drivers F1 potential. I mean DC just won it for crying out loud.

Coulthard's failings weren't his skill or ability. He would probably deny it until he's blue in the face, but I think he just didn't have the 'fire' in him that his contemporaries did, particularly Mika Hakkinen.

[covboy]

FourWheelDrift said:

Peter Gethin - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Gethin#Complete... the 1 win sits alone amongst many poor results. Was 11th in qualifying, won a 5 car massed finish using a better slipstream.

I posted this in another thread about Peter Gethin



"Many years ago when Derek Ongaro was a Director at Lola Cars we had a factory visit with basically free run of the place. It was at the height of F5000 and amid the many questions about cars and drivers came Derek’s description of a typical Peter Gethin feedback.

After the first few laps of practice, Peter came back into the pits for a de-brief to tell the Team “It feels funny at the back” !!

How would he get on these days I wonder ?"