Bad British F1 Drivers

[Eric Mc]

Byrne isn't British. He's from Dundalk - in the Irish Republic.

[coppice]

My God there are some very harsh opinions by people who I suspect may have never even seen their victims race; to be honest I struggle to name any Brit driver I have seen in GP racing as outright 'bad'. Because to get there in the first place you need to be a bit handier than someone who has done a few track days.... Needell is a seriously quick driver( having seen him in everything from FF1600 to rallycross his car control is staggering) and Keegan on his day was no slouch either. As for Coulthard- you don't win the Monaco GP by being bad; you don't even win it being mediocre. Of the drivers I have seen I guess Mike Beuttler was less than stellar, and my wooden spoon would go to Richard Robarts(sic ) , who rose without trace to bag a Brabham drive in 74 I think; he was not troubling the sharp end of the field. And it's worth remembering that Mansell was mr average until he worked out how to drive the Williams Honda- flashes of brilliance at Lotus but few people thought he was going anywhere. And even Lauda wasn't rated when he was saddled with a crappy March- but in a not bad car- BRM P160 - he showed he'd got it and in a great car- 312 Ferrari he was sublime .

Edited by coppice on Wednesday 10th October 18:21

[Rude-boy]

Don't know about Roberts myself but of the British drivers on here the reality is that there is only one name I considered could be linked to this thread. Then I thought I was being a little uncharitable to poor old Tiff.

[StevieBee]

coppice said:

Richard Robarts

Edited by coppice on Wednesday 10th October 18:21

I know Richard! Lives in Steeple near Maldon and interviewed him on my radio show in March this year. Properly decent chap and would most probably agree with you!

[williamp]

part of the problem with this thread is that, unlike many other countries the UK never has really funded a driver/ had a driver with a large cheque book racing in F1. Unlike most other countries, they tended to get there on merit and luck. Those drivers who have money but not talent or luick tend to be bad drivers. This list is very long and undistinguished

[StevieBee]

williamp said:

part of the problem with this thread is that, unlike many other countries the UK never has really funded a driver/ had a driver with a large cheque book racing in F1.

There's been a few; Piers Courage and Johnny Dumfries both come to mind. The difference is, that they were both quite handy drivers.

[bebee]

Redlake27 said:

It is interesting that the OP mentioned Grosjean as the inspiration for the thread. Personally, I think Grosjean is the revelation of the season - having eclipsed Kimi on pace several times. He could become a great driver.

+1 but for some 'bad' mistakes I thought he was going the way of a World Champ, he has a 'my car is a weapon' about him, that's no bad thing except for when he rams into someone. I thought the same of Montoya, he could have been champ but he seemed to give up too soon.

[simonjunior831]

coppice said:

My God there are some very harsh opinions by people who I suspect may have never even seen their victims race; to be honest I struggle to name any Brit driver I have seen in GP racing as outright 'bad'. Because to get there in the first place you need to be a bit handier than someone who has done a few track days.... Needell is a seriously quick driver( having seen him in everything from FF1600 to rallycross his car control is staggering) and Keegan on his day was no slouch either. As for Coulthard- you don't win the Monaco GP by being bad; you don't even win it being mediocre. Of the drivers I have seen I guess Mike Beuttler was less than stellar, and my wooden spoon would go to Richard Robarts(sic ) , who rose without trace to bag a Brabham drive in 74 I think; he was not troubling the sharp end of the field. And it's worth remembering that Mansell was mr average until he worked out how to drive the Williams Honda- flashes of brilliance at Lotus but few people thought he was going anywhere. And even Lauda wasn't rated when he was saddled with a crappy March- but in a not bad car- BRM P160 - he showed he'd got it and in a great car- 312 Ferrari he was sublime .

Edited by coppice on Wednesday 10th October 18:21

[Twincam16]

bebee said:

Redlake27 said:

It is interesting that the OP mentioned Grosjean as the inspiration for the thread. Personally, I think Grosjean is the revelation of the season - having eclipsed Kimi on pace several times. He could become a great driver.

+1 but for some 'bad' mistakes I thought he was going the way of a World Champ, he has a 'my car is a weapon' about him, that's no bad thing except for when he rams into someone. I thought the same of Montoya, he could have been champ but he seemed to give up too soon.

Comparing ages and abilities, he's the same kind of driver as James Hunt was at his age.

[Life Saab Itch]

StevieBee said:

There's been a few; Piers Courage and Johnny Dumfries both come to mind. The difference is, that they were both quite handy drivers.

You can't say that Piers Courage used his family's wealth for his F1 career at all. The only time Courage breweries sponsorship appeared on a car that he was driving,was for the 1969Tasman series iirc in which he was driving an f2 car but still managed to pull of some stunning drives.

Piers Courage is one of the most under-rated British drivers ever, in my opinion.

[woof]

and here's one for the future Max Chilton

[DanDC5]

TVR500Morgan said:

EDLT said:

Didn't the Super Aguris use last year's Honda chassis, making them quicker than the "World car" turd occasionally.

Yes which was even funnier

Sato passing Alonso (I think it was Alonso anyway) in Canada was a personal highlight for me, bad tyres or not

[Life Saab Itch]

woof said:

and here's one for the future Max Chilton

I wonder if Jolyon will ever get a drive to complete a father/son combo?

[woof]

Life Saab Itch said:

woof said:

and here's one for the future Max Chilton

I wonder if Jolyon will ever get a drive to complete a father/son combo?

Jolyon has developed into a pretty good driver.
However, the standout young Brit is James Calado. Got there with very little backing, just talent. Sure he's looking at another year in GP2 and then hopefully into F1 somehow.

[Kaj91]

Eric Mc said:

freedman said:

Martin Donnelly

Kenny Acheson

Tommy Byrne

Not quite British I guess but none the less

Donelly and Acheson were/are British.

Tommy had other problems which dented his capabilities.

The trailer for ‘Crash and Burn’, the documentary on the career of Irish racing driver Tommy Byrne from Dundalk has been released.

The highly-anticipated documentary featuring his dramatic rise to Formula One and off the track problems will be released in Irish cinemas on Friday December 2nd.

Crash and Burn is produced by David Burke and was partly funded by the Irish Film Board, RTÉ and BBC NI.

Eddie Jordan said about Byrne: “Forget Schumacher and Senna. Tommy Byrne was the best of them all.”

Byrne will be in attendance at the upcoming Cork Film Festival on Saturday, November 19th to attend a screening and discuss the project.

He will also take part in several Q&A sessions ahead of the official release across the UK and Ireland, one being the Irish Film & Television Academy’s member screening on Tuesday, November 22nd at the Light House Cinema in Dublin.

Check out the trailer below…

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v...

[anonymous-user]

Susie Wolff. Did not even make it to a F1 race.

She had tests with Williams but clearly as not fast enough.

Now we just have to put up with Toto Wolff

[GetCarter]

Good to see Jo Palmer has a seat next year. Though Hulkenberg will show just how good he is/isn't.

[Thundersports]

Ralph Firman was nowhere near F1 quality. The others mentioned were as the likes of Henton, Palmer, Byrne, Acheson, Bailey never had a decent car to show their abilities. Dumfries can't be compared to Senna in the Lotus team as the car he got was a very second rate machine compared to Sennas.

[coppice]

Fashionable to put the boot in to Suzie Wolff - but not only does she come across very well(may be a better way of putting this ) she was no slouch when I saw her in testing a couple of years or so ago. Like many she can drive an F1 car quickly , but lacked the killer last second. I have seen far worse in F1 - including the legend that was Richard Robarts in the Brabham. Mike Beuttler was not exactly stellar either and legend Zanardi was brilliant in other formulae but underwhelming , to say the least, with Williams.

Edited by coppice on Thursday 10th November 08:59

[Eric Mc]

Tommy Byrne film looks really good. I'll definitely try to see it.