Editorial credit: Ev. Safronov / Shutterstock.com
Formula 1 is full of stories of great winners, drivers who have become legends for their titles, victories, or rivalries, going down in the history books as the greatest of all.
However, not all that glitters is gold, and the pinnacle of motorsport also hides other stories, less brilliant and, in some cases, unfortunate. Drivers whose passage through F1 was not particularly successful or who could have done much greater things if luck had allowed it.
From living a nightmare in the category or losing the title at the last moment to poor decisions when choosing a team, these are some of the unluckiest F1 drivers in history.
1. Taki Inoue
Taki Inoue\’s F1 career was marked by bad luck. The Japanese driver only competed in 18 Grand Prix between 1994 and 1995, but he experienced the bitter side of the sport.
In the 18 Grands Prix he raced, Inoue suffered 2 fires, 3 spins, 2 gearbox breaks, 2 engine breaks, and 4 black flags. In total, he had 13 retirements and only 5 races finished. However, the Japanese driver has gone down in F1 history for being the first and only driver to be run over twice by the Safety Car.
At the 1995 Monaco GP, his car ran out of brakes in free practice session 1, so Inoue stalled the car in the pool area. After that, a tow truck arrived to tow the car. However, the Safety Car hit the tow truck, climbed over it, and hit Inoue\’s head. The Japanese survived because he was still wearing his helmet.
Three months later, at the Hungarian GP, Inoue again suffered a similar accident. The unfortunate Japanese driver had a breakdown, and his car started to catch fire, so with all good intentions, he grabbed a fire extinguisher to put it out, and while he was running towards the car, the Safety Car ran over him.
Inoue fell straight to the ground and was pinned down, as he was hit hard on his left leg and had to be rushed to the hospital.
2. Nico Hülkenberg
After impressing in the lower categories and establishing himself as one of the great promises of the new generation, Nico Hülkenberg made his F1 debut in the 2010 Bahrain GP with Williams and in his rookie season, achieved a pole position at Interlagos in mixed conditions, so the young German was called to do great things in the category.
However, his long career in Formula 1 was marked by bad luck and not very competitive cars, which meant that the German was never able to get a podium in the category, despite having been close to achieving them on numerous occasions.
His first big break came at the 2012 Brazilian GP, when he was fighting for the lead with 17 laps to go. However, he had an accident with Hamilton that left the Briton out of the race and Hülkenberg off the podium. In the following years, he had midfield cars, with which his teammate, Sergio Perez, got some podiums, while the German could not get any.
Between 2016 and 2019, he had at least seven podium chances, but luck would find some way to ensure that crashes, strategy, or bad timing kept him from the podium. And it\’s not that the German was a bad driver, as in 2015 he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, showing a winning mentality, but in F1, he never succeeded.
And if that wasn\’t enough, Ferrari reportedly almost signed him at the end of 2013 to replace Felipe Massa, and Ross Brawn himself said he was Mercedes\’ next choice if Hamilton hadn\’t signed him. How many podiums could the Germans have achieved with Ferrari or Mercedes?
3. Felipe Massa
Felipe Massa is the driver who came closest to winning a championship in the history of Formula 1, as he lost it while celebrating. After some good years with Sauber, the Brazilian had his best period in Formula 1 with Ferrari between 2006 and 2009, when he was truly competitive.
His great year was 2008, in which he fought against Lewis Hamilton for the title until the end. The Brazilian achieved six wins that season and reached the final round, the Brazilian GP, 7 points behind the Briton, so he could win the title if Hamilton finished sixth or lower.
On Saturday, Massa took pole position, while Hamilton was fourth, so he just needed a bit of luck, which was possible, as Sunday\’s race was in changing conditions. On Sunday, the Brazilian was sublime, leading most of the race, while Hamilton was never higher than third, spending most of the time stuck in fourth or fifth position.
With a few laps to go it started to rain, and most of the frontrunners, including Hamilton and Massa, stopped to change tires, except Timo Glock. Felipe Massa crossed the finish line first, while the Ferrari crew began to celebrate, as Hamilton was sixth, unable to overtake Vettel, who was ahead.
However, in the last corner, Hamilton and Vettel overtook Glock, who was struggling for grip as his dry-weather tires slid on the wet track, getting the position he needed to win, to the astonished gaze of Massa, Ferrari, and all the Brazilian fans.
4. Chris Amon
Chris Amon was one of the best drivers of his time, although his results in Formula 1 do not do him justice, as he was a tremendously unlucky driver in the category, despite achieving success in other competitions.
The New Zealander participated in Formula 1 between 1963 and 1976, and raced for a wide variety of teams, including some of the most competitive, such as Ferrari, March, Matra, and Tyrrell. Despite his great talent behind the wheel, as he demonstrated by winning in other categories, such as in the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans alongside Bruce McLaren, victory eluded him in F1.
Referring to Amon\’s bad luck, 1978 world champion Mario Andretti described him as follows: \”if he became an undertaker, people would stop dying\”. In F1, Amon scored 11 podiums, 5 pole positions and 3 fastest laps, he never scored a victory, largely due to the consistency and reliability of his cars, which were never up to his standards.
The New Zealander holds the records for most laps led (183) and most pole positions achieved (5) without a win and is considered the best driver to have never won a race.
5. Mark Webber
Mark Webber was one of the best drivers of his generation, but luck was not always on his side. In the 217 Grand Prix he competed in, the Australian had 57 retirements, which represents 26.5% of the total number of races in which he participated, and most of them were due to mechanical failures or some factor beyond his control.
The Australian made his F1 debut with Minardi in 2002, and between 2003 and 2006 raced first for Jaguar and then for Williams, both of which were midfield teams. It was during this period that the Australian accumulated the most retirements, many of them when he was in good positions to score points. In 2006 he had 11 retirements, which caused him to lose a large number of points.
In the 2006 Monaco GP, for example, he started from the front row, and was running third when his car caught smoke. Later, in 2007, the Australian joined Red Bull, and after the retirement of his teammate David Coulthard in 2008 he was to assume the role of first driver, but a young Sebastian Vettel overshadowed him for the rest of his time in F1.
The Australian came close to winning the championship in 2010, but a mechanical failure in the Korean GP and poor strategy in the final round prevented him from winning the title, leaving Vettel to claim the world championship. After that, the Australian never fought for the championship again, with Red Bull on the side of the victorious Vettel.
6. Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso is one of the best drivers in the history of Formula 1, and with two world championships, no one would say that he is an unlucky driver. However, the Spaniard has been incredibly unlucky in his career choices, which has not allowed him to have more world championships.
After his successful stint with Renault, Alonso raced one season with McLaren in 2007, where his great rivalry with Lewis Hamilton and the toxic atmosphere that was created forced the Spaniard to return to Renault, which was no longer competitive, so he had to change teams. Alonso turned down an offer to drive in 2009 for the lowly Brawn GP, which ended up winning the title that year.
In the same way, the Spaniard turned down another offer from Red Bull, to join Ferrari in 2010. With Ferrari, he drove from 2010 to 2014, which was the period of Red Bull\’s greatest domination in F1. The Spaniard came close to winning the titles in 2010 and 2012, and only 7 points separate him from having 2 more championships in his pocket.
After Ferrari, Alonso took a gamble by leaving for McLaren in 2015, which was once again teaming up with Honda. However, this alliance did not go very well, and the Spaniard spent 4 seasons driving one of the worst cars on the grid. After that, he retired in 2018, and in 2021 returned to F1 with Alpine (formerly Renault) albeit without much success.
In 2022, the Spaniard will drive for Aston Martin, which is a risky bet, so we will have to see if it turns out well or if, on the contrary, it will be a poor decision again.
7. Jean Alesi
Like Chris Amon, Jean Alesi was one of the best drivers of his era, as he had a sublime natural ability and fantastic car control, but bad luck and being in the wrong place at the wrong time prevented him from doing greater things in the category. He was at the level of the very best, but he always had something that prevented him from being among the greats.
After two good first years in F1 with Tyrrell, the Frenchman was offered a seat to drive for Williams in 1991, but turned it down, and instead signed for Ferrari, which made sense, as the Italian team had built a strong car in 1990 that made Alain Prost fight for the title.
However, the Frenchman\’s move to Ferrari coincided with the downfall of the Prancing Horse, as Williams rose to become the dominant team of the decade. Alesi raced 5 seasons with Ferrari, in which he scored 18 podiums, but only one victory, at the 1995 Canadian GP.
At the same time, Williams lived its golden age in F1, winning the 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996 and 1997 championships. And if that wasn\’t enough, the Frenchman was also tremendously unlucky on track, as he could have won many more races had it not been for mechanical failures or accidents.
8. Nick Heidfeld
Germany\’s Nick Heidfeld was a fairly fast and talented driver, able to keep up with the best, but despite this, he never managed to win. Heidfeld always had midfield cars, with which he could consistently score points and take occasional podiums.
The German soon established himself as a fairly consistent and fast driver, and always got the best out of his cars. He took his first podium in his second season in F1, in 2002, with Sauber, and between 2005 and 2009, Heidfeld scored a handful of podiums with BMW Sauber, finishing 5th and 6th in the 2007 and 2008 championships as his best result.
In total, Heidfeld scored 13 podiums in Formula 1, of which 8 were second places, holding the record for most podiums without a win. The German came close to winning on several occasions, but fate prevented him from doing so.
And it\’s not that he didn\’t have enough talent or a winning mentality, as Heidfeld knows what it\’s like to win in other categories, as he proved in the 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans.
9. Jochen Rindt
Jochen Rindt holds the title of being the only driver in the history of Formula 1 to win the championship posthumously, so the Austrian died without knowing he would become world champion.
Rindt established himself as a fairly fast and consistent driver during the 1960s, although he never had particularly fast or reliable cars. In 1966 he achieved his first podiums in the category and came third in the championship with Cooper, and in 1969, with Lotus, he achieved his first victory.
It was in 1970, with Colin Chapman\’s team, when he truly had a competitive car for the first time and was unbeatable. The Austrian won 5 races and arrived at the Italian GP leading the championship with four races to go. However, in free practice, Rindt went off at the Curva Parabolica, crashing heavily into the barriers, which cost him his life.
The only driver who could catch him in points was Jacky Ickx, but the Belgian ended up 5 points behind Rindt, who won the championship posthumously.
10. Charles Leclerc
Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc seems to have a curse at his home Grand Prix, Monaco, where he has been tremendously unlucky since his Formula 2 days in 2017 when he retired from the lead of the feature race.
In 2018, with Alfa Romeo, Leclerc was running twelfth on lap 72, when he over-braked coming out of the tunnel and impacted heavily with the Toro Rosso of Brandon Hartley, which wrecked his car.
In 2019, already with Ferrari, the Monegasque started fifteenth, due to the Italian team\’s erroneous strategy that kept him in the garage to save tires. In the race, things didn\’t go any better, and Leclerc suffered a puncture and severe floor damage after a failed attempt to overtake Nico Hülkenberg.
In 2021 he took pole position but was unable to start the race on Sunday because he suffered a driveshaft problem on his way to the grid as a result of a crash in the final part of qualifying. In 2022 he again took pole position, and it was the first race he has been able to finish on the streets of the Principality, but he could only finish fourth due to a better overcut strategy by Red Bull.
11. Gilles Villeneuve
Luck prevented Gilles Villeneuve from winning a championship, but the Canadian was one of those drivers who marked a whole generation of drivers, due to his great talent and skill behind the wheel.
However, the Canadian was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Following Ferrari\’s great successes during the 1970s, Villeneuve signed for the Prancing Horse in 1978, hoping to continue the team\’s winning ways.
His best year with Ferrari was 1979, in which he was runner-up, while his teammate Jody Scheckter was world champion. After that, despite being the fastest driver in the team, he did not have truly competitive or reliable cars, as Ferrari was in decline, testing the new V6 turbo engine.
The Italian team lived its darkest years during the 1980s, and Villeneuve could not fight for the championships, despite always outperforming his mediocre cars. The Canadian died after an accident in the 1982 Belgian GP, so we could not see his true potential.
12. Teo Fabi
Italian driver Teo Fabi raced in F1 in 1982 and later between 1984 and 1987, achieving 2 podiums, 3 pole positions, and 2 fastest laps. Despite obtaining 3 pole positions, the Italian never led a lap, so he holds the record for most pole positions without leading a single lap.
During his racing career, Fabi was torn between Formula 1 opportunities and Indycar racing, and despite having great talent and being super fast, he failed to reach his potential in either category.
The Italian outstood in one lap, so his great day was on Saturday in qualifying, obtaining 3 poles without truly competitive cars. However, something always happened in the race, such as poor starts that made him lose the lead or accidents and retirement later on.
As a result, after failing to consolidate his position in F1, the Italian focused on IndyCar and later on other endurance competitions, where he achieved some success.
13. Andrea de Cesaris
Andrea de Cesaris holds the unwanted record of being the driver with the most retirements, totaling 148. The Italian participated in Formula 1 between 1980 and 1994 and obtained 5 podiums and 1 pole position, racing with some competitive teams such as Alfa Romeo or McLaren.
Many of his retirements were indeed due to mechanical problems and the unreliability of his cars, but many others were his fault. The Italian was fast when he had a good day, but he was very accident-prone, and for this reason, from the lower categories, he was known as Andrea de \”Crashers\”.
In fact, the Italian was the youngest driver of his time to get a pole position at the age of 23, and came close to winning a race, which contrasts with many of his other performances in which he endangered himself and other drivers. In 1987, for example, he did not finish any of the races.
Conclusion
Is there such a thing as luck in F1? As we have seen, luck is always present in this sport, either for a specific event or for the mere fact of getting to compete. The simple fact of racing in Formula 1 is great luck (which also has great work behind it), but once in the category, many drivers only live the dark side of this sport.
Some drivers experience good luck that later turns bad, or vice versa, others who only have good or bad luck, and some who seek their luck. Be that as it may, luck is a factor to take into account when competing.
Sources
- https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1440979519312320
- https://sfcriga.com/chris-amon-the-unlucky-driver
- https://www.formulanerds.com/features/nico-hulkenberg-f1s-unluckiest-driver-or-serial-underachiever/
- https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2615405-fernando-alonso-and-formula-1s-worst-career-moves
- https://the-race.com/formula-1/f1-drivers-who-signed-for-a-top-team-and-got-a-mediocre-car/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Leclerc#2019_season