Next race weekend, Nico Hulkenberg will have to repeat Andrea de Cesaris’ record for the number of races completed without a single victory in Formula 1. For the German driver, the sad achievement ahead will not be the first in his career : Nico has long been the most experienced driver among those who have never been on the podium. And if we have already remembered the ten most experienced drivers who have not won in F1, then Hulkenberg’s “colleagues” for another anti-record have not been so well studied. Correction: Here are the ten F1 drivers who competed in the most races but never finished in the top 3.
Vitantonio Liuzzi – 80 starts (best result – 6th place)
In 2004, Liuzzi confidently won the Formula 3000 championship, which was appreciated by Red Bull, which was preparing to join Royal Racing. According to Dr. Marco’s plan, in the 2005 season Vitantonio was to share the same car with Christian Klin, a graduate of the Bulls Academy, throughout the championship. However, it was not possible to fully implement the plan: Liuzzi passed only four stages, after which Klin captured the second Red Bull car until the end of the championship.
Vitantonio Liuzzi at the 2005 Bahrain Grand Prix
Photo: Andreas Rentz/Bongarts/Getty Images
The Italian will start next season in the newly formed Toro Rosso team, which at first seemed more like an outsider than a middle peasant, so there was no talk of fighting for the podium. In 2008, Liuzzi will leave the “calves”, giving way to Sébastien Bourdais. However, next year Vitantonio will return to F1, replacing Fisichella, who left for Ferrari, at Force India for the final part of the season. The Italian will remain in Vijay Mallya’s team during 2010, which will be the best of his Formula career: up to six finishes in the points zone, but he will never exceed sixth position.
The last season in F1 for Liuzzi will be the 2011 season, which he will spend in the nondescript outsider “HRT”. In this team, let alone with podiums, we couldn’t even dream of points. By the way, after only 13 races, Liuzzi’s place in this ranking could be taken by Yuki Tsunoda.
What happened to the fired Red Bull drivers:
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Mark Zurer – 82 starts (best result – fourth place)
Today Zurer is known as a commentator and expert, but in the ’80s he was a fairly average mid-level rider. The Swiss began his Formula 1 career at the end of 1979, joining the ranks of Ensign as the newly crowned F2 champion. He will spend the next two seasons on outside teams: ATS, Theodore and Ensign himself. This will be followed by a move to Arrows, which will certainly be a step forward for Zurer. However, there was still no talk of fighting for high positions.
The 1985 season could have been a real breakthrough for Zurer: with the support of BMW, the Swiss driver replaced Francois Esnault at Brabham, who was fired after the fourth stage. Although Ecclestone’s team had entered a stage of regression at that time, he was still able to fight for high places. It is not surprising that it was in that season that Zurer had a real chance of getting on the podium: at Brands Hatch he was second, but retired 13 laps before the finish line due to a blown engine, and at Monza he missed third place by some distance. and then three tenths.
In 1986, Zurer returned to Arrows, but only competed in five Grands Prix before retiring from F1 after a serious accident in a rally race in which his co-driver died.
More information about the cooperation between Brabham and BMW:
They could have become champions, but they ruined everything themselves. Why didn’t BMW succeed in F1?
Jonathan Palmer – 83 starts (best result – fourth place)
Palmer won the British Formula 3 Championship at his first attempt and the Formula 2 Championship at his second. At the beginning of his career, he was considered a fairly talented driver, but he never managed to build a successful career in the Royal Races. Palmer made his F1 debut in 1983, and immediately at Williams; For his sake, the team entered a third car in the European Grand Prix. However, at that time Williams had no rhythm at all: the debutant finished 13th.
Jonathan Palmer after retiring from the 1984 British Grand Prix
Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty Images
The Briton will spend the next six seasons with several outsiders: RAM, Zakspid, Tyrrell. Palmer’s greatest achievement in Formula 1 would be fourth place in the 1987 Australian Grand Prix. However, in that race there was no chance of getting on the podium: the Briton came fourth only after the disqualification of Senna, and Jonathan he lost an entire lap to third place, Boutsen.
Palmer Jr. didn’t work out in F1 either:
7 champions of the main youth teams before Formula 1, which later failed
Ukyo Katayama – 95 starts (best result – fifth place)
In 1991, Katayama won the title in the Japanese Formula 3000 championship and the following year he debuted in the Royal Races. He would spend the next six years in the camp of teams such as Larrousse, Tyrrell and Minardi. Ukyo did not fight for high places and was mainly remembered for his numerous accidents: in the 1995 season alone, the Japanese finished the race eight times early due to various types of incidents.
As for the purely sporting component, the most successful for Katayama was the 1994 championship held in Tyrrell, the only one in which the Japanese managed to score points: two fifth places and a sixth place. Katayama’s chances of making the podium were, of course, zero.
Other famous F1 accidents:
The main accident victims in the history of Formula 1: from the Ferrari champion to Maldonado
Marcus Ericsson – 97 starts (best result – 8th place)
One of the last representatives of the classic Formula 1 rental drivers. In the youth teams, Ericsson was not very convincing, and in the Royal Races he lost to his peers again and again (to be fair, there were quite worthy drivers among them , for example, Kobayashi and Leclerc). Impressive financing allowed Marcus to stay in F1 for five long years, after which he went abroad, where he successfully restarted his IndyCar career, winning the Indy 500 in 2022.
Regarding the Swede’s performances in Formula 1, his greatest achievement was the eighth final position. It was objectively difficult to achieve more, and the point here is not so much in Ericsson’s racing abilities, but in the teams for which he competed: with Caterham and Sauber, Napoleonic plans cannot be built.
How successful are former F1 drivers in IndyCar?
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Pedro Diniz – 98 starts (best result – fifth place)
Another classic rental driver, although from an earlier era, when those characters seemed quite organic in the peloton. Dinitz performed poorly in the junior series, but still in 1995 he managed to find a place as a fighter pilot in the camp of the outsider “Forti” (money helped, of course).
Next in Pedro’s career will be Ligier, Arrows and Sauber. In total, during the six years he spent in F1, the Brazilian finished in the points zone eight times; His highest finish would be two fifth places achieved at the Nürburgring and Spa-Francorchamps while he was racing for Arrows. In 2000, Dinitz would hang up his helmet and focus on his career as a coach.
The worst drivers of the 1990s:
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Philippe Agliot – 109 starts (best result – fifth place)
Unlike many French drivers of the 1980s, Agliot did not go through the Elf racing academy. However, this fact did not prevent him from showing acceptable results at the junior stage of his career: Philip is the champion of the national Formula Renault championship, as well as a bronze medalist in the French and European F3 championships.
Alio entered the Royal Races in 1984, where he spent eight full seasons, all in the field of the French teams: RAM, Ligier and Larrousse. Each of the listed teams in those years was closer to outsiders than to the middle peasants, so there was no talk of great achievements. The most Alyo achieved was six races completed in the points zone.
Philippe Agliot with McLaren
Photo: Pascal Rondeau/Getty Images
However, the Frenchman still had a theoretical chance of getting on the podium. In 1994, Aglio, now unemployed, replaced Hakkinen in the Hungarian Grand Prix as part of McLaren, a team that achieved eight podiums that season. However, in the Hungaroring race, the Frenchman did not even manage to reach the finish line.
The most successful replacements:
7 of the best substitute appearances in Formula 1 history, including Schumacher’s spectacular debut
Pierluigi Martini – 119 starts (best result – fourth place)
Martini is an iconic driver for a small Italian team called Minardi. Pierluigi dedicated eight years of his career to the Faenza team, witnessing the formation stage, the most successful seasons and the decline of the modest team. Among the memorable moments of Martini’s performance for Minardi was his sensational start from the front row in the 1990 season-opening race in Phoenix. Unfortunately, there were no surprises on Sunday: the Italian was unable to maintain his high starting position and finished seventh.
The following year, Martini would finish fourth twice, the highest finish in Minardi history. The union of the Italian driver and the team will not be enough for more. Pierluigi will end his formula career in 1995 with his native Minardi.
The story of the legendary underdog:
Three Russians could drive for this F1 team! 10 facts about the biggest underdog
Adrian Sutil – 128 starts (best result – fourth place)
It’s a completely common story in this collection: I drove many seasons in Formula 1, but they were all part of weak or mediocre teams. Sutil spent seven seasons in the Silverstone team, which was first called Spiker and then became Force India, and another in the Sauber camp. None of these teams can even be considered the best, but Adrian still had a real chance to compete for the podium.
In 2009, Force India showed unexpectedly high pace at the Spa-Francorchamps and Monza circuits, largely thanks to the car’s long straight concept. In Belgium, Sutil’s teammate, Fisichella, shone, managing to take pole and finish the race in second position. And in the next stage, in Italy, Adrián himself gave a pleasant surprise: the second time in qualifying. However, the German driver did not know how to take advantage of his high starting position: an unfortunate fourth place.
Adrian Sutil at the 2010 Singapore Grand Prix
Photo: Clive Mason/Getty Images
Nico Hulkenberg – 207 starts (best result – fourth place)
We’ll talk about Hulkenberg’s career in more detail soon, so we won’t talk too much here…
The most unlucky F1 drivers:
200 races without a win and a terrible contractual error. The 7 unluckiest drivers in F1 history
