Strangest F1 careers

[S griffin]

Perry McCarthy's luck was so bad he once lost a whole's day of practice in F3000 because the forklift truck that was used to bring his the crate of his F3000 car from the transporter got stuck in mid air!

[billy bleach]

How about Giedo van der Garde ?

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by billy bleach

How about Giedo van der Garde ?

Ooh - good shout

[S griffin]

I heard he’s quite funny on Twitter

[Tourer]

How about Jean-Louis Schlesser?
In 1983 qualified for a non-championship F1 race (race of champions Brands Hatch). Qualifies last (13th) finishes 6th. Then goes to French Grand Prix but fails to qualify.

Five years later gets called up by Williams for Monza, qualifies but being lapped by Senna for the 2nd time, they trip over each other and McLaren miss out on winning 16 from 16 that year, plus Ferrari wins at Monza.

No more F1 after that. Reasonably strange F1 career.

[S griffin]

Yes Schlesser will always be remembered for that coming together with Senna. Had Senna got past him without trouble, Schlesser wouldn't have been well known

[Gerard C]

Originally Posted by Tourer

How about Jean-Louis Schlesser? Reasonably strange F1 career.

Depends on when we can talk about "career", appearance would be more appropriate… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjZF3vI46Vs

[Gerard C]

Strange F1 career for P Belmondo too, 7 GP's, best result 9th in Hungary in '92. Nice guy.

[S griffin]

Son of French actor Jean Paul and one time boyfriend of Princess Stephanie

[bathurst77]

Jacky Ickx drove for 3 different teams in the same year - 1973 ferrari mclaren and williams - and finished 9th overall.

notice they are only 3 teams still existing from that era. he also won the bathurst 1000 on his first go - as allan moffat's co driver.
he must have been lucky

[Tourer]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

Depends on when we can talk about "career", appearance would be more appropriate… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjZF3vI46Vs

I'm with you - maybe call it a very short career I guess.

[coppice]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

Depends on when we can talk about "career", appearance would be more appropriate… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjZF3vI46Vs

Schlesser was a very capable driver , with great success in Endurance racing. His only sin at Monza was not being able to arrange for his car to dematerialise as Senna 's impatience and impetuosity got the better of him . Again .

[BTCC frog]

Jean-Pierre Jabouille is another with a very strange career.

[S griffin]

Jabouille certainly never really got the breaks. At least he got a couple of wins for Renault

[52Paddy]

The story behind Tommy Byrne is pretty fascinating.

[2 litre Touring Car Star]

I agree with JP Jabouille with the odd ball career.

95% dnf rate. 4-5 points finishes for 2 podiums with them being 2 wins.

[billy bleach]

Originally Posted by 52Paddy

The story behind Tommy Byrne is pretty fascinating.

Or a criminal waste of talent depending on your point of view....

[Gerard C]

Originally Posted by 2 litre Touring Car Star

I agree with JP Jabouille with the odd ball career.95% dnf rate. 4-5 points finishes for 2 podiums with them being 2 wins.

Spot on. Being an engineer may be he was more interested in the development of the chassis/engine than in driving, this making him comparable to another French Michel Leclere. Over the years he had to face Arnoux, Depailler, Cevert and Prost, all very challenging.

[52Paddy]

Originally Posted by billy bleach

Or a criminal waste of talent depending on your point of view....

Criminally wasteful in a fascinating way ;-) Some buck he was. You can take the man out of Drogheda..

[chavez]

Originally Posted by 52Paddy

Criminally wasteful in a fascinating way ;-) Some buck he was. You can take the man out of Drogheda..

All captured in a great documentary "Crash and Burn" on Amazon Prime and I assume elsewhere too.

[E.B]

Originally Posted by chavez

All captured in a great documentary "Crash and Burn" on Amazon Prime and I assume elsewhere too.

Ive read the book but not seen the documentary. In fact I was not aware there was one so one to look out for.

[Aysedasi]

I've watched it. I haven't read the book. I was left with a feeling of great potential, hopelessly wasted and blame cast on everyone but himself (as well as a significant dollop of jealousy for the success of others who he thought he could have matched or beaten...). All in all, quite depressing really.

[S griffin]

I saw it too. I don't know about the book, is it any good? There are some drivers who want success and some who could have success if they worked harder. In my view Tommy may have had talent, but he never really applied himself properly to racing and that perception was unlikely to change with his attitude. Maybe he should have realised how lucky he was to get an opportunity rather than what could have been. Still a great story though

[P38 in workshop]

I recommend the book if you are looking for lessons in how not to make the best of your talents,and there is no doubt that on his good days he was fast.Had to cope with a lot of crap on the way up too-literally.Just after the book was published the late Mike Lawrence wrote a typically erudite assessment of his dissolute approach to life.

[52Paddy]

I read the book years ago but didn't realise there was a documentary until a few days ago. Would be interested to see. But yeah, I echo other peoples' comments. There was no doubt Tommy was talented in the driver's seat and that, perhaps, his lack of funding and "rough and tumble" attitude were setbacks. I distinctly remember him mentioning a meeting with Ron Dennis in the early 80s as leaving the impression that he wasn't cut out for the higher echelons of motorsport from a personal point of view (at least on Ron).

But whereas he could have "played the game" and developed his personal attributes to match what was required of a top F1 teams, I understand that he kind of gave them a proverbial "two fingers", perhaps thinking his speed would talk for itself. And then he got saddled with an Ensign (I think it was) and thus he is barely remembered. Depressingly and criminal waste of talent were two good descriptions alright. Bit of sour grapes for good measure too.