Who would you choose as best driver (non current) never to have won a Grand Prix?

Question

For me it has to be Jean Pierre Jarier. Rotton luck, wrong teams, wrong time. Could have been different if he had gone to ferrari in '74.

Answer 1

Ivan Capelli.

F3000 Champion in 1986, he was to the sport then what Rosberg and Hamilton are more recently: right out of the feeder series and into F1. His resume has three championships prior to F1: F3000 as mentioned, European F3 in 1984, and Italian F3 in 1983.

Normally when a driver goes to Ferrari we expect to see them move to the top of Formula 1. Capelli's year at Ferrari was a disaster. The team scored only 21 points (Alesi 18, Capelli 3; with only two podiums out of the eight points-paying finishes the team had that season). Heck, he had 3 points in 1985 when he drove a couple of races for Tyrrell after Stefan Bellof was killed at Spa in a Group C car (he was 4th at the Australian GP, which, as it happened, was Keke Rosberg's last win).

Gee, that segués to Stefan Bellof doesn't it. There was a guy expected to do great things in Formula One. He was a fantastic driver whose life was cut short by the accident during the Spa 1000km Group C race. At that point he had only been to 22 GPs, and qualified for 20 (DNQ at Monaco in 1985 in the days of the 20-car grid there, and DQ at Austria in 1984 before the start). He was third on the track when the chequered flew at the rain-shortened Monaco GP in 1984. A race that is often regarded as remarkable because Senna, had they gone one more lap, may have been able to overtake Prost; Bellof wasn't far behind and could perhaps have been the other underdog to threaten for the win had they delayed the decision to stop it.

And lastly, Andrea de Cesaris. de Cesaris had 208 starts, and for 12 years (1982 through 1994) held the record as the youngest driver to ever start from Pole in F1 (Long Beach, 1982... which interestingly is the first GP I recall watching). That was his only pole! His best results were two second-place finishes for Alfa Romeo in 1983 at the German and South African GP races. After racing again for Alfa Romeo in 1984, he had several seasons with basically "also-ran" teams (Ligier, Minardi, Scuderia Italia, Rial, Jordan, and Tyrrell, and even Sauber in 1994). He clearly had something going for him early on and it didn't work out.

RP

Answer 2

Alain Prost gained the French Grand Prix six situations: 1981, `80 3, `88, `89, `ninety & `ninety 3. Michael Schumacher gained the ecu Grand Prix (on the Nürburgring) six situations: 1994, `ninety 5, `01, `02, `04 & `06. Jim Clark gained the British Grand Prix 5 situations: 1962, `sixty 3, `sixty 4, `sixty 5 & `sixty seven. Juan Manuel Fangio gained the Argentine Grand Prix 4 situations: 1954, `fifty 5, `fifty six & fifty seven. Nigel Mansell gained the British Grand Prix 4 situations: 1986, `87, `ninety one, ninety two. Michael Schumacher gained the German Grand Prix thrice: 1995, `02, `04.

Answer 3

Jean Behra, one of the greats of the early years of F1. He never won a championship GP despite 12 victories in non-championship races. Known for his daring driving of (usually) uncompetitive cars, he never got a regular chance in a factory car (if you don't count his years at Gordini - a candidate for the worst team in F1 history).
He was French Motorcycle Champion from 1948-1951 before switching full-time to car racing, and he died at Avus in a sportscar race in 1959.

The other candidate is Chris Amon, who was generally considered in his era to be the best driver never to have won a race. He always changed teams at the wrong moment (for example leaving Ferrari by choice just before the arrival of the classic 312B, after 3 years of poor cars had finally proved too much to take). Both Jackie Stewart and Niki Lauda felt that Amon had the talent to be one of the greats, but not the mental application.

Jarier, I'd class in the Derek Warwick category. Good enough to stay in F1 for over a decade, but not someone you'd ever expect to actually WIN a race... I remember Murray Walker's commentary on the 1978 Canadian GP, he was really surprised at how well Jarier was doing, leading half the race (admittedly in the best car) until retirement.

Answer 4

Martin Brundle, was a World Champion in Group C Racing for TWR Jaguar in the late 80's

Answer 5

Jos Verstappen and Jean Pierre Jarier. Yeah, he was at everywhere at the wrong time.

Answer 6

I think Martin Brundle, he came close many times and was easily as good as many winners, but when he had luck it always seemed to be in races when the most he could hope for was a couple of points.

Answer 7

Chris Amon....hey what about Eddie Cheever from US, he did have a great renault ride, but with Alain Prost as team mate he never got a win.

Answer 8

zanardi he was only in there for a short time but from what i saw in CART he is one of those the drivers if he had a little more luck he would have had a very good f1 Career. he would have kept his legs as well. one of the good guys in motor sport.

Answer 9

Martin Brundle......... ex. Sports car world champion, and was Ayrton Senna's closest rival when they were competing in Formula 3.

Answer 10

Ralf Firman.