Grand Prix Rejects

Pedro_Diniz wrote: I just remember him for aquaplaning, and almost hitting the stranded Inoue, at the Japanese Grand Prix (it may have been the other way around, actually )

I think that may be the other way around (unless it happened in practice), because Noda retired the Larrouse with some kind of fuel injection related engine problem on lap one. I think you are probably thinking of either Katayama or Inoue, both of whom spun off on lap four.

Some rejects are so bad as to be unforgettable, like Deletraz or Ide.

Some drivers, reject or not, fade into the middle ground, or are memorable through accident or incident, but some are just so uneventfully uninteresting that you just forget about them.

In my era, does anyone remember:

Franck Montagny?
Gianmaria Bruni?
Alex Wurz?

Then there are those such as Piquet and Sutil who will probably be forgotten in years to come, as may be Bourdais.

Brian Henton, a reject with a fastest lap to his name.

I think Alex Wurz is a bit harsh! Montagny maybe, Bruni is a definite for me. I genuinely can't even remember seeing him do anything in F1.

Pedro_Diniz wrote:

thehemogoblin wrote:

Pedro_Diniz wrote:Julian Bailey - had two stabs at F1 and still I can't recall him.

How can you forget the Stig?

Putting aside my fervent dislike of Top Gear, has this been clarified yet? I'm still on the Perry McCarthy team!

I thought white Stig was Ben Collins. Except for the one episode that it was Michael Schumacher, obviously.

ImissJORDAN wrote:Some rejects are so bad as to be unforgettable, like Deletraz or Ide.

Some drivers, reject or not, fade into the middle ground, or are memorable through accident or incident, but some are just so uneventfully uninteresting that you just forget about them.

In my era, does anyone remember:

Franck Montagny?
Gianmaria Bruni?
Alex Wurz?

Then there are those such as Piquet and Sutil who will probably be forgotten in years to come, as may be Bourdais.

I sometimes forget Bruni, but not the other two. Piquet won't be forgotten, if only for his notoriety in the F1 Rejects podcasts/reviews, and Sutil will be fondly remembered for his bad luck (and hopefully for the day it ended, too). Bourdais probably won't be forgotten, because he's a four-time (?) ChampCar champ in F1. That by itself is pretty rememberable.

I remember Bruni very easily, although I am a Minardi fan though, so I remember all their drivers without too much trouble. That said, anyone who manages to be out qualified and out raced by Zsolt Baumgartner tends to be memorable in my book, albeit for all the wrong reasons .

I just remembered someone... oh no, wait he was so forgettable that I've forgotten him.

Allan McNish. But for his crash at Suzuka I don't remember one thing he did. And 2002 was the first year that I was properly interested in F1 so I remember a lot about the season. Pity it was such a crap season.

That crash was awful, to break the barrier in a crash means it has to be a massive shunt. I've just remebered Franck Lagorce, got 2 races in 94, did little and was dropped. Also Boullion got a few races for Sauber in 95 and may be a reject, his performances certainly merited it.

How can you forget the Stig?[/quote]

Putting aside my fervent dislike of Top Gear, has this been clarified yet? I'm still on the Perry McCarthy team![/quote]

I thought white Stig was Ben Collins. Except for the one episode that it was Michael Schumacher, obviously.[/quote]

The Stig is Ben Collins and Darren Turner. You can tell which is which, because Darren Turner is taller. Previous non-speciality Stigs include Perry McCarthy, Julian Bailey, Russ Swift, Heikki Kovalainen (driving the Renault) and Chris Goodwin.

Sebastien Bourdais. I'm expecting a profile on the main site eventually.

Captain Hammer wrote:Sebastien Bourdais. I'm expecting a profile on the main site eventually.

I though he scored too many points to get a profile on the site. Anyways I wouldn't forget what he did in F1, considering that he complained a lot which is not unexpected of him, he was used to winning a lot before he came to F1 so naturally he would get pissy when he doesn't win.

Bourdais is still a reject - following point system change for 2003 it's now position-based: 4th place or better, 5th and 6th or three 6th will eliminate reject status. Bourdais has only two 7ths and two 8ths.

Firstly hi Long time Rejects website visitor,and after a short lurk am now posting I don't bite...much

How about Franck Lagorce? He drove in 1994-er thats about it....
and Naoki Hattori? I'd forgotten this dude even existed until reading Autocourse 1991 and even then the memory didn't stir...Didn't even qualify his Coloni.


and Volker Weidler, who spent a whole year driving a Rial round and round without getting on the grid

Debaser wrote:That crash was awful, to break the barrier in a crash means it has to be a massive shunt. I've just remebered Franck Lagorce, got 2 races in 94, did little and was dropped. Also Boullion got a few races for Sauber in 95 and may be a reject, his performances certainly merited it.

Boullion is not a reject, he scored 3 points.

And how about

Al Pease: disqualified from a Grand Prix for being too slow. When you're that awful they won't even let you race with other people,that's bad

Hans Heyer: failed to qualify but decided to turn up and race anyway. To be able to ignore the racing authorities, get into the pit lane and set off anyway without getting rumbled shows some chutzpah

lemon_martini2 wrote:Hans Heyer: failed to qualify but decided to turn up and race anyway. To be able to ignore the racing authorities, get into the pit lane and set off anyway without getting rumbled shows some chutzpah

We will never forget.

Am I allowed to start forgetting about Jarno Trulli now?

jackanderton wrote:Zanardi (purely on F1 performances)
Mika Salo (middle of the road performer)

Cristiano Da Matta was probably better than Zonta, arguably better than Panis was at the time, though nowhere near as good as Olivier in his prime.

If it wasn't for his frequent media appearances and nationality, Anthony Davidson.

Tempted to say Heikki Kovaleinen but he's involved in so many farcial episodes nowadays he's memorable for all the wrong reasons.

If there's a section here for 'middling driver who finds himself leading the 1999 German Grand in a Ferrari only to be asked to yield to his team-mate and blow his only chance of a serious race win' then Salo gets my vote.

Most really bad drivers are then by definition unlikely to be forgottenn about. The forgettable ones pootle round at the back of the grid in about 16th or 17th not impressing anyone or having major shunts or creating havoc.

How about Pascal Fabre? Spent a whole year running round the back of the pack
and Franco Forini? Didn't even know he existed until he popped up in my Grand Prix Year review. Even despite the wonderful facial hair

[code][/code]

Don't forget Pascal Fabre: 14 reliable but slow races for AGS in their first year... before Roberto Moreno replaces him and scores a point!

who on earth is this obscure german pay driver that ferrari are using to sub for massa.... ???

WeirdKerr wrote:who on earth is this obscure german pay driver that ferrari are using to sub for massa.... ???

Some guy named Michael who was wandering around Maranello.

WeirdKerr wrote:who on earth is this obscure german pay driver that ferrari are using to sub for massa.... ???

Markus Winkelhock?

tristan1117 wrote:

WeirdKerr wrote:who on earth is this obscure german pay driver that ferrari are using to sub for massa.... ???

Some guy named Michael who was wandering around Maranello.

Surname is something like Shoemaker, or some-such cobblers...

ImissJORDAN wrote:Alex Wurz?

Careful with that - Wurz seems to be regarded as on a par with Fangio by some people (not me!) on this forum...

noisebox wrote:

ImissJORDAN wrote:Alex Wurz?

Careful with that - Wurz seems to be regarded as on a par with Fangio by some people (not me!) on this forum...

Or, in my case, Fangio II

thehemogoblin wrote:

noisebox wrote:

ImissJORDAN wrote:Alex Wurz?

Careful with that - Wurz seems to be regarded as on a par with Fangio by some people (not me!) on this forum...

Or, in my case, Fangio II

A bit of a diss on Fangio II that :p He didn't set CART/Indy alight but he was an epic IMSA driver and a consumate gentleman too.

Truth be told, i'll remember Wurz simply as being 'that Austrian guy'

dragonsteincole wrote:
Truth be told, i'll remember Wurz simply as being 'that Austrian guy'

No, no. That what Christian Klien.
Wurz was "The guy who wears two different shoes".

muttley wrote:

dragonsteincole wrote:
Truth be told, i'll remember Wurz simply as being 'that Austrian guy'

No, no. That what Christian Klien.
Wurz was "The guy who wears two different shoes".

He was also the first ever ROTR.

BlindCaveSalamander wrote:

muttley wrote:

dragonsteincole wrote:
Truth be told, i'll remember Wurz simply as being 'that Austrian guy'

No, no. That what Christian Klien.
Wurz was "The guy who wears two different shoes".

He was also the first ever ROTR.

That if anything makes him memorable.
Though, I tend to forget him when trying to think of the drivers for 2007.

lemon_martini2 wrote:and Naoki Hattori? I'd forgotten this dude even existed until reading Autocourse 1991 and even then the memory didn't stir...Didn't even qualify his Coloni.

Make that he didn't even pre-qualify his Coloni. Like Toshio Suzuki, who I mentioned earlier on, I tend to agree he is rather forgettable, and I also agree with the suggestion that Franco Forini didn't exactly make an impression on F1.

Pascal Fabre sticks in the mind too much for me. If I were asked a question about which driver finished last in a Grand Prix from 1987, I would inevitably say Fabre, and I would be right most of the time (at least in the first half of the season), so I don't think he is as forgettable as some have suggested, even if he didn't actually do anything spectacular.

The fact all these drivers are getting named suggests they're not forgettable. The truly forgettable ones are the ones you're not naming because you just can't remember them.

donald29 wrote:The fact all these drivers are getting named suggests they're not forgettable. The truly forgettable ones are the ones you're not naming because you just can't remember them.

I just go through Wikipedia when I'm looking for forgettable drivers. It therefore jogs my memory.

Christiano Da Matta.

What happened to him after he hit that deer at Road America anyway?

The test here is can you name all six drivers that particapted in the 2005 US grand prix?
I had to look it up cuz I could only remember 4. I'm not going to prompt you my naming the two I forgot that would negate the point of the test.

Schumacher
Barrichello
Monteiro
Karthikeyan


.... now, who was driving for Minardi?....

Bruni and Baumgartner?


Ok, I Wikipedia'd the Minardi drivers. Epic fail

Pedro_Diniz wrote:.... now, who was driving for Minardi?....

Bruni and Baumgartner?

They drove in 2004, in 2005 Minardi had Christijan Albers and Patrick Friesacher (both pretty forgettable).

Nuppiz wrote:

Pedro_Diniz wrote:.... now, who was driving for Minardi?....

Bruni and Baumgartner?

They drove in 2004, in 2005 Minardi had Christijan Albers and Patrick Friesacher (both pretty forgettable).

Hehe, precisely! Although I remember Albers for his fuel nozzle incident with Spyker. As for Friesacher, did he do ANYTHING of note?