Top 5 Worst Performing Minardi F1 Drivers


Top 5 Worst Performing Minardi F1 Drivers
By Brian Cotnoir

In My last article I talked about Scuderia Toro Rosso, but before they became the second Formula 1 Team bought by the Red Bull Corporation, they had a humble beginning as Minardi F1.  Minardi was based in Faenza, Italy and struggled for strong results.   The Minardi team gave shots in F1 to many (mostly) Italian drivers, and rarely finished in the points, and never finished on the podium; yet this little Italian team helped launched the career of F1 legend Fernando Alonso.  This was a hard list to compile because they had a number of poor performing drivers, but I feel these were the worst of the worst.

5.)   Esteban Tuero, 1 Season, 0 Points Scored

Esteban Tuero was an Argentine driver who ran just one season ever in Formula 1.    In his only season in Formula 1, Tuero failed to finish in all, but four Grand Prix’s.  His best finish was an 8th place at the 1998 San Marino Grand Prix.



4.)   Luiz Perez-Sala, 2 Seasons, 1 Point Scored, Highest Final Points Finish 28th place

Luiz Perez-Sala ran 2 seasons for Minardi in the late 1980’s.  He failed to qualify for a handful of Grand Prix’s and his only points scoring finish was a sixth place at the 1989 British Grand Prix.


3.)  Gianni Morbidelli 2 Seasons, 0 Points Scored.

Morbidelli only scored 0.5 point in his debut season at Minardi…driving for Ferrari.   He ran every race for Minardi except the season finale in Australia (which ended early due to rain) where he replaced the recently fired Alain Prost.  Morbidelli returned to Minardi the following Season after the one off race with Ferrari, where he once again failed to score any points for the team.


2.)  Andrea de Cesaris, 1 Season, 0 Points Scored

Andrea de Cesaris raced for Minardi in their 2nd season of competition in Formula 1, where he retired from all but one race (a 8th at the Mexican Grand Prix) and failed to qualify for the Monaco Grand Prix in the same season.


1.)  Alessandro Nannini, 2 Seasons, 0 Points Scored

The only Minardi driver who failed worse than Andrea de Cesaris was his teammate 1986, Alessandro Nannini.  Like de Cesaris, Nannini failed to qualify for Monaco Grand Prix, and the only race he finished that year was the Mexican Grand Prix (where he finished 14th).   Despite such abominable results, Nannini ran one more season for Minardi.  In his second season with the team, he only finished three races, and failed to score any championship points.   I’m surprised Alessandro Nannini was signed by any team after those dismal 2 seasons at Minardi, but he would eventually go on to run 3 full seasons for the Benneton team, and scored his first and only Grand Prix win at 1989 Japanese Grand Prix.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Top 10 Most Iconic Paint Schemes in NASCAR Cup History

Image
The Top 10 Most Iconic Paint Schemes in NASCAR Cup History An Article by Brian Cotnoir I’ve talked about the Best Paint Schemes in Cup History, I’ve talked about the Best Paint Schemes in Xfinity History, and now today I’d like to present you the 10 Most Iconic Paint Schemes in NASCAR Cup History. 10.) Citgo, Wood Brothers Racing The Wood Brothers are one of the oldest teams in NASCAR, and in the late 80’s early 90’s they left quite the impression on NASCAR fans with the Citgo Paint Scheme which was piloted by drivers Dale Jarret, Morgan Shepherd, and Michael Waltrip.   Citgo eventually left the wood brothers and sponsored Jeff Burton at Roush Racing, but it was a truly iconic sponsor with that famous number twenty-one 9.)    Skoal Bandit, Harry Gant Harry Gant earned the nickname “Mr. September” when he won 4 straight Winston Cup Races (and two Busch Series) races in September of 1991, and he did it all behind the wheel of the Iconic Skoal Bandit race car.
Read more

Top 10 Ugliest Paint Schemes in NASCAR History

Image
Top 10 Ugliest Paint Schemes in NASCAR History By: Brian Cotnoir I’ve talked about the Best Paint Schemes in NASCAR, and now I’m here to talk about the Ugliest.   Sometimes a paint scheme looks bad because of whose sponsoring the car, and other times it’s a real bad color combination, but whatever the reason these are some of the most hideous Paint Schemes to have ever graced a NASCAR track. 10.)   Dave Marcis, Prodigy paint scheme This one is so ugly, that it’s kind of cool.   For me the big issue is the combination of Purple & Green, and the Neon Orange numbers make it a little better, but this car is still looks like a disaster. 9.)     Joey Logano, AAA Insurance paint scheme Joey Logano has had a number of awesome paint schemes while driving for Roger Penske, however this red, white, and blue monstrosity is not one of them.    I think Logano and Penske should call AAA Insurance and see if they can use their policy to give this paint scheme a complete
Read more

Top 10 NASCAR drivers who never won a Cup Series Championship

Image
Top 10 NASCAR drivers who never won a Cup Series championship By: Brian Cotnoir           NASCAR has been around for over 70 Years now and over those seven decades we’ve had many fantastic drivers.    Petty, Earnhardt, Waltrip, Yarborough, Gordon, and Johnson are all great drivers and all have won multiple championships in their illustrious careers,   Just between Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt Sr, Jimmie Johnson, and Jeff Gordon they have won more than 1/3 of all NASCAR Cup Series Championships, but there are dozens of NASCAR drivers who came close to scoring that illusive title, but just couldn’t pull it off.   These are the Top 10 NASCAR drivers who never won a Cup Series Championship. 10.)   Ernie Irvan Ernie “Swirvin” Irvan was my first favorite driver in NASCAR.   He was one of the best drivers of the early 1990’s driving for top tier teams like Morgan-McClure and Robert Yates Racing.    Irvan even won the 1991 Daytona 500, but as the decade went on his career suff
Read more