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.





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