This Day in Reject History

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 17 Oct 2015, 16:07

This time I was kind of relying on someone else to do today

But yeah, not a lot of rejectful material to work with...

October 17th

1999 - Mika Hakkinen was crowned world champion for the second year running at Sepang after the Ferraris were disqualified on account of illegal bargeboards. This gave Hakkinen the race win with the two Stewarts 2nd and 3rd. However, Ferrari later appealed against this decision as they had been running the same bargeboards for several races without incident, and their 1-2 finish was reinstated. As a result, the championship would have to be decided in the final round in Suzuka. Meanwhile, Alex Zanardi saw the chequered flag for the last time in his F1 career, finishing 10th, a lap down.

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 17 Oct 2015, 23:11

October 18th

1998 - Speaking of Alex Zanardi, he celebrated his last CART victory in Surfers Paradise on this day.

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 19 Oct 2015, 10:40

October 19th

1985 - F1 raced on the original Kyalami circuit for the last time, Jean-Marie Balestre announcing that F1 would not return to South Africa due to the Apartheid regime. Ligier and Renault boycotted the race, apparently under pressure from the French government. The Swedish, Finnish and Brazilian governments also attempted to put pressure on their drivers not to attend, but to no avail. Nevertheless, some, such as Ayrton Senna, were still uncomfortable with racing in the country. There was even talk of more teams, such as championship rivals Ferrari and McLaren, boycotting the event, but this never came to pass. Nigel Mansell led Keke Rosberg home for a Williams 1-2 in an attritional race that saw only seven cars reach the chequered flag.

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 19 Oct 2015, 23:11

October 20th

1942 - Walter Brun, co-founder of EuroBrun, was born.

novitopoli · Post by **novitopoli** » 21 Oct 2015, 10:22

October 21st

1990 - The Japanese Grand Prix, mostly remembered for Senna and Prost's first corner collision, saw future Andrea Moda legend Roberto Moreno and future reject team owner Aguri Suzuki's only F1 podium. Both drivers also proceeded to unrejectify themselves on this day: it also was the only podium for Larrousse and for Lamborghini as an engine supplier (as well as Lola's last podium and its first since the 1962 German GP).

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 22 Oct 2015, 00:05

October 22nd

1995 - Jan Magnussen made his Grand Prix début for McLaren, much like his son did almost twenty years later. However, Jan unfortunately did not get a podium or else he would not be featured in this thread. He was seven tenths off Mark Blundell in qualifying and finished tenth in the race. Mika Hakkinen - who Jan was substituting for - would return to the cockpit in the following race, and the Dane would have to wait until the 1997 season before securing a full-time drive with the new Stewart team.

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 23 Oct 2015, 15:27

October 23rd

1937 - Giacomo Russo, perhaps better known by the pseudonym "Geki", was born in Milan. He drove in three Italian Grands Prix from 1964 to 1966 for Rob Walker and for the works Lotus team. His best finish was 9th in the 1966 event. However, he was immensely successful in Formula Three, winning his national championship four times in a row. Geki was killed in a horrific accident that also took the lives of two other drivers in Caserta in 1967, aged 29.

AxelP800 · Post by **AxelP800** » 24 Oct 2015, 14:13

Simtek wrote:October 23rd

1937 - Giacomo Russo, perhaps better known by the pseudonym "Geki", was born in Milan. He drove in three Italian Grands Prix from 1964 to 1966 for Rob Walker and for the works Lotus team. His best finish was 9th in the 1966 event. However, he was immensely successful in Formula Three, winning his national championship four times in a row. Geki was killed in a horrific accident that also took the lives of two other drivers in Caserta in 1967, aged 29.

You forgot that 23rd October is Alessandro Zanardi's birthday. F1 reject but great driver outside F1, and his spirit after that horrifying crash.

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 24 Oct 2015, 15:30

AxelP800 wrote:
Simtek wrote:October 23rd

1937 - Giacomo Russo, perhaps better known by the pseudonym "Geki", was born in Milan. He drove in three Italian Grands Prix from 1964 to 1966 for Rob Walker and for the works Lotus team. His best finish was 9th in the 1966 event. However, he was immensely successful in Formula Three, winning his national championship four times in a row. Geki was killed in a horrific accident that also took the lives of two other drivers in Caserta in 1967, aged 29.

You forgot that 23rd October is Alessandro Zanardi's birthday. F1 reject but great driver outside F1, and his spirit after that horrifying crash.

True, but I felt that it was better to focus on somebody else after talking about Alex two days in a row recently. Still, a belated happy 49th birthday to one of the site's greatest heroes! And now...

October 24th

1976 - Masahiro Hasemi was erroneously awarded the fastest lap of the Japanese Grand Prix. Due to a measurement error, the Kojima driver had ostensibly recorded a 1:18.23 on lap 25, nearly two seconds quicker than any other driver. However, a few days later Fuji Speedway issued a press release saying that the fastest lap was actually a 1:19.97 set by Ligier's Jacques Laffite on lap 70. This correction is not well-known outside Japan however, and so many sources still show Hasemi as the fastest lap holder.

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 25 Oct 2015, 17:47

October 25th

1992 - Jan Lammers set a record when he returned to Formula One in 1992 over 10 years after his last race, the longest gap between races for a driver. He was drafted into the March team to replace Karl Wendlinger and performed reasonably well, out-qualifying his team-mate Emanuele Naspetti before his clutch gave up halfway through the race.

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 26 Oct 2015, 13:40

October 26th

1997 - In the title deciding race at Jerez, Michael Schumacher attempted to take out Jacques Villeneuve at the Curva Dry Sack as the Canadian tried to overtake him. The Ferrari driver failed in his attempt and only ended up taking himself out of the race. To rub salt in the wound, Schumacher was disqualified from the 1997 world championship, giving the runner-up spot to Villeneuve's team-mate Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Meanwhile, it was the last race in the brief career of Norberto Fontana, who years later claimed that he was told before the race by Jean Todt to block Villeneuve should he be in a position to do so. His Sauber team was running Ferrari engines at the time, which gave some weight to the allegations, but they have been denied by Peter Sauber.

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 27 Oct 2015, 00:00

October 27th

1963 - Before Pastor Maldonado made it his own, the number 13 was scarcely used in the history of Formula One. In fact, it was only used twice before 2014. One of those times was the 1976 British Grand Prix on the Surtees of Divina Galica. The other was almost thirteen years earlier (deliberate?) when Scuderia Centro Sud entered a BRM for local driver Moisés Solana in the first World Championship Mexican Grand Prix. He qualified mid-pack and ran as high as 6th during the race before his engine expired less than ten laps from the end. He was classified 11th.

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 28 Oct 2015, 00:50

October 28th

1930 - Bernie Ecclestone was born. We all know the massive impact he's had on the sport for better or worse, but few know that he himself had a brief flirtation with Formula One as a driver. He made an attempt to qualify for the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix in a Connaught, though this has later been described as not being a serious attempt, and it has been suggested that he only did so to try and get his hands on some of the starting money. He also entered the British Grand Prix, but the car was raced by Jack Fairman.

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 29 Oct 2015, 20:21

October 29th

1951 - Tiff Needell, who drove in two Grands Prix for Ensign in 1980 and went on to present Top Gear and Fifth Gear, was born.

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 30 Oct 2015, 10:41

October 30th

2011 - F1 Rejects did its first (and sadly, only) video podcast, doing live coverage of the Indian Grand Prix. Here, Jamie and Enoch did a track guide, nicknaming the Buddh International Circuit's corners after parts of the anatomy of a duck, as well as doing live audio-only commentary of the race.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 30 Oct 2015, 11:29

Simtek wrote:October 30th

2011 - F1 Rejects did its first (and sadly, only) video podcast, doing live coverage of the Indian Grand Prix. Here, Jamie and Enoch did a track guide, nicknaming the Buddh International Circuit's corners after parts of the anatomy of a duck, as well as doing live audio-only commentary of the race.

I also loved that they came up with alternative names for the drivers entered into that Grand Prix, e.g. Kamui Kobayashi being The Sushi Chef's Son From Amagasaki (spelling?).

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 31 Oct 2015, 16:01

October 31st

1999 - The last Grand Prix for Tora Takagi, Alex Zanardi and (for 10 years) Luca Badoer.

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 01 Nov 2015, 00:46

November 1st

1998 - Another race of tearful farewells in Japan. Home driver Shinji Nakano ended his brief F1 career with a throttle issue after 40 laps, while his Minardi team-mate Esteban Tuero crashed into Tora Takagi's Tyrrell, resulting in a neck injury for the Argentinian. This actually had a great impact on the race, as championship contender Michael Schumacher suffered a puncture from the debris, effectively handing the title to Mika Hakkinen. This was also the last Grand Prix for Ricardo Rosset, who was already injured when he failed to qualify the day before.

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 02 Nov 2015, 18:05

November 2nd

2014 - Caterham and Marussia were notably absent from the United States Grand Prix, both teams having entered administration since the previous race. For the first time since the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix there were no reject teams on the grid

golic_2004 · Post by **golic_2004** » 03 Nov 2015, 12:32

November 3

1948: Helmuth Koinigg was born on this date. Sadly his reject status was revoked in a horrifying accident at Watkins Glen in 1974, just a year after promising driver Francois Cevert was killed at the same venue.

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 04 Nov 2015, 20:45

November 4th

2012 - Mark Webber took the ROTR award for a poor showing at Yas Marina. He made an awful start and had no less than three collisions with Maldonado, Massa and Grosjean.

Klon · Post by **Klon** » 05 Nov 2015, 11:14

November 5th

2010 - 1Malaysia Racing Team Ltd. (Lotus) confirm that Renault will supply them with engines from 2011 onwards.

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 06 Nov 2015, 01:33

November 6th

1994 - Three rejects made their debuts at the chaotic Japanese Grand Prix: Franck Lagorce replaced Benetton-bound Johnny Herbert (who himself had just done a one-off replacing Éric Bernard) at Ligier, Hideki Noda took the place of Yannick Dalmas at Larrousse and the legendary Taki Inoue made a one-off appearance for Simtek in place of Mimmo Schiattarella. None of the three would complete the rain-hit event; the two Japanese drivers spun off within the first three laps of the race, while Lagorce was eliminated in a collision with Pierluigi Martini.

AndreaModa · Post by **AndreaModa** » 06 Nov 2015, 12:44

And also on this day, this happened:

Motorsport wrote:On lap 14 Morbidelli made himself dizzy when he aquaplaned on standing water in the Degna Curve, where the yellows were still out, and removed the front wheels from his Footwork. Just as marshals were clearing this away Brundle arrived and did exactly the same thing. As the McLaren slid off it struck a marshal who was assisting another with removal of the FA15.

"I really thought that was it for me, said Brundle. "I thought that was the moment that I was going to die. I was headed straight for the caterpillar tractor that was moving Morbidelli's car, and then somehow, right at the last moment, I just missed it. I really don't know how."

Ironically, he had voiced concern about such vehicles being used to remove damaged cars during the morning's drivers' briefing. Bearing in mind the circumstances of his demise and near miss, it seemed churlish that the stewards later issued him with a reprimand for 'driving too fast' in the conditions.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 06 Nov 2015, 13:08

AndreaModa wrote:And also on this day, this happened:

Motorsport wrote:On lap 14 Morbidelli made himself dizzy when he aquaplaned on standing water in the Degna Curve, where the yellows were still out, and removed the front wheels from his Footwork. Just as marshals were clearing this away Brundle arrived and did exactly the same thing. As the McLaren slid off it struck a marshal who was assisting another with removal of the FA15.

"I really thought that was it for me, said Brundle. "I thought that was the moment that I was going to die. I was headed straight for the caterpillar tractor that was moving Morbidelli's car, and then somehow, right at the last moment, I just missed it. I really don't know how."

Ironically, he had voiced concern about such vehicles being used to remove damaged cars during the morning's drivers' briefing. Bearing in mind the circumstances of his demise and near miss, it seemed churlish that the stewards later issued him with a reprimand for 'driving too fast' in the conditions.

Sadly reminiscent of last year's Japanese Grand Prix.

AndreaModa · Post by **AndreaModa** » 06 Nov 2015, 17:04

My point entirely Baker. And 20 years exactly as well. In a season when so much was done for safety, why oh why wasn't this incident looked at more closely. Tragic.

Post by **Nuppiz** » 06 Nov 2015, 21:16

Simtek wrote:November 6th

1994 - Three rejects made their debuts at the chaotic Japanese Grand Prix: Franck Lagorce replaced Benetton-bound Johnny Herbert (who himself had just done a one-off replacing Éric Bernard) at Ligier, Hideki Noda took the place of Yannick Dalmas at Larrousse and the legendary Taki Inoue made a one-off appearance for Simtek in place of Mimmo Schiattarella. None of the three would complete the rain-hit event; the two Japanese drivers spun off within the first three laps of the race, while Lagorce was eliminated in a collision with Pierluigi Martini.

Also for this race JJ Lehto went back to Sauber and Mika Salo made his debut with Lotus, making this and the next race in Australia the only times (so far) that three Finns have been on the starting grid for a F1 race.

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 07 Nov 2015, 13:12

November 7th

1993 - The final Grand Prix for Toshio Suzuki, the 38-year-old deciding to hang up his helmet after a long career spanning, er... two races. Yes, he was merely a pay-driver taking the place of Philippe Alliot, but he did a solid job by finishing both of the races in which he competed.

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 08 Nov 2015, 01:09

November 8th

2010 - HRT announced the first of three drivers who would be driving for them in the Young Drivers' Test in Abu Dhabi to be... Pastor Maldonado! The newly crowned GP2 champion had not yet been confirmed for a drive on the 2011 grid, and would drive for HRT in three of the four days. For the remaining day, his place would be taken by Davide Valsecchi and Josef Král, while the Reverend would be driving for Williams, the team he would end up driving for in 2011, controversially taking the place of Nico Hulkenberg.

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 09 Nov 2015, 00:04

November 9th

1985 - Danny Sullivan won the Miami Indy Challenge.

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 10 Nov 2015, 00:10

November 10th

1923 - Óscar González, one of just four F1 drivers from Uruguay, was born. He made only one World Championship start, taking over Alberto Uria's old Maserati A6GCM midway through the 1956 Argentine Grand Prix. He brought the car home in sixth and last place, ten laps down.

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 11 Nov 2015, 00:00

November 11th

1926 - Maria Teresa de Filippis, the first female F1 driver, was born in Naples.

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 12 Nov 2015, 00:21

November 12th

1995 - The 1995 Australian Grand Prix, the final race of the 1995 season, and sadly, the final race at Adelaide. And boy, was there lots of action! David Coulthard made one of the most embarrassing mistakes of his career when he pitted from the lead and this happened, which was memorialised in the intro for the F1 Rejects podcast. Only eight cars made it to the finish in this race, and there were many surprises. Damon Hill won by a gigantic two lap advantage on Ligier's Olivier Panis, while Gianni Morbidelli took a surprising third in the Footwork Arrows. Pedro Lamy took the only point of his Grand Prix career - and the only point of the season for Minardi - in sixth, despite showing earlier in the race how not to do a spin turn. Seventh was Pedro Diniz, giving Forti their best ever result, while Bertrand Gachot was eighth, giving Pacific their equal best result in what was the final race for both driver and team. It was also the final race for several other figures, such as Karl Wendlinger and Mark Blundell, but more importantly for this retrospective it was the final race for two F1 Rejects fan favourites: Taki Inoue, who characteristically spun into retirement early in the race, and Roberto Moreno, who, whilst not a reject, drove for many reject teams in a relatively long career, completing his CV here with the Forti team.

golic_2004 · Post by **golic_2004** » 12 Nov 2015, 13:03

Simtek wrote:November 12th

1995 - The 1995 Australian Grand Prix, the final race of the 1995 season, and sadly, the final race at Adelaide. And boy, was there lots of action! David Coulthard made one of the most embarrassing mistakes of his career when he pitted from the lead and this happened, which was memorialised in the intro for the F1 Rejects podcast. Only eight cars made it to the finish in this race, and there were many surprises. Damon Hill won by a gigantic two lap advantage on Ligier's Olivier Panis, while Gianni Morbidelli took a surprising third in the Footwork Arrows. Pedro Lamy took the only point of his Grand Prix career - and the only point of the season for Minardi - in sixth, despite showing earlier in the race how not to do a spin turn. Seventh was Pedro Diniz, giving Forti their best ever result, while Bertrand Gachot was eighth, giving Pacific their equal best result in what was the final race for both driver and team. It was also the final race for several other figures, such as Karl Wendlinger and Mark Blundell, but more importantly for this retrospective it was the final race for two F1 Rejects fan favourites: Taki Inoue, who characteristically spun into retirement early in the race, and Roberto Moreno, who, whilst not a reject, drove for many reject teams in a relatively long career, completing his CV here with the Forti team.

If only that oil leak from Panis prevented him from finishing the race. There would have been much celebration for Forti.

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 13 Nov 2015, 13:52

November 13th

1994 - The infamous collision between Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill happened in Adelaide on this day, but that's not important. What is important for us here is that this day marks the anniversary of the Grand Prix début of Jean-Denis Délétraz. The 31-year-old from Geneva was hired by Larrousse as a pay driver. Délétraz qualified in 25th place, ahead of Mimmo Schiattarella's Simtek and both Pacifics of Bertrand Gachot and Paul Belmondo, the last Grand Prix appearance by the latter driver. Schiattarella immediately overtook Délétraz at the start. He proved just how slow he could really be in race conditions, lapping six seconds a lap slower than the leaders, two seconds slower than his teammate Hideki Noda and more than a second slower than Schiattarella. By the time Jean-Denis had stopped the car with a gearbox failure on lap 57 he had already been lapped ten times. BBC's Jonathan Palmer said of Délétraz:

Jonathan Palmer wrote:Yes Délétraz, really, here having no business in Formula One. And demonstrating it there: he's spending all of his modest effort, frankly, keeping the car on the road. He's holding up Gerhard Berger there, who has now lost a second on Nigel Mansell, in the Larrousse. This is, I'm afraid, one of the problems of the Grand Prix season - at the end of the year we do get one or two drives being taken by people who've got more money than talent, and that's one example of it.

This was also the last race for Hideki Noda, David Brabham, Franck Lagorce and, though not rejects, JJ Lehto, Michele Alboreto and Christian Fittipaldi. Alex Zanardi was also switching to CART for the following season, though he would return for Williams in 1999 after a short but very successful career in the United States. As for teams, despite all their efforts in getting onto the 1995 grid, this would be the final race for Larrousse after a relatively successful eight years in the sport, though most of that success came with a Lola chassis, the team failing to match that success as a chassis builder in their own right. It was also the end of one of F1's most enduring and successful teams: Lotus, who had gone bankrupt earlier in the year. The Team Lotus name was purchased by David Hunt, who merged it with Pacific for 1995, though that team would also leave F1 at the end of the season.

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 14 Nov 2015, 14:02

November 14th

1945 - Brett Lunger was born. A classic example of a driver with more money than talent, Lunger was a Vietnam War veteran who didn't become interested in motorsport until he was nineteen. Still, ten years later he had managed to buy his way into Formula One with Hesketh, despite having a mediocre record in F2. That's not to say he didn't have a few genuinely impressive moments though; in the 1976 British Grand Prix he outqualified his future world champion teammate Alan Jones, battled him during the race and set the sixth fastest lap of the race. He is also perhaps best known as one of the drivers who rescued Niki Lauda in the aftermath of the Austrian's near-fatal accident at the Nurburgring.

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 15 Nov 2015, 00:24

November 15th

1987 - Yannick Dalmas finished in a not too shabby 5th place for Larrousse in Adelaide. Unfortunately, Larrousse had only officially entered one car for the season driven by Philippe Alliot and Dalmas was entered in a second car alongside Alliot from Mexico onwards. For this reason Yannick was not awarded the two points normally given for his finishing position.

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 16 Nov 2015, 00:16

November 16th

1958 - Roberto Guerrero, the first of only two Colombians to start a Grand Prix, was born. He had a great Formula Ford season in 1978, taking eight wins. After this though, his junior record left much to be desired. Still, by 1982 he had made it to the top of the single seater racing ladder. Driving for Ensign and Theodore, Roberto never achieved any success in F1, but a switch to IndyCar in 1984 saw him finish second in the Indy 500. He would eventually be crowned Rookie of the Year for both the 500 and the 1984 season as a whole. However, in roughly fifteen years of racing in both CART, and later IRL after the split, Guerrero only achieved two wins, both in the 1987 season. He retired in 2003.

novitopoli · Post by **novitopoli** » 17 Nov 2015, 13:09

November 17th

1967 - Domenico Schiattarella was born in Milan. The Italian drove seven Formula 1 races in a Simtek, in which he never managed to finish anything but last. His, and Simtek's, last appearance was at the 1995 Monaco Grand Prix, where he outqualified for the first time his teammate Verstappen, but was involved in a first-lap pileup and thus wasn't unable to take part to the restart, due to the team lacking a spare chassis. That was it for him (and for his team). Schiattarella also took part in a couple of CART races for Project Indy (CART's ultimate reject team) and finished 6th at the 1999 Le Mans 24 Hours.

AdrianBelmonte_ · Post by **AdrianBelmonte_** » 18 Nov 2015, 11:10

novitopoli wrote:November 17th

1967 - Domenico Schiattarella was born in Milan. The Italian drove seven Formula 1 races in a Simtek, in which he never managed to finish anything but last. His, and Simtek's, last appearance was at the 1995 Monaco Grand Prix, where he outqualified for the first time his teammate Verstappen, but was involved in a first-lap pileup and thus wasn't unable to take part to the restart, due to the team lacking a spare chassis. That was it for him (and for his team). Schiattarella also took part in a couple of CART races for Project Indy (CART's ultimate reject team) and finished 6th at the 1999 Le Mans 24 Hours.

Also, Mimmo give us an epic moment on Rascasse

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP2Lj-_4fQg