Photo by Jerry Lewis-Evans, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Flickr (Credit links at the end of the content)
While we try to bring the stories and drivers of the past back to life on our website, we initially focused on drivers who had fewer than 30 F1 races. Now, we are trying to highlight more of the midfield names and create unique content that gives these drivers a place on our website. Our next focus is drivers with more than 100 Grand Prix starts, looking at Longest F1 Careers Without A Win Or Pole, as well as those who never recorded a fastest lap.
Reaching a high number of F1 race starts is already a remarkable achievement. For some drivers, unfortunately, they never achieved what they truly wanted, despite being great talents. They had to adapt to different cars, teams and regulations, often performing well along the way, but even after so many races, they never managed to achieve what they had dreamed of. Some came incredibly close, but it simply never happened.
For some drivers, podiums were possible, while others spent much of their careers fighting in the midfield. Below are six drivers who built long F1 careers without a win, pole position, or fastest lap.
Jos Verstappen: The Relentless Midfield Fighter
Few drivers in this group had a more eventful F1 career than Jos Verstappen, who accumulated 107 Grand Prix starts without securing a victory, pole position or fastest lap. He arrived in F1 in 1994 with an impressive reputation as one of the most exciting young talents of his generation.
He joined Benetton alongside Michael Schumacher, and looking back, it was a team capable of fighting at the front for podiums and wins at the time. His rookie season produced two podium finishes, both third places. However, Verstappen never managed to take a fastest lap, win, or pole position during his time with Benetton.
But his time at Benetton lasted only one season, and he was not originally the team’s first choice. JJ Lehto was supposed to partner Michael Schumacher, but after suffering neck problems during the pre-season, Lehto was replaced by Verstappen at the start of the season. Verstappen later returned to the team again during the season.
Fans expected Jos Verstappen to build an even better career after such a promising beginning, but things changed quickly. After his strong start with Benetton, Verstappen’s career moved away from the front of the field. He drove for a long list of teams, including Simtek, Footwork, Tyrrell, Stewart, Arrows and Minardi, but the cars he drove were rarely competitive enough to fight for wins or pole positions. He never came as close to the front again as he had during his early days with Benetton, and Jos Verstappen never led a single lap during his F1 career.
Dutch fans affectionately called him Jos the Boss, and although the ultimate stats never arrived, his career became a story of persistence, his F1 journey eventually ended without a victory, pole position or fastest lap, but Verstappen remained an important figure in the sport.
Philippe Alliot: Eleven Years of Fighting at the Sharp End of the Midfield
Philippe Alliot reached 109 F1 race starts during an eleven-year career without taking a win, pole or fastest lap.
He entered F1 in 1984 and remained part of the grid through one of the sport’s most unpredictable eras. He drove for RAM, Ligier, Larrousse and McLaren, often finding himself in cars that were simply not capable of fighting for victories. He was arguably one of the unluckiest drivers of his time. Across 109 F1 races, Philippe Alliot never managed to win a Grand Prix, take pole position, set a fastest lap, stand on the podium, or even lead a race.
His best result came at the 1993 San Marino Grand Prix, where he brought his Larrousse home in fifth place. His best qualifying performance came earlier, at the 1989 Spanish Grand Prix, where he qualified fifth on the grid. He rarely had opportunities to fight at the front, but he remained on the grid for more than a decade, showing that he had the racecraft and ability to extract everything from the cars he drove. Unfortunately, luck was rarely on his side. Still, Alliot remained one of the familiar faces of the F1 midfield throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Mika Salo: The Victory That Never Became His
Credit: Emil Kirschner, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons and FLICKR
Mika Salo made 110 Grand Prix starts without recording a F1 victory, pole position or fastest lap.
Salo raced for Tyrrell, Arrows, BAR and Sauber before becoming part of Toyota’s Formula 1 project for 2002, eventually driving for the team. However, the most important moment of his career came in 1999, when Ferrari called upon him to replace Michael Schumacher. Suddenly, Salo found himself driving for one of the strongest teams on the grid that year.
At the 1999 German Grand Prix, Salo found himself in a position to fight for victory. He was running strongly at the front when Ferrari asked him to hand the lead to Eddie Irvine, who was fighting for the championship. Salo followed the team order and finished second. It was one of the clearest examples of how complicated a driver’s statistics can become. He had shown that he could fight for a Grand Prix victory when given a competitive car, but the win never appeared in his official record.
Pierluigi Martini: The Heart of Minardi
Few drivers became as closely associated with a single F1 team as Pierluigi Martini, the Italian driver recorded 118 Grand Prix starts without a victory, pole position or fastest lap, spending much of his career with the small Minardi operation.
At the 1989 Portuguese Grand Prix, he achieved one of the most memorable moments in Minardi’s history by leading a lap, the following year, he produced another remarkable achievement by qualifying on the front row at the Untied States Grand Prix in 1990.
Chances for him to stay at the front and fight for strong results were very limited, but for a small team like Minardi, these moments were extraordinary. Martini also scored several strong points finishes for the team, including career-best fourth places at the 1991 San Marino Grand Prix and the 1991 Portuguese Grand Prix. He never reached the top step of the podium, but his career became inseparable from the story of Minardi itself.
Eddie Cheever: A Decade of Podiums Without a Victory
By the time Eddie Cheever reached the end of his F1 career, he had accumulated 132 Grand Prix starts without a victory, pole position or fastest lap.
The American driver raced in F1 between 1978 and 1989, he drove for numerous teams, including Renault, Alfa Romeo and Arrows, and became one of the most experienced drivers of his era.
Cheever remains one of the drivers who scored several podium finishes during their careers without ever winning a Grand Prix. He came remarkably close to victory on several occasions, but the win never arrived.
He scored nine podium finishes during his career, including a second place at the 1983 Canadian Grand Prix, but that combination makes Cheveer’s stats particularly interesting, he was clearly capable of competing near the front, but converting those opportunities into a victory proved elusive.
But even with nine podiums, the three stats that define his particular group, wins, poles and fastest laps, remained missing from his record!
Martin Brundle: The Longest Journey Without the Big Three
There is one final name that takes this remarkable statistic even further, Martin Brundle recorded 158 Grand Prix starts without ever taking a F1 victory, pole position or fastest lap.
Brundle’s career included drives for Tyrrell, Zakspeed, Brabham, Benetton, Ligier, Jordan and McLaren, he also became Michael Schumacher’s teammate at Benetton in 1992, giving him a direct comparison with a driver who would go on to become one of the most successful figures in F1 history.
Brundle finished on the podium nine times during his career, and he also came close to victory on several occasions. One example came at the 1992 Canadian Grand Prix, where he was driving the Benetton-Ford and chasing the race leader, Gerhard Berger. On lap 45, with 24 laps still to go, Brundle set the fastest lap while closing the gap to Berger, but his race ended when he suffered a transmission failure.
A driver can spend more than a decade competing at the highest level, finish on the podium multiple times, challenge future champions and survive several generations of cars, yet still finish his career without a single victory, pole position or fastest lap.
With 158 starts, Martin Brundle ultimately stands at the end of this particular statistical journey, and perhaps that is what makes this group so interesting. Their careers were not defied simply by what they failed to achieve. They were also defied by the eyars they spent fighting, adapting and surviving in F1, often with non-competitive cars underneath them.
FEATURED IMAGE CREDITS: Photo by Jerry Lewis-Evans, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Flickr
