This Day in Reject History

[shinji]

April 7th

1996 - a race of two dramatically rejectful moments takes place at Buenos Aires. Firstly, Luca Badoer was overturned in an incident with Pedro Diniz, extracting himself with minimal assistance from the marshalls. While the safety car was out for that crash, Diniz's Ligier was drenched in fuel, causing a dramatic fire as he span backwards into retirement. The latter incident was immortalised in the 'Diniz In the Oven' headline in The Sun, while that headline was immortalised in the username of a popular forum-user!

1985 - the first Grand Prix for the Minardi team! At Jacarepaguá, they enter one car for perennial favourite Pierluigi Martini. He qualifies 25th and last, retiring after 41 laps after his engine failed. After the following Grand Prix in Portugal, Minardi ditched the Ford engines for the apparent innovation and progress of Motori Moderni. It didn't go fantastically.

[Bleu]

F1 Racing also had their season review magazine cover with that Diniz moment which stated "hottest pictures of 1996" and then on small text "Just ask Pedro"

[shinji]

April 8th

1979 - a historically messy start to the Long Beach Grand Prix as Gilles Villeneuve fails to stop in his pole position on the grid, taking the field all the way around the track again and confusing everybody. 20 minutes later the actual race started. The sole reject in the field, Jan Lammers, retired after 47 laps with a suspension failure.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

April 9th

1995 - After a 13-year absence followed by a 1-year delay due to the track not being ready in time, the Argentine Grand Prix made its return to the calendar on the Autódromo Oscar Alfredo Gálvez (Gálvez was of course an F1 reject and legend of the Turismo Carretera). Unlike the last race in 1981, which was held on the fast No. 15 layout, F1 raced on the twisty and unpopular No. 6 configuration. For the first time ever, the Argentine Grand Prix was without a local driver, the days of Fontana, Tuero and Mazzacane were yet to come, and even at that only Tuero would get to drive in his home race.

The race got off to a dramatic start, as Alesi spun out in the first corner, causing Salo to brake hard, only for the Finn be hit from behind by Luca Badoer, who had qualified an excellent 13th, nearly a second quicker than his much more experienced teammate Pierluigi Martini. Speaking of Martini, he was also hit by Panis' Ligier, with the Frenchman spinning into the gravel. It didn't end there, as Herbert hit Barrichello from behind in turn 3. Herbert continued with a damaged car, but Rubinho had stopped and was then hit by Badoer, who was already missing a front wing from the first corner incident. Katayama also suffered damage to his car as a result of the mayhem. All this resulted in the race being red-flagged. Alesi, Panis, Barrichello, Herbert, Katayama and Martini hopped into their team's spare cars, the latter meaning that poor Luca was already out of the race.

The restart saw further carnage as Hakkinen and Irvine touched, causing the McLaren driver to spin off, while Irvine had to pit for a new nosecone. Karl Wendlinger, who had been sent to the back of the grid after stalling his car on the second formation lap, tangled with both of the Pacifics. All three were out of the race. Simtek looked set for a good race, as Verstappen had qualified 14th and was 6th at the first round of pitstops, but a slow stop for the Boss saw him drop down the order, and his gearbox failed the following lap. Taki Inoue spun out of the race around 40 laps in. He had qualified a distant last, after being nearly 10 seconds slower than teammate Gianni Morbidelli in Q1, and failing to set a time at all in Q2. Salo looked set to score some valuable points for Tyrrell before a collision with "Soopah" Aguri Suzuki eliminated both drivers. Mika was furious.

In the end, only 11 of the 26 cars crossed the finish line. However, the Fortis were 9 laps down and therefore not classified, leaving 9 classified finishers. Last of these was Mimmo Schiattarella, who achieved Simtek's equal best result, although they could have achieved so much more in this race.

OK, that was a little longer than I expected...

[Bleu]

That race is the most recent one where I can recall driver(s) earning non-classified finish on pure pace, don't remember that Diniz or Moreno having major setbacks in the race. Although some references note them being NCs in Imola too (7 laps down in 63-lap race). The similar case was with the father of this subforum in Nürburgring (7 laps down in 67 laps), as well as with Katayama in Monza (6 laps down in 53 laps) but Ukyo had a long pit stop mid-race.

After 1995, I can think these drivers listed with NC in the race:
Esteban Tuero LUX 1998
Gianmaria Bruni AUS 2004
Mark Webber GER 2005
Christijan Albers TUR 2005
Mark Webber BRA 2005
Takuma Sato TUR 2006
Heikki Kovalainen MAL 2010
Lucas di Grassi BRA 2010
Timo Glock AUS 2011
Daniel Ricciardo ITA 2011
Jules Bianchi AUS 2014

[shinji]

You've set a precedent there Simtek!

[Bobby Doorknobs]

April 10th

2011 - After falling victim to the 107% rule in Australia, HRT made their first start of the 2011 season in Malaysia. It was not to be a good race for the team, as both cars were retired because of safety concerns. Karthikeyan's car experienced an abnormal spike in water temperature, while there were vibrations in Liuzzi's rear wing.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

April 11th

1999 - The Grand Prix début of Stéphane Sarrazin. Sarrazin, who was Prost's test driver, was brought in by Minardi to replace Luca Badoer, who had injured his hand in an accident while testing. He performed rather well in qualifying, outpacing his teammate Marc Gené by nearly seven tenths of a second. His race looked similarly impressive, as he diced with Villeneuve's faster BAR, was ahead of the likes of Alex Wurz and the two Arrows and found himself in 11th place before things went wrong. Stéphane suffered a front wing failure coming onto the pit straight. His Minardi veered into a tyre wall, rebounding onto the track and completing six and a half spins before the car came to rest. Luckily, he was unhurt.

I am very disappointed because the race was good. I was aware I could improve my position. Suddenly I don't know what happened on the straight, because my car smashed against the barriers. It is a shame because I could do a good race.

Despite this unfortunate accident it was a very impressive début for the 24-year-old Frenchman, but he would never again race in a Formula One Grand Prix. In the words of our former site author:

That it remains his one and only Grand Prix start is a travesty.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

April 12th

1987 - An exciting start to the career of Adrián Campos, as he climbed six places in one lap. Unfortunately for him, it was the parade lap. Adrián had forgotten his earplugs and, not wanting to suffer the same fate that Volker Weidler would face driving the Mazda 787B, he fetched a pair. By the time he got going, the rest of the field had started the formation lap. Instead of starting from the back of the field as he was supposed to, the Spaniard reclaimed his original grid position in 16th. This led to him being disqualified after only three racing laps.

[shinji]

April 13th

1949 - Ricardo Zunino is born in San Juan, Argentina. Zunino entered 11 Grands Prix between 1979 and 1981, first getting the opportunity to jump in a Brabham upon Niki Lauda's sudden first retirement in Canada. In 1980, while team-mate Piquet competed at the front of the grid, our Ricardo struggled, even suffering the ignominy of a DNQ for the shortened Monaco grid. He was ditched after the following race, but his replacement Hector Rebaque faired little better.

Zunino re-emerged at Tyrrell the following year, but only started two races early in the season before disappearing from the grid forever.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

April 14th

2013 - In China Esteban Gutiérrez won Reject of the Race in only his third Grand Prix start by ploughing into the back of his future teammate Adrian Sutil at the hairpin. It would contribute to his clinching of the prestigious Reject of the Year award for 2013.

[FullMetalJack]

April 15th

2001 sees Gaston Mazzacane take part in his last ever Grand Prix, with Prost sacking him afterwards for underperforming. Not the least bit surprising.

[novitopoli]

April 15th

2001 sees Gaston Mazzacane take part in his last ever Grand Prix, with Prost sacking him afterwards for underperforming. Not the least bit surprising.

Quite a sad day.

[AndreaModa]

April 15th

2001 sees Gaston Mazzacane take part in his last ever Grand Prix, with Prost sacking him afterwards for underperforming. Not the least bit surprising.

And unless I'm forgetting something, the most recent Argentinian to grace F1?

[Bobby Doorknobs]

April 15th

2001 sees Gaston Mazzacane take part in his last ever Grand Prix, with Prost sacking him afterwards for underperforming. Not the least bit surprising.

And unless I'm forgetting something, the most recent Argentinian to grace F1?

If only USF1 made it with José María López...

[good_Ralf]

April 16th

Christijan Albers is born in 1979. The Dutchman was recruited by the perennial backmarkers Minardi in Formula 1, making his debut in Australia in 2005.
Albers, being in the slowest car, managed little except for the controversial USA GP, where with the Michelin runners not starting, he finished 5th. Other than that the best finish he could manage was 11th.
Despite being unable to show some pedigree, Albers was signed by Midland for 2006. This time he fared a lot better, putting TM Tiago Monteiro to shame with some good races, culminating with 10th in Hungary. In Japan he went out with a bang when his suspension exploded and ripped to the back end of his car to pieces.
Impressed, Midland, now named Spyker, kept Albers on for 2007, but Christijan faltered.
For the third year in a row, he became the first DNF of the year with a silly crash in Australia, followed by some anonymous races. One of those ended comically in France when he left the pits with the fuel-hose still attached! After the next race he was dismissed, most likely because of the loss of his major sponsor.

Although his career was over, Albers returned to F1 in 2014 when he took control of business at Caterham at the British GP, but this did not lift the team's fortunes as much as they had hoped and he left later on in the season.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

April 16th

Christijan Albers is born in 1979. The Dutchman was recruited by the perennial backmarkers Minardi in Formula 1, making his debut in Australia in 2005.
Albers, being in the slowest car, managed little except for the controversial USA GP, where with the Michelin runners not starting, he finished 5th. Other than that the best finish he could manage was 11th.
Despite being unable to show some pedigree, Albers was signed by Midland for 2006. This time he fared a lot better, putting TM Tiago Monteiro to shame with some good races, culminating with 10th in Hungary. In Japan he went out with a bang when his suspension exploded and ripped to the back end of his car to pieces.
Impressed, Midland, now named Spyker, kept Albers on for 2007, but Christijan faltered.
For the third year in a row, he became the first DNF of the year with a silly crash in Australia, followed by some anonymous races. One of those ended comically in France when he left the pits with the fuel-hose still attached! After the next race he was dismissed, most likely because of the loss of his major sponsor.

Although his career was over, Albers returned to F1 in 2014 when he took control of business at Caterham at the British GP, but this did not lift the team's fortunes as much as they had hoped and he left later on in the season.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

April 17th

1994 - Roland Ratzenberger made what turned out to be the only start of his career in Aida. It was the first of two races on the tight, twisty and isolated TI Circuit. The race is remembered for a first corner incident that saw the early retirements of Mark Blundell, Ferrari substitute Nicola Larini and Ayrton Senna. Quite a few other drivers spun or crashed during the race, which eventually reduced the 26-strong field down to 11 by the time the chequered flag was waved. Last of these was Roland, 5 laps down.

[dr-baker]

April 17th

1994 - Roland Ratzenberger made what turned out to be the only start of his career in Aida. It was the first of two races on the tight, twisty and isolated TI Circuit. The race is remembered for a first corner incident that saw the early retirements of Mark Blundell, Ferrari substitute Nicola Larini and Ayrton Senna. Quite a few other drivers spun or crashed during the race, which eventually reduced the 26-strong field down to 11 by the time the chequered flag was waved. Last of these was Roland, 5 laps down.

It was also the first of only two races where a team shared its name with the name of the race. Pacific Grand Prix Engineering was entered into both the 1994 and 1995 Pacific Grands Prix at TI Aida. Now if only there had been a Grand Prix in Jordan between 1991 and 2005...

[Nessafox]

April 17th

1994 - Roland Ratzenberger made what turned out to be the only start of his career in Aida. It was the first of two races on the tight, twisty and isolated TI Circuit. The race is remembered for a first corner incident that saw the early retirements of Mark Blundell, Ferrari substitute Nicola Larini and Ayrton Senna. Quite a few other drivers spun or crashed during the race, which eventually reduced the 26-strong field down to 11 by the time the chequered flag was waved. Last of these was Roland, 5 laps down.

It was also the first of only two races where a team shared its name with the name of the race. Pacific Grand Prix Engineering was entered into both the 1994 and 1995 Pacific Grands Prix at TI Aida. Now if only there had been a Grand Prix in Jordan between 1991 and 2005...

If only there had been a Grand Prix in Italia between 1988 and 1993...

[tBone]

April 17th

1994 - Roland Ratzenberger made what turned out to be the only start of his career in Aida. It was the first of two races on the tight, twisty and isolated TI Circuit. The race is remembered for a first corner incident that saw the early retirements of Mark Blundell, Ferrari substitute Nicola Larini and Ayrton Senna. Quite a few other drivers spun or crashed during the race, which eventually reduced the 26-strong field down to 11 by the time the chequered flag was waved. Last of these was Roland, 5 laps down.

It was also the first of only two races where a team shared its name with the name of the race. Pacific Grand Prix Engineering was entered into both the 1994 and 1995 Pacific Grands Prix at TI Aida. Now if only there had been a Grand Prix in Jordan between 1991 and 2005...

Didn't Force India participate in the Indian Grand Prix?

[UncreativeUsername37]

It was also the first of only two races where a team shared its name with the name of the race. Pacific Grand Prix Engineering was entered into both the 1994 and 1995 Pacific Grands Prix at TI Aida. Now if only there had been a Grand Prix in Jordan between 1991 and 2005...

Didn't Force India participate in the Indian Grand Prix?

That isn't exactly the same. Pacific Grand Prix competed in the Pacific Grand Prix is what he's getting at. That's what I remember from the last time he mentioned it.

[Nessafox]

Also Ecurie Francorchamps competed in Francorchamps

So if he refers to 'constructors', then he is right, if he refers to 'teams', he is not right.

[dr-baker]

I just remember reading that as a factoid in a magazine years ago. Thing is, Force India is not called "Indian Grand Prix"; the Belgian Grand Prix is not called the "Ecurie Francorchamps Grand Prix". But the Pacific Grand Prix team did have an exact matching name for the Grand Prix into which it was entered.

I suppose it would be like USF1 sticking with its original name of USGP and being entered into the race at Austin...

[Nessafox]

I just remember reading that as a factoid in a magazine years ago. Thing is, Force India is not called "Indian Grand Prix"; the Belgian Grand Prix is not called the "Ecurie Francorchamps Grand Prix". But the Pacific Grand Prix team did have an exact matching name for the Grand Prix into which it was entered.

I suppose it would be like USF1 sticking with its original name of USGP and being entered into the race at Austin...

The race was not called 'Pacific Grand Prix Engineering' so, If we have to be correct, then the name of the team and the race are not the same, because the name of the team is longer.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

April 18th

1979 - Former Minardi, BAR and Super Aguri driver Anthony Davidson was born. His F1 journey began in 2001 when he became the test driver for BAR, this at a time when being a test driver was actually a valuable position to have. The following year he was drafted in by Minardi to replace their regular driver Alex Yoong, who was suspended by the team on the back of his third DNQ of the year in Hockenheim. Davidson performed admirably in his short time with the Faenza team - he qualified for both of his races, and within a second of his teammate Mark Webber to boot. Quite impressive seeing as he wasn't even the team's first choice - they originally wanted Justin Wilson to drive, but he was too tall for the car, a problem they were able to solve in time for the following season. Davidson didn't finish either of his two starts at Minardi, spinning out both times. But surely he had gained the attention of the various team principals up and down the paddock? Not really, as he remained a test driver at BAR for 2003. With Jacques Villeneuve's moaning resulting in him leaving the team before the Japanese Grand Prix, Takuma Sato, the team's third driver, was promoted to a race seat, with Davidson the new designated third driver, which gave him the chance to drive the BAR in Friday morning practice sessions throughout 2004.

For 2005, he had hoped to secure a Williams seat, just as Jenson Button had, only to come to the same end result, albeit without the legal mess - he remained at BAR, still a third driver. He would get a second opportunity to race in Malaysia in place of the unwell Sato, but his Honda engine gave up after just two laps. In 2006 BAR became Honda and Davidson was still their third driver. He once again was able to do Friday morning practice sessions as BAR were outside the top four of the WCC the previous season.

For 2007 he finally got his big break as a regular driver as he was signed by Super Aguri to join his former BAR teammate Takuma Sato in what was essentially the same car he drove in 2006. In Canada he was on course for a potential points finish, before he struck a groundhog, leaving him with a broken front wing. He ended his only full season with no points. He continued with the team in 2008, but financial problems saw them prematurely end their season, and their time in F1, four races in.

Davidson rejoined Honda as a test driver after Super Aguri went into adminstration. He remained at the Brackley squad in this capacity for several years in its following incarnations as Brawn and Mercedes. He was also in the frame for a possible race drive with one of the new teams for 2010. Despite all this, however, he would never again race in F1, his career including 24 race starts, with a best finish of 11th, which he achieved three times throughout 2007. Nowadays he is part of the Sky Sports team and also races for Toyota in the WEC, winning the championship in 2014 along with his teammate and fellow F1 reject Sébastien Buemi.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

April 19th

1970 - The 1970 Spanish Grand Prix at Jarama was held. This race is remembered as a chaotic one as there were disagreements as to how qualifying was meant to work. Here is a well-written summary taken from the Autosport forums that I really just can't improve upon:

Naturally, the problem began long before the race. For 1970, there was the beginning of an upswing in entries after a generally lean season in 1969. The season began without an agreement in place that orgamizers and entrants both wanted -- for different reason naturally. There as a movement afoot -- even then -- for a better prize money system since the old starting money system was beginning to rapidly fade from the scene now that commercial interests were well and truly involved in GP racing. After the USGP went to a prize money only format -- and one which made it worth your while to show up and try hard -- the trend began edging in that direction

At a meeting in Geneva between the entrants and the organizers, 10 drivers were to be guaranteed starting positions at each race -- the No. 1 from each 'recognized' works team, plus all past & present WDC's:

Owen Racing Organisation -- Pedro Rodriguez;
SEFAC Ferrari -- Jacky Ickx;
Equipe Matra-Elf -- Jean-Pierre Beltoise;
Bruce McLaren Motor Racing -- Denny Hulme;
Gold Leaf Team Lotus -- Jochen Rindt;
March Engineering -- Chris Amon;
Motor Racing Developments -- Jack Brabham;
Tyrrell Racing Organisation -- Jackie Stewart;
Team Surtees -- John Surtees; and,
R.R.C. Walker/Brooke Bond Oxo Racing -- Graham Hill

Everybody else would have to qualify for places on the grid at each round of the championship.

As the late and much beloved HMN III used to say, "Practice was the usual shambles..." In this case, it was an apt description of a real mess. The first pactice session started late and that set the tone for the Friday and Saturday sessions -- okay, the first Saturday session did start on time.

The orginial grid was set at 16 starters, so with 22 showing up and 10 with guaranteed places on the grid already spoken for, some folks were not going to make The Show.

The first session saw Ickx use Michelins before reverting to Firestones -- just thought I would mention that since I had forgotten about it. Then after a a break to pick up the pieces, the second session started, which was supposed to be 30 minutes ffor those who were in the "Qualifier" group. There was supposed to be an hour session following, but it was originally cancelled and then reduced to 30 minutes.

The third session did start on time, but was just a ploy to confuse everyone. The fourth session is where all the fun really started it seems. Piers Courage, who seemed to have a time quick enough to be among the Speedy Six crashed and the de Tomaso was too damaged to be ready for The Show. Jackie Oliver was parked out on the circuit with a broken stub axle so practice was stopped to police up the bits and pieces and tow the BRM back to the pits. Then Chaos jumped up a few notches. It was announced that there would be a 30 minute session for everyone and then an additional 10 -- or 15 -- minute session for the Q-Group. Oh, yeah, the times from this session will determine who the Speedy Six are -- Have a Nice Day. Seppi Siffert was never even informed of the stipulation which now was tossed into the final session and assumed that he had put times on the board good enough to make the SS. Besides, didn't the Geneva Agreement say something about there having to tthe opportunity to qualify under "equal" conditions? And, more than a few had questions about the timing since what was being given by the organizers was often at odds with what the teams had.

So, when it was announced -- after a flurry of protests and scowls and very liberal use of the Great Australian Expletive by even those who weren't Australian -- that the Speedy Six were going to be, drumroll please: Pescarolo, Oliver, McLaren, Stommelen, Servoz-Gavin, and Andretti with Wooden Spoons being distributed to Siffert, de Adamich, Miles, Soler-Roig, and Eaton -- Courage was given an honorary Wooden Spoon since his car was rather mangled and he was never able to "qualify" during the final session.

As Keith Jackson likes to say, "Whoa, Nellie!" After much mumbling and grumbling and snarling amongst the Wooden Spoon Club, Phil Kerr circulated a petition about an hour before the grid was to form which requested that all God's Children be allowed to compete. It was signed by one and all and Kerr scurried off to deal with the officials. The WSC members then proceeded to get ready to participate since, surely, the voice of the people would be heard and respected.

But, wait! The fun is just starting. When one of the race officials parked his vehicle in front of the entrance unto the circuit from the paddock, which being blocked as the Rob Walker team was pushing their Lotus with a certain N.G. Hill aboard, made it difficult to reach the grid. The Walker crew finally managed to get to the grid only to be informed that they were Late and could not start. And besides, said The Official, That Man -- indicating our Mr. Hill, had been nasty to him. As Walker states, with a Bell Star on the whole time, it was unlikely that even had Mr. Hill wanted to verbally singe The Official, hearing his barbs would have next to impossible. The Official, now truly demonstrated that he was indeed an Official of the First Rank and there upon had six policemen descend upon Mr. Hill and yank him -- still suffering from the after-effects of the massive leg injuries from his crash at the USGP the previous Fall -- from the Lotus. They released his safety straps and literally pulled him from the car and tried to dump him on the ground.

While all this was going on, like ships from the mist, there were suddenly 20 -- well 19 since the Walker Lotus was sorta half on & half off the grid -- cars on the grid. The Guaranteed's and the SS had been joined by the WSC members save George Eaton in his green BRM -- the latter of which was used as a Hanger Queen to ensure that the other two actually made the grid. Naturally, this created a scene somewhere between Omaha Beach at H-Hour and the stands at an away match for England on the Continent. There was much punching, yelling, screaming, and lots of pushing and shoving as police dragged drivers from their cars and team members shoved them back into the cars.

Meanwhile, the CSI respresentatives were conferring and after consulting their horoscopes, the tide tables, various other documents, and giving the minor war on the grid a very wide berth, they proclaimed The Answer was "16" and not "20." And, oh, let that Mr. Hill on the grid if you haven't beat him to a pulp.

Sent Off were the WSC holders -- with the dismissal of Dr. Soler-Roig being taken very, very poorly by the assembled masses in the stands, who would have liked to see a Spaniard in the Spanish GP and were quite vocal in their dissent of the descision.

Once the race actually got underway, the crash between Ickx and Oliver created a scene which even the Marx Brothers would have been in awe of with foam everywhere, burning gasoline floating on water, drivers dodging the crashed cars and firemen and marshals -- and cars being coated in foam as they passed through the area.

[shinji]

April 20th

1961 - Italian pasta magnate and pay driver extraordinaire Paolo Barilla is born in Milan. Barilla's pre-F1 career featured unsuccessful stints in Formula Two and Formula 3000, but he did slightly randomly emerge victorious driving a Porsche 956 in the 1985 24 Hours of Le Mans. He first appeared on the F1 grid in a Minardi at the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix, qualifying in what appears a quite respectable 19th position, but 1989 was in the glory years of Minardi's qualifying prowess on Goodyears. Barilla managed to get himself a permanent seat at Minardi the following year, but while Pierluigi Martini was giving himself altitude sickness up on the front row, Barilla never got out of the midfield, failing to score a point and even DNQing six times. After 1990 he put his racing interests aside to take a more direct role in the family business. Further reject involvement came via sponsorship of Alex Zanardi through his career (right up to the present day, apparently).

[Bobby Doorknobs]

April 21st

1991 - Max "Talent Talent Talent" Chilton was born. Surely one of the most popular drivers ever to grace the F1 paddock, Max is a rare breed of racing driver: He has never won any of the series he has competed in, much like other F1 legends such as Sakon "He of the dodgy neck" Yamamoto and even HWNSNBM himself. Truly, the young Englishman has Talent. After graduating from karts the young Max began his car racing career in the T Cars series, where he finished in the top three in both years he competed, including 7 wins in his second season. Following this incredible performance he moved up to British F3, spending three years at that level. Highlights included two wins at Portimao and Brands Hatch and taking pole position in three of the first four races of the 2009 season. His stunning performances caught the eye of former F1 podium finisher Tiago Monteiro, who signed this Talented driver for Ocean Racing Technology in GP2. The team weren't competitive and Max moved to Carlin for 2011, where he fared little better, but 2012 would be a different story altogether, when his Talent really showed, achieving two wins in Hungary and Singapore and 4th in the championship. These results convinced Marussia to give Max his dream of racing in F1, and he was signed to drive for them in 2013. His teammate for the year was Jules Bianchi, and though he was often outpaced by the Italian Belgian French continental driver, he achieved something that no other rookie, Bianchi included, has achieved before or since: He completed every race of the season. This did not gain him a top drive for the following season, much to the disdain of others who felt he was more worthy of one than say, his compatriot Lewis Hamilton. He was no less motivated in 2014, however, although his finishing record ended with an embarrassing and rare error in Canada, when he crashed into his teammate. His F1 stint ended when Marussia went into administration, but he, like the team was still determined to continue, as shown when he turned up in Abu Dhabi with them in the hopes of racing, sadly never getting the chance. This year he will drive Nissan's radical GT-R LM at Le Mans, where he will be going up against some of the world's very best, including Audi's André Lotterer. He has also made his début in the Indy Lights series, where he has so far been beaten by his teammate Ed Jones, but expect Talent to bounce back soon.

[shinji]

April 22nd

1978 - Esteban Tuero was born in Buenos Aires. Undaunted by the prospect of being team-mate to Shinji Nakano at Minardi in 1998 at the tender age of 19, Esteban enjoyed a rollercoaster season of reject action. From potentially the worst pitstop of all time in his home Grand Prix to injuring his neck in a crash with Tora Tora Tora Takagi at Suzuka, Tuero made great use of his zero-point F3000 experience through his F1 career. Having made scant impression on the paddock, and with that damaged vertebra hindering any further progress, Tuero effectively disappeared from international competition after 1998, being seen in Argentinian Touring Cars intermittently, racing alongside luminaries such as Norberto Fontana and José María López with limited success.

His F1 career undoubtedly stands as a case of 'too much too soon', appearing as he did in Formula 3 at the age of 14 and in European series at 15. There's no harm being ambitious but that ambition needs to be tempered by an acceptance of reality. As it was Esteban reached for the stars but failed to get to the moon, and so he stands alongside Thackwell and Alguersuari as extraordinarily young drivers who were in and out by their early 20s.

[dinizintheoven]

And still he was more than a year older than Max Verstappen...

[Bobby Doorknobs]

April 23rd

2006 - A sad day for Formula One Rejects as Yuji Ide's all too brief career ended rather spectacularly with the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, coincidentally the last Grand Prix held on the circuit. On the first lap he collided with Christijan Albers at Villeneuve, sending the Dutchman's Midland into a series of rolls before finally coming to rest upside down in the gravel. Albers was eliminated from the race as his car would have proven impossible to drive in its current position, but Ide continued after replacing his front wing, only to retire anyway on lap 23. This incident proved to be a fateful one as the FIA later revoked the Japanese driver's superlicence, bringing an end to his brief but exciting career.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

April 24th

2005 - Vitantonio Liuzzi made his Grand Prix début for Red Bull. RBR had an unusual arrangement for their second seat as it was actually shared between two drivers: Liuzzi and Christian Klien. They were supposed to rotate every four races. Klien had done the first three rounds of the 2005 season, so for round four at Imola Tonio got his turn behind the wheel of the RB1. He ended up scoring a point in eighth, although this only came after the disqualification of both BARs and the 25-second penalty applied to Ralf Schumacher.

[shinji]

April 25th

2004 - the qualifying session for the San Marino Grand Prix took place at Imola. Most of the F1 world remembers it for Jenson Button achieving his first pole position in a BAR, but we should remember the true achievement of that day.



One-lap qualifying, what a lark.

[AdrianBelmonte_]

April 25th

2004 - the qualifying session for the San Marino Grand Prix took place at Imola. Most of the F1 world remembers it for Jenson Button achieving his first pole position in a BAR, but we should remember the true achievement of that day.



One-lap qualifying, what a lark.

Here's why that lap

https://youtu.be/nLGHNvGdUn4?t=3m25s

[shinji]

April 26th

1994 - Daniil Kvyat was born in Ufa, the capital city of what I'm sure is the lovely semi-autonomous Republic of Bashkortostan. Given he's a current figure in the sport I hardly need give the details of his career, but in his season and four races he has achieved a best result of 9th on five different occasions. On the face of it his position at Red Bull would suggest he won't be a reject for very long, but given the way they've started the season he may well be plumbing the depths for the foreseeable future.

In any case this was a day with very little real reject activity, though it is notable for being the birthday of both John Colum Crichton-Stuart, 7th Marquess of Bute, the Earl of Dumfries (1958), who so barely avoided reject status by scoring three points for Lotus, as well as that of José María López (1983), who so barely avoided reject status by signing for USF1. Close shaves in both cases!

[Bobby Doorknobs]

Shinji beat me to it by a few minutes, but I'm going to post this anyway.

April 26th

1998 - Esteban Tuero took the first finish of his F1 career with a stunning 8th place at Imola, beating the Arrows of Mika Salo. It was a race of high attrition. Engine failures seemed to be the order of the day as five drivers had to retire due to some sort of problem with their motor, including both Tyrrells and Tuero's teammate Shinji Nakano.

[novitopoli]

April 27th

2008 - A sad day for all reject fans as Super Aguri raced for the last time before withdrawing from the championship altogether due to financial reasons. Anthony Davidson DNF'd while Takuma Sato finished 13th and last, 1 lap down. That would also be both drivers' last F1 race.

[Bleu]

April 25th

2004 - the qualifying session for the San Marino Grand Prix took place at Imola. Most of the F1 world remembers it for Jenson Button achieving his first pole position in a BAR, but we should remember the true achievement of that day.



One-lap qualifying, what a lark.

Variante Alta seemed difficult for Minardi drivers during one-lap-qualifying. Apart from HWNSNBM, Verstappen (2003) and Albers (2005) also had incidents there.
Here's why that lap

https://youtu.be/nLGHNvGdUn4?t=3m25s

[Bobby Doorknobs]

April 28th

1991 - Heartbreak for Eric van de Poele and the Modena Lamborghini team as a fuel pump failure on the final lap of the San Marino Grand Prix while lying 5th robbed him of his and the team's first points finish. He was classified 9th. The race had an unusual result nonetheless. JJ Lehto scored a podium in a Dallara, both Lotuses were in the top six and Julian Bailey actually scored a point thanks to van de Poele's retirement.