This Day in Reject History

[Bobby Doorknobs]

April 29th

1984 - F1's final race at Zolder, where Manfred Winkelhock qualified his ATS in 6th place. He ran as high as 4th before reliability gremlins saw him stop at around half-distance.

[golic_2004]

1945

Jean-Pierre Van Rossem is born. Of course he is the man behind Moneytron, the sponsor of Onyx in 1989.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

1945

Jean-Pierre Van Rossem is born. Of course he is the man behind Moneytron, the sponsor of Onyx in 1989.

Was that not May 29th though? Anyway:

April 30th

1994 - The F1 world was shocked as Simtek driver Roland Ratzenberger was killed in an accident in qualifying for the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola. He had suffered a damaged front wing in an off-track excursion on the previous lap, but continued anyway. The wing finally broke off and went under the car as he approached the Villeneuve curve. He failed to turn into the corner and hit the barriers at close to 200 mph. The unconscious Austrian was airlifted to Maggiore Hospital in Bologna where he was pronounced dead, aged 33. It was the first fatality in F1 since Elio de Angelis' crash in testing at Paul Ricard in 1986, and first on a race weekend since Riccardo Paletti in Canada in 1982. This was but one of several serious accidents on one of F1's darkest weekends.

[Dave]

May 1

Right. I'll go for it. We are all aware of what happened on this day in 1994, but it's not very reject-worthy. Some may argue that given the events of the day before, the race should have been postponed and that the organizers (Bernie Ecclestone included) should be given some sort of reject award.

However, that is not why I write this post today. But for the abrupt finish of the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix and 6 points, Nicola Larini would qualify as an F1 reject under the scoring system used at the old site. Don't get me wrong, I liked Larini and wished he could have scored more points more often. I found him an odd choice to be in the Ferrari that day, and thought he must have big balls and an impressive pedigree to find himself there. I thought he was finally on his way. Congratulations Nicola, we'll never know how that race would have turned out had it gone the full distance but we do know that you are not a reject.

[dr-baker]

Stuff

Welcome to the forum, Dave.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

May 2nd

1976 - The Boro Ensign made its début at Jarama, driven by Larry Perkins. Boro were technically the first Dutch F1 constructor, as HB Bewaking, Ensign's main sponsor, acquired the N175 after a legal dispute with team owner Morris Nunn. Perkins barely scraped onto the grid in 24th, 4 tenths quicker than the fastest non-qualifier, Brett Lunger. Thanks to attrition however, the Aussie made up to 13th in the race, three laps down on winner James Hunt.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

03 May

1981 - The first ever San Marino Grand Prix was held, starting a trend of erroneously named Grands Prix, such as Switzerland (France) in 1982 and Luxembourg (Germany) in 1997-98. The San Marino Grand Prix was being held at the Autodromo Dino Ferrari at Imola, which is in Italy, not San Marino. The track had hosted the Italian Grand Prix in 1980, and proved popular enough to host a race the following year under a new title, as Monza reclaimed the "Italian Grand Prix" moniker.

This race is notable from a reject perspective for it being the only Grand Prix start of Argentinian Osella driver Miguel Ángel Guerra. His one and only Grand Prix start was even shorter than that of Marco Apicella, as the 27-year-old from Buenos Aires was immediately forced off the track by Eliseo Salazar and crashed at the Tamburello curve, sustaining a broken wrist and ankle, ending his brief foray into the harsh world of Formula One.

[shinji]

May 4th

2003 - the Spanish Grand Prix is held, at which Ralph Firman placed 8th and scored his solitary Formula One point. In his Jordan Firman profited from a race of high attrition, but he still had to beat out Button's BAR, Heidfeld's Sauber and the Minardis of Verstappen and Justin Wilson to take the point. This magnificent achievement comes second in the pantheon of Ralph Firman's achievements only to the Highly Commended ribbon he won in the 1997 East Norfolk Pierce Brosnan Look-a-Like contest.*


*the veracity of this statement is unsubstantiated, records for the contest do not detail any position beyond the victor

[golic_2004]

1945

Jean-Pierre Van Rossem is born. Of course he is the man behind Moneytron, the sponsor of Onyx in 1989.

Was that not May 29th though? Anyway:

April 30th

1994 - The F1 world was shocked as Simtek driver Roland Ratzenberger was killed in an accident in qualifying for the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola. He had suffered a damaged front wing in an off-track excursion on the previous lap, but continued anyway. The wing finally broke off and went under the car as he approached the Villeneuve curve. He failed to turn into the corner and hit the barriers at close to 200 mph. The unconscious Austrian was airlifted to Maggiore Hospital in Bologna where he was pronounced dead, aged 33. It was the first fatality in F1 since Elio de Angelis' crash in testing at Paul Ricard in 1986, and first on a race weekend since Riccardo Paletti in Canada in 1982. This was but one of several serious accidents on one of F1's darkest weekends.

Not sure why it posted the next day. Oh well.

Bob Said, whose son is popular road course ringer Boris Said, was born on this day May 5, 1932. His one and only Grand Prix was the 1959 United States GP at Sebring. He started 18th out of the 19 but crashed out on the very first lap, according to wikipedia.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

May 6th

1958 - Tommy "The knacker from Dundalk" Byrne was born. Tommy was one of three F1 drivers from Ireland to have competed in the early '80s along with Dave Kennedy and Derek Daly. Byrne had a promising junior career, taking the British F3 title in 1982. But he was very cocky, perhaps too cocky. When Dave Kennedy offered to become Tommy's manager the man from Louth refused, saying "what do I need a manager for?", and at the end of his brief Theodore stint in 1982 he told team manager Julian Randles to "stick your drive up your ass", and to come see him testing for McLaren at Silverstone. He was indeed quick in the McLaren, outpacing Thierry Boutsen by eight tenths of a second in a car that didn't go full throttle, as the mechanics were instructed to give Tommy - and only Tommy - less than full throttle to protect him and the car. Ron Dennis, however, was less than impressed with the Irishman, saying years later that he "lacked some of the necessary ingredients" of a true great. Needless to say, this was the last we saw in F1 of perhaps the greatest racing talent Ireland has seen.

[shinji]

May 7th

2006 - Franck Montagny made his Grand Prix début for Soopah Aguri at the Nurburgring, deputising for the main man Yuji Ide who had had his Super License revoked. Having spun in qualifying the 28 year old Frenchman was second last on the grid, 11 seconds behind his team-mate Takuma Sato, but ahead of the penalised Nico Rosberg. In the race itself, Montagny never managed to progress beyond last place, before retiring his quasi-Arrows on lap 29 with a hydraulics failure.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

May 8th

1977 - The second (and current) incarnation of the Williams team made their début at the Spanish Grand Prix, after Frank was forced out of his former team by Walter Wolf. The new team didn't have a chassis designed for 1977, so they ran a March 761. But let's not talk anymore about what would go on to be the third most successful team in F1 history. Let's talk about the first man who drove for them: Patrick Marie Ghislain Pierre Simon Stanislas Nève de Mévergnies, or Patrick Nève to those who couldn't take a deep breath. Patrick performed admirably in the year-old chassis at Jarama, qualifying 22nd, ahead of Emilio de Villota in the championship-winning McLaren M23 (though the car was now four years old), Renzo Zorzi in the Shadow and Brett Lunger in a similar March chassis. Patrick also naturally out-qualified a whole host of non-qualifiers, three of whom were also running Marchs, one of whom, Alex Ribeiro, was driving an updated works 761B. Patrick also did well in the race, getting his Williams-March to the chequered flag in 12th, ahead of local hero de Villota and former world champion Emerson Fittipaldi.

How did the other rejects do? Hans Binder took the best finish of his career up to that point in 9th, ditto for Brett Lunger in 10th and Ian Scheckter in 11th. The other three rejects who made the start, Zorzi, Harald Ertl and Rupert Keegan, all retired.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

May 9th

1982 - The weekend is more remembered for the tragic accident that killed the great Gilles Villeneuve, but the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix also marked the only time Chico Serra finished in the points in his short career, and in doing so scored the last point for the Fittipaldi team in their final season. He achieved this thanks to the many retirements throughout the field, not to mention the withdrawal of the Ferrari team in the wake of Villeneuve's accident.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

May 10th

1970 - The De Tomaso 505-38 saw the chequered flag for the first of two times in the 1970 season. Unfortunately for driver Piers Courage, it was 22 laps down on race winner Jochen Rindt, meaning non-classification.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

May 11th

1990 - After Gary Brabham had realised the mistake he'd made, he quit the Life team. Life did find a replacement though in Italian veteran Bruno Giacomelli, who hadn't raced in F1 since 1983. Bruno clocked a time of 7:16.212 in his first pre-qualifying session. Not a bad time at all... if this were the Nürburgring, which it wasn't. This was Imola, a five-kilometre circuit where pole position would be 424 seconds faster than the time Giacomelli achieved. He later said that he was afraid of being struck from behind, such was the difference in pace between the Life and its fellow pre-qualifiers.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

May 12th

2013 - Esteban Gutiérrez set the fastest lap of the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix. There are many examples of drivers setting fastest laps before unrejectifying themselves. However, at present there are only three reject drivers who have a fastest lap: Brian Henton, Bruno Senna and Gutiérrez. Right now it seems unlikely that Esteban will unrejectify himself unless one of Ferrari's drivers suffers a particularly bad accident and is out for an extended period of time. But I would not wish that upon any driver, so let's hope Esteban remains a member of this exclusive club

[dr-baker]

Right now it seems unlikely that Esteban will unrejectify himself unless one of Ferrari's drivers suffers a particularly bad accident and is out for an extended period of time.

Even then, it didn't unrejectify Luca Badoer, and it wouldn't've unrejectified Giancarlo Fisichella when they stood in at Ferrari...

[Bobby Doorknobs]

Right now it seems unlikely that Esteban will unrejectify himself unless one of Ferrari's drivers suffers a particularly bad accident and is out for an extended period of time.

Even then, it didn't unrejectify Luca Badoer, and it wouldn't've unrejectified Giancarlo Fisichella when they stood in at Ferrari...

That is true, though the F60 wasn't a great car (okay, it did win a race, but still). This year's car is quite a bit faster than the rest of the field bar Mercedes, with only Williams being anywhere near. I would expect Gutiérrez to at least finish 6th on a good day. Then again, with the amount of testing reserve drivers get these days, he might be even further off the pace. Look what d'Ambrosio did at Lotus...

[Bobby Doorknobs]

May 13th

1950 - Today, the Formula One World Championship celebrates its 65th birthday. On this day in 1950, 21 cars lined up in front of a crowd of 200,000, which included several members of the Royal Family, no less. Every one of the 21 drivers that lined up for the start would have been rejects at the time, but a number of them would inevitably escape reject status. The first ones to do so on this day were Farina, Fagioli, Parnell and Giraud-Cabantous. More of them would unrejectify themselves either during the season or in the years to follow, but those who didn't included:

• Cuth Harrison: An ERA driver from Sheffield who also set up a dealership.
• David Hampshire - A driver from the pre-war era who mainly raced in local events, but did go on to take a class podium in the 1951 24 Hours of Le Mans.
• Joe Fry - A successful hillclimb driver who was tragically killed just two months after this race in the Blandford hillclimb.
• Brian Shawe-Taylor - A driver who initially entered an ERA, but his car was deemed too old by the organisers. He nevertheless got to share Joe Fry's Maserati. His racing career ended just a year later in a serious accident at Goodwood.
• Johnny Claes - A forum favourite. The jazz trumpeter's persistence in early 1950s F1 earned him great success in alternate championships in the BSMF. The only thing that stopped him was tuberculosis, which sadly took his life in 1956.
• Joe Kelly - A car dealer from Dublin who used his profits to fund his expensive hobby: motor racing. He had always been more interested in making money though, and in later years he entered the property trade.
• David Murray - A Scotsman who would go to found the Écurie Ecosse team the following year.
• Geoffrey Crossley - The youngest on the grid, having just turned 29 two days earlier, Crossley was a furniture manufacturer, as well as an amateur racing driver. He drove a lot of post-war races in his Alta GP, but retired at the end of the season due to the costliness of this hobby.
• Eugène Martin - Another pre-war driver who went on to build his own car that was exhibited at the 1952 Paris Motor Show. It never entered production, though.
• Peter Walker - A man from Leeds who went on to win the 1951 24 Hours of Le Mans with Peter Whitehead.
• Tony Rolt - A decorated veteran of the Second World War who was imprisoned in Colditz during that time. He was also the man behind the "Colditz Cock", a glider that was designed as an escape plan. He was also of course a racing driver, winning the 1953 24 Hours of Le Mans with Duncan Hamilton. He also worked with Ferguson, the company behind the infamous four-wheel-drive P99, and was the last surviving driver from the inaugural championship event at the time of his death in February 2008, aged 89.
• Leslie Johnson - Another furniture manufacturer from a working class background. He was never fully committed to motor racing however, despite winning the admiration of such legends as Raymond Sommer and Louis Chiron. As a child his heart and kidneys were damaged by nephritis and acromegaly, which contributed to deteriorating health in his adulthood. He died in 1959, aged 46.

[shinji]

That's a top contribution there Simtek!

[FullMetalJack]

In addition to those rejects, there was Bob Gerard who escaped reject status despite never scoring a point, as points only went down to 5th back then. He scored the first of his three 6th places at that inaugural race if i'm correct.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

That's a top contribution there Simtek!

Thank you

May 14th

1995 - Not a reject, but his exploits this year nevertheless earned him the "Hang up the Keys" award on the old site - Nigel Mansell drove his last race on this day twenty years ago at Catalunya. He qualified tenth, right behind his McLaren teammate Mika Hakkinen. He spent the race battling the Tyrrells before running off the track and returning to the pits to throw in the towel, not for the first time either. He parted ways with the McLaren team, criticising them for being unable to fix the MP4/10's problems, with Ron Dennis responding with a no-doubt confusingly worded statement that would be best summed up by "Nigel lacks motivation". Nige was still apparently interested in beating the dead horse that was his F1 career, as he tested for Jordan in late 1996. He never did formally announce his retirement either...

[dinizintheoven]

Neither did Stirling Moss, until he was well into his eighties...

Nigel Mansell for Haas in 2016!

[Nessafox]

Neither did Stirling Moss, until he was well into his eighties...

Nigel Mansell for Haas in 2016!

Still faster than this years McLaren.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

May 15th

1994 - Olivier Beretta took his first Grand Prix finish on his fourth attempt, and where better to do it than his hometown/country of Monaco? Unfortunately, it was in eighth place, a position that was practically worthless at the time, but that doesn't matter, as Olivier made history that day by becoming the first Monégasque driver to finish his home Grand Prix since the great Louis Chiron finished sixth in his Lancia D50 in 1955. To date, Olivier is also the last Monégasque to race in this most prestigious of events.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

May 16th

2010 - An action-packed Monaco Grand Prix was held which saw none of the new teams complete the race, though two, the Lotus of Jarno Trulli and the HRT of Karun Chandhok, were classified after they had a scary collision at La Rascasse. This brought out the safety car for the last few laps, and as it came in on the final lap, Michael Schumacher overtook Fernando Alonso to take sixth place. This was in breach of Article 40.13 of the sporting regulations, which states "If the race ends whilst the safety car is deployed it will enter the pit lane at the end of the last lap and the cars will take the chequered flag as normal without overtaking", a rule that nobody knew even existed which had robbed Schumacher of a well-earned sixth place, as he was given a time penalty. This event earned Article 40.13 the Reject of the Race award.

[dinizintheoven]

To date, Olivier is also the last Monégasque to race in this most prestigious of events.

Signor Lowdon, you would like how many million euros?

Prenez le sod, Coletti, the drive is mine. Monsieur Lowdon, I give you more million euros.

I have 75 euro-cents and a half-eaten Milka bar...

My flag's practically the same as theirs and I've got a billion rupiahs...

Amateurs.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

May 17th

1981 - The farcical 1981 Belgian Grand Prix was held. The weekend was already overshadowed by a serious accident in Friday practice that saw Osella mechanic Giovanni Amadeo fall off the pitwall into the path of Carlos Reutemann's Williams. Reutemann was unable to avoid the Italian and hit him, resulting in a fractured skull. He would later die from his injuries on the Monday after the race.

On race day, mechanics and drivers from all the teams staged a protest against the poor safety measures, particularly the overcrowded pitlane. Despite this, the parade lap started as scheduled, even though a number of cars were either switched off or vacant. To add to the confusion, Nelson Piquet missed his grid slot. He was sent around the track again while the other cars remained on the grid. Some drivers switched off their engines, as they expected another formation lap, and were simply waiting for Piquet. However, once the Brazilian lined up in the correct grid slot the organisers began the start sequence. Riccardo Patrese, one of the drivers who had switched off his car, was unable to get his Arrows running again, and waved his arms to signal that he could not take the start. His mechanic, Dave Luckett, rushed out onto the track to get the car started, but the red lights were already coming on. The start went ahead despite the fact that there was a mechanic on the grid. Siegfried Stohr, Patrese's teammate, did not see what was going on until it was too late and ploughed into the back of Patrese's car, hitting Luckett and breaking his legs. Even as this was happening, the race continued. As the field came round to start the second lap, the marshals frantically waved at the drivers to stop their cars, while the organisers had yet to decide whether to show the red flag. It was shown in the end, fortunately without further incident. The race was restarted, but didn't go the full distance as it was red-flagged again after 54 laps due to rain.

The events of the start had a negative impact on Siegfried Stohr's confidence. He was never as quick as his younger teammate, but the shock of what had happened at Zolder resulted in his decision to retire from motorsport at the end of the year. He later went on to set up a racing school and would become a regular columnist for Autosprint.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

May 18th

2003 - The A1 Ring hosted its last Grand Prix for over a decade. The start was aborted twice, not unlike what happened on the original Oesterreichring's last race in 1987, though there were no crashes this time round. The cause of both of these aborted starts was Cristiano da Matta's faulty launch control, which meant that there were a total of three formation laps, which earned his Toyota electronics Reject of the Race. Heinz-Harald Frentzen (whose birthday is today, incidentally. Happy birthday HH!) did not start on the last formation lap and didn't have time to get into the spare car, so he was a DNS. Then, when the race finally started, Jos Verstappen's launch control broke, bringing out the safety car. The race was eventually won by Michael Schumacher. Pizzonia finished just outside the points in 9th, Firman was 11th and Wilson was 13th and last.

[dr-baker]

Hope you don't mind me adding a second entry for today...

18th May

1958 - This day was the day of the Monaco Grand Prix. This race saw at least three well-known drivers make their debut. Future champion Graham Hill managed to qualify for the race, only to retire with mechanical failure. However, 2 rejects also make their debut and fail to qualify, the anonymous Bernard Charles Ecclestone and the trendsetter, Maria Teresa de Filippis, becoming the first woman in the sport. She would go on to enter four races in all in 1958, with a DNQ, 2 DNFs and a 10th place finish.

Also making a debut was Giulio Cabianca. He entered four races. His final race saw him score his only points finish, a 4th place, and thus escape reject status before dying in a testing crash at Monza in June 1961.

Ken Kavanagh, a Manx TT race winner, made a debut, albeit unsuccessful, qualifying attempt here, as did Bruce Kessler (American, one attempt at F1, DNQ), the Monegasque Andre Testut (first of two DNQs at Monaco), and Luigi Taramazzo (who had just this one attempt at F1, and shared the car with previously-mentioned Ken Kavanagh). Quite a varied mixture of reject drivers!

[CoopsII]

Hope you don't mind me adding a second entry for today...

I mind. Remove it.

Only joking, keep them coming as I check into this page most days.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

May 19th

1996 - Surely Monaco's most celebrated Grand Prix is the one that was held on this day nineteen years ago? A race that many on this forum might describe as "pure kek". 22 cars qualified, only three would see the chequered flag. The first retirement occurred before the race even started as Andrea Montermini crashed his Forti in the tunnel in the morning warm-up. The team lacked a spare car, so he couldn't take the start. 21 cars lined up on the grid. By the end of the first lap, there were sixteen remaining. Jos Verstappen, who gambled on slicks, slid into the wall at Ste. Devote and both Minardis collided with each other. Further along, Michael Schumacher spun coming into Portier, and as the opening lap drew to a close, Rubens Barrichello spun out at Rascasse. By the end of lap five, only thirteen cars were still running, as Ukyo Katayama and Ricardo Rosset spun off, while Pedro Diniz had a transmission failure. By lap ten, Gerhard Berger joined the ever-growing list of retirements, as he had gearbox trouble. Twelve remained. For a while, everything was relatively quiet, except for Heinz-Harald Frentzen damaging his front wing while attempting to pass Eddie Irvine. He managed to continue in second-last. Then another retirement happened on lap 31, as Martin Brundle spun. Ten laps later, Damon Hill, who was in a comfortable lead and looked set to emulate his father as a Monaco GP winner, suffered an engine failure. This handed the lead to Jean Alesi, who led comfortably for twenty laps before retiring himself with a suspension failure. Further back, Jacques Villeneuve was attempting to lap Luca Badoer and the two collided, leaving seven cars still racing, with Olivier Panis leading for Ligier. But it didn't end there, as Irvine spun at the same spot as his teammate Schumacher. As he tried to rejoin, he was hit by Mika Salo, who was then hit by Mika Hakkinen. In an instant there were only four cars still racing. The race was stopped at the two-hour limit. Panis would take the chequered flag to give Ligier their last win, David Coulthard was second, wearing one of Schumacher's helmets, and Johnny Herbert was third. Frentzen pulled into the pits on the penultimate lap, as he was last anyway. Salo and Hakkinen still managed to pick up points for fifth and sixth because they completed ninety percent of the winner's distance.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

May 20th

1950 - Alfredo Piàn suffered an accident in practice for the Monaco Grand Prix. Alfredo was driving a Maserati 4CLT entered by Scuderia Achille Varzi (an Argentine team named after a great Italian pre-war driver). He was running sixth fastest when he spun on some oil, sending him into a guardrail and throwing him from the cockpit. He suffered leg injuries, which meant he couldn't take part in the following day's race. He never again entered a round of the World Championship.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

May 21st

2000 - Gastón Mazzacane achieved the best result of his F1 career, 8th in the European Grand Prix. Three years later and that would have been worth a point. A decade later and it would be worth four. Alas, the points system is not applied retroactively, and he is still recorded as scoring no points.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

May 22nd

2005 - Eighteen cars lined up on the grid for the start of the 2005 Monaco Grand Prix, as BAR were serving a two-race ban following their disqualification in Imola. This race saw Christijan Albers cause a roadblock when he spun at Mirabeau. David Coulthard was quick to react, stopping his Red Bull before contact could be made. His effort was then rendered pointless when Michael Schumacher ran into the back of him, which brought out the safety car. Albers still went on to finish fourteenth. Reject of the Race went to Jacques Villeneuve, who made a poor attempt to pass his teammate Felipe Massa, only for him to damage his nosecone and for Massa to go up the escape road. Just like that, Sauber's chances of scoring an easy five points were up in smoke.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

May 23rd

1940 - Reject driver and (arguably) reject team principal Gérard Larrousse was born. Gérard was a pretty handy rally driver in his youth, winning the Tour de Corse in 1969 and finishing second in the Monte Carlo Rally in 1969, 1970 and 1972. It was at this time that he switched to circuit racing, where he also achieved success, winning the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1971 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1973 and 1974. In 1974 he had a couple of outings in a Brabham BT42 run by Scuderia Finotto. Following this Larrousse went into racing management, running Elf Switzerland in F2, as well as the works Renault team in F1 in its final two seasons. In 1987 Gérard set up his own team with Didier Calmels, running a Lola chassis. The team achieved modest success, including a podium at Suzuka in 1990 with Aguri Suzuki, but like many small teams of the period, Larrousse ran into financial difficulties, and the team folded in early 1995.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

May 24th

1953 - Lamberto Leoni was born. Lamberto raced in F3 and F2 with modest success before stepping up to F1 in a Surtees at his home race in 1977, failing to qualify. He also drove for Ensign in early 1978, achieving one start out of four attempts to qualify (though he did make it through qualifying in Brazil, his transmission failed before the start). What Lamberto should perhaps be best remembered for on this forum is setting up First Racing, a team that entered the 1989 F1 season, only to withdraw after their F189 chassis failed FIA crash tests, and they were unable to strengthen the chassis in time. The F189 of course went on to become the Life L190, and the rest is history.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

May 25th

2014 - One of the most celebrated reject moments in recent memory as Jules Bianchi produced a heroic drive to 9th in the Monaco Grand Prix, scoring his and Marussia's first points. Thanks to this result the team went on to beat not only Caterham, but the well-established Sauber in the Constructors' Championship.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

May 26th

1969 - Talented sportscar racer and F1 reject Paul Hawkins died aged 31 in a crash in the RAC Tourist Trophy at Oulton Park. Hawkins was one of only two drivers to crash into the Monaco harbour, the other being Alberto Ascari, who also died on this day in 1955 by strange coincidence.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

May 27th

1995 - Taki Inoue was not a very lucky guy when he raced in F1. Sure, he wasn't the fastest man on the track, but that doesn't mean he deserved the horrible treatment that fate seemed to give him twenty years ago. On this day in 1995 Taki spun his Footwork Arrows in practice for the Monaco Grand Prix. He stalled his car and so he had to be towed back to the pitlane by a recovery vehicle. At this time however Jean Ragnotti was taking the Renault Clio safety car out for quick demonstration laps of the circuit. He collided with Inoue's car, with Inoue still in the cockpit, and overturned the car, severely damaging the engine and gearbox, and causing the tow rope to tear the roll-hoop from the chassis. Taki was lucky to sustain only a mild concussion.