Which drivers were better second time around?

[ibsey]

I was just wondering today, we have seen a quite a few drivers have a second bite out of the cherry that is F1. But very few seemed to have been more sucessful at their second attempt in F1, in comparison to their 1st attempt. The only drivers I can think off ATM who buck this trend is;

Jos Verstappen - After his enforced break with Simtek (1995) he came back quite strong at the begining of 1996 with Arrows (setting a couple of fastest laps in Brazil & scoring a point in Argentina), but then faded again. However he had another enforced break in 1st half of 1998 & wasn't racing in F1 for the whole of 1999. However he performed reasonably well in a underrated Arrows car in 2000, & 1st half of 2001 before again fading quietly away. Perhaps Jos the Boss is the ultimate comeback king, as his best results always seemed to come straight after an enforced break?

Martin Brundle - His best results in his career came after his two break's from F1 in 1988 & 1990.

Niki Lauda - Although Niki was successful on his return to F1, he wasn't as successful as his 1st career.

Therefore I was wondering whether anyone else can think of more examples where a driver has returned to F1 for whatever reason (returning from retirement, finally got a drive, returned from injury etc) & been better 2nd time around?

[Faustus]

Juan Manuel Fangio, after not racing for most of 1952.
Mark Donohue was doing reasonably in 1975 after returning in 74. His podium in 71 was his best result, but he only took part in 1 race.

[ADx_Wales]

I think Brundle's leaving wasnt a case of "retiring" though. Jaguar wanted to win Le Mans and the World Sportscar Championship, and Brundle was given a more promising contract in Sportscars than any F1 team would give him for 1988.

Another of the sportscar Venturers was Mark Blundell, and after his "big money" Peugeot deal in 1992, another team that wanted Le Mans and the World Sportscar championship won, despite being the only Factory team worth mentioning, Came back to F1 as Brundle's team-mate (as he was in 1991) with Ligier.

Pierluigi Martini also had a Blink and you'll miss it start of career in F1, went back to F3000, came back to be Minardi's superstar in 1989.

Christian Danner perhaps? 1986-87, I dont think appeard in 88, but 4th place at Phoenix for Rial in 89?

Johnny Herbert, In fairness he wasnt fit for 1989, or for his mini-comeback in 1990, but once he was a Benneton driver again he was awesome.

[QuickYoda41]

Some more recent examples:

Timo Glock - had a 3-year break after first races at Jordan, after that scored podiums at Toyota

Takuma Sato - he missed almost the entire 2003 before his best season

Felipe Massa - also missing 2003

Michael Schumacher? No, not the Mercedes-story, but he missed half a season and was better or at least more successful after that

[FMecha]

Takuma Sato - he missed almost the entire 2003 before his best season

Because he's replacing Jacques Villeneuve. He was fired/sacked before 2003 Japan GP, so Sato took over his seat.

[TomWazzleshaw]

Fernando Alonso - Spent a season as Renault's test driver in 2002 and was undoubtedly the best driver of 2003 after that.

[ibsey]

Wow! there's actually a lot more examples than I orginally thought, & I was under the impression it was quite a rare thing (completely forgotten about Alonso & Massa's year off etc). In fact the reason I started this thread was to try & identify any sort of pattern, either in terms of driving style, or type of personalilty /character, between the drivers that had more success 2nd time around. But it seems there might be too many examples to do a conclusive study on this. Anyway, here's a few more names to add to the list...

1. Ivan Capelli - another 'blink and you'll miss it' start to his career in F1. Debuted (IIRC) at the European GP in 1985 , and finished fourth in Australia. Despite this, he was not picked up for a full time F1 drive in 1986. Instead he returened to F3000 in 1986 (He also raced a couple of times in F1 with the AGS team at Italy & Portgual). Before returning full time to F1 for 1987 with March.

2. Patrick Tambay - actually had two breaks in his career. The 1st was 1980 (when he returned to Can Am series). Then after a string of poor results in 1981, firstly driving for the Theodore team then finishing the season with Ligier, he decided to give up on F1. It was only when he was offered a place with the Scuderia Ferrari after the death of his friend Gilles Villeneuve, that he decided to return.

3. Damon Hill - Brief debut for Brabham in 1992, but The Brabham team collapsed after the Hungarian Grand Prix and did not complete the season. Then you know the rest from 1993 onwards.

[MansellsEyebrows]

Michael Schumacher-he missed the middle of 1999, but in the following seasons won 5 championships on the trot

[dr-baker]

Coulthard missed the French GP and the last few races of 1994 to allow Mansell to take his last win in F1 in Adelaide, then returned to have further success. Plus, Mansell missed all of 1993 and most of 1994, only to end up winning in Adelaide. Then became too fat for McLaren for the following season...

[ADx_Wales]

I think there needs to be a clear leveler:

-Missing 1(or more) Race(s) through Injury or Illness, or down to team offering a "one-off" to a preffered driver, being the first level
-Missing A season or more due to testing contract with bigger team or a contract in another championship.
-then the ultimate of Missing a season or more through not being offered a decent contract, or deciding to take a sabbatical

Anthony Davidson falls into two of these levels if he's offered to come back after his Peugeot attempts this year.

Tonio Liuzzi covers all three?

[FullMetalJack]

Nigel Mansell

[MyHamsterRacedAnOnyx]

Peter Revson-a couple of insignificant spasmodic appearances in 1964--and then appeared again properly in 1972 and became a multiple race winner

[Nessafox]

On the belgian side: Lucien Bianchi's 1968 was very good (including a podium in monte carlo in the last season of the cooper team) compared to his drives in the early sixties (which weren't bad considering the cars he drove, but neither impressive)
sadly he died in a sportscar crash not much later.

[Aerond]

I hope we can add Kubica to this list in the future

[cretoxyrhina]

Roberto Moreno, period. (post-Lotus, not post-Andrea Moda)

[James1978]

I think Alex Wurz was rather more impressive (in race trim) in 2007, and indeed his one-off appearance in 2005, than he had been in his later Benetton years, I know he still struggled in qualifying but IIRC he was often starting in the mid-high teens in 1999 and 2000 anyway but staying there in races!