We look at the top five Formula 1 drivers who never won a Formula 1 Grand Prix with Scuderia Ferrari:
- Stefan Johansson
Swedish racing driver Stefan Johansson signed a contract with Toleman for 1985 but it fell through when Toleman failed to secure a tyre agreement. Instead Johansson started again with Tyrrell as a replacement for the suspended Stefan Bellof before being called up to Ferrari when René Arnoux was mysteriously sacked after the first race of the season in Brazil. He led his second race with Ferrari at their ‘home’ race, the San Marino Grand Prix, and two laps from home passed Senna’s out of fuel Lotus to the delight of the Tifosi and would probably have won if his Ferrari 156/85 had not run out of fuel itself just half a lap after taking the lead. His role at Ferrari for the 1985 season was primarily to back up Michele Alboreto’s championship challenge, though he did finish second to the Italian at Canada and backed it up with second in the next race at Detroit.
In 1986 he often outpaced Alboreto, despite the Italian being the team’s lead driver. The V6 turbo in the Ferrari F1/86 lacked nothing in power compared to the Honda, BMW, Renault and TAG-Porsche engines, but the car itself proved to be difficult, with both drivers complaining through the season about lack of downforce and the car’s reluctance to drive well on all but the smoothest of circuits. Johansson finished the 1986 Drivers’ Championship his best ever position in fifth place while Alboreto, who finished second in 1985, could only manage ninth place. There were many in Formula One, including highly respected then-BBC commentators Murray Walker and 1976 World Champion James Hunt, who believed that Ferrari were sacking the wrong driver, given that the Swede had generally outshone his more highly paid teammate throughout the season.
He was replaced at Scuderia Ferrari by Austrian Gerhard Berger for the 1987 Formula 1 season, after 31 races for the Maranello team, during which he scored two second place finishes and four third place finishes.
2. Chris Amon
New Zealand motor racing driver Chris Amon received an invitation to meet Enzo Ferrari at the Ferrari home in Maranello, where he signed to race for Ferrari in 1967 alongside Lorenzo Bandini, Mike Parkes and Ludovico Scarfiotti.
His first year with Scuderia Ferrari did not begin auspiciously. En route to Brands Hatch for the pre-season Formula One Race of Champions, he crashed his road car and, following race practice, had to withdraw. Tragedy then struck the Ferrari team when Lorenzo Bandini died following a crash during the 1967 Monaco Grand Prix, Mike Parkes broke both his legs at the Belgian Grand Prix and, in the aftermath, Ludovico Scarfiotti went into temporary retirement. Amon, therefore, became Ferrari’s only driver for the rest of the season, until joined by Jonathan Williams for the final race in Mexico. Chris Amon scored his first podium in his first official outing for the Scuderia in Monaco and at the end of the 1967 Formula 1 season had achieved four third places finishing fifth in the Drivers’ Championship, in what was going to be the most successful season of his career.
Amon’s Ferrari contract also included sports car racing and he began 1967 by winning the Daytona 24 Hours and 1000km Monza events with Bandini in the 4-litre Ferrari 330-P4. He finished the year partnering Jackie Stewart to a second place at the BOAC 500, thereby clinching the manufacturer’s world championship for Ferrari by one point over Porsche.
968 was the year aerodynamics first played a significant role in F1 car design and Amon worked with engineer Mauro Forghieri to place aerofoils on the Ferrari 312.[10]
In January 1968 Chris Amon had returned home to New Zealand and Australia to compete in the 1968 Tasman Series which was used by many of the top Formula One drivers as a warm up series to the World Championship. Ferrari had been interested in the series for several years and in 1965 had reengineered 2.4 Dino engines used by Mike Hawthorn, Peter Collins and Phil Hill in 1958–60 with more torque and mid speed power for the planned use of team leader Surtees in the 1966 Tasman Series. After a late season crash in US Can-Am racing by Surtees, the entry was withdrawn but consideration was given to using NZ Gold star champion Jim Palmer in a semi-works Ferrari entry in the 1967 Tasman Series as it was viewed in a 2.4 car he would be competitive with Clark and Stewart in 2-litre F1 cars. Palmer had run world-class times in the 1966 Tasman Series, particularly in the Pukekohe practice and Longford race, and was tested in Italy at the same time as Amon by Ferrari, and ran competitive times at Modena but for whatever reason Ferrari did not compete in 1967 series.
For the 1968 series Ferrari decided to use the 2.4 engines with a new Dino 166 F2 chassis rather than a downsized 3-litre V12. Using the 246T Amon won the first two rounds of the Tasman Series, including the 1968 New Zealand Grand Prix, before narrowly losing the series to the Lotus-Ford of Jim Clark. the Dino 246 Tasmania was better handling than Clark’s Lotus 49T which was still wingless and a difficult proposition. Impressed by Amon’s driving in the NZ rounds, Ferrari despatched a new four valve version of the 2.4 V6 for the Australian rounds and this gave another 15 hp, but with lesser reliability which combined with the fact Clark was the best driver in the world at the time, cost Amon the series, although in the final round at Sandown Park he duelled wheel to wheel with Clark before being pipped at the line.[13]
After the first race of the F1 season in South Africa, Amon achieved pole positions in three of the following four races (at the Spanish, Belgian and Dutch Grands Prix) but ever-present mechanical problems meant he secured only a single Championship point from them. Throughout the rest of the season he never qualified lower than fifth place and nearly scored victories at the British and Canadian rounds and he suffered a 100 mph crash in Italy which demolished his car.
In Britain, he duelled to the line with Jo Siffert’s Lotus 49B and in Canada he dominated the race despite a malfunctioning clutch. Seventeen laps from the finish, however, his car’s transmission failed and a distraught Amon had to be consoled by Jacky Ickx. From at least ten promising starts that season he was only able to finish five races and score ten Championship points. His best finish was second place to Siffert’s Lotus-Cosworth at the British Grand Prix.
Next season, in Formula One his poor luck continued. Despite six starts from top-six positions, he was only able to achieve a third-place at the Dutch GP. Ferrari’s F1 V12 engine was too unreliable and although its replacement had proven very fast in testing, it had suffered many mechanical breakages. Amon had no reason to believe it would be any more dependable than the V12, so although the new engine was clearly more powerful, he decided to leave Ferrari for a Cosworth DFV powered team. Ironically, the new flat-12 engine would become one of the best Formula One engines of the 1970s. Jacky Ickx, Amon’s old teammate did return to Ferrari for 1970, after a successful sabbatical with Brabham gained Ickx second in the 1969 World Championship. Ickx saw Enzo Ferrari had secured huge backing from Fiat who had taken partial ownership of the Marque, and believed Ferrari would be a renewed team and an effective proposition. Amon was more influenced by views of Jackie Stewart and Jochen Rindt, who believed it was essential to be Ford DFV-powered to be competitive.
He left Ferrari after 27 races and a total of six podiums (one second place, five third place finishes) and three pole positions.
3. Luigi Villoresi
Italian Grand Prix motor racing driver Luigi Villoresi had taken the immensely promising Alberto Ascari under his wing and Ferrari reasoned, correctly, that if he were to hire Villoresi, Ascari would probably follow.
The two stayed at Ferrari from 1949 to 1953, bringing Ascari and the Prancing Horse two successive world titles. Villoresi, by this time, was cast in the role of a steady number two, while away from Grands Prix he won the 1951 Mille Miglia.
When Ascari was lured away from Ferrari in 1954 by the new Lancia team, Villoresi went with him, staying until it pulled out of GP racing following Ascari’s death at Monza.
For Ferrari he raced in 21 Formula 1 Grands Prix, scording two second place finishes and six other podiums in third place, as well as one pole position.
4. Eugenio Castellotti
Eugenio Castellotti made his Grand Prix debut at Buenos Aires on 16 January 1955, for Lancia, but struggled in the warmer temperatures and crashed. However, he finished second at Monaco, but in mid-season the team amalgamated with Scuderia Ferrari, for whom Castellotti drove for the remainder of his career. He participated in 15 World Championship Grands Prix for Ferrari, achieving two podiums and scored a total of 13.5 championship points.
5. Richie Ginther
Richie Ginther made his Formula 1 debut at the 1960 Monaco Grand Prix driving for Ferrari, which he stayed with through 1961. In the September 1960 Italian Grand Prix in Monza, he placed second to Hill: Ginther led from the start until the 25th lap when Hill passed him and led until the finish.
Following the 1960 season the Ferrari team gave up 1000 cc in engine size. The 2500 cc engine, permitted the previous year, was replaced by a 1.5-liter rear-engine model, with 110 less horsepower. However, the newer engine was superior in both “profiling” and handling. The conservative Enzo Ferrari was the last major Formula 1 race car manufacturer to make the transition to cars with engines in the rear. In 1961, Ginther was the No. 3 Ferrari driver, behind No. 1 Wolfgang Von Trips and No. 2 Hill. Giancarlo Baghetti occasionally piloted a fourth car. The team manager was Romulo Tavoni.
On May 14, 1961, Ginther finished second to Stirling Moss at the 1961 Monaco Grand Prix, 3.6 seconds behind, a few hundred feet. He was driving a new rear-engine Ferrari with a 120-degree V-6 which had a lower center of gravity.[15] Ginther had qualified first, just ahead of Hill, with an average speed of 70.7 mph (113.8 km/h), and a qualifying time of 1:39.3. He eclipsed the previous course record of 1:39.6.
In August 1961, Ginther and Baghetti were teammates at the Pescara Grand Prix, a world auto manufacturers’ championship event. Their Ferrari was leading on the 10th lap when it stopped on a straight stretch with a flat tire. Ginther averaged more than 133 mph (214 km/h) on the 6.2-mile (10.0 km) Autodromo Nazionale Monza in September 1961, to lead the first day of qualifying for the 1961 Italian Grand Prix. Von Trips qualified first with Ginther taking the third starting position after Ricardo Rodriguez. Ginther retired in the race. Von Trips died in a spectacular crash on the second lap, which also killed eleven spectators, when his Ferrari climbed a 5-foot-high (1.5 m) earth embankment. It brushed a wire fence employed to restrain a portion of the crowd and struck the spectators. Some who were injured eventually succumbed and brought the total to 15 deaths. The Ferrari team ceased competition until January 1, 1962, as a mark of respect to Von Trips
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