Logan Sargeant received an outpouring of sympathy last weekend when he had to give up his Williams so his team mate could drive it.
Alexander Albon crashed the team’s only other FW46 last weekend. Team principal James Vowles reckoned he was their best chance of scoring points – and given their track record it was hard to argue – but even so it was a brutally tough call for Sargeant.
Many sympathised, but very few have been in the same position in Formula 1. Indeed, you have to go back 38 years for the last time it happened, and it’s only happened on five occasions in the last 50 years.
1986: Warwick and Patrese at Brabham
The 1986 season began badly for Brabham, then turned tragic when driver Elio de Angelis was killed in a testing crash at Paul Ricard. Derek Warwick took over his seat alongside Riccardo Patrese, but by round 12 the 1983 champions still had just two points.
The Osterreichring (now Red Bull Ring) offered a strong chance for them to pick up more, as its high speeds and lack of slow corners played to the strengths of Gordon Murray’s low-line BT55 and its explosively powerful BMW turbo. It proved too explosive for Patrese in practice, however, as a huge engine fire put one chassis out of action.
Warwick further depleted the team’s stock of spares when a new Pirelli tyre construction failed at his left-rear, triggering a monumental crash. Nonetheless fourth on the grid for Patrese and 10th for Warwick represented the team’s best qualifying effort of the season so far.
But when a gearbox fault was discovered on Patrese’s car prior to the race, team principal Bernie Ecclestone took the decision to hand him their sole remaining running BT55: Warwick’s. The sacrifice proved to no avail, however, when its engine blew on the second lap.
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1984: Hesnault and De Cesaris at Ligier
Francois Hesnault’s attempt to make the leap from Formula 3 to Formula 1 didn’t get off to a great start at Ligier in 1984. In his first four starts he suffered two technical failures and collided with Martin Brundle and Jacques Laffite. Round five began unpromisingly when he tangled with Patrese in practice and crashes.
However Hesnault claimed 15th on the grid for his home race at Dijon, which was rather better than his team mate Andrea de Cesaris managed….
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