A few weeks before i wrote about the Bono project. It was BAT (British American Tobacco)’s project to enter the Formula One. It was all about appearing on the grid in 1999 with their own team. As well, how to reach that goal. We all know that they eventually purchased Tyrrell Racing from Ken Tyrrell. Only using the Concorde agreements eventually to be allowed on the grid. Interestingly enough was
History teaches us that there was no Dutch driver in 1999 on the grid. We had Jos Verstappen who was busy with the Honda project. Intentionally, he would become one of their drivers. Sadly, the program was cancelled. Tom Coronel was busy racing in Japan and would only test with the Arrows A20 in December 1999. However, another Dutch driver came “close” to appear on the grid in 1999. His
Laurent Delahaye born in Perpignan the 6th of January 1977 had a promising career in karting. Together with Patrice Gay and Christophe Ravier it seemed they had a great future in the autosport. However, after some seasons of autosport Delahaye disappeared from the scene. What has been long forgotten is the fact that Delahaye was rumoured to test for Minardi in 1999. So who was Laurent Delahaye and how was
We write the 28th of October 1996 when Minardi arrives at Misano for a youngster test. Andrea Boldrini (1996 Italian F3 champion), João Barbosa (1996 runner-up champion Italian F3) and Esteban Tuero are the drivers that will take place behind the wheel of the Minardi M195B. Two years later Esteban Tuero would debut for Minardi with the M198. Only to retire just before he would test with the Minardi M01
You can’t imagine it now though there was a time a lot of drivers tested in the Formula One. Or teams tested in between races to test new aerodynamics or new engines. Or just to cash extra money by letting unknown drivers, who will never arrive, experience the Formula 1.As many of these drivers are long forgotten, and there isn’t a real overview of the test drivers, its all bits
Nearly five years ago i published one of my first articles on unracedf1.com. The last twenty-Five years of Team Lotus Part 1. There are multiple reasons why it never came to a part two in those years. However, this article can be seen as Part 2. After the team went into bankruptcy the team was rumoured a couple of time to return to the paddock. Eventually the team made it’s
As there are over 650 Unraced F1 projects from the period 1885 – 2020 I decided before to publish articles of unraced projects per year. This is easier for you to see which attempts happened a specific year. Of course, it is easier for me as well as researching and writing an article takes a lot of time, which I don’t always have. If you are interested in one of
2005 was the last year that privateers, the small teams, appeared on the grid. Minardi was the last team of an era were many tried their luck in the Formula One. Due the coming ban on turbo engines in 1989 and the restrictions, it was financially attractive for teams to try their luck. Most of them failed to even complete two season, some only did a few races before they
Minardi is probably one of the few teams in the rich history of the Formula One with plenty of rumoured drivers to drive for the team. Even more rumoured are the takeovers of the Minardi F1 Team. As to quote Paul Stoddart in 2005 “Over 40 groups were interested in taking over Minardi”. Let’s uncover history and see the almost driver moves for Minardi. 1984 – Minardi M184 Debut with
Welcome to the third episode of the Old Rumour Mill of Formula One. A special blog dedicated to the old rumours of Formula One. Many rumours appeared during the years. Some were just silly “Alain Prost to move to Benetton in 1992”. Others were just amazing to read “Pedro Diniz to move to Ferrari in 2000”. Every week a new episode of the Old Rumour Mill of Formula One will
