10 bad career moves F1 drivers never recovered from

switching teams in Formula 1 is a gamble most of the time drivers are heading into an unfamiliar environment hoping it'll be better than where they were before sometimes you get it right like Lewis Hamilton did switch him from McLaren to Mercedes for 2013 and sometimes it goes very wrong in this list we take a look back at ten drivers who made moves that their f1 careers never recovered from the reasons for the change don't have to have been their fault and in some cases it might not have been their choice to move but all we are looking at is when a change happened and that drivers f1 career never properly rebounded from that moment so let's begin number 10 Roberto Moreno Benetton - allsorts the majority of Marino's f1 career was spent toiling in wove for machinery so this wasn't so much a career that never recovered but a case of one that went back to normal but it's not often you get a chance to mention Michael Schumacher and Andrea moder at the same time so this was too good to pass up Moreno got the Benetton drive in late 1990 replacing Alessandro Nannini off the Italians horrific helicopter crash but by the Belgian Grand Prix of the following year Marino's days were numbered Schumacher had turned heads by qualifying seventh on his debut for Jordan and when Moreno arrived in Italy for the next round he walked into a contractual circus as Benetton desperately tried to snatch Schumacher from Jordan Moreno was collateral damage in all this and he held out for half a million dollars in compensation from Benetton after two races at Jordan in the seat vacated by Schumacher he moved to Minardi for the season finale then switched to the new andrea mode a team for 1992 but Andrea Mota were a joke of an f1 team so after less than a year spent driving for a front running team Moreno found yourself back in hopeless machinery somehow managing to qualify the car in Monaco unfortunately he'd never drive a credible car in f1 again number nine is Jana Lacey Benetton - Sauber a lacey stock was high throughout the first half of the 1990s he's his giant-killing performances with Tyrell earned him an offer from Williams that he turned down for a dream drive with Ferrari and he then moved to reigning champion Benetton for 1996 as a Grand Prix winner with high hopes but a lacy single victory for Ferrari remained the only one he'd ever take Benetton struggled in the wake of Michael Schumacher's departure all those senior figures from the team believe it should have won races in 96 Gerhard Berger joined aleisea making the switch to Benetton from Ferrari and Ross Brawn felt the two drivers didn't work well together having been a man in demand earlier in the decade a lacy slid down the grid to Sal before 1998 and he was destined to spend the rest of his career in the midfield retiring in 2001 after stints with procced and Jordan number eight evanka Pelle Leighton house to Ferrari Capelli was in dreamland when Ferrari came calling in late 1991 with doubts rising over alain prost future with the team Capelli was plucked from leighton house where he'd occasionally put in some exceptional performances in recent years he signed a contract that said he'd Drive a Ferrari powered scooter aeritalia car if there was no room at Maranello but procced s-- abrupt sacking cleared the way for 1992 if you want to hear more about what happened there check out our new podcast series bring back v10 which we visit stories from a classic hero of f1 unfortunately Capelli's arrival came at the same time as one of Ferraris worst cars the f9 to a he scored three points before following him procced footsteps and getting dropped before the end of the year Capelli only started one more race in f1 with Jordan the following season before leaving the team after failing to qualify for the Brazilian Grand Prix number seven Mikaela Alboreto Ferrari to Tyrell Alberto came closer than most to winning a world championship for Ferrari in 1980s finishing runner-up - Alam Prost in 1985 but by the end of 1988 he'd been usurped as a team leader by Gerhard Berger with Nigel Mansell coming in for 89 Alboreto returned to terrell where he lasted just six races he was replaced by former 3000 racer Jean Alesi for the French Grand Prix amid confusion about whether he'd fallen out of the team or if its new sponsorship deal clashed with his personal sponsors the fact he ended up driving for another team that year with the same sponsor suggests there was something more to it but Alberto's f1 career never recovered from leaving Ferrari the rest of his time was spent driving underwhelming cars and after leaving terrell he only scored seven more points for another 67 stars number six Nelson Piquet Williams to Lotus PK won three World Championships between 1981 and 87 but when he left Williams to take the number1 to Lotus for 1988 his career as a true top liner was over Lotus failed to make proper use of the Honda engine that propelled McLaren to 15 wins from 16 races that season and his 1989 car was even worse PK has explained that there are two reasons for his downturn in fortunes he believes his nasty crash amela early in 1987 cost him over a second a lap in pace but he managed to disguise it well enough that year to still win his third championship but he was unsure if he wanted to stay in what become a toxic environment of Williams and when the team didn't express that much interest in keeping him he looked around for offers when he got to Lotus where he's being paid handsomely the car was lacking in so many areas that he felt there was nothing he could do to fix it PK believes he could have won more championships if he'd stayed with Williams as he could have convinced Honda to stay with the team as well he never fought for a title again for salvage something from his career with a two-year stint at Benetton that produced three victories for the arrival of Michael Schumacher in late 1991 was the final signal that PK's time in f1 was up number five Damon Hill Williams - arrows Hill could be forgiven for still wondering to this day why Williams decided to get rid of him when he was on his way to winning the world championship in 1996 the news came so late in the year that Hill was scrambling to find a seat with arrows and Jackie Stewart's brand new team his only options Hill took the number one two arrows and aside from always winning in Hungary it was a year to forget a move - Jordan brought a brief career Renaissance and a famous victory in 1998 but the following year Hill was all at sea and after a failed attempt to retire from f1 midseason he bowed out of his final race by retiring a healthy car because he'd had enough number four Eddie Irvine Ferrari - Jaguar Irvine stock was high in 1999 as he fought for the world championship with Ferrari after Michael Schumacher broke his leg at Silverstone Ford's investment in turning Stuart Grand Prix into Jaguar for 2000 promised big things but Novi made the switch to get shot leading what he thought was going to be a major player in f1 Ferrari had already decided to replace him with Rubens Barrichello but ov I managed to delay that news getting out long enough to play a strong negotiating hand with Jaguar however when he arrived at the team he was shocked at how far behind it was leading outfit believing that Stuart had got lucky with its car for 1999 Irvine felt Ford didn't understand f1 and it failed to invest in the team properly have him paid a massive amount to buy it in the first place he stuck around for three lucrative but ultimately disappointing years with Jaguar which was a constant mess at management level until Ford finally pulled the plug in 2004 selling up to Red Bull I wonder how that turned out number three jacques villeneuve williams to be a are rumors of Ville Nerva news manager Craig Pollock setting up a new f1 team started as early as 1997 in the 1999 British American Racing was launched with a Canadian makin a switch from Williams the big-money team failed to back up its ambitious targets not scoring a point in his first season things improved for 2000 when Honda supplied works engines and at this point Ville knows reputation was still intact Filner believes signing for var in the first place wasn't a mistake but turning down advances from other teams and re signing for 2001 was at the end of that year after Villeneuve took the team's first podiums Pollock was replaced as team boss by David Richards who Villeneuve felt was determined to destroy his position in the team before the final race of 2003 Vilna have left the team that had initially been built for him he returned for three races with Renault in 2004 and landed a full-time driver with Sauber they left f1 for good in the middle of 2006 after BMW had taken over the Swiss team Emerson Fittipaldi McLaren to Fittipaldi the first 70 races of fittipaldi's Korea brought in 14 wins and two world championships from 1970 to 75 with Lotus and McLaren then he made the surprising decision to join his brother Wilson's new copper soo car backed f1 project in five years he scored just two podiums with the struggling team eventually switched into a management role in a bid to turn its fortunes around the team folded in 1982 and while Fittipaldi never raced in f1 again he enjoyed a renaissance as a driver in IndyCar winning the championship and two Indy 500s number one Fernando Alonso Ferrari to McLaren in some ways every move Alonso maid after winning back-to-back championships with Renault had a negative effect on his career after falling out with McLaren in 2007 he went back to a Renault team that was no longer the same force that took him to those titles his five years at Ferrari took him close twice for his gamble at the end of 2014 to rejoin McLaren for the return of Honda was a switch he would never recover from Honda was dreadfully underprepared for f1 v6 hybrid engine regulations the McLaren spent the next three years feeling that pain as Honda produced underpowered and unreliable engines along as I had a few other words for them but you'll have to search the internet to find those Alonso stuck around long enough to see how McLaren would fare with Renault power for 2018 but without the engine as an excuse anymore the deficiencies in McLaren car were exposed badly but his somewhat prickly history behind the scenes left him with a reputation that meant none of the established frontrunners were willing to give him that final shot at the big time those are our 10 drivers that made f1 career moves they never recovered from let us know in the comments who you would have included don't forget to like and share this video and subscribe to our channel to get more great content from the race

Channel: THE RACE

Views: 613,502

Keywords: F1, formula 1, formula one, F1 history, Villeneuve, irvine, fittipaldi, alonso, Schumacher, Benetton, Williams, Ferrari, McLaren, Honda F1, Alonso GP2 engine, F1 failure, Bad F1 teams, F1 countdown, F1 lists, What happened to Jaguar in F1?, Alesi, Andrea Moda, Damon Hill Arrows

Id: ME5P1_NVF9o

Length: 11min 36sec (696 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 02 2020