F1 Drivers who only lasted one race

Ever since the very first World Championship Grand Prix race was held (at Silverstone) in 1950, a surprisingly high number of drivers have participated in one GP race only. In the 1950s competing in just one GP race was quite commonplace. During that decade no less than 67 drivers entered one grand prix only, including such luminaries as the later F1/FIA overlord Bernie Ecclestone (he entered Monaco in 1957 in a Connaught, but failed to qualify), Lotus-founder Colin Chapman (he crashed into the back of his teammate Mike Hawthorn’s Vanwall in the 1956 French GP), and Aldo Gordini (the son of renowned Renault tuner and racer Armdee Gordini). In the 1960s a mere 42 different drivers participated in just one Grand Prix, with a further four trying their hand only once in the 1970s and 1971 seasons, one of which (Francois Mazet) went on to become a successful lemon farmer in the south of France!

In the 1960s 42 different drivers participated in just one Grand Prix each, with a further four trying their hand once only in the 1970s and 1971 seasons. This includes Francois Mazet, who went on to become a successful and wealthy lemon farmer in the south of France!

In the fifty years since the 1972 F1 season, when Emerson Fittipaldi won the F1 World Championship in his famous JPS black and gold-liveried Lotus 72, taking the chequered flag on five of that season’s 12 races. 23 drivers have attempted to race at least once in a Championship Grand Prix. Very few of these got to race, however, with even less actually finishing a race. Here’s their role call with their race successes, or otherwise…