CASTELLOTTI: POTENTIAL FORMULA ONE SUPERSTAR

The outstanding but unacknowledged and fatally-shortened Grand Prix career of this talented driver

Any driver who defeated Mike Hawthorn as team-mate in same-cars 4:1 in qualifying, and 3:1 in the races would have to have been good. Was it Ascari? Gonzalez? Farina? Collins? Brooks? No, Eugenio Castellotti. Who?

In 2007 the media raved about the way in which Lewis Hamilton debuted at the front of the field, mixing it with, and not at all awed by established stars Alonso, Raikkonen, Coulthard, Ralf Schumacher, Trulli and others.

Yet Eugenio Castellotti, who did pretty much what Hamilton did in his own first two seasons, got hardly a mention. Then or now. Back in the mid-fifties the young Italian immediately ran at the front against Fangio, Ascari, Moss, Farina, Manzon, Hawthorn, Behra and Collins. Yet he is ranked a lowly 95^th on Alan Henry’s Top Hundred Drivers list of 2008 and does not feature on Mark Hughes’ 1999 Top Hundred list, nor in the three F1 Racing magazine’s driver rankings. His contemporary rivals Hawthorn and Collins certainly do. Were they really so much more competitive than Castellotti?

 

Castellotti 1956 Lancia-Ferrarri

Eugenio Castellotti came into Formula One racing in 1955 with the ill-fated, short-lived Lancia Team, completed the rest of 1955 and the full 1956 season with Ferrari. He died tragically in a testing accident following the first race of 1957. Aged 27 he had competed in just 12 championship events.

PHENOMENAL DEBUT SEASON

Eugenio debuted at the notorious ‘heatwave’ 1955 Argentine GP for the three car Lancia team. After 20 laps, suffering from heat-stroke in common with all except two drivers, Castellotti handed his car to team-mate Villoresi, who spun off on lap 36 of the 96.

Catellotti’s second appearance in the twitchy-handling Lancia D50 was at Monaco: the race notorious for team leader Ascari’s plunge into the harbour. From his fourth grid slot, Castellotti jumped past Ascari and Moss to run second to Fangio’s Mercedes for the opening five laps! Despite a stop to change a punctured tyre dropped Eugenio to ninth place, he charged back to finish a remarkable second. This on a difficult circuit that allowed for no driving inaccuracies! In his third race, at high-speed Spa, Eugenio outqualified the dominant Fangio and Moss Mercedes W196s for pole! The season-ending Italian GP on Monza’s daunting, road-and-banked track, was his fifth race. Castellotti brought the Type 555 Ferrari Squalo in third behind the Fangio and Taruffi Mercedes-benz streamliners. Such debut season feats were in the Schumacher-Senna-Hamilton league. The top driver competition he was up against, Fangio-Ascari-Moss, were the equivalent of Prost- Senna-Schumacher or Carracciola-Nuvolari-Chiron of the early thirties. Yet who has heard of Castellotti today?

UNACKNOWLEDGED

Castellotti’s second-tier rivals, sometime team-mates and Boy’s Own heroes Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins were highly praised in contemporary media and subsequent literature. Eugenio Castellotti has hardly been mentioned, then or now. His record against the more experienced British pair, who started grand prix racing three years earlier in 1952, was outstanding. In four appearances with Hawthorn as team-mate in same-model cars during 1955 and Argentina 1957, Ferraris 555 and 625A, Lancia-Ferrari D50, the Italian won the qualifying battle 3:1 and the races 4:1! Against Enzo Ferrari’s favourite Collins, in the D50A during 1956 and Argentina 1957, he won the qualifying 4:3. Outstanding performances by any measure. Clearly the rankings of Hawthorn and Collins respectively at 58^th and 67^th by Hughes and 40^th and 73^rd by Henry beg the question: what about Castellotti, not even being in their top one hundred drivers?

INTERRUPTED DEBUT SEASON: 1955

Castellotti was drafted in to the newly-formed Lancia grand prix team for the 1955 season, to back star Ascari and veteran Villoresi. The revolutionary D50 car, with its side-mounted, pannier fuel tanks between the wheels, short wheelbase, low weight, high-grip Pirelli tyres and low polar-moment behaviour, was not easy to handle. On its first appearance of 1955 in Argentina both his illustrious team-mates spun off. Before his excursion, Villoresi had taken over Eugenio’s car after his own had retired with mechanical troubles. Castellotti’s second place at Monaco four months later could have been a win. Victor Trintignant in a Ferrari 625A was no match for the young Italian in the D50. Unfortunately on lap 37 of 100 when running third, Castellotti clipped a kerb and pitted to change a punctured tyre. Dropping to ninth place he then charged to second at the finish, just 20 seconds behind Trintignant.

Less than a week later, Castellotti invited Ascari to Monza to watch him testing a sports-racing Ferrari 750 Monza. Surprisingly and despite his renowned superstition about his own kit, especially his blue helmet which no-one was ever allowed to touch, the maestro decided to try the car out! Most uncharacteristically, he borrowed Eugenio’s helmet, goggles and gloves, tucked his tie into his shirt and set off, saying he would take it easy, but that “It was best to get back into a car as soon after a crash as possible.” On his third lap, Alberto crashed fatally at the high-speed Viallone Corner. The cash-strapped team was devastated, and Gianni Lancia promptly withdrew from racing.

Eugenio persuaded Lancia to let him race at Spa the next week. He scored his phenomenal pole, shading the dominant Fangio and Moss and their Mercedes-Benzs! Running second on the opening lap, he could not hold the easier-to-drive W196s in the hands of such experienced stars as Fangio and Moss. Eugenio ran third until gearbox troubles on lap 17 of 36 put him out. This was Team Lancia’s last appearance. The whole racing team, including designer Jano and driver Castellotti, was handed/donated to Ferrari, with Fiat’s influence and financial help!

Eugenio joined Hawthorn and Trintignant for the British GP at Aintree in the outclassed Type 625A Ferraris. Despite being new to the team and car and this being Hawthorn’s second season with Maranello, Castellotti was fastest of the team in qualifying! He retired early from the race with transmission trouble. Suffering a hangover, Hawthorn happily handed his own car to Castellotti, who brought it in sixth behind four Mercedes and Musso’s Maserati 250F55.

The last event in this Le Mans-disaster-curtailed season, the Italian GP at Monza, saw Eugenio qualify one of Ferrari’s newly-acquired Lancia D50s fourth behind the W196s of Fangio, Moss and Taruffi. Unfortunately Enzo’s contracted tyre, Engelbert, was totally unsuitable for the Lancia’s on the bankings. Farina had an horrific spin in practice, so the cars were withdrawn. In the race Eugenio drove a 555 Super Squalo to finish a fine third behind the two Mercedes. Tellingly he again beat experienced team-mates Hawthorn, Maglioli and Trintignant!

A FULL SEASON: 1956

Signed on again by Ferrari, Castellotti had Fangio, and Collins as team-mates, with part-timers Musso, de Portago, Gendebien, Frere and Pilette. Having to make do with an original D50 in the season-opening Argentine GP, Eugenio’s sheer class showed when he qualified second to Fangio’s new Type D50A Lancia-Ferrari! After running third early on, Castellotti retired with engine failure. Four months later at Monaco, and now in a D50A, Castellotti qualified third to Fangio and race-winner Moss’ Maserati, but his car failed after 15 of 100 laps. Fangio, chasing the flying Moss in vain, damaged his own car and took another, Castellotti then driving the Argentinian’s battered D50A to fourth place. At Spa he started fourth behind Fangio, Moss and team favourite Collins, but retired with transmission trouble after ten laps.

The high-speed battle that was the 1956 French GP at Reims saw Eugenio qualify second to Fangio. Battling his team-mates for most of the race, he finished just 0.3 seconds behind Peter Collins, Fangio having dropped out of the picture with car trouble. Eugenio was caught out by team tactics. The agreement was that whatever the position was at 50 laps of the 61 should be maintained to the finish; but the pit did not signal the laps! Collins had English friends in another pit signalling him, so he made sure he was in front at lap 50!

The British GP at Aintree saw Castellotti retire after a spin which damaged a wheel while running fifth early on. The 1956 finale at Monza was a cracker, with team-mates Musso and Castellotti fighting for the title of Italian Champion, disregarding team tactics. From another fine second on the grid to Fangio, Eugenio took the lead on the opening lap, lost it to Musso on lap two, then regained it until lap five, when a rear tyre tread shredded, thanks to the pounding on the steep banking and Eugenio’s charge. Musso too destroyed his tyres early on, but managed to finish seventh. Eugenio did get the Italian Title though.

In reading Castellotti’s performances for this 1956 season, one must bear in mind that Fangio used his status and seniority to secure the best cars, and that Enzo Ferrari favoured the likeable Collins, and doubtless gave him better equipment, especially for the British GP.

PROMISE CUT TRAGICALLY SHORT

For 1957 Ferrari lost Fangio to Maserati, but re-hired Hawthorn to join Collins, Castellotti and Musso as full-timers. Moss left Maserati for Vanwall, with Brooks and Lewis-Evans as team-mates to make the first strong British grand prix car and team since Sunbeam in the twenties. A promising season.

The opening race in Buenos Aires in January produced a surprise: Maserati’s latest version of the 250F was far superior to the now-ageing and Ferrari-modified Lancia-based V8 Ferrari D50A. Moss, on loan to Maserati from the unready Vanwall Team, took pole ahead of team-mates Fangio and Behra. Castellotti, clearly fastest of the Ferrari drivers, managed to take the lead from lap 3 to 12, until his car shed a rear wheel.

Two months later, when testing the new, pannier-less, Ferrari 801 model at the Modena Autodromo, Eugenio crashed fatally.

While many English language magazines and books continue extol the prowess, exploits and abilities of Hawthorn and Collins, their contemporary Castellotti is ignored. From his 1955 debut until his last race in Argentina 1957, he was faster than the more-experienced British pair in qualifying, in race results more successful than Hawthorn and at least Collins’ equal. It is no exaggeration to compare his brief Formula One career to the early years of Moss, Senna, Schumacher and Hamilton. And to those earlier stars David Bruce-Brown, Guy Moll and Gilles Villeneuve who also died prematurely in fatal crashes. With Castellotti’s natural talent and speed, 1958 would have been quite something. When Hawthorn raced the Ferrari 246 Dino at his best to win the Championship, Castellotti could probably have been even better… he certainly was faster.

© Patrick O’Brien. Nothing from this page can be used without the permission of Patrick E. O’Brien.

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CELEBRITY RULES? Four F1 wins by Fangio, Moss and Stewart that were not due entirely to driving talent

In the history of Formula One racing the ‘stars’, the top drivers have usually benefitted from their status. The playing field has not always been level. On four notable occasions three of the best drivers scored wins that were not entirely due to their talent.

Fangio in 1956 Lancia-Ferrari

Despite his dignified demeanour and well-mannered politeness, Fangio was very competitive and exploited his status whenever he could. Not overtly ruthless in the Senna-Schumacher mould, ‘The Old Man’ was no less competitive.

For the opening race of the new 2.5 litre Formula at the Buenos Aires Autodromo in January 1954, the 44-year-old was debuting the beautiful, new, six-cylinder Maserati 250F. Young protegé Onofre Marimon was in the other works car. Surprisingly the four-cylinder Ferrari 625s were considerably faster. They were inn effect upgraded versions of the Formula Two Tipo 500, the works machines driven by Farina and Gonzalez practised a whole 0.8 sec better than Fangio’s 250F. Hawthorn’s 625 was next, ahead of Trintignant’s 625 and Marimon’s 250F. Not promising for the Trident.

And so it proved in the race, as the Ferraris dominated. Farina led from flag-fall for 15 laps of the 87, then Gonzalez for 18, Farina again until pitting, when Hawthorn in the third car took the lead. With the Ferraris running an impressive 1,2,3, Fangio could do nothing about them. Until it started raining at lap 35. JMF’s class now shone through, just as Stewart’s, Senna’s or Schumacher’s did in wet conditions. He forged past the Maranello cars to a sizable lead during the next 10 laps. Then the rain stopped, and Gonzalez caught and passed his compatriot. Within four laps the clouds opened and Fangio’s wet-weather superiority ensured he re-took the lead for the next eight laps, before pitting for new tyres. Five excited Maserati mechanics worked on their leading car. Ferrari team manager Ugolini noted this and filed a protest, citing the rule book’s maximum of three crew members permitted. Meanwhile Farina took the lead, with Gonzalez running second, and Ferraris looked set for victory. Neither was threatened by Fangio on the dry track...

So sure was Nello Ugolini of the strength of his protest, for he had witnesses, that he soon signalled his two drivers to slow and not to race Fangio’s Maserati. This they did to such an extent that JMF soon caught them and went on to take the flag. There was no word from the officials, as the partisan crowd cheered their local hero. Ferrari’s subsequent appeal to the FIA was turned down. The record books show the finishing order as Fangio, Farina and Gonzalez. So much for “the phenomenal debut win” for the Maserati 250F ?

Stirling Moss

Two years later at the same Buenos Aires venue, Fangio was again the beneficiary of official partisanship. For the 1956 season-opening Argentinian Grand Prix the roles were reversed: JMF headed the Ferrari team and Ugolini was manager for Maserati! This time the Ferraris, actually Lancia-Ferrari Tipo D50 V8s, were faster than the Maseratis. Fangio was on pole, over two seconds better and alongside front-row team-mates Castellotti and Musso. Behind were the 250F Maseratis of Behra, Gonzalez, Menditeguy and Moss. As the flag fell Musso surged ahead, Fangio following. But by lap end Gonzalez’ 250F roared past both of them to lead the next three laps. Then amazingly, the little-known local, Carlos Menditeguy in a works 250F, passed Gonzalez and led convincingly for almost half the race! On lap 44 of 98 he mis-changed a gear, spun off and stalled. Unable to restart without assistance which would have meant disqualification, he retired. This let Moss’250F through to lead.

Fangio meanwhile, had suffered car trouble and retired on lap 23. Musso was called in from his fifth place and JMF took over. Chasing Moss, he began gaining as Stirling’s car developed engine trouble and slowed. Fangio’s ex-Musso Lancia-Ferrari went through to lead on lap 65. About ten laps later, however, he spun off. Several eager spectators jumped the fences and push-started their hero. Ugolini filed a protest, this time claiming photographic evidence of the rule infringement. No action was taken by the officials! The Old Man again added to his win tally.

After Fangio retired in 1958 Moss reigned supreme. Unfortunately for his career, Stirling elected not to join one of the works teams, but drove for Rob Walker’s private stable. He thus did not have the latest car models, Cooper and Lotus understandably being unwilling to let Moss have their latest machinery. As a driver he had enough of an advantage!

Consequently on his favourite circuit, the original 22-kilometre Nurburgring, and driving a year-old, four cylinder Lotus-Climax 18 with some newer, Type 21 bits, Stirling managed a creditable third grid spot. Ahead by a whopping 1.2% was pole-sitter Phil Hill in the sharknose Ferrari 156, and two-time World Champion Driver Jack Brabham in the latest Cooper Type 58, debuting the first Climax V8 engine. What helped Moss qualify ahead of the rest of the Ferraris and the Porsches, BRM and Lotus teams, was the fact that practice took place in very wet, rainy conditions; his sheer driving superiority made up for his car’s performance deficiency.

On race morning a shower drenched the circuit in parts, and most started on wet-weather tyres. Brabham used his V8’s power to lead from flag-fall, around the North Curve and out into the countryside. Within two kilometres however he went off the wet road into a hedge. Moss took the lead but had Phil Hill’s Ferrari right behind. About halfway round the long lap the American went past, but Stirling retook him before the Karussel. From then on Moss drove a masterly race, conserving his tyres, keeping to the wet patches for cooling, to eventually cross the line just over 20 seconds ahead of the von Trips and Hill Ferraris, with Clark’s works Lotus fourth and Surtees’ year-old Cooper fifth. This has gone down as one of THE great wins of all time, ranked with Nuvolari’s famous Alfa Romeo defeat of Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union here in 1935.

Without detracting from Moss’ superiority, he did have an ‘unfair’ technical advantage. Dunlop had just produced their latest wet-weather tyre, but had only had time to make two front pairs and one rear. They provided Moss with a full set, and gave Brabham the other new fronts. The Australian was furious; as twice World Drivers Champion and number one of the twice-in-a-row Manufacturers Championship-winning works Cooper Team, he reckoned he should have got the latest tyres. He blamed the imbalance of having two sticky fronts for the un-driveability of his car and consequent crash.

The next driver to benefit from his star status was seven years later, coincidentally also at the Nurburgring. Jackie Stewart had assumed Clark’s mantle after the Scot’s tragic, fatal crash early in 1968. Driving the Ken Tyrrell-run Matra-Cosworth MS10 Stewart became a title-contender. The strong opposition was clear when the circus practised at the Nurburgring, for Stewart only managed sixth on the grid. Ahead were the phenomenal young Jackie Ickx and Chris Amon in their be-winged Ferraris, Rindt’s Brabham-Cosworth BT26, Graham Hill’s superb Lotus-Cosworth 49B and surprisingly, Vic Elford’s Cooper-BRM Type 86B! Elford knew the circuit so well, having just won the 1000 Kilometre sports car race in a Porsche. Stewart was almost 10% down on pole! The explanation was that the weather for practice and the race was a repeat of the renowned 1936 Eifel event, when Rosemeyer’s Auto Union won: rain, mist and fog!

Jackie Stewart

Rindt took an immediate lead in his Brabham, until Graham Hill’s Lotus went by within two kilometres. Stewart’s flying Matra-Cosworth then took over. Clear of others’ rooster-tails of spray, Jackie continued to extend his advantage and, in heavier rain than Rosemeyer experienced, won by over 4 minutes!

Passed into grand prix folklore as one of the greatest drives of all time, one has to heed Rob Walker’s explanation in his November 1968 race report for Road and Track magazine. Stewart’s car alone was equipped with Dunlop’s latest Extra Wet compound tyre, their phenomenal grip further enhanced by hundreds of hand-cut grooves. “I doubt if Rosemeyer had such overwhelming superiority of tyres, as Jackie did with his Dunlops.”

Three great drivers, but four wins that would probably not have been achieved on their undoubted driving skills alone. Fangio, Moss and Stewart benefitted from their celebrity status.

© Patrick O’Brien. Nothing from this page can be used without the permission of Patrick E. O’Brien.

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HUNT AND HAWTHORN COMPARED

These two eccentric English drivers had quite a bit in common. Both entered F1 in

their mid-twenties, each won a World Drivers Championship and retired voluntarily after seven seasons at age 30. Mike Hawthorn and James Hunt both enjoyed parties, socialising and were larger than life characters. Hunt was very extrovert and often bizarre in his behaviour, wandering the pit-lane in just his skimpy underpants and appearing at some formal occasions barefoot, in tee-shirt and denims. Hawthorn was far more conservative, but eccentric: he raced in a bow tie! Both died surprisingly early, Mike Hawthorn within months of his title in a road car crash in 1959, James Hunt at age 46 in 1992 of heart failure.

Mike Hawthorn career 1952-1958

Hawthorn had a far better start in F1 than his famous compatriots Moss and Collins. His father and a family friend sponsored and expertly prepared a brand new Cooper-Bristol for Mike alone in 1952 at their family-owned Farnham Garage. The private team was well-organised but financially unable to compete in all races. Against the dominant three- and four-car Ferrari Team, Mike nevertheless drove so well in his five of seven races to score a third and two fourths. Enzo Ferrari noticed!

For 1953 Mike was invited to join Maranello, alongside Ascari, Farina and Villoresi. This still-dominant team enabled Hawthorn to win the French GP at Reims after a race-long dice with Fangio’s Maserati. He finished every race, scoring two thirds, three fourths, a fifth and a sixth. For 1954 Ascari having left, Mike managed another win and several good places. Although being shaded by team-mate Gonzalez, it was another good year.

1955 was not good. Hawthorn drove for the new Vanwall Team in two early races before walking out after a disagreement with patron Vandervell. He sat out the mid-season and then returned to Ferrari for the last three races. But Mike had personal problems and a kidney illness. He was out of practice and way off-pace. 1956 was a better season for Mike’s rating, although he only drove twice: Moss’ old Maserati to a good third in Buenos Aires and a Vanwall to tenth at Reims.

For 1957 Hawthorn was back with Ferrari fulltime. His friend Collins joined as one of several team-mates. He had a reasonable year with a second and one third place, but could not match Fangio’s Maserati or the Moss and Brooks Vanwalls. Enjoying himself now with Collins, Mike was very determined for 1958, and the compact new V6 Dino Ferrari was competitive and very reliable. Despite only one win to Moss’ four, Mike won the Championship, thanks to the skewed points system, scoring well with four seconds places.

James Hunt career 1973-1979

James Hunt started with a privately-entered March-Cosworth in 1973, as sole driver for Lord Alexander Hesketh’s new team. Some good placings and three fastest laps testified to his speed. For 1974 James drove the new Hesketh-Cosworth and again scored some good placings. Driving for Hesketh again in 1975 he scored his first win after a close battle with Lauda’s dominant Ferrari. But Hesketh was out of funds.

Hunt’s break came for 1976 when Emerson Fittipaldi suddenly left McLaren and James was called up. He was fortunate that the McLaren-Cosworth M23 was the fastest car of the year, and that Lauda crashed at the Nurburgring. This enabled James to close up and win the title by a narrow margin in the season finale in rainy Fuji. Lauda always admired his friend James’ fierce competiveness. In 1977 Hunt managed three wins and again drove so well, but could not quite match the Lauda/Ferrari and Andretti/Lotus-Cosworth packages.

Hunt was no technical driver in the sense that Lauda or Andretti were: able to set up their cars and prepared to work hard off-track to get things right. For 1978 he struggled with the off-pace McLaren-Cosworth and lost his edge as a driver. In 1979 it was worse; James went to the Wolf Team, for whom Jody Scheckter had nearly won the championship in 1977. But the new Wolf-Cosworth model was way-off pace and James just gave up halfway through the season, not having driven well.

How the two drivers compare is shown in the Driver Rating table below. The best or ultimate pace is 100.0, increments of 0.1 being slower. That is by one-hundredth of a second. All my rating s are based solely on official Championship events.

	Hawthorn		Hunt
Season	Year	Rating	Year	Rating
Season One	1952	100.8	1973	101.0
Season Two	1953	100.8	1974	100.8
Season Three	1954	101.3	1975	100.5
Season Four	1955	102.3	1976	100.3
Season Five	1956	100.7	1977	100.3
Season Six	1957	100.7	1978	100.8
Season Seven	1958	100.4	1979	101.2

Hawthorn started very well, rating at the same gap from the fastest drivers as did Senna in his debut season. Hunt was not far off and matched Mike in the second year. Hunt, secure and in practice with continuous, professionally-sponsored racing went on to his best rating of 100.3 for his Championship year in 1976, and again the following year when he was a strong contender. Hawthorn by contrast suffered ill health and personal problems during 1954 and lost his spark. 1955 was worse for the same reasons, as well as losing his father in a road car crash. Hawthorn improved in 1956 despite driving just three races for BRM, Vanwall and a private Maserati! This level of 100.7 he maintained for 1957 with friend and team-mate Peter Collins at Ferrari. For 1958 Mike wanted to win the Championship and retire afterwards: he then raced at his best level of 100.4, the same Rating Jody Scheckter and Alan Jones at their peaks.

Hawthorn was superior to Hunt in being mechanically-minded; James was not interested in cars or their technicalities. Mike on the other hand started tinkering with his own motor cycles from an early age, being around in his father’s garage and doing his technical apprenticeship. He was good at working with the teams, especially with Ferrari in car set-up and development; exactly Hunt’s weaker point. Mike had a natural balance and feel: as an apprentice he used to amaze his mates by riding his motor cycle along the top of a 2-metre high yard wall.

James Hunt went downhill in his last two seasons: struggling in 1978 with a below- par McLaren and in 1979 with an off-pace Wolf. He promptly retired mid-season, having dropped his pace by almost a second a lap.

“Similar. They both raced for the same reasons”, was renowned journalist Denis Jenkinson’s opinion when I asked him at Kyalami in 1978 how he rated Hunt and Hawthorn.

© Patrick O’Brien. Nothing from this page can be used without the permission of Patrick E. O’Brien.

MONTOYA AND GONZALEZ

South America has produced several top-rate Formula One drivers: Fangio, Gonzalez, Fittipaldi, Reutemann, Pace, Piquet, Senna, Barrichello, Montoya and Massa…

Froilan Gonzalez, career 1950-1960

Comparing the career of Froilan Gonzalez from the fifties with that of Juan-Pablo Montoya half a century later, reveals some coincidental similarities. Both were real racers with heart, instantly fast and very competitive. Both their F1 careers were terminated early, at age 31, having debuted F1 at 27 and 26 years old respectively.

As people though, they were very different: Gonzalez was calm and philosophical; Montoya fiery and temperamental.

Froilan Gonzalez came to F1 racing in Europe as a protegé and friend of Fangio’s. Driving an old Maserati in two races of the inaugural 1950 season, he debuted sensationally at Monaco by setting third fastest time to the Alfas of Fangio and Farina. He started on the front row, ahead of all the other, more experienced ‘names’. This was the infamous race in which more than half the field crashed out on the first lap! This after waves had splashed water onto the road, causing second-running Farina to crash, third placed Gonzalez and nine others following suit! Someone in Maranello had noticed this imprsesive debut...

After driving a Talbot-Lago in the first event of 1951, he was signed by Enzo Ferrari for the Maranello Team alongside Alberto Ascari, Villoresi and Taruffi. The 4.5 litre V12 Ferraris were in the process of challenging the invincible 1.5 litre supercharged Alfa Romeos. Gonzalez’ Ferrari debut at Reims saw him running second, when he was called in to hand over to Ascari, who finished the race, in second place.

At his next appearance, only his fifth, at Silverstone in July 1951, Froilan scored Ferrari’s first F1 win. Beating Fangio and the Alfas and his own team-leader Ascari assured Gonzalez’ standing. He raced very competitively for Maserati in 1952 and in 1953, which latter season was cut short by injuries sustained in a sports-car event. He returned to Ferrari for 1954, winning his second memorable British GP, again defeating Fangio, now heading the Mercedes-Benz team, and Ascari. Unfortunately this was Froilan’s last full season before retiring to run his car dealership in Buenos Aires. He said he did not earn enough in F1 to afford the luxury of racing full-time! Gonzalez then appeared only sporadically in one-off drives per season for Maserati, Vanwall and Ferrari from 1955 until 1960.

Montoya? Who will forget this Williams-BMW rookie’s daring overtaking of Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari for the lead at the end of the Interlagos main straight in 2001? One of F1’s most memorable moves, it assured Juan-Pablo’s status. The Williams-BMW Team employed him alongside the under-rated Ralf Schumacher for 2001-5, after which J-P switched to McLaren-Mercedes in 2006, for what was to be his last season. He left suddenly in mid-year (Peter, please explain). Unfortunately for F1.

According to the Driver Ratings, how the Argentinian and the Colombian stack up are shown in the table below. Bear in mind that the figure 100.0 represents the fastest, increments of 0.1 being slower. The figures can be read as percentages, or as based on a fastest lap time of 100.0 seconds, which was almost Vettel’s Red Bull-Renault lap at Abu Dhabi in 2010.

	Gonzalez		Montoya
Season	Year	Rating	Year	Rating
Season One	1950	100.6	2001	100.8
Season Two	1951	100.3	2002	100.5
Season Three	1952	100.3	2003	100.3
Season Four	1953	100.3	2004	100.3
Season Five	1954	100.3	2005	100.3
Season Six	-		2006	100.3

Gonzalez’ debut season rating of 100.6 matched Michael Schumacher’s initial rating in 1991. Froilan’s improvement to 100.3 in his second season was phenomenal, for he was up against two of the greatest drivers, Fangio and Ascari. He maintained this high rating for the next three seasons, the rest of his full-time career.

Montoya’s debut rating of 100.8 matched Stewart’s of 1965. Juan-Pablo’s start was outstanding, but he was slower than team-mate Ralf Schumacher for his first two seasons, 2001-2002. As J-P said at the time: “Ralf is much more experienced than me”. By 2003 Montoya had raised his game to 100.3, a rating maintained, just as Gonzalez did, for the rest of his career. J-P came up against Raikkonen as his McLaren-Mercedes team-mate in 2006. The Finn had already had three seasons with the team, so Montoya did well in that half season to race within 0.3 of the acknowledged speed-king, Kimi.

Amazing to discover that, at their peaks, these two very combative and superb drivers raced at the same gap from the front, although fifty years apart! Gonzalez at 100.3 was next fastest against ultimate pacers Juan Fangio and Alberto Ascari. Montoya at 100.3 had Michael Scumacher and Kimi Raikkonen as his fastest driver rivals. Ralf Schumacher and Alonso then were virtually his speed-rating equals. Formidable measures.

Formidable drivers, Gonzalez and Montoya. Real racers with great talent, who both retired from F1 too early.

© Patrick O’Brien. Nothing from this page can be used without the permission of Patrick E. O’Brien.

RAIKKONEN AND REUTEMANN



Carlos Reutemann career 1972-1982



Kimi Raikkonen, who raced in Forumula 1 from 2001-2009, and Carlos Reutemann, 1972-1982, had at least as much natural talent as the best of their rivals: outstanding speed, sensitivity and racecraft. Yet neither seemed to fulfill the promise and high expectations that we the fans, or many in the media or pitlane expected.

Completely different characters, they did share some similarities: both could be enigmatic, neither were great communicators and they did not readily befriend team-mates. Each ‘hit a wall’ when faced with unexpectedly fast team-mates: Reutemann in his fourth and fifth seasons with Carlos Pace, and Raikkonen in his seventh to ninth seasons with Filipe Massa..

Kimi and Carlos were nevertheless superb drivers, as shown in the Driver Ratings table below. The ultimate pace is represented by the figure 100.0, slower speeds are shown in 0.1 increments. These can also be read as percentages or as a best/fastest lap of 100.0 seconds.

Season	Raikkonen		Reutemann
	Year	Rating	Year	Rating
One	2001	100.7	1972	101.0
Two	2002	100.4	1973	100.6
Three	2003	100.4	1974	100.5
Four	2004	100.3	1975	100.7
Five	2005	100.1	1976	100.8
Six	2006	100.0	1977	100.4
Seven	2007	100.3	1978	100.1
Eight	2008	100.3	1979	100.3
Nine	2009	100.2	1980	100.6
Ten	-	-	1981	100.3
Eleven	-	-	1982	100.3

Bear in mind that great drivers such as Hunt and Peterson peaked at 100.3, and world champions Graham and Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve and Emerson Fittipaldi at 100.5. This puts the speed of Raikkonen and Reutemann in perspective.

Kimi started at Sauber-Ferrari phenomenally at 100.7 for a rookie, much like Senna and Schumacher. After slightly outpacing team-mate Heidfeld, McLaren-Mercedes snapped Raikkonen up for the next five years. This could not have been a better career move: the team were top-rate and Kimi had experienced Coulthard against which to measure himself and learn. DC rated 100.5 to 100.6 for the three years 2002-2004 and won twice. Kimi was faster and also recorded two wins. They were up against the Ferrari-Schumacher steamroller, despite the McLaren-Mercedes being virtually as fast, driver-neutral.

For 2005 Coulthard was replaced by young charger Montoya. Would the bombastic Colombian blow Kimi away? Would ‘The Iceman’ prevail? Ferrari slipped with their Bridgestone tyre coordination, and their place as main contenders was taken by Renault and Alonso, who managed 7 wins. Montoya rated at an impressive 100.3 in his first year with McLaren, which perhaps pushed Kimi to 100.1. He consequently managed 7 wins and 6 poles! Great by any standards. Montoya took three wins and one pole. McLaren were the best team with ten wins to Renault’s eight.

The silver Mercedes-powered cars slipped for 2006. Although Raikkonen peaked at the ultimate 100.0 and Montoya remained on 100.3, they did not score a single win! Montoya walked out midway and left F1. Ferrari were back, with Michael and Massa scoring nine times to Alonso-Fisichella’s eight for Renault.

Michael Schumacher retired and Ferrari at last got Raikkonen for 2007, whom Jean Todt had long praised as Michael’s successor. The likable Felipe Massa, who had got on well with and learned from Schumacher, was expected to play a supporting role. Surely, in the face of Kimi’s sheer speed, experience and smoothness? Although Kimi won his Ferrari debut in Australia, Massa surprised in being just as fast, taking three poles to Raikkonen’s one in the first seven races! Felipe won two races before Kimi managed two more. Massa won again, then Kimi took three near season end to take the title. It was close, Ferrari with nine wins , Renault eight.

For 2008 Raikkonen and Massa again equal-rated at 100.3, but Felipe did better: six poles to Kimi’s two and almost won the drivers title with six wins, Raikkonen taking two. Everyone was surprised at this, except Felipe’s engineer Rob Smedley. Kimi was not quite at ease with the Ferrari’s balance and did suffer some bad luck. But was he rattled by his team-mate’s speed? The 2007 and 2008 the Ferrari’s were the fastest, most successful cars.

Raikkonen’s last season in F1 with Ferrari in 2009, was strange one: he was slightly faster in speed than Felipe, but could not outshine him in the races. Then Massa suffered his serious accident and injuries in Hungary which put him out for the season. Kimi seemed to shine a bit more, picked up pace to rate 100.2 and managed one win. The Ferrari was half-a second-lap off-pace though. This was far too much to give away in a season dominated by the ‘Honda’- Brawn-Mercedes of Button and Barrichello, and by a surging red-Bull-Renault team led by Vettel.

Raikkonen retired to go rallying for 2010, the balance of his contract having been paid by Maranello to make way for Alonso! It was felt that Kimi’s heart was not sufficiently in it. Difficult to say, for Kimi hardly said anything, he did not play soccer behind the pits with the mechanics as Massa and Schumacher did...

Going back almost thirty years to Reutemann: he arrived in F1 with a bang, by setting his Brabham-Cosworth on pole at his 1972 Buenos Aires debut. This was deceptive, however, for Carlos’car had been fitted with super-grippy tyres that faded within a few laps. In that rookie season he easily showed superior speed to histeam-mates, the aging Graham Hill and Wilson Fittipaldi.

Carlos immediately showed talent in rating 100.6 then 100.5 in his second and third seasons with Bernie Ecclestone’s Brabham team, again easily outpacing fellow Brabham drivers Wilson Fittipaldi and John Watson. For 1974 Carlos managed three wins in the sharp-edged BT44. It looked as if his promise was being realised...

Bernie’s hiring of Brazilian Carlos Pace in 1975-6 stopped the Argentinian’s rise! Pace was immediately very fast, and Reutemann slowed to 100.7 then 100.8! Most unusual for driver of such talent. He did not see the 1976 season out at Brabham. For the 1976 Italian GP Ferrari employed Reutemann, thinking reasonably that Lauda would not be available, let alone competitive after his near-fatal, Nurburgring crash. Lauda was incensed and determined to beat Carlos at Monza: bandaged and in severe pain, Niki finished an amazing fourth, Carlos ninth. Reutemann sat out the rest of the season.

Taken on full-time by Ferrari for 1977, Carlos was disliked, out-psyched and again out-raced by Lauda all year, with 3 wins and the driver’s championship to Reutemann’s single win! Carlos’s rating had improved though to 100.4, the same as Jones and Scheckter in their peak championship years. Lauda walked out before year-end to lead the Brabham team, and Carlos was joined by the very young Gilles Villeneuve.

Carlos and Gilles got on well at Ferrari in 1978. They raced at 100.1 and 100.9 respectively and gave the dominant ‘ground-effect’ Lotus-Cosworths of Andretti and Peterson a run for the championship. Carlos managed four fine wins, Gilles one. Unfortunately for the next year, 1979, Enzo took Jody Scheckter on board. Carlos signed up to join Andretti at Lotus. The Lotus-Cosworth 79 was way off-pace as rival teams, particularly Williams, out-designed them for ground-effects. Mario and Carlos equal-rated at 100.3, but Andretti did not get on with the Argentinian. Lack of car speed probably de-motivated both drivers. Carlos outraced Mario and scored more than twice as many points, but the poor car disguised these two great drivers’ performances.

The last team move for Reutemann was to Williams for 1980. His team-mate was Alan Jones, who had very ably led the team from its formation in 1978. In 1980 Jones raced at his peak of 100.4, won five times and the Championship; Carlos at 100.6 and just one win.

For 1981 Reutemann outpaced the Australian, at 100.3 vs 100.5! The team-mate problem started at the second event in Brazil. Carlos was leading Jones, when a sign came from the pit: let Jones through! Carlos ignored it and won, the Williams team’s second one-two of the season! Jones was livid and outspoken, and Frank backed him. The two drivers hardly spoke to each other for the rest of the season. They each won twice, but Piquet/Brabham and Prost/Renault each managed three wins. The season finale at Las Vegas was disaster for Carlos, who could have won the championship from pole. Instead he started slowly, finished eighth and afterwards said his car’s suspension was not right. Jones gleefully won the race and Piquet/Brabham-Cosworth the championship. So disappointing for the many Reutemann fans...

Jones promptly retired from F1 and Carlos continued for 1982 to lead Williams, teamed with the young and very fast Keke Rosberg. On season average, Carlos raced at 100.3 to Keke’s 100.5. Carlos finished a fine second to Prost’s turbo Renault at Kyalami’s season opener. He then dropped out in the next race in Brazil from a collision with Arnoux’s Renault, while Rosberg finished an outstanding second. Like Jones, Reutemann then promptly announced his retirement! Both quoted their dislike of the FIA regs and the hard-sprung cars. These team-inconsiderate actions helped define Frank Williams’ attitude to drivers forever after. Understandably.

Results: 18 wins and 16 poles by Raikkonen, 12 wins and 6 poles by Reutemann.

Raikkonen seemed less affected by team politics, if at all. For expert analysis of Raikkonen’s driving style, refer to Peter Windsor’s race reports for 2008. Peter was a great friend of Reutemann’s, and has written extensively on Carlos’ career, as has Alan Henry. Kimi had better cars overall, with absolute, top-rated ones in 2003, 2007 and 2008; Carlos only in 1980. As always the car/team were critical to results, as was the competition each season. Coincidentally both had rookie years in cars that were 1 second-a-lap off-pace. Their talent soon ensured top drives thereafter. Perhaps neither driver was as obsessed with winning, or had that passionate need, as had Fangio, Ascari, Lauda, Senna or Schumacher? Whatever the motivation, they were among the most gifted of drivers. 

© Patrick O’Brien. Nothing from this page can be used without the permission of the author, Patrick E. O’Brien.