The shortest F1 careers in history

Most racing drivers grow up dreaming about Formula 1. Very few reach it, and of those, some fail to find a foothold and are gone almost as soon as they appeared.

Some of the shortest F1 careers haven't stretched beyond the opening lap. But, like other mileage-challenged soloists Josef Peters (1952 German Grand Prix, one lap), Bob Said (1959 US GP, half a lap) and Graham McRae (1973 British GP, half a lap), Marco Apicella enjoyed success in other fields, racing among the frontrunners in Super Formula and Super GT.

Apicella had already left the European Formula 3000 scene after five seasons and begun a race-winning relationship with Dome in Japan when he got an offer to drive for Jordan in the 1993 Italian Grand Prix.

Ivan Capelli and Thierry Boutsen had already vacated that seat, preferring retirement, but Eddie Jordan wasn't asking for much money. Apicella had half a day's testing at Imola then headed to Monza, where he qualified 23rd after hitting a rivulet at the Lesmos and spinning off.

"I remember this experience very well, unfortunately!" he says. "I was so excited. A lot of the other guys on the grid I'd raced against in F3000, and somehow it was as if they were waiting for me. It was a great day.

"But I knew I was just going to do this one race so there was a big pressure. Still, it was all good for me, except for the result! I did maybe 200 metres before somebody hit me and it broke the steering, so I had to stop, even before the first corner.

"I still don't know who hit me. I don't want to watch the video - it's really painful to think about, even though in many other ways I was very lucky in my career and had good results."

STEPHANE SARRAZIN
1999 Brazilian Grand Prix

F3000 frontrunner Sarrazin was testing Prost GP's F1 car at Barcelona when he got the call-up to replace Minardi's injured Luca Badoer for the Brazilian GP.

"I remember it like yesterday," he says. "When I arrived the spare car had Marc Gene's name on it. Free practice was wet and I was about 14th. Then they changed the name to Sarrazin, I was very happy about the feeling.

"I was going well in the race. I was in front of Panis, and he finished sixth. I was in front of a Benetton and I felt I was doing a very good job.

"Then the front wing broke and I didn't realise. When I arrived at Turn 14 I had no downforce and went straight in the wall. It was a big one. They had a problem with the wings at that time, they had many failures."

Believing he was safe for the drive with Prost in 2000, Sarrazin turned down Minardi's offer to stay on. This proved to be a mistake, since Prost took Nick Heidfeld in F1 and Sarrazin had to scrabble for another F3000 drive.

"It was my choice," he says. "I was very young - 22, 23 - and I had no manager. I should have stayed in F1 and got a lawyer!"

Distance covered by Sarrazin: 85.00 miles

HANS HEYER
1977 German Grand Prix, Hockenheim

Touring car racer and one-off F1 entrant Hans Heyer hadn't even qualified for the German Grand Prix in 1977, but he parked his ATS-Penske at the pitlane exit come Sunday so as to be ready in case another entrant failed to make it to the grid. As first reserve he was entitled to do this.

Then, when Clay Regazzoni and Alan Jones collided at the first corner, Heyer took it as his cue to join the fray anyway.

The crowd were delighted, the race stewards less so. When Heyer's gear selector linkage came apart after nine laps it neatly solved their quandary over what to do about him; they duly scrubbed him from the record.

Distance covered by Heyer: 37.97 miles

TIFF NEEDELL
1980 Belgian Grand Prix, Zolder

Then a jobbing racing driver with a good Formula 3 pedigree, now a popular and accomplished broadcaster, Tiff Needell talked his way into the Ensign drive that had been vacated by Clay Regazzoni after his life-changing accident at Long Beach. After a brief test at Donington Park, he made his debut at Zolder, qualifying in the penultimate grid slot ahead of Emerson Fittipaldi.

"I remember sitting on the grid humming the Grand Prix theme tune," he says. "And I had a dice with Emerson [Fittipaldi], my schoolboy hero."

Needell's engine blew after 12 laps and he failed to make the grid for the next race, Monaco, after crashing in qualifying. Jan Lammers took over the car from then on, though he also struggled to qualify it.

Distance covered by Needell: 31.78 miles

JONATHAN WILLIAMS
1967 Mexican Grand Prix, Mexico City

Taking a drive at Ferrari is occasionally akin to accepting a poisoned chalice, but by any measure the reaction of Jonathan Williams, who passed away earlier this year, to his summons to the 1967 Mexican Grand Prix was somewhat extreme.

"I was dragged there kicking and screaming," he said.

Ferrari had run a single entry for much of the season after Lorenzo Bandini's fatal accident in Monaco. Months later 24-year-old Williams, who had contested a number of Formula 2 and sportscar races for the Scuderia, was informed that he should make haste to Mexico City and bring some overalls "just in case".

Upon arrival he kicked his heels on the sidelines throughout Friday practice. Then, on Saturday, for reasons that go unrecorded, Williams was told to suit up and get going.

"I'd never even sat in the car," he said. "I had maybe 15 to 20 laps before the race."

He still qualified 16th out of 19 runners, albeit 7.24 seconds away from Jim Clark's pole time, and he came home eighth, though three of the cars classified behind him were walking wounded.

"I was terribly ashamed after Mexico and was walking around in dark glasses hiding from people," he said.

Williams never raced in F1 again but he achieved modest success in F2 and sportscars before hanging up his helmet in 1972.

Distance covered by Williams: 195.73 miles

GERARD LARROUSSE
1974 Belgian Grand Prix, Nivelles

"I think I wanted to say that I'd done one grand prix in my life," said Gerard Larrousse in an interview with Motor Sport 10 years ago.

Thus the rally driver turned sportscar ace obtained a ride in the Swiss-run Team Bretscher Brabham BT42 for the 1974 Belgian Grand Prix at the unloved Nivelles circuit. He had only driven in four single-seater races before.

"The first time I saw it was when it turned up at Nivelles on the back of an open trailer pulled by a little truck," he says. "There were just two mechanics."

Larrousse qualified 28th and made it to lap 53 before his tyres gave out - and the team had no more to fit.

"I've always suspected that Leo [Mehl, Goodyear supremo] gave me qualifying tyres," says Larrousse.

Distance covered by Larrousse: 122.64 miles

MARKUS WINKELHOCK
2007 European Grand Prix, Nurburgring

Uniquely among F1 soloists, Markus Winkelhock led the one grand prix he started.

The 27-year old was called up by Spyker to contest the 2007 European GP at the Nürburgring in place of Christijan Albers (who had been dropped when his sponsorship ran out).

Thanks to a pitwall gamble, Winkelhock was the only driver on full wets when torrential rain drenched the circuit on the opening lap, and he found himself leading as others scurried to the pits for intermediates or flew off the road before getting there.

He briefly led after the restart, but his hydraulics failed after 15 laps and he never raced an F1 car again. Sakon Yamamoto arrived with wallet in tow and took the seat for the remainder of the year.

"To lead a Formula 1 race is something nobody can take away from you," says Winkelhock. "You have it for your whole life."

Distance covered by Winkelhock: 47.97 miles

MIGUEL ANGEL GUERRA
1981 San Marino Grand Prix, Imola

Argentine F2 graduate Guerra arrived at Long Beach for the first race of 1981 with no F1 cockpit time apart from a day of straightline testing at an airfield. Osella's FA1B was woefully off the ground-effect pace and Guerra was one of five drivers not to make the cut.

Guerra had raced in F2 at Imola and there, at the fourth race of the season, he finally qualified. But what would prove to be his only GP start didn't last long: as the field rounded Tamburello for the first time, with the track still wet, Eliseo Salazar clipped the right-rear of Guerra's car and sent him almost head-on into the wall.

He sustained a double fracture to his left ankle in the impact, which also trapped him in the car.

"That's life," he says. "I didn't manage to find another F1 chance. At the beginning of 1982 there was a big currency devaluation in Argentina and suddenly it was no longer possible to find the sort of sponsorship required."

Distance covered by Guerra: 550 yards

ANDRE LOTTERER
2014 Belgian Grand Prix, Spa-Francorchamps

As a Le Mans 24 Hours winner and serial frontrunner in Japanese Super Formula, Andre Lotterer has little left to prove at the top level of motor racing.

But, having spent a formative year of his career (2002) on the sidelines as Jaguar's F1 test driver, he couldn't resist an offer to drive for Caterham in the 2014 Belgian GP.

Driving a backmarking F1 car proved a disappointment in terms of cornering ability compared with his LMP1 Audi, but he rapidly outpaced team-mate Marcus Ericsson in practice, and outqualified him.

Lotterer's race lasted just one full lap before his engine lost power and he halted at Blanchimont.

"It's a shame I didn't finish the race," he says, "but I can go home happy, even though it didn't end the way I'd have liked it to."

Distance covered by Lotterer: 8.33 miles

JEAN-LOUIS SCHLESSER
1988 Italian Grand Prix, Monza

Making his world championship F1 debut the day before his 40th birthday, Schlesser had been called up by Williams to stand in for Nigel Mansell, who was suffering from chicken pox.

"I was not surprised to get the call," he says. "I'd already done a lot of testing. I hadn't driven the car for a year, though."

It had been a dire season for Judd-powered Williams, one not greatly improved by reverting the FW12 to passive suspension. Schlesser was lucky to qualify after crashing during Saturday's second session.

With just one full lap of the race to go he was running in 11th as the leader, Ayrton Senna, came up to put him two laps down... and the rest is history.

Schlesser ran out of asphalt as Senna swept by at the Rettifilo and turned in, nudging the McLaren into retirement and allowing Gerhard Berger and Michele Alboreto through for a Ferrari one-two. It would be the only race of 1988 not won by McLaren.

"I was surprised he tried to pass me where he did," says Schlesser. "I was braking, braking, braking and thinking, 'Why has he not passed me yet?' So I had to turn when I did and 'ping!' He hit me.

"Ayrton was quite nice with me about it after the race, though. He said, 'It's OK, don't worry. It's a racing incident.' Everything was all right - no problems."

Distance covered by Schlesser: 176.59 miles

ERNST LOOF
1953 German Grand Prix, Nurburgring

A pre-war motorcycle champion and BMW engineer, Ernst Loof co-founded the Veritas marque after hostilities had been concluded.

Finances were always tight, but in a workshop near the Nurburgring, Loof built a decently competitive F2 chassis named the Meteor.

It was in one of these that, at the age of 46, he qualified 31st (out of 34 entries) for the 1953 German GP, while the world champions were running to F2 rules.

Juan Manuel Fangio seized the lead in his Maserati at the start, tearing past polesitter Alberto Ascari's Ferrari; and, once the field had departed, one car remained. Loof's fuel pump had broken, stranding him on the grid.

Distance covered by Loof: Two yards

CLEMENTE BIONDETTI
1950 Italian Grand Prix, Monza

Biondetti had raced for Maserati in pre-war grands prix and won the Mille Miglia four times, but surely his most curious adventure was to enter a Jaguar-engined Ferrari at the 1950 Italian GP.

"His stubbornness and persistence, characteristic of the old Viareggio stock, emerged on road races more than on the track," wrote Enzo Ferrari in his book Piloti, che gente.

Perhaps this is why Biondetti could not obtain a Ferrari F1 car, even though he had won both the Mille Miglia and the Targa Florio in Enzo's machinery.

Neither could he persuade Jaguar to build an F1 car or even supply him with a new engine, though he was on Jaguar's books as a works sportscar driver in 1950.

Instead, he took a used XK120 engine - one that had thrown a conrod on the Targa Florio - and fitted it, along with the drivetrain, into what is claimed to have been the body of a Ferrari 166 (the subsequent history of the original Ferrari chassis has muddied the waters somewhat). It's believed, but impossible to say definitively, that the majority of the chassis was Maserati.

Biondetti qualified his bitsa-car 25th out of 27 starters, albeit 32s off Fangio's pole position time of 1m58.6s, and he rose as high as 18th before his engine failed on the 17th lap.

Ill health forced Biondetti to quit motor racing in 1954 and the following February he succumbed to cancer, aged 56.

Distance covered by Biondetti: 66.55 miles

ARTHUR OWEN
1960 Italian Grand Prix, Monza

"Jerseyman Arthur Owen couldn't care less about being sent to Coventry," wrote Gregor Grant in his AUTOSPORT report from the 1960 Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

Those Brits who broke the boycott of the race (Lotus, Cooper and BRM refused to take part on safety grounds because of the use of the banking) had apparently been threatened with an "angry silence" when they returned home, but for Owen - an experienced hillclimber - the opportunity was too good to miss.

Only 17 cars were entered and just 16 started, since Jack Fairman - due to race Horace Gould's Maserati 250F - decided at the last minute to observe the boycott.

Owen qualified his two-year-old Cooper-Climax T45 11th, slowest of the nine F1 cars on the grid, and behind F2 cars driven by Wolfgang Von Trips (Ferrari) and Hans Herrmann (Porsche).

He managed to get ahead of Herrmann but dropped out of the race before having to tackle the banked section, suffering a locked brake at the Parabolica and taking to the grass, terminally damaging his car's suspension.

Owen returned to hillclimbing and won the British championship in 1962.

Distance covered by Owen: 2.05 miles

LANCE REVENTLOW
1960 Belgian Grand Prix, Spa-Francorchamps

Son of Woolworths heiress Barbara Hutton and a revolving door of stepfathers including Cary Grant (Hutton married seven times), Reventlow brought a touch of Hollywood glamour to the F1 paddock during his ultimately doomed attempts to race his US-developed Scarab F1 cars.

After enjoying success in sportscars he was perhaps two years too late to F1, fielding a pair of handsome but ponderous front-engined cars for himself and Chuck Daigh just as that configuration was being blown away on-track.

Reventlow failed to qualify in Monaco, withdrew his cars from the Dutch GP after the organisers announced they would only pay starting money to the top 15 qualifiers, but scraped on to the grid in Belgium, 19.7s off Jack Brabham's pole time.

He managed just one full lap before the engine lunched itself as Reventlow accelerated up the hill after taking Eau Rouge for the second time.

It was time to think again about the marque's technical strategy. Scarab did develop a rear-engined single-seater, but never returned to F1, and with age Reventlow mellowed and lost interest in racing.

Distance covered by Reventlow: 9.01 miles

FRED GAMBLE
1960 Italian Grand Prix, Monza

American amateur racer Fred Gamble had served as a radio operator in the Korean war and worked as a journalist before hooking up with the entrepreneur Lloyd 'Lucky' Casner at an SCCA meeting.

The unlikely result was a new team, bankrolled by Casner with Gamble acting as both publicist and occasional driver, along with a roster of others.

Their gift of the gab enabled the team, Camoradi International, to obtain - among other things - the F2 Porsche Jean Behra had built before his untimely death.

To these circumstances, add a shortfall of entrants to the 1960 Italian Grand Prix after the organisers insisted on using the full 6.2-mile layout.

The Automobile Club of Milan reportedly offered even minnows such as Camoradi the equivalent of $1000 to start the race, an offer Casner could not refuse.

"Scraping the barrel" was how AUTOSPORT editor Gregor Grant described the 17-car entry.

Gamble qualified 14th and ran as high as eighth before having to pit for an oil top-up. Later he ran out of fuel and had to sprint back to the pits on foot to obtain more. That enabled him to restart and finish 10th, albeit nine laps behind race-winner Phil Hill.

Gamble went on to spearhead Goodyear's involvement in top-level racing, including F1.

Distance covered by Gamble: 255 miles

CHRIS CRAFT
1971 US GP, Watkins Glen

Even when it was possible to 'do' F1 on a budget there were limits, as accomplished sportscar racer Chris Craft found when he tackled a handful of events at the end of 1971 in a second-hand Brabham bought by Alain de Cadenet.

"I didn't realise the budget would be so tight that we'd only have one set of brake pads," he says. "Alain bought Jack Brabham's 1970 BT33 from Ron Tauranac. It still had a dented front wishbone from when Jack had gone off on the last lap at Monaco."

Craft finished fifth at the Oulton Park Gold Cup and qualified at the tail of the Canadian Grand Prix grid, only for the engine to fail on the formation lap.

At the final GP of the year he put the car 27th on the grid at Watkins Glen, but the rear suspension collapsed after 30 of the 59 laps, a consequence of Craft ignoring a vibration from the tyres.

That was it for Craft and F1 but he would race the car again, or at least parts of it. De Cadenet cannibalised the BT33 to create his eponymous Le Mans sports-prototype.

Distance covered by Craft: 101.31 miles