Some driver and team pairings are simply unforgettable for F1 fans – take Michael Schumacher and Ferrari or Ayrton Senna and McLaren as two prime examples. But what about combinations that might have slipped your mind over the years? F1.com presents 10 such cases below, including a handful from recent history and a few that go a little bit further back in the archives…
Paul di Resta and Williams
Paul di Resta arrived in F1 as the DTM champion in 2011, spending three seasons racing with Force India and recording a best finish of fourth place on two occasions – after which he headed back to the German touring car series and appeared to have left single-seaters behind him.
A reserve deal with Williams for 2016 brought him back to the F1 fold and, when regular driver Felipe Massa felt unwell ahead of Qualifying at the 2017 Hungarian Grand Prix, the Scot was drafted in to replace him. “It was like being thrown off a cliff,” he said, having lined up for the race in 19th and completed 60 out of 70 laps before technical issues struck.
Esteban Ocon and Manor Racing
Esteban Ocon contested his first full F1 season with Force India in 2017, staying there for a couple of seasons before taking an enforced break – when Lance Stroll arrived at the renamed Racing Point – and later embarking on stints with Renault/Alpine and Haas.
However, the Frenchman actually started out with Manor Racing midway through the 2016 season, when he replaced Indonesian Ryo Haryanto (who had run out of funds) at the backmarker team – coming agonisingly close to earning them a point in Brazil.
Andre Lotterer and Caterham
Andre Lotterer has a host of motorsport accolades to his name, including the Japanese Formula Nippon (now Super Formula) and Super GT titles, the World Endurance Championship crown, and multiple victories at the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans.
In 2014, the German – who was a Jaguar test driver in the early-noughties – realised his long-held dream of starting an F1 race by appearing at the Belgian Grand Prix with backmarkers Caterham. He qualified ahead of team mate Marcus Ericsson, but unfortunately completed just one lap on race day amid technical problems.
Daniel Ricciardo and Hispania Racing/HRT
Daniel Ricciardo climbed the single-seater ranks with Red Bull support and was knocking on the door of a seat at their F1 junior team, then-named Toro Rosso, via several Free Practice outings over the first half of the 2011 season.
But before joining Toro Rosso in 2012, the Australian was given a chance to gain valuable experience at the back of the grid with Hispania Racing (later called HRT) – replacing Narain Karthikeyan from the 2011 British Grand Prix onwards.
Sebastian Vettel and BMW-Sauber
Another Red Bull-backed driver to start their F1 career with a non-Red Bull team was Sebastian Vettel, who completed several practice outings for BMW-Sauber over the second half of 2006 and across the early rounds of the 2007 campaign.
With Robert Kubica sidelined by a violent crash in Canada, Vettel was called upon as a teenage substitute at the United States Grand Prix – impressively bagging a point. Just a few races later, Toro Rosso slotted him into their line-up, and the rest is history.
Jacques Villeneuve and Renault
After five years at BAR/BAR-Honda, former World Champion Jacques Villeneuve was left without a seat for the 2004 season – the team opting to part ways with the Canadian and bring in Takuma Sato alongside Jenson Button.
Villeneuve would still be seen that year, though, when Renault – who had dropped Jarno Trulli ahead of the Italian’s move to Toyota – signed him for the final three rounds in China, Japan and Brazil.
Fernando Alonso and Minardi
Villeneuve partnered Fernando Alonso for that late-season stint – the Spaniard a key player in Renault’s push to transition from podium finishers to race winners and ultimately champions, as they achieved under their previous Benetton guise.
Before all of that, Alonso began his F1 journey as a fresh-faced teenager at Minardi in 2001, making a name for himself with some gutsy displays in backmarker machinery, particularly at the season-ending Japanese Grand Prix.
Nigel Mansell and McLaren
After a season out, 1992 World Champion Nigel Mansell returned to F1 with Williams part-way through 1994 following Ayrton Senna’s death, making a handful of appearances and doing the pole position/victory double at the Adelaide finale.
With David Coulthard given the nod to partner Damon Hill in 1995, Mansell headed to McLaren, but he could not fit into the narrow MP4/10B and had to be replaced at the first two rounds. After making it out on track at Imola and Barcelona, he retired from F1 for good.
Mario Andretti and Williams
A driver who has won pretty much everything there is to win in motorsport, Mario Andretti claimed his F1 crown with Lotus in 1978, around stints at other big-name manufacturers Ferrari and Alfa Romeo.
However, the American’s penultimate F1 appearance came for Williams at the 1982 United States Grand Prix West – where he qualified 14th and failed to finish via contact with the wall – after Carlos Reutemann suddenly left the sport.
Gilles Villeneuve and McLaren
Gilles Villeneuve, father of Jacques, is synonymous with Ferrari red, having spent the majority of his F1 career racing for the famous Italian marque – winning half a dozen races and capturing the hearts of fans before that fateful day at Zolder in 1982.
The only note on his CV that Villeneuve did not mark as a Ferrari driver was his Grand Prix debut, with that coming in a McLaren during the 1977 season – at Silverstone – alongside reigning World Champion James Hunt.
