There have been, and forever will be, endless debates over the best Formula 1 campaigns in history, but who had the worst season-long effort? Motorsport Week delves into the history books and finds an unfortunate and unparalleled victor.
There was a lot of sympathy for George Russell in the 2019 Formula 1 season. It was his first full campaign in the championship but he failed to score a single point across 21 grands prix, nor did he manage to clamber out of the first part of qualifying, having taken the Formula 2 title the previous year.
But Russell’s 2019 journey was nowhere near as depressingly dire as one endured by a rising star 30 years previously.
Aguri Suzuki has forged a career as one of Japan’s most successful drivers. He claimed titles in junior formula, took the first Formula 1 podium for an Asian driver at his home event in 1990, and left the sport with 65 starts to his name. Further success followed in other categories. After stepping out of the driving seat Suzuki remained heavily involved in the motorsport industry, creating his own points-scoring Honda-backed Formula 1 team in the mid-2000s – Super Aguri – before co-founding the Formula E entity that eventually morphed into the title-winning Techeetah operation.
Through the late 1980s and early 1990s Formula 1 reached its peak in terms of team and driver entries, as a host of squads (some far shiftier than others) tried to compete in the championship. At most events there were almost 40 drivers, representing 20 teams, wanting to make the grid. Pre-qualifying had been reintroduced for 1988 in order to whittle the contenders down to 30, from where another four would be axed at the conclusion of qualifying, leaving a 26-car grid for the race itself. It meant that for – usually – nine drivers their weekend would be done and dusted before it had even truly begun. Pre-qualifying remained in place until 1992, after which the number of teams reduced, and its heyday came in the busy 1989 season.
Brabham, Osella, Onyx and Zakspeed (both cars), along with one entrant from Dallara, Rial, Coloni and AGS, as well as the single-car EuroBrun team, had to prove their worth early the weekend. Very early. A one-hour session took place, usually at 8am on a Friday, to determine who could stay on for the remainder of the grand prix. Along with the aforementioned teams another one, First Racing, had already withdrawn from the season after failing the crash test.
By 1989 the privateer Zakspeed squad, which had competed in Formula 1 since 1985, was in a downward spiral. A failure to score a point in 1988 meant it was one of the teams that had to pre-qualify, a task made harder by its sub-par 891 chassis, which was fitted with Yamaha’s OX88 V8 engine. It was the manufacturer’s first crack at a Formula 1 engine and it was woefully underpowered compared to its rivals.
Some teams chopped and changed drivers – largely owing to budget – on a regular basis in that era but Zakspeed was a rare beacon of stability, with full-time rookie Suzuki and sophomore driver Bernd Schneider entered for every grand prix.
Schneider scraped through pre-qualifying on two occasions: at the season-opener in Brazil and the penultimate round in Japan. In Brazil Schneider took the fifth and final pre-qualifying spot, 0.3s ahead of Dallara’s Alex Caffi, and went on to qualify 25th of the 30 participants, ensuring his place on the grid. A collision with Arrows’ Eddie Cheever ended his race after 36 laps. In Japan Schneider claimed the third of four pre-qualifying slots, holding a two-tenths buffer over nearest non-pre-qualifier Piercarlo Ghinzani, and took a fine 21st on the grid. However, his gearbox failed on lap two.
As for Suzuki? He didn’t even make the qualifying line-up at any grand prix. His record for 1989 reads as thus: 16 entries, 16 failures to pre-qualify. There were misfiring engines, failed driveshafts and weather mishaps, as well as a lack of pace from a rookie grappling with a dire machine, limited track time and often just a set of the ultra-grippy qualifying tyres to try and set a fast time in the build-up to the 9am chequered flag. It was also often quite a quick session, with pre-qualifiers frequently going on to lift their cars high up the grid, faster than successful qualifiers.
The closest Suzuki came was at his home round in Japan, classifying eighth of the 13 participants, seven-tenths behind slowest pre-qualifier Michele Alboreto in the Lamborghini-powered Lola. When he finished 10th in the pre-qualifying session in Adelaide it brought his miserable season to a fitting conclusion. It was to be Zakspeed’s final Formula 1 appearance.
Suzuki was not the only driver to find himself out of luck in 1989. Osella’s Ghinzani had 13 DNPQs from 16, Schneider 14, EuroBrun’s Gregor Foitek had 10 from 11, while AGS’s Joachim Winkelhock (7) Coloni’s Enrico Bertaggia (6) and Foitek’s replacement Oscar Larrauri (5) all had a 100 per cent DNPQ record from the events they entered that season.
For Suzuki brighter times were on the horizon – a move to Larousse for 1990 kick-started his Formula 1 career and at Suzuka, a year after another failure to pre-qualify, he stood on the podium as a new national hero.
