Ranking The 10 Most Crash-Prone F1 Drivers In History
Number 10 – Timo Glock
Number 9 – Jody Scheckter
During the 1973 French Grand Prix, Scheckter hit Fittipaldi, forcing him to retire. After the race, the Brazilian world champ was furious and said:
“This madman is a menace to himself and everybody else and does not belong in Formula One.”
A week later during the 1973 British Grand Prix, Scheckter provoked one of the biggest car pile-ups in F1 history. He spun during the first lap forcing 10 cars to retire. The race started over without the cars involved in the accident.
Following the incredible crash in the 1973 British Grand Prix, Scheckter collided with Cevert in Canada weeks later. A week after this accident, Cevert died on track from another crash. Scheckter was the first person on the scene. He stopped and tried to help him but it was too late. This changed him and forced him to change his ways of driving. He matured into a less reckless driver.
Despite his reputation in F1, teams saw talent in Scheckter. He raced in 1974 for Tyrell, then from 1977 to 1978 for Wolf. He then joined Ferrari in 1979 and won his first and only championship. His title would be the last one obtained by Ferrari for almost 20 years until Schumacher won the championship in 2000.
Jody Scheckter is proof that a young, inexperienced, crash-prone driver can transform into a respected World Champion.
If you want to crash like Jody can do so by following our review of one of the best sim racing games in the market along with our top steering wheel pick. You can also check our recommended gear section. Now let’s continue with number 8.
Number 8 – Vittorio Brambilla
Born in Monza in 1937, he was nicknamed the “Monza Gorilla”. He raced in F1 during 6 seasons for March, Surtees and Alfa Romeo. Brambilla was actually a pretty good driver who would, sometimes, go over the limit.
He most notably crashed during the 1975 Austrian Grand Prix that he won. Due to heavy rain, the race was shortened to 60% of the total number of laps. Brambilla won it impressively but on his post-race victory lap he spun and wrecked the nose the car. He then waved at people with a broken car for a special victory lap.
He had other notable crashes. One time he crashed his car during the 1975 US Grand Prix qualifying. He had so many crashes during the 1976 season that he only scored a point. He was also involved during the 1978 Monza crash which was fatal for Ronnie Peterson.
Let’s move on to number 5.
Number 7 – Ukyo Katayama
As his name indicates, Katayama is a Japanese driver who raced in F1 between 1992 and 1997 mostly for Minardi and Tyrell. He only obtained his F1 seat thanks to his wealthy sponsors.
During his first 2 seasons, he made so many mistakes and crashes that his nickname was “the kamikaze”. He owns the record of the highest number of single seasons without any points scored. He is sadly known for the 1995 Estoril crash which is one of the most impressive F1 crash ever.
After a couple of other crashes he retired from F1 in 1997.
Number 6 – Romain Grosjean
The Frenchman is renown for his multiple crashes. Actually, it started quite early. Grosjean was making crashes during his karting debuts and he never stopped. When karting, during the same race, he spun, hit another kart and hit a wall. An impressive start. Things didn’t change much when he entered f1.
Grosjean is actually a fast driver. This helps him during qualifying but not so much during races where he often retires. For instance, during the 2012 Australian Grand Prix, he was 3rd after the qualifying session but had a collision with the infamous Pastor Maldonado. He did not finish the race. A week later, he set the 6th time during qualifying only to retire during the fourth lap after multiple hits.
Grosjean never really changed and he has almost 3 impressive accidents per year. The most notable one was when he crashed in 2018 during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. He was trying to warm his tyres when he suddenly lost control.
Number 5 – Von Trips
This is an old school choice. Von Trips was nicknamed Count Von Crash. This should already tell you a lot. He earned that nickname by obviously crashing several times. He drove for Ferrari in F1 between 1957 and 1961 where he died at Monza.
Here are some of his feats. During testing in 1957, he spun out in Nurburgring and destroyed his Ferrari. He was forced out of a Royal Automobile Club during the Silverstone Grand Prix, in July 1958, when his Ferrari came into the pits on the 60th lap with no oil. He also crashed in 1956 and 1958 in Monza.
During the 1961 Italian Grand Prix, the unthinkable happened. He died during yet another crash at Monza. After being in contact with Jim Clark, his car was lifted in the air and he crashed into the barriers. The crash killed him along with 15 spectators. There are no videos for this one as it is pretty violent and heavy.
Von Trips was leading the Championship that year. After his death, he posthumously finished 2nd of the Driver ‘s Championship won by his teammate Phil Hill.
Number 4 – Yuji Ide
Being a good racer in Japan, Ide was selected at 31 to be part of the Super Aguri team that was launched in 2006. His poor performance and lack of english proficiency quicly made his team turn against him. But that was not the most important thing.
According to team boss Aguri Suzuki, Ide didn’t understand how to drive the car. This was confirmed when he entered in a number of crashes. He spun a lot during the Australian opener. He crashed into Christijan Albers after failing to take a turn properly and sent him rolling upside down.
After the crashes, especially after Imola where he crashed into Albers, a number of high profile people asked the FIA to revoke his super license. Among them was Stirling Moss. The FIA effectively revoked his license after 4 races into the 2006 season.
Number 3 – Pastor Maldonado
Brace yourselves, we are about to enter the world of the true masters of F1 crashing. In number 3 we have the mighty Pastor Maldonado. Pastor Maldonado had a career filled with crashes. He started by a big one when he was not even in F1.
During the 2005 Formula Renault 3.5 season, he almost killed a race steward during the Monaco Grand Prix after failing to slow down under a yellow flag. In order to avoid a lifetime ban from the Monaco Grand Prix, his very wealthy father paid for all the medical bills of the injured steward. Pastor kept his f1 dream alive.
But Pastor Maldonado did not stop there. He voluntarily used Lewis Hamilton as a bumper car during the qualifying session of the 2011 Belgian Grand Prix. He received a five-place grid penalty for this feat.
He then had a lot of crashes in 2012. He crashed during the opening race. He then voluntarily crashed into Perez during the Monaco Grand Prix. As always he got almost no disciplinary measures for his reckless driving.
Then started a streak that made Pastor famous and recognized for eternity. He crashed during the Canadian Grand Prix, he crashed into Hamilton during the Europan Grand Prix, he crashed another time in Hungary.
He then managed to get 3 penalties in a single race before crashing into Timo Glock at Spa. He had a streak of 7 race with crashes, penalties or various incidents. There are just too many crashes to count. Below you have a compilation of his crashes.
After issues with his sponsors, Maldonado unfortunately quit f1.
Number 2 – Taki Inoue
The third Japanese on the list. Taki Inoue raced in F1 in 1995 and 1996 for Arrows. He got his seat only because he was wealthy, his family owning a big firm in Japan. He was particularly slow and unlucky. He considers himself today to be the worst F1 driver to have ever lived.
Inoue had many accidents that were quite strange actually. During the 1995 Monaco Grand Prix, his car broke down. He was towed by a truck when the safety car hit him. His car rolled several times. Fortunately, he was not injured.
During the 1995 Hungarian Grand Prix, after his car broke down again, he went out and tried to help the race stewards putting out a fire. A safety vehicle arriving at the scene didn’t brake properly and hit Inoue. Fortunately, he had almost nothing.
At Monza in 1995, Damon Hill hit Schumacher after lapping Inoue and missing a turn because of him. After the 1995 season and his poor performance, one of his sponsors left forcing him to quit the F1 world.
Number 1 – Andrea De Ceasaris
Meet the boss. The most crash-prone driver in F1 history. Andrea De Cesaris started is F1 career during the 1980 season at only 21 with Alfa Romeo. In 1981, he switched for McLaren in replacement of Alain Prost. He managed to brake 18 chassis that year earning the nickname “Andrea De Crasheris”. The team even withdrew him from a race because they feared he will crash again. He was actually fast but incredibly inconsistent. During qualifying, he often finished top 6 but this was nulled by his crashes.
After Alfa Romeo, De Cesaris went to Ligier in 1984. During the 1984 Zeltweg Austrian Gran Prix, De Cesaris had a big crash and rolled over several times. He was lightly injured and walked back to the pits where he was immediately fired by team boss Guy Ligier who said: “I can no longer afford to employ this man”. You have to consider the fact that his sponsor Marlboro was paying the bulk of his salary. As the team could not afford him braking another car, they fired him.
After that he often changed teams, driving for Minardi, Brabham, Rial, Dallara, Jordan and Tyrrell. During 1990, he again did some incredible things such as crashing in the first lap in Imola and Interlagos. He nearly took out Nigell Mansell’s Ferrari while begin lapped by him during a race prompting BBC commentator James Hunt to call him an idiot in live TV.
To this day De Cesaris holds precious F1 records. Namely:
| Most Race Without a Win | 208 |
| Total Retirements | 148 |
| Consecutive Retirements | 18 |
| Most Retirements In a Single Season | 14 (out of a 16 races) |
You’ve got to factor in that this guy had 14 retirements during a 16 race season. This is astonishing. You have a compilation of his best crashes below. Hope you will enjoy it.
If you want to crash for real go check our review of one of the best sim racing games in the market along with our top steering wheel pick. You can also check our recommended gear section.
