Top-10 “Mobile Chicanes”

The modern rules that govern backmarker etiquette didn’t exist prior to the mid-1990s, and for a front-running driver, overtaking a backmarker placed a much great emphasis on skill. In many instances, it could often determine the outcome of an actual race.

However, some midfield and lower-order drivers pay scant regard to the speed (or talent) differential between the front-running car attempting to get by them, and have developed quite the reputation as being difficult to lap due to their complete lack of etiquette when being passed.

In the spirit of all things subjective, here is the Richard’s F1 countdown of Formula 1’s Top-10 “Mobile Chicanes”:

10. Eddie Irvine

Eddie Irvine’s reputation for a bit of on-track bravado was known in his debut F1 race, where he famously un-lapped himself from Ayrton Senna in the changeable conditions of the Japanese Grand Prix (left).

So incensed was the three-time champion that he sought out the Ulsterman after the race and punched him into the face!

 

9. Norberto Fontana

Conspiracy theorists, stand up! Was there anything a little unusual at the 1997 European Grand Prix, when race leader Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari seemingly sauntered past the young Argentine’s Sauber, but when the chasing Jacques Villeneuve stumbled upon him moments later, he was held up?

No when Sauber is a customer of Ferrari for its engine supply!

Years later, Fontana raised allegations that he’s been asked by Ferrari management to impede Villeneuve as he and Schumacher brought the title fight down to the wire at Jerez:

“Two or three hours before the race started [Ferrari Team Principal] Jean Todt entered [the motor home] and went straight to the point: ‘By strict order of Ferrari, Villeneuve must be held up if you come across him on the track. To whoever this applies.’”

Sauber team boss Peter Sauber has continued to refute these allegations.

 

8. Carel de Beaufort

Carel de Beaufort – formally known by his aristocratic title as Jonkheer Carel Pieter Anthonie Jan Hubertus Godin de Beaufort – was a semi-regular competitor at his home Grand Prix in the Netherlands in his ubiquitous orange Porsche.

Certainly very much part of the era of the amateur driver, de Beaufort was nonetheless capable of some good results, and even finished second in the non-championship race at Syracuse.

However, in his early days, he certainly gained more of a reputation as an unyielding obstacle around Zandvoort, much to many drivers’ annoyance.

In his book Cars At Speed, Robert Daley wrote on the last of the amateurs: “A tall, heavy, jolly, flabby individual not good enough to drive in any other Grand Prix, but he never missed the Dutch one where organisers permit him to enter his own car because they are thus given the excuse to fly the Dutch flag and play the Dutch anthem. De Beaufort in his Porsche or Cooper is ten seconds a lap slower at Zandvoort than other cars, so slow that he is perpetually blocking cars, and he causes drivers like Stirling Moss to walk about mutter ‘bloody silly that’.”

 

7. Luca Badoer

Ferrari’s very loyal test driver has certainly been known to exhibit the “What mirrors?” syndrome during his 50-odd Grand Prix career that intermittently spanned 1993-2009.

As early as 1995, Luca was earning himself a reputation as a “mobile chicane”, and he demonstrated some shocking manners for a backmarker at the 1995 San Marino Grand Prix in particular.

One of the greatest embarrassments in his F1 career came at the wet 1996 Monaco Grand Prix (left). Driving miles off the pace in a Forti, Badoer chopped across the nose of Jacques Villeneuve as the Canadian came up to lap the Italian at Mirebeau, putting both out of the race. For failing to use his mirrors, Luca earned himself a suspended one-race ban.

Even in 1999 – his last full-time F1 season – he was penalised at the Canadian Grand Prix for holding up the leaders when they cam to lap him.

 

6. Mark Blundell

After several seasons of midfield struggle, Mark Blundell finally found himself as an eleventh-hour call-up in place of Nigel Mansell at McLaren for 1995, when his compatriot was too fat couldn’t fit in the car. Sadly, the 1995 Mercedes-powered MP4/10 was not one of Woking’s finest, and Mark found himself scrapping for the occasional point.

Perhaps it was this frustration that bore fruit in the form of some dreadful manners when the frontrunners came up to lap him.

Blundell already had something of a reputation as quite the defensive driver, but a few instances in 1995 stand out. Trying to fend off Gerhard Berger for 11th at the French Grand Prix, Blundell viciously forced Jean Alesi (Berger’s team-mate) onto the kerbs at the Adelaide Hairpin when the Frenchman lapped Berger – perhaps Blundell didn’t realise it was the other Ferrari coming up to lap him.

An even more disgraceful piece of driving occurred at the season-ending Australian Grand Prix (above left), where Blundell, 7th, blocked Heinz-Harald Frentzen’s Sauber for two laps, allowing Johnny Herbert to close right up to the German. Frentzen eventually forced his way past Blundell, but not without a choice gesture along the way!

5. Jean-Pierre Jarier

Often an easy target for James Hunt’s commentary, with the 1976 Champion once blasted Jarier as having “the mental age of [a] ten[-year-old].”

Undoubtedly, Jarier earned plenty of criticism at the 1983 Austrian Grand Prix (right) when he badly blocked race leader Patrick Tambay that let Tambay’s team-mate, Rene Arnoux, into the lead. As they rose one of the crests of the Osterreichring, Tambay furiously shook his fist with rage at his compatriot!

Jarier’s fall from grace – from being a front-runner with the likes of Shadow in the 1970s – saw him out of favour with many top teams. This example of particularly careless driving as a backmarker left a bitter taste in other competitors’ mouths.

4. Philippe Alliot

Despite his charming demeanour, Philippe Alliot was a royal pain in the backside when it came to trying to lap him. He had established an early reputation as a blocker, and like Jarier, was often a target for criticism from Murray Walker and James Hunt.

At the 1988 Monaco Grand Prix, Alliot’s Larrousse was shoved into the barriers at high speed by Riccardo Patrese’s Williams when the Frenchman inexplicably veered across the circuit on the approach to Mirebeau, in spite of Patrese making it perfectly clear he was going for the inside line. Into the barriers for Philippe.

The 1989 Spanish Grand Prix saw more fist-shaking at Philippe, this time from Ayrton Senna when he blatantly carved up the faster McLaren.

Alliot finally got his come-uppance at the 1990 Portuguese Grand Prix (shown in viedo clip), now driving for Ligier. He tried the same thing to Nigel Mansell’s Ferrari as he had done to Senna, but this time Nigel tipped him into a spin at high speed into the barriers. Many thought Alliot had deserved it.

3. Olivier Grouillard

The click-haired man from Toulouse’s skill as a “mobile chicane” stemmed from the beginning of his F1 career in 1989, and his stints with Ligier, Osella / Fondmetal and Tyrrell cemented his reputation for being an on-track obstacle to the race leaders was nothing short of legendary.

His particular favourite target seemed to be Nigel Mansell. In practice for the 1989 San Marino Grand Prix, Grouillard baulked the Englishman at the Acque Minerali chicane when he was on a flier in his Ferrari. He did the same to Mansell at the 1990 Australian Grand Prix, causing him to gesticulate furiously via his onboard camera. 1991 was no different, as Groulliard again held up Mansell during qualifying for the German Grand Prix, and again Mansell was furious.

His final season in F1 in 1992, was more of history repeating itself. This time, Grouillard’s target was Johnny Herbert, where he appallingly held by the Lotus driver for lap after lap at the French Grand Prix. That he wasn’t offered a continuance of his F1 career beyond 1992 was of huge relief to the other drivers…

2. Andrea de Cesaris

De Cesaris forged such a reputation for being an obstructive driver that he would almost certainly be on anyone’s list as a “mobile chicane” in F1. But to be fair, the latter stages if his 204-Grand Prix career saw a more polished, calmer and refined driver in Andrea.

Sadly, most people’s memories of Andrea will be from the 1980s, where is red-misted driving was all-too-frequent, as was his mentality of needing to keep any chasing driver behind him at all costs – irrespective of whether this was for position, or if he was being lapped.

“His attitude is that if someone’s on his tail trying to get by, he should prevent it by any means. If it had been possible I would have got out of the car in the middle of the straight and hit him as hard as I could straight in the face, climbed back in the car and gone on.” Keke Rosberg, after being held up by De Cesaris during the 1982 Swiss GP

One of many examples one could cite was the 1982 Swiss Grand Prix at Dijon. This was to finally look like Keke Rosberg’s first Grand Prix victory in what would be his title-winning season, but during the race he found himself stuck behind Andrea’s Alfa Romeo for several laps, losing a bundle of time to the chasing Renault of Rene Arnoux.

Into the late 1980s and early 1990s, de Cesaris’ reputation showed little sign of improving. He famously took out his team-mate, Alex Caffi, at the 1989 United States GP at Phoenix when he was being lapped, costing his compatriot a certain podium finish.

Even as late as 1990, his reputation as one of F1’s greatest “mobile chicanes” was undimmed – he almost succeeded in taking Nigel Mansell off at San Marino, prompting a few choice observations from the BBC’s James Hunt (shown in video clip).

 

1. René Arnoux

By the final stages of his F1 career, René Arnoux’s reputation as a race-winner and championship contender were long diminished by several seasons trundling around in the lower-midfield for the likes of Ligier.

Decidedly unpopular among his peers due to his completely lack of on-track manners, he was rarely described in complimentary terms by his fellow drivers.

“He is a pain on the backside on the race track,” said John Watson in 1984. “He is so very inconsiderate, particularly in qualifying. His driving etiquette is consistently poor and he seems to have this idea that he cannot allow himself to be overtaken.”

By 1989, his final season in F1, Arnoux’s reputation as one of F1’s most notorious blockers was well and truly set in stone. His career was littered with a series of accidents, many of which stemmed from his apparent inability to use his mirrors. At that year’s Monaco Grand Prix, he held up his compatriot Alain Prost to the tune of almost 12 seconds, costing the Frenchman any hope of challenging Ayrton Senna for race victory. His blue LOTO-sponsored Ligier was a regular sight as the marshals furiously waved blue flags at him, and he prompted BBC commentator James Hunt to swear (shown in video clip) during the commentary broadcast at his completely inconsiderate behaviour when being lapped.

 [Images via F1 Rejects, The Cahier Archive, Flickr]