F1 driver who only lasted one season couldn’t believe his rivals weren’t ‘sweaty’ at the end of races

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Nowadays, it’s a rarity to see a Formula 1 team go the entire season without scoring. Even Sauber, whose 2024 car was by far the poorest on the grid, grabbed four points at the Qatar Grand Prix thanks to Zhou Guanyu.

The sport’s increased popularity, fuelled among other things by Netflix’s Drive to Survive series, has seen revenues surge. And the introduction of the cost cap has forced teams to spend sustainably.

The days of cash-strapped teams building Formula 1.5 cars and hiring ill-equipped pay drivers are all but over. When Cadillac become the sport’s 11th team in 2026, they will hope to be instantly competitive with a Ferrari engine in the back.

It’s been nearly a decade since the F1 grid last featured 22 cars. 2016 marked the arrival of Haas and the demise of Manor Racing.

Manor (formerly Virgin and Marussia) were one of a trio of teams who entered F1 in 2010 alongside Team Lotus and Hispania (HRT). In their three seasons together, none of them managed to score a point.

HRT folded at the end of 2012, while Lotus made it to 2014 under the guise of Caterham. For their drivers, it was a hopeless sporting existence.

Giedo van der Garde says his Caterham F1 car ‘completely destroyed’ him

In 2013, Caterham debuted an all-new driver line-up. They signed Charles Pic from Marussia, and promoted reserve driver Giedo van der Garde to a full-time role.

Tony Fernandes’ team propped up the championship, with neither Van der Garde nor Pic able to finish a race higher than 14th. Perhaps as a consequence, their partnership was short-lived as Kamui Kobayashi and Marcus Ericsson arrived for 2014.

But speaking on De Race Show last year, Van der Garde offered some insight into the CT03’s ‘terrible’ handling. He was left utterly ‘exhausted’ at the end of races given the extent to which he had to wrestle with the steering wheel.

When he climbed out of the car in parc ferme, he was stunned that the podium finishers didn’t even seem tired. Had he miraculously dragged the car into the top three, he admits he would have struggled to string a sentence together in the post-race press conference.

“Oh man, terrible,” he reflected. “Sometimes I came out of those races and then I got out and I was completely exhausted. You had to rake that thing – oversteer, understeer, heart rate 160 average, really completely destroyed.

“Then you walk straight past those guys, and you see they’re not sweaty! They go on the podium, they all stand laughing, howling and roaring. I’d be at the press conference like ‘I’m dead, I cannot answer any questions’.

“If you only have to send the car in, and you don’t have to correct it, it is of course much easier than if you’re constantly doing this [moves arms to imitate oversteer].”

The Manor F1 car that was too small for Haas star Esteban Ocon

In truth, Caterham made little impression on F1. It was telling that, at the start of the 2015 season, only one of the drivers who had raced for them full-time (Ericsson) was still on the grid.

Hispania at least gave Daniel Ricciardo his first outings during the 2011 season. Mark Webber says HRT were the ‘perfect team’ for Ricciardo, who then joined Toro Rosso for 2012.

Meanwhile, Manor handed Esteban Ocon his debut in the second half of 2016. He replaced pay driver Rio Haryanto alongside fellow Mercedes junior Pascal Wehrlein.

But at 6ft 1in, Ocon was too big for Manor’s car. With his legs bumping against the steering wheel, he was left with black marks after each race.