He was the driver with ‘no business in F1’ who was lapped 10 times on his Formula 1 debut

Follow us on Google Discover

Reaching Formula 1 is the pinnacle of most drivers’ racing careers, but there have always been different methods of getting onto the grid.

This year’s F1 driver market has highlighted how competitive the sport is, with plenty of incredibly talented racers putting themselves forward to join brand new team Cadillac ahead of their 2026 debut.

In the end, they were able to select Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez, two drivers with hundreds of Grand Prix under their belt and multiple race wins each.

Back in the 1990s, teams regularly had to offer seats to drivers with significant funding just to stay alive.

Eddie Jordan recalls selling Eddie Irvine to Ferrari to make enough money to continue racing, and during his team’s first two seasons on the grid, they had seven different drivers.

There have also been occasions when drivers simply haven’t been up to the level required to race in F1.

Hans Heyer didn’t qualify, retired and was disqualified from a Formula 1 race, while two-time Ferrari driver Luca Badoer failed to score a point in 50 races.

However, despite Badoer’s struggles, typically with teams near the back of the grid, he never raced as badly as Jean-Denis Deletraz’s F1 debut.

READ MORE: He is the F1 driver Ayrton Senna considered ‘the best of the best’ and once declared was his ‘boyhood hero’

Who was Jean-Denis Deletraz? The F1 driver who was lapped 10 times on his debut

Deletraz was born in Geneva, Switzerland, on 1 October 1963 and initially enjoyed some success in Formula Ford.

The Swiss driver spent four seasons racing in the International Formula 3000 series on and off, securing two podiums in his maiden campaign before failing to score a point from 1989 to 1991.

Deletraz competed in the French Touring Car Championship for the next three years alongside a Porsche Supercup campaign, but never achieved much success.

However, an opportunity arose with the F1 team Larrousse at the end of 1994 as they looked to stay afloat, and were offering anyone with the funds to keep the team running the opportunity to race.

It turned out to be Larrousse’s final year on the grid, with six drivers taking turns in the car, and it would be Deletraz who had the honour of taking part in what turned out to be their last Grand Prix.

READ MORE: He is the youngest driver ever to retire from racing in Formula 1 and once cost Michael Schumacher a world championship

Jonathan Palmer tells Jean-Denis Deletraz he has ‘no business in F1’ during his Grand Prix debut

The 1994 Australian Grand Prix is most famous for Damon Hill and Michael Schumacher’s championship-deciding clash in Adelaide.

Deletraz arrived and qualified 25th for Larrousse, beating Domenico Schiattarella and both Pacific cars, although he was more than two seconds off teammate Hideki Noda.

Noda suffered an oil leak after 18 laps, and Deletraz would eventually retire on lap 56 with a gearbox issue.

But not before he was lapped 10 times by the leaders of the race, who were driving six seconds a lap quicker than he was.

Jonathan Palmer was on commentary for BBC Sport that day, and infamously said: “Yes, Deletraz here, really having no business in Formula 1 and demonstrating it there.

“He’s spending all of his modest effort simply keeping the car on the road. He’s holding up Gerhard Berger there, who’s lost a second on Nigel Mansell, in the Larrousse.

“This is, I’m afraid, one of the problems with the Grand Prix season at the end of the year; we do get one or two drives being taken by people with more money than talent. And that’s one example of it.”

READ MORE: He is ‘one of the worst Grand Prix drivers ever’ who started more than 100 F1 races but never finished on the lead lap

Jean-Denis Deletraz’s 1995 Formula 1 season and post-F1 career

Incredibly, Deletraz’s outing in Adelaide wasn’t enough to put all the other teams in the paddock giving him a second chance the following year.

Unfortunately for the Swiss driver, it was Pacific, the team that failed to qualify for the previous season’s Australian Grand Prix, who were in desperate need of cash and offered him an opportunity.

Deletraz took part in the 1995 Portuguese and European Grand Prix for Pacific before he was released, ironically for the Pacific Grand Prix.

He qualified five seconds slower than the second-next driver at Estoril before retiring after 14 laps with cramp.

At the Nurburgring, Deletraz was only nine seconds slower than pole sitter David Coulthard before finishing seven laps behind Michael Schumacher on his final F1 outing.

Deletraz went on to win several races in the FIA GT Championship later in his career, as well as pick up two victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

However, it was clear that he was never the right man for Formula 1 despite his best efforts.