Most unexpected driver/team signings
Jaguar’s announcement in 2001 that the team had signed F1 design guru Adrian Newey was met with disbelief. That is until Newey was lured back to McLaren for one more season before finally joining Jaguar, which by then had been bought out by Red Bull. In 2004, Jenson Button – frustrated with development pace at British American Racing – signed to drive for Williams, despite still being under contract at BAR. Messy legal confrontations dominated the off-season, much as they did in 1993 when Ayrton Senna – keen to make the jump from McLaren to the dominant Williams team – could not agree terms for a one-year deal with Woking. For a very brief period, Gerhard Berger’s McLaren teammate for 1993 was Jonathan Palmer.
After nearly winning only his third Grand Prix, many anticipated Juan Pablo Montoya would send shockwaves through Formula 1. That he did, arguably none more so than his decision to leave F1 halfway through 2006 and join Chip Ganassi’s NASCAR squad. A punch-up with Kevin Harvick was waiting.
Mid-season signings and firings are few and far between, but the mid-2000s saw a barrage in quick succession. Having been fired by Jordan in 2001, Heinz-Harald Frentzen took the Prost seat vacated by his replacement Jean Alesi. The German’s new teammate Luciano Burti similarly sought refuge at Prost after being canned by Jaguar, a team for which debutants Mark Webber and Justin Wilson tested mid-season in 2002 and 2003 respectively, despite both being signed with Minardi at the time.
Honorable mentions: Luca Badoer beats Marc Gene to temporarily vacated Ferrari seat in 2009. Formula Renault UK driver Kimi Raikkonen signs for Sauber in 2001. Michael Schumacher replaces imprisoned Bertrand Gachot at Jordan, 1991. Desire Wilson becomes only the fourth female driver in F1, and wins a race, 1980.
– Shots courtesy of Biser3a
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