Drivers

Derek Warwick

A tough Hampshire driver who was widely regarded as being a match for Nigel Mansell in the early 1980s only for his Formula 1 career to become unfortunately unraveled. Starting in Formula 1 with Toleman in 1981, he failed to qualify in all but the last race of the year at Las Vegas. As time past, he and the Toleman improved and when Renault recruited Warwick at the start of 1984 it was widely expected that he would sustain the race winning ways established by his predecessor Alain Prost. Sadly Renault's competitive edge faded over the next two seasons and he dropped back down the field, driving first for Brabham in 1986 and then for Arrows until dropping out of F1 to concentrate on sports car racing for 1991 and 92 after a disappointing 1990 season with the Lotus-Lamborghini squad. He won at Le Mans in a Peugeot in 1992 and shared that year's sports car championship with Yannick Dalmas. In 1993 Warwick made a return to F1 with the Footwork team but only had a fourth place in Hungary to show for his efforts. That was pretty well the end of the pleasant Englishman's front-line career which had promised to deliver so much.