This is an exclusive project of historic information from the world of Formula One. On The Grid chronicles the history of drivers with all Formula One teams dating back to 1950 to the present.

This series of information are only possible due to the hard work and support of Clive Branson – www.provocadv.com. We hope you will find it of interest and informative as to how Formula One drivers’ careers developed and ended.

VANWALL

TEAM: VANWALL
NATIONALITY: GB
INCEPTION: 1954-1960
COMMENT: Vanwall was a Formula One team in the 1950s. The Vanwall name was derived by combining the name of the team owner Tony Vandervell with that of his patented Thinwall bearings, which were produced at his Vandervell Products factory at Acton, London.Tony Vandervell was one of the original backers of British Racing Motors. In the early 1950s, he entered a series of modified Ferraris in Formula Libre races under the name “Thinwall Special”. The first actual Vanwalls were known as Vanwall Specials and were built for the new Formula 1 regulations in 1954 at Cox Green, Maidenhead. The chassis was designed by Owen Maddock and built by the Cooper Car Company. Vandervell’s health was failing and he had been advised by his doctors to rest. The team continued half-heartedly. Brooks made one appearance in a lower and lighter Vanwall in the 1959 British Grand Prix and the team tried again with another car in the 1960 French Grand Prix. These efforts lacked the seriousness of the past however and they were unsuccessful.

YEAR NAME NAT. POINTS/RESULTS
Vanwall (NIL)
1954 Peter Collins GB NIL (Maserati)
Vanwall (NIL)
1955 Harry Schell USA NIL
1955 Ken Wharton GB NIL (Non-Championship F1/rallies/hillclimbing and is the only driver to have claimed four successive British Hillclimbing Championship titles. He was killed when he crashed driving a Ferrari Monza at the New Zealand circuit of Ardmore.)
1955 Mike Hawthorn GB NIL (Ferrari)
Vanwall (NIL)
1956 Harry Schell USA 17th (3 pts.) (Maserati)
1956 Colin Chapman GB NIL (Became developer, owner and manager of Team Lotus. Under his direction, Team Lotus won seven Formula One Constructors’ titles, six Drivers’ Championships, and the Indianapolis 500 in the United States, between 1962 and 1978. The production side of Lotus Cars has built tens of thousands of relatively affordable, cutting edge sports cars. Lotus is one of but a handful of British
performance car builders still in business after the industrial decline of the 1970s. Chapman suffered a fatal heart attack in 1982, aged 54.)
1956 Jose Rolilan Gonzalez ARG NIL (Ferrari)
1956 Maurice Trintignant F NIL (Bugatti)
1956 Mike Hawthorn GB NIL (Lancia-Ferrari)
1956 Piero Taruffi I NIL (12 Hours of Sebring/FIA GT Class E/author and racing car designer. Died January 12, 1988. He was 82.)
Vanwall (30 pts.)
1957 Stirling Moss GB 2nd (25 pts.)
1957 Stuart Lewis-Evans GB 12th (5 pts.)
1957 Roy Salvadori GB NIL (Cooper-Climax)
1957 Tony Brooks GB
Vanwall (63 pts.)
1958 Stirling Moss GB 2nd (41 pts.) (Cooper-Climax)
1958 Tony Brooks GB 5th (11 pts.)
1958 Stuart Lewis-Evans GB 9th (11 pts.) Lewis-Evans crashed heavily at the dusty Ain-Diab circuit during the season finale 1958 Moroccan Grand Prix. His Vanwall engine seized and sent him lurching into barriers at high speed, and his car burst into flames. He was airlifted back to the UK, but died in hospital of his burn injuries six days after the accident. His death cast a pall over Vanwall’s victory in the 1958 Constructors’ Championship, a feat heavily dependent on reliable team driving from Lewis-Evans. Tony Vandervell never fully recovered from the death of his new, inspirational driver and withdrew from motorsport at the end of 1958.
Vanwall (NIL)
1959 Tony Brooks GB NIL (Yeoman Cooper-Climax)
Vanwall (NIL)
1960 Tony Brooks GB NIL (Only 1 race. Switched to Owen BRM-Climax)

VERITAS

TEAM: VERITAS
NATIONALITY: D
INCEPTION: 1951-1953
COMMENT: Veritas was a famous West German post World War II sports and race car company, located at Hausen am Andelsbach, near Sigmaringen, Baden-Württemberg, later at Meßkirch and Muggensturm and moved finally to the Nürburgring. The company was founded by Ernst Loof, Georg Meier and Lorenz Dietrich who initially re-built and tuned pre-war BMW 328 cars using components supplied by a customer,
turning them into BMW-Veritas cars. The first car was used in 1947 by its owner Karl Kling to win at Hockenheim and subsequently become the 1947 German 2-litre champion. After only a few cars were made, following an objection from BMW, the cars became simply known as Veritas.

YEAR NAME NAT. POINTS/RESULTS
Veritas-Meteor (NIL)
1951 Peter Hirt CH NIL (Retired from F.1. b: 1910 – d: 1992)
Veritas-Meteor (NIL)
1952 Adolf Brudes von Breslau D NIL (Sports cars. b: 1899 – d: 1986)
1952 Arthur Legat B NIL
1952 Fritz Riess D NIL (He won the 24 Hours of Le Mans for Mercedes-Benz with Hermann Lang. b: 1922 – d: 1991)
1952 Hans Klenk D NIL (Retired from F.1)
1952 Josef Peters D NIL (Retired from F.1. b: 1914 – d: 2001)
1952 Paul Pietsch D NIL (editor and journalist. As of 2009, Pietsch is the oldest surviving Formula One driver, at the age of 97.)
1952 Theo Helfrich D NIL
1952 Toni Ulmen D NIL (Retired from F.1. b: 1906 – d: 1976)
Veritas-Meteor (NIL)
1953 Arthur Legat B NIL (Retired from F.1. b: 1898 – d: 1960)
1953 Ernst Loof D NIL (He was the head designer of the Veritas car he drove in this race. Due to his age at the time, his participation in the race seems to have been mainly for testing purposes. The company had already gone bankrupt by this time, and his further plans were cut short as he contracted an inoperable brain tumor, which caused his death in 1956. He was born in 1907).
1953 Erwin Bauer D NIL (His sole race in the Formula One World
Championship came in 1953 at the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, the same track where he was killed five years later in a 2-litre sports Ferrari where, not realising he had passed the chequered flag, kept on racing and crashed fatally on what was supposed to be his slowing-down lap.)
1953 Hans Herrmann D NIL (Mercedes-Benz)
1953 Oswarld Karch D NIL (Retired from F.1.)
1953 Theo Helfrich D NIL (BMW)
1953 Willi Heeks D NIL (Retired from F.1. b: 1922 – d: 1996)
1953 Wolfgang Seidel D NIL (Maserati)

Virgin Racing

TEAM: Virgin Racing
NATIONALITY: GB
INCEPTION: 2010-
COMMENT: The VR-01 is the first of a new breed of race car, designed completely in the digital domain using CFD – computational fluid dynamics, a system created by Virgin Racing technical super-brain, Nick Wirth. In 2009, Virgin Enterprises sponsored Brawn that won the World Championship. In 2010, Virgin launches their debut performance with their own entry, founded by Sir Richard Branson and general manager, John Booth.

YEAR NAME NAT. POINTS/RESULTS
Oxygen-Virgin Cosworth (12th NIL)
2010 Timo Glock DE 25th NIL
2010 Lucas di Grassi BR 24th NIL
Oxygen-Virgin Cosworth (12th NIL)
2011 Timo Glock D 25th (NIL)
2011 Jerome d’Ambroslo B 24th (NIL)