Formula 1 is the pinnacle of motorsport, with the fastest cars and fastest drivers in the world going at it on the track for glory. At least, that’s what it is in theory. Because, in practice, some of these exceptional, multi-million dollar cars can barely get onto the back of the grid.
In this list, you will see how far some teams can fall, with 14 of the slowest and worst F1 cars in history that could barely qualify for a Grand Prix. Some are from teams famous for being slow, while others are the products of former champions of the world.
1997 Lola-Ford T97/30
In 1997, Lola entered the Formula 1 world championship as its a constructor, with backing from finance giant MasterCard and Ford Zetec V8 power under the hood. However, Lola had planned to enter F1 in 1998 with its own V10 engine, but pressure from MasterCard meant a rushed entry to the series in 1997 instead.
As it turned out, the Lola T97/30 was an awful F1 car. The Ford V8 was severely underpowered compared to the V10s of their rivals, and Lola didn’t qualify for the first two races of the year in Australia and Brazil. After the latter, the team’s finances evaporated, and Lola pulled out of F1 for good.
2003 McLaren MP4-18
The McLaren MP4-18 is a rare case of an unraced F1 car that COULD have been fast. McLaren needed to close the gap to Ferrari in 2003 after the all-conquering F2002 blew away the previous year’s competition. McLaren developed the MP4-18, a radical evolution of the 2002 and 2003 MP4-17D.
The MP4-18 had a new twin-keel configuration and a waved wing, and the front of the car was also changed, with the wing and nosecone now designed so that the front wing was the first structure to disturb oncoming air. This reduced the role of the nosecones in the MP4-18’s aerodynamics. However, the car failed FIA crash tests, and during testing in France, the MP4-18 suffered from severe overheating issues. Test driver Alex Wurz had a massive accident due to floor delamination, and regular driver Kimi Raikkonen also had an accident. McLaren abandoned the car and completed the rest of 2003 with the updated MP4-17D.
2019 Williams FW42
The less said about the truly terrible Williams FW42, the better. Drivers George Russell and Robert Kubica had to pull off minor miracles in a car that scored one point throughout the season. The FW42 missed the first few days of winter testing due to production delays, and designer Paddy Lowe was sacked as the car turned up to test.
Russell and Kubica usually qualified on the back row at that year in what was one of the worst seasons in the team’s history. The following car, the FW43, was a vast improvement, although Williams still missed out on points despite Russell’s best efforts.
2009 Ferrari F60
While the Ferrari F60 won a race in 2009, it was lucky to do so. The first Ferrari for the new regulations was poor, with the team missing the double-diffuser trick that Brawn utilized so well. Still, it lacked ideal weight distribution due to the added weight of the new KERS system.
It took drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa four races to score points in the F60, and Raikkonen was lucky to win the Belgian Grand Prix ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella’s Force India thanks to an early-race safety car. That win at Spa was the team’s only win throughout the season.
2008 Toro Rosso STR3
Another race-winning car, the 2008 Toro Rosso STR3, was the Red Bull RB4 with a Ferrari engine when F1 allowed customer cars. The STR3 was a decent midfield car, aided by its Ferrari engine, but it was in the rain-hit 2008 Italian Grand Prix where it shone.
The combination of the wet weather, the Ferrari’s power, and the driving prowess of Sebastian Vettel meant the German driver took his first pole position and won that weekend, with the first win for Toro Rosso in a core that didn’t score another podium all year. Vettel, though, helped his team finish in an impressive sixth place come season’s end.
2014 Caterham CT05
It may not be the worst F1 car in history, but the 2014 Caterham CT05 is likely the ugliest. The 2014 Caterham CT05 was the first year of F1’s turbocharged V6-hybrids, and many of the issues surrounding the car were due to the underpowered Renault powertrain.
But the CT05 performed poorly throughout the season, with its best result being 11th place in Monaco, thanks to Marcus Ericsson, who would win the Indy 500 with Chip Ganassi in 2022. The Caterham folded at the year’s end, missing two races and only returning to the season finale thanks to an unusual crowdfunding effort.
2022 Mercedes W13
While the Mercedes W13 was not a back-of-the-grid car, it marked a massive fall from grace for the German manufacturer after eight consecutive world constructor titles. The first year of F1’s new ground-effect rules saw Mercedes miss the mark, with a car bottoming out and bouncing as it lost and regained the downforce generated by the floor, a phone known as “porpoising.”
Mercedes spent most of that year ironing out all the problems before it could unlock some pace as the year went on. They still took 17 podiums but only a solitary pole position and win for George Russell, while Lewis Hamilton failed to win a Grand Prix across a season for the first time in his F1 career.
2024 Alpine A524
While the 2024 season is still ongoing, it’s looking unlikely that Alpine’s 2024 car will go down as a great success. The Renault works team had a tough 2023 but took a couple of podiums and hoped to bounce back in 2024. However, things have taken an awful turn this season with a car that qualified right at the back of the grid in the Bahrain season opener.
Across the first six races, the A524 scored just one point and qualified no higher than 11th. Upgrades have unlocked some pace from the car, but it’s not what you expect from a complete works entry with a manufacturer behind it. The lack of success has also led to key staff leaving the French-owned team.
2015 McLaren-Honda MP4-30
McLaren did a MasterCard in 2015, forcing returning engine manufacturer Honda to re-enter F1 a year before it wanted to. What should have been the power of dreams was the power of nightmares, as the MP4-30 was slow, underpowered, and unreliable, thanks to the appalling reliability of the Honda engine.
Save for one day only, it barely turned a lap in pre-season testing, and the car’s best finish was a fortuitous fourth place at the Hungarian Grand Prix. McLaren finished just 9th in the championship with 27 points, but it has come a long way since then. In 2024, it is third in the standings with a race win for Lando Norris.
1990 Life F190
Life is one of the more obscure teams in Formula 1’s history and will likely stay that way, thanks to the troublesome and underwhelming F190. The ambitious team debuted in the 1990 season, and with turbocharging now banned, most of the field moved from V12s to powerful but lighter V10s. Life decided to stick with a W12, however, and the car was so slow and heavy that driver David Brabham left after just one race.
The F190 struggled to qualify at some events, such as Silverstone, where it was a ludicrous 19 seconds off the pace. Something that would cause mass disdain amongst fans in 2024. Life would later discover that the 375 hp W12 was only half as powerful as the Honda in the back of the McLaren driven by Ayrton Senna and Gerhard Berger. Unsurprisingly, the team folded at the end of that season.
2003 Jordan EJ13
The Jordan EJ13 might be the worst Formula 1 car to win a race. It did so in the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix, one of the most chaotic in Formula 1’s history. Thanks to a wet weather setup, a clever strategy, and brilliant driving from Giancarlo Fisichella, the Italian could haul the slow and underpowered Jordan up through the field and to the front.
Fisichella took the lead just before the race was red-flagged for huge crashes for Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso. The FIA wrongly awarded McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen the win, but the mistake was thankfully corrected at the following event. Fisichella’s EJ13 caught fire in the pits after the race, summarizing a season in which the team scored just three more points.
2019 Haas VF-19
The 2019 Haas VF-19 shouldn’t be on this list, as at the start of the year, it looked like it would take the fight to Renault for fourth in that year’s world championship. However, despite the strong pace, especially on Saturdays, it soon became apparent that the VF-19 was chewing through its tires, and Kevin Magnussen’s sixth place at the start of the year was the team’s best result.
Haas was 7th and 10th in Spain, then just 10th in Monaco, 7th and 8th in Germany, and 9th in Russia. The VF-18 of 2018 helped the team finish fifth that year, but in 2019, Haas finished 9th with just 28 points.
2009 McLaren MP4-24
McLaren took Lewis Hamilton to his first world driver title in 2008, but the 2009 car was a massive fall from grace for the British team as it initially struggled to qualify anywhere near the front of the field. Up to round 10, the best result for McLaren was fifth place for Heikki Kovalinen in China. The MP4-24 was slow, mishandled, and lacked downforce, primarily due to its conventional diffuser.
However, McLaren did turn it around with the car taking four pole positions and five podiums, and Hamilton took two race wins and had a run of three podiums in the last four races of the season. Somehow, McLaren finished the championship in third place.
2000 Jaguar R1
When Ford bought the Stewart Racing Team to run it as Jaguar, things were looking up for a team that had won a Grand Prix in just its third season under Jackie Stewart’s leadership. Sadly, the corporate minds at Ford meant Jaguar’s time in F1 was nothing short of a disaster.
The R1 of 2000 was Jaguar’s first F1 car, and after hoping to challenge for podiums and wins, drivers Eddie Irvine and Johnny Herbert were fortunate to score any points. Irvine finished in the points just twice all season, scoring four for the team, while Jaguar finished the championship in ninth place, summing up their entire time in F1.