Possibly The Best F1 Driver Ever, and You've Never Heard Of Him

"Trunk Impaired 318" (matteocscaptura)
04/25/2014 at 16:47 • Filed to: None

Everyone remembers the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix for Ayrton Senna's brilliant wet weather drive in his rather uncompetitive Toleman to catch Alain Prost's vastly superior McLaren. Many believe that Senna would have won the race had it continued, however, as Im sure at least some of you are aware that was almost certainly not the case. The Toleman team confirmed that Senna had inflicted serious suspension damage to his car while going over curbs at the Chicane du Port and La Piscine, which would have forced him to retire a mere lap or two after the red flag was thrown anyway. However, the race did showcase what many of us believe to be one of the best wet weather drives in all of F1 history. And it's probably true, the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix did showcase what is most likely the greatest wet weather run in F1, only it wasn't Ayrton Senna who drove it.

Little known rookie Stefan Bellof was that driver. Bellof was a 26 year old sportscar driver from Germany, and was a Rothmans Porsche's factory team driver who was the 1984 World Sportscar Championship champion. Bellof, along with Martin Brundle drove for Tyrrell in the 1984 F1 season, in what was effectively the slowest car on the grid. Unlike the rest of their competition Tyrrell was still using the classic Cosworth DFV V8 which of course was naturally aspirated as opposed to the rest of the fields turbocharged engines. The Tyrrells Cosworth engine made, at times, over 150HP less than the contemporary turbo engines, and yes, while Tyrrell was disqualified from the 1984 season for rules infringement it is now widely acknowledged that they were most likely operating within the given rules, due to the gray area on the rules governing the cars' ballast systems. Bellof took his Tyrrell from 20th position, last on the grid, to 3rd and was rapidly closing the gap between himself and Senna. Had the grand prix continued, it would most likely have been Bellof who would climb the top step of the podium, not Senna.

Sadly, Bellof's F1 career, and life were cut short, when, while setting up an overtake on Jackie Ickx's Porsche 962 through Eau Rouge, in his Porsche 956, clipped Ickx's left rear and sent them both crashing into the wall. Bellof's 956 went clean through the initial barrier and into a second, soon after his car caught fire and it was an agonizing 10 minuted before he could be pulled from the wreckage. Upon arriving at the track hospital he was pronounced dead due to major injuries sustained in the crash. Below is video from Ickx's car that shows the incident.

To this day, few remember Bellof and what might've been of his promising career. The two most impressive things left by Bellof are, the current lap record of the Nurburgring, for any car, a blistering 6 minutes 11 seconds and supposedly, impressions on a young German, aspiring to be an F1 driver himself, Michael Schumacher.

I doubt many of you speak sufficient German to understand this but I leave you with a well done video, remembering the late Bellof, its title, roughly translated, "Full Throttle into Death"

DISCUSSION (20)

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > Trunk Impaired 318
04/25/2014 at 16:58

One brilliant wet-weather lap does not make anyone the greatest driver ever.

Clearly the man had talent, and his career was tragically short. But since we don't have enough evidence, we must contend that Senna still stands above him since we have a plethora of amazing, almost nonhuman levels of driving from him to observe.

Trunk Impaired 318 > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
04/25/2014 at 17:07

By all means I agree, Senna's accomplishments will likely never again be matched. I also clearly said "Possibly" in the title, I would never dream of claiming that he was the greatest, only that he had the ability and chance to be, had he the opportunity. Additionally, I was unable to add a more detailed analysis of his driving and other races as I ran out of time to write.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Trunk Impaired 318
04/25/2014 at 17:07

Stefan Bellof I presume. Real shame. Man had bags of talent, and you're right, it's largely unrecognised.

McLarry > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
04/25/2014 at 17:07

You'd have to be blind to miss the evidence of his potential...and drastically misguided to claim it was just 'one brilliant wet-weather lap'. His F1 career was tragically short, but it is widely accepted that it would have been spectacular had it continued. Best driver ever? Who can say, but you can't exactly eliminate him from the running just because we've seen more of Senna.

George McNally > Trunk Impaired 318
04/25/2014 at 18:11

This write up gave me chills.....I watched this race when it was on ESPN way back then.

2BWise > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
04/25/2014 at 21:39

That race can be viewed in its entirety on YouTube. Just watch Bellof's car control and ability to out pace everyone else in the field it would have been spectacular to have seen him live on and continue in Formula 1.

YSI-what can brown do for you > Trunk Impaired 318
05/02/2014 at 17:35

Two things are always constant.

The laws of the universe, and Stefan Bellof's 6min 11sec record at the ring.

deanmachine14 > Trunk Impaired 318
05/02/2014 at 18:59

I seen the title and thought to myself "Who Stefan Bellof?"

Nailed it.

Ronnie Schreiber > Trunk Impaired 318
05/02/2014 at 19:03

I've never quite understood the cult of personality surrounding Ayrton Senna. It's true that he was greatly talented and died in the prime of his career, but you can say the same about Jim Clark and Mark Donohue.

CJinOB > McLarry
05/02/2014 at 19:15

And it isn't like a certain other driver didn't achieve more than double what Senna did in F1.

SpyWhatSpy > Trunk Impaired 318
05/02/2014 at 19:16

Back in the mid-eighties Stefan Belloff and Al Holbert were my two racing idols. Sadly neither one of them made it to the Nineties.

Somethingwittyer likes noisy > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
05/02/2014 at 19:18

Really should have been called the best F1 driver you've never heard of. But yeah, I think the 1984 World Sports Car driver's title does give some credibility to that claim.

DCrants > Ronnie Schreiber
05/02/2014 at 19:44

Well TV certainly has something to do with it since you'll be hard pressed to find much of anything on video for Clark's races. We're pretty much limited to a handful of clips whilst Senna raced in an era where, for the first time, F1 was really starting to hit its stride on television. Even his death was broadcast live on TV.

DeltawingGothamDeserves > Trunk Impaired 318
05/02/2014 at 22:29

I didn't learn about him until a few weeks ago! I did a project on the Nurburgring, and he was just a name with a good lap time then.

Did not realize how skilled he really was.

C-Rod > Trunk Impaired 318
05/03/2014 at 01:07

Wasn't the whole team disqualified for the 1984 season due to their car not adhering to spec? Still a great driver though.

osmosis1234 > Trunk Impaired 318
05/03/2014 at 09:36

How about Tommy Byrne.

He raced against Senna And beat him a few times.

http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/motorsport/…

Trunk Impaired 318 > C-Rod
05/03/2014 at 22:41

Yes, they were. However, its now almost unanimously agreed that the car was within the limitations, but they did quite a bit of bending the rules

merlyn11a > Trunk Impaired 318
05/05/2014 at 00:08

Yup, a great driver with lots of potential. I remember thinking an F1 guy crashes in a 962 and dies? Didn't make sense until I saw the tape later; but yeah the Monaco run was really awesome. My thinking on that is rather old school; rain is a great equalizer. And all the power becomes much less effective; and the DFV despite being down was a really reliable lump and the Tyrell not a bad chassis just under powered.

Trunk Impaired 318 > merlyn11a
05/05/2014 at 00:10

I agree, plus with it being naturally aspirated I think it allowed him to control the car with the throttle a lot more effectively than the others with turbos

merlyn11a > Trunk Impaired 318
05/05/2014 at 00:33

Wow, now I'm feeling really old, that seemed like last week.....