The China Mail - Is that it?: F1's shortest driver stints after Liam Lawson sacking

The axe fell on the Kiwi after two uninspiring performances as teammate to four-time world champion Max Verstappen in Australia and China.

He fell victim to the cut-throat world in motorsport's fast lane, with Red Bull appointing Yuki Tsunoda, and Lawson demoted to the Japanese driver's seat at sister team RB.

Here AFP Sport looks at five drivers who figured only fleetingly on F1's grid.

Andre Lotterer

The German, a three-time winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours, holds the dubious distinction of the shortest career in F1's 75-year history - one lap.

He replaced Kamui Kobayashi at Caterham for the Belgian Grand Prix in 2014 alongside Marcus Ericsson. He bested his Swedish teammate in qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps, but retired after the opening lap with a technical failure.

Markus Winkelhock

Another German, whose father and uncle were both F1 drivers in the 1980s.

MHis career lasted longer than Lotterer's, but only by a few laps. He took over from Christijan Albers at Spyker in 2007, briefly leading the European Grand Prix at Nurburgring before retiring on lap 15.

Luca Badoer

Badoer was an unfortunate footnote in Ferrari's celebrated history. After 10 years out of F1 he was selected to replace the injured Felipe Massa at the 2009 European Grand Prix. He trailed in second last, which was at least one place better than his second and only other start in Belgian. Despite his lack of pace in his two races he was ironically fined for speeding in the pitlane in practice in Belgium.

Yuji Ide

At 31 years of age Ide became one of the oldest ever rookies when appointed to the Super Aguri team in 2006. He completed only one of his four races when he trailed in 13th in Australia. Not only was he swiftly sacked, he also suffered the ignominy of having his FIA driver's licence revoked.

Nyck de Vries

Like Lawson, another victim of Red Bull's ruthlessness. The promising Dutch driver was signed up for AlphaTauri, now RB, after an encouraging last minute stand in performance for Williams' appendicitis-hit Alex Albon at the 2022 Italian Grand Prix. A series of lowly finishes led Red Bull to replace him with Daniel Ricciardo after he took last of 17 at Silverstone in only the 10th race of the 2023 season.

J.Thompson--ThChM