Derek Warwick

Derek Warwick

Warwick at the 1982 Dutch Grand Prix
Born	(1954-08-27) 27 August 1954 New Alresford, Hampshire, United Kingdom
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	British
Active years	1981–1990, 1993
Teams	Toleman, Renault, Brabham, Arrows, Lotus, Footwork
Entries	162 (147 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	4
Career points	71
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	2
First entry	1981 San Marino Grand Prix
Last entry	1993 Australian Grand Prix
British Formula One Series career
Active years	1979
Races	1
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podium finishes	1
Career points	6
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0

Derek Stanley Arthur Warwick (born August 27, 1954 in Alresford, Hampshire, England) is a British former racing driver from England, who lives in Jersey. He raced for many years in Formula One, but never won a Grand Prix. He did, however, win the 1992 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 2005 and 2006 he raced in the inaugural season of the Grand Prix Masters formula for retired Formula One drivers. He has served as the fourth steward for three Grands Prix in 2010 and 2011. He is president of the British Racing Drivers Club, succeeding Damon Hill.

Early life and career

Warwick was born in Alresford, Hampshire, England, on August 27, 1954. He began his career in British stock car racing under the Spedeworth organisation at tracks such as his local Aldershot Stadium. He won the Superstox English Championship in 1971 (at the age of 16) and the World Championship at Wimbledon Stadium in 1973. His younger brother Paul also raced with some success in Superstox before progressing to Formula 3000, in which he was racing when killed in an accident in 1991.

Derek won the 1978 British Formula 3 Championship.

Derek Warick's Superstox car, Matchams Park, 1973

Formula One (1981–1993)

Warwick qualified third for Renault at the 1984 Dallas Grand Prix, but spun off after 10 laps.

Warwick began his Formula One career with the fledgling F1 team Toleman for the 1981 season. He managed to qualify for only one race that year, the season finale at Las Vegas. Warwick had mainly dismal 1982 and 1983 seasons in the Toleman car, but bounced back, scoring points in the final four rounds of the 1983 championship.

He joined Renault in 1984 after Alain Prost left them at the end of 1983. Warwick, expecting to have a race-winning car, led the Brazilian Grand Prix, his first drive for them, only to retire because of a suspension failure caused by an early race wheel banging duel with the McLaren of Niki Lauda. He finished in second place in both the Belgian and British Grands Prix in 1984 and placed seventh in the championship. 1984 would prove to be the beginning of the end for the factory Renault team, the pioneers of turbocharging in Formula One. Neither Warwick nor new team mate Patrick Tambay won a race in 1984, the first time since 1978 that the team did not win a Grand Prix.

The turning point in Warwick's career was his decision to stay at Renault for 1985 and reject an offer to drive for Williams-Honda. (The seat was then offered to Nigel Mansell who, accepting the position, went on to win two races at the end of the season.) 1985 was a poor one for Renault and the team withdrew from Formula One at the end of the year. Renault's withdrawal, and Ayrton Senna's refusal to let Warwick join him as team mate at Lotus (using his contracted number one driver status in the team, Senna refused to have anyone but a pure #2 as his team mate as he believed Lotus were not capable of supporting two championship contending drivers), left Warwick without a team for the 1986 season and he took up an offer to drive for Tom Walkinshaw's TWR Jaguar team in the World Sportscar Championship. Following the death of Elio de Angelis in a testing accident in May, however, Warwick was invited to take his place at Brabham. Unconfirmed rumours surfaced that Brabham owner Bernie Ecclestone had invited Warwick to take de Angelis' place as the Englishman was the only available top driver who had not actually contacted the team offering his services in the days following the Italian's untimely death. Warwick explained:

"I got a phone call from Bernie, who said that he really appreciated the fact that I didn’t call him five minutes after Elio had died and would I like to drive for him."

As no Grands Prix clashed with his Sportscar commitments, Warwick was able to race in both world championships.

In 1987, Warwick moved to the Arrows team alongside his Jaguar team mate Eddie Cheever, ending the season with 3 points scored. The 1988 season saw an improvement on the Arrows performance due to the powerful Megatron (a re-badged BMW M12) engine and Warwick finished 7 times in the top 6, earning him 17 points and a respectable 8th position in the championship. His best race of the season was 4th in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza where he finished only half a second behind Cheever. Italy was also notable in that it was the first time since the beginning of 1987 that Arrows engine guru Heini Mader finally solved the problem with the FIA's mandatory pop-off valve which restricted turbo boost. For the first time this allowed both Warwick and Cheever to fully exploit the power of the 640 bhp (477 kW; 649 PS) Megatron engine (restricted to 2.5 BAR boost in 1988) and be much closer to the front than they had been previously.

In 1989, victory eluded Warwick in two occasions. The first was in the Brazilian Grand Prix, when a disastrous pit-stop cost him more than the 17 seconds he finished behind winner Nigel Mansell. But the real heartbreak came in the Canadian Grand Prix, when Warwick drove superbly and was leading the wet race, only to have his Cosworth engine fail on lap 40 while in second place (Ayrton Senna, who had passed Warwick for the lead on lap 38, would himself retire when his McLaren's Honda V10 blew 3 laps from the finish. As Warwick was lapping much quicker than those behind him, including eventual winner Thierry Boutsen, its possible he could have scored his first Grand Prix win had he finished). Reliability issues plagued Warwick's season and cost him good finishes in other races as well, resulting in only 7 points for the season, the last of his 3 years at Arrows.

For the 1990 season, 4 years after Senna's veto, Warwick finally drove for Lotus who in 1990 would be using the Lamborghini V12 engine. But the glory days of that team were over and Warwick ended the season with a meagre 3 points tally. His greatest achievement of the season happened at the 1990 Spanish Grand Prix where his team mate Martin Donnelly suffered a severe crash leaving Warwick to help morale at the team by qualifying in the top 10 only for the gearbox to fail 10 laps from the end. Following a 3-year sabbatical, Warwick returned to Formula One in 1993 to drive for Footwork, but managed to score only 4 points. He ended his career with a total of 71 Grand Prix points.

Some consider Derek Warwick to be the best Formula One driver never to win a single race.

Sports and Touring cars

Warwick driving for Vauxhall in the 1998 British Touring Car Championship.

Warwick also competed successfully in sports car racing, winning the World Sportscar Championship in 1992, and was part of the Peugeot team which was victorious at the 24 hours of Le Mans race that year. He drove sports cars for Jaguar in 1986 and 1991.

Warwick raced in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) after retiring from Formula One, driving for the Alfa Romeo works team in 1995. Despite the team's dominating the previous year, their car was underdeveloped this time, leading to a poor season. In the first race of the season he memorably crashed into a TV camera, an incident featured in the highlights screened by the BBC a week later, with commentator Murray Walker quipping that Warwick owed them £6,000 for the damage ("that'll be six grand please, Derek!"). After a year out of racing, he co-founded the 888 Racing team that took over the running of the works Vauxhall 1997 BTCC entry, as well as owning three car dealerships in Southampton and Jersey. Originally set to be team principal, it was decided he would drive one of the cars alongside established Vauxhall driver John Cleland, winning a wet race at Knockhill in 1998. He retired from racing at the end of the year, but continued his involvement in the team for another 3 years.

Warwick now writes his F1 blog on the Sports social network champions365.com and operates a Honda franchise in Jersey.

Later life

In 2005 and 2006 Warwick raced in the inaugural season of the Grand Prix Masters formula for retired Formula One drivers. In 2010, he served as the fourth steward for the Spanish and Hungarian Grands Prix. In 2011, Warwick served as the fourth steward for the 2011 Turkish Grand Prix. This role is given only to former racing drivers, who advise the stewards panel on incidents from a driver perspective. He is president of the British Racing Drivers Club, succeeding Damon Hill.

Racing record

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC	Points
1981	Candy Toleman Motorsport	Toleman TG181	Hart 415T 1.5 L4t	USW	BRA	ARG	SMR DNQ	BEL DNQ	MON DNPQ	ESP DNQ	FRA DNQ	GBR DNQ	GER DNQ	AUT DNQ	NED DNQ	ITA DNQ	CAN DNQ	CPL Ret		NC	0
1982	Candy Toleman Motorsport	Toleman TG181C	Hart 415T 1.5 L4t	RSA Ret	BRA DNQ	USW DNPQ	SMR Ret	BEL Ret	MON DNQ	DET	CAN	NED Ret	GBR Ret	FRA 15	GER 10	AUT Ret	SUI Ret			NC	0
		Toleman TG183																ITA Ret	CPL Ret
1983	Candy Toleman Motorsport	Toleman TG183B	Hart 415T 1.5 L4t	BRA 8	USW Ret	FRA Ret	SMR Ret	MON Ret	BEL 7	DET Ret	CAN Ret	GBR Ret	GER Ret	AUT Ret	NED 4	ITA 6	EUR 5	RSA 4		14th	9
1984	Equipe Renault Elf	Renault RE50	Renault EF4 1.5 V6t	BRA Ret	RSA 3	BEL 2	SMR 4	FRA Ret	MON Ret	CAN Ret	DET Ret	DAL Ret	GBR 2	GER 3	AUT Ret	NED Ret	ITA Ret	EUR 11†	POR Ret	7th	23
1985	Equipe Renault Elf	Renault RE60	Renault EF4B 1.5 V6t	BRA 10	POR 7	SMR 10†	MON 5	CAN Ret	DET Ret	FRA 7										14th	5
		Renault RE60B	Renault EF15 1.5 V6t								GBR 5	GER Ret	AUT Ret	NED Ret	ITA Ret	BEL 6	EUR Ret	RSA	AUS Ret
1986	Motor Racing Developments	Brabham BT55	BMW M12/13/1 1.5 L4t	BRA	ESP	SMR	MON	BEL	CAN Ret	DET 10	FRA 9	GBR 8	GER 7	HUN Ret	AUT DNS	ITA Ret	POR Ret	MEX Ret	AUS Ret	NC	0
1987	USF&G Arrows Megatron	Arrows A10	Megatron M12/13 1.5 L4t	BRA Ret	SMR 11†	BEL Ret	MON Ret	DET Ret	FRA Ret	GBR 5	GER Ret	HUN 6	AUT Ret	ITA Ret	POR 13	ESP 10	MEX Ret	JPN 10	AUS Ret	16th	3
1988	USF&G Arrows Megatron	Arrows A10B	Megatron M12/13 1.5 L4t	BRA 4	SMR 9	MON 4	MEX 5	CAN 7	DET Ret	FRA Ret	GBR 6	GER 7	HUN Ret	BEL 5	ITA 4	POR 4	ESP Ret	JPN Ret	AUS Ret	8th	17
1989	USF&G Arrows	Arrows A11	Ford Cosworth DFR 3.5 V8	BRA 5	SMR 5	MON Ret	MEX Ret	USA Ret	CAN Ret	FRA	GBR 9	GER 6	HUN 10	BEL 6	ITA Ret	POR Ret	ESP 9	JPN 6	AUS Ret	10th	7
1990	Camel Team Lotus	Lotus 102	Lamborghini 3512 3.5 V12	USA Ret	BRA Ret	SMR 7	MON Ret	CAN 6	MEX 10	FRA 11	GBR Ret	GER 8	HUN 5	BEL 11	ITA Ret	POR Ret	ESP Ret	JPN Ret	AUS Ret	14th	3
1993	Footwork Mugen-Honda	Footwork FA13B	Mugen-Honda MF-351 HB 3.5 V10	RSA 7†	BRA 9															16th	4
		Footwork FA14				EUR Ret	SMR Ret	ESP 13	MON Ret	CAN 16	FRA 13	GBR 6	GER 17	HUN 4	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	POR 15†	JPN 14†	AUS 10

^† Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1983	Porsche Kremer Racing	Patrick Gaillard Frank Jelinski	Porsche-Kremer CK5	C	76	DNF	DNF
1986	Silk Cut Jaguar Tom Walkinshaw Racing	Eddie Cheever Jean-Louis Schlesser	Jaguar XJR-6	C1	239	DNF	DNF
1991	Silk Cut Jaguar Tom Walkinshaw Racing	John Nielsen Andy Wallace	Jaguar XJR-12	C2	356	4th	4th
1992	Peugeot Talbot Sport	Yannick Dalmas Mark Blundell	Peugeot 905 Evo 1B	C1	352	1st	1st
1996	Courage Compétition	Mario Andretti Jan Lammers	Courage C36-Porsche	LMP1	315	13th	3rd

Complete British Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 1 point awarded 1996 onwards all races) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) (* signifies that driver lead feature race for at least one lap – 1 point awarded in 1998 only)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	Pos	Pts
1995	Alfa Romeo Old Spice Racing	Alfa Romeo 155 TS	DON 1 Ret	DON 2 Ret	BRH 1 12	BRH 2 Ret	THR 1 12	THR 2 Ret	SIL 1 16	SIL 2 17	OUL 1 DNS	OUL 2 DNS	BRH 1 8	BRH 2 11	DON 1 13	DON 2 Ret	SIL 1 9	KNO 1 Ret	KNO 2 16	BRH 1 8	BRH 2 14	SNE 1 Ret	SNE 2 13	OUL 1 8	OUL 2 Ret	SIL 1 8	SIL 2 10		19th	15
1997	Vauxhall Sport	Vauxhall Vectra	DON 1 9	DON 2 8	SIL 1 8	SIL 2 5	THR 1 15	THR 2 6	BRH 1 10	BRH 2 11	OUL 1 11	OUL 2 Ret	DON 1 Ret	DON 2 10	CRO 1 7	CRO 2 10	KNO 1 9	KNO 2 13	SNE 1 11	SNE 2 Ret	THR 1 9	THR 2 8	BRH 1 Ret	BRH 2 Ret	SIL 1 Ret	SIL 2 Ret			14th	33
1998	Vauxhall Sport	Vauxhall Vectra	THR 1 12	THR 2 5	SIL 1 4	SIL 2 6*	DON 1 13	DON 2 8	BRH 1 11	BRH 2 13	OUL 1 11	OUL 2 Ret	DON 1 DSQ	DON 2 3	CRO 1 9	CRO 2 12	SNE 1 10	SNE 2 Ret	THR 1 7	THR 2 Ret	KNO 1 9	KNO 2 1	BRH 1 Ret	BRH 2 14	OUL 1 10	OUL 2 5*	SIL 1 7	SIL 2 10	9th	70

Complete Porsche Supercup results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	DC	Points
2007	Porsche AG	BHR1	BHR2	ESP	MON	FRA	GBR 27	GER	HUN	TUR	BEL	ITA	NC†	0†

† Not eligible for points due to being a guest driver.

Helmet

Warwick's helmet is blue with the entire chin area white and a white stripe running across the top, in the chin area there is a stripe on each side, his name written and a Union Jack.

External links

Derek Warwick's F1 Blog on Champions365.com

• Profile, champions365.com
• Profile, funof1.com.ar

Sporting positions
Preceded by Stephen South	British Formula 3 Championship BRDC Series Champion 1978	Succeeded by Chico Serra (Combined championship)
Preceded by Teo Fabi	World Sportscar Champion 1992 with: Yannick Dalmas	Succeeded by none
Preceded by Volker Weidler Johnny Herbert Bertrand Gachot	Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1992 with: Yannick Dalmas Mark Blundell	Succeeded by Geoff Brabham Christophe Bouchut Eric Hélary
Preceded by Damon Hill	BRDC President 2011 – present	Incumbent
Awards
Preceded by John Watson	Hawthorn Memorial Trophy 1984	Succeeded by Nigel Mansell
Preceded by Nigel Mansell	Hawthorn Memorial Trophy 1988	Succeeded by Nigel Mansell
Preceded by Nigel Mansell	Autosport British Competition Driver of the Year 1992	Succeeded by Damon Hill