| BEFORE FORMULA ONE | ||
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Background
Surprisingly slow, considering his history |
Some F1 rejects are obscure before they get to F1; some fall into the depths of obscurity after F1. But Brazilian Ricardo Rosset, born on 27 July, 1968, has the distinction of being obscure even when he was in F1.
So obscure, in fact, that some of his appalling qualifying efforts in 1998 went completely unnoticed by yours truly. This was somewhat of a surprise considering his previous form. Though he was definitely moneyed, he didn't seem to be too much of a slouch. |
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1989-94
Highlight of career Brit F3 win at Snetterton |
In 1989 and 1990, he raced karts in Brazil, once coming 4th in the title. In 1991 he moved up to Brazilian Formula Ford, where he finished 5th. Moving to Europe in 1992, he had little joy in the Formula Opel Euroseries, only managing 10th.
But picked up by Alan Docking Racing for British F3 in 1993, he finished joint 6th with 18 points, improving all the time and peaking with one runner-up finish. Driving a Dallara with a Mugen engine for Team AJS in the same series in 1994, a year dominated by Jan Magnussen, Rosset was 5th, consistency his key. His highlight was at Snetterton, where he took pole, recorded fastest lap and won handsomely. |
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1995
Very impressive with Sospiri in F3000 |
Though he tested impressively for Paul Stewart Racing at the end of 1994, in stepping up to F3000 he joined David Sears' SuperNova team, using Reynards. And he made an immediate impact, taking pole and the win at the first round at Silverstone, becoming the first ever to win on his F3000 debut.
He would then win again at Enna, but this was the year his team-mate, Vincenzo Sospiri, came good, and the Italian had secured the title with a round to spare. But with 29 points, Rosset was an excellent runner-up, and Formula One beckoned. |
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| FORMULA ONE | ||
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1996 Footwork Overshadowed by teammate Verstappen |
Despite what looked like developing talent, Rosset's money was still his best selling-point, and it was primarily for this that Jackie Oliver signed him for the Footwork (or Arrows) team in 1996, using a Hart engine, as team-mate to
Jos Verstappen.
It turned out to be an extremely difficult season for a number of reasons. Verstappen was simply faster, while Rosset hardly ever tested. Tom Walkinshaw also bought the team a few races in, and, preferring to concentrate on the 1997 car, paid little attention to Arrows' 1996 efforts, and as a result the Footwork chassis gradually fell back. |
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1996
Starts OK, but can't pass the Fortis in Argentina |
Rosset's first race in Melbourne, though, would have probably shocked him a little bit when he found himself dicing with
David Coulthard's problematic McLaren. He eventually finished a creditable 9th out of 11 on his debut, but in Brazil found himself crashing back down to earth, quite literally, having qualified 17th, his joint best that season.
Argentina was another reality check when he had trouble passing the Fortis (oh dear), which had passed him at the start when he didn't see the lights properly. He was finally sidelined with fuel pump problems. |
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1996
Fuel spillage kills Ric's race, followed by a trio of prangs |
11th at the Nurburgring (he actually came 13th but was bumped up courtesy of the disqualified Tyrrells) was followed by an unfortunate retirement at Imola. In pulling away from his stop to early Verstappen pulled the fuel hose out of the rig, causing fuel to spill dangerously all over the pit lane.
The Arrows garage in a mess, Rosset couldn't make his stop and was forced to quit. This was then followed by a glorious string of three accidents in a row, in the Monaco mayhem, the rain in Spain and the Canadian kinks. |
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1996
Denies Japanese stop-go was justified |
Staying on the black stuff in France he finished 12th out of 15, and he was 11th in Germany and 8th in Hungary after a DNF in Britain. Despite a steering arm failure in Italy, he also made it home in Belgium (9th), Portugal (14th) and Japan (13th).
His last race with Arrows at Suzuka was marred by a stop-go penalty for blocking the leaders, which he maintained he did not do. Even if he did, I'd forgive him. After all, when you've been neglected the whole season by all and sundry, wouldn't you want to get some attention any way you can? |
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1997 Lola Would have been quicker driving a lawnmower |
For 1997 he was teamed up once again with Sospiri as Eric Broadley tried to bring the Lola marque back into F1, using customer Cosworth engines. The under-prepared cars were a joke, having never seen a wind tunnel.
In Melbourne neither of them qualified, both being 5 seconds slower than Pedro Diniz, the last qualifier, and way over 10 seconds slower than the pole time. Missing the 107% cut by miles, Rosset was over a second slower than Sospiri, and nearly 13 seconds off the pace. |
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1997
Lola euthanased, Rosset drives for Porsche |
Looking forward to Brazil, Rosset said: "I know that we will be expected to do better for the next race and I do need to show the many race fans at home that we are progressing as a new team."Sadly, he never got a chance to do that, as the team licked its Melbourne wounds and closed shop. It left the Brazilian twiddling his thumbs for the rest of the year, apart from a 7th place finish in the Porsche Supercup race at Monaco. |
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1998 Tyrrell Picked up by Tyrrell-less Tyrrell |
But he was back in F1 in 1998, ironically replacing Verstappen as Ken Tyrrell sought to end his involvement in F1 on a high, knowing that the BAR consortium had bought the team for 1999. So why the hell he went for Rosset as team-mate for Toranosuke Takagi I'll never know.
And it appears that certain members in the Tyrrell team couldn't agree on his signing either, to the point where Tyrrell decided to leave his own team before the year even started when the friction became too much. |
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1998
Poor starts to the season - deadly slow in Spain |
Without the team's founder, and with an underpowered Ford Zetec-R engine, the signs were ominous right from the start. Rosset qualified 19th in Australia whilst Takagi was 13th, and then found himself stuck in gear when he came in for another stop-go penalty, this time for speeding in the pits.
Unable to ever qualify outside the bottom four, Brazil and San Marino brought gearbox and engine problems, while he struggled home 14th in Argentina. But then in Spain he missed the 107% cut by 0.06 of a second, when he was even 1.2 seconds behind Takagi. |
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1998
Astoundingly off the pace at Monaco and Hungary |
He was even further from making it at Monaco, where he was an appalling 1.7 seconds slower than Esteban Tuero's Minardi. Conversely, Canada saw him achieve his joint-best ever F1 finish in 8th having started last. Retirements in France and Britain were followed by a 12th place finish in Austria.
At Hockenheim he crashed heavily on Saturday free practice, and was forbidden from participating in qualifying by Professor Syd Watkins, and officials as a result forbade him from starting. Perhaps still feeling the effects of that prang he DNQed in Hungary as well, 1.4 seconds behind Tuero and 6.2 behind polesitter Hakkinen. |
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1998
Plays a role in the mother (and father) of all pile-ups |
Belgium saw him caught up spectacularly in the huge first-start pile up. His was the car smashing into the other wrecks last. That impersonation of a battering ram would have been enough to get him onto this site anyway. With only one spare Tyrrell for Takagi, Rosset did not restart. He finished 12th at Monza and had an engine failure at the Nurburgring, before ending the season nicely with another DNQ, 7 seconds behind pole man
Michael Schumacher.
Having spent another season largely unnoticed, Rosset was not picked by any team for 1999 and it was curtains for his F1 career. |
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| AFTER FORMULA ONE | ||
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1999-2000
Sao Paulo man says its too dangerous |
Obscure in F1, and obscure after it as well. We have virtually no record of Rosset in any motor racing activity in 1999 or for 2000! We do know, thanks to Pablo Vargas that he was offered drives in one of the second categories in CART and IRL, but declined, saying the cars were too dangerous. Let us know if you have any further details.
What we do know is that he is married to Michelle, and currently lives in Sao Paulo. He is 1.74 metres tall and weighs in at 66 kg. |
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