Formula 1's One Country Wonders

This season marks the debut season for Indonesia Ryo Haryanto at Manor. Indonesia becomes the 9th country (for the moment) to have only one driver to race in Formula 1. I decided to write out a list of the other 8 drivers who are “One Country Wonders” in the Paddock of Formula 1.

Robert La Caze - Morocco

Technically born in Paris, La Caze raced under the Moroccan flag and made his one and only F1 start at the 1958 Moroccan grand prix in a privately entered F2 cooper, he finished 14th and 5 laps down on the race winner Stirling Moss but 2 laps ahead of Graham Hill. Up until his death in 2015, he was the oldest living F1 driver at aged 98.

Eliseo Salazar - Chile

Spanning between 1981 to 1983, Eliseo Salazar made his F1 debut for March before moving to ensign mid-season, there he scored his first point with a 6th place at the dutch grand prix. Salazar is perhaps well known for the 1982 German grand Prix bust up between him and Brazilians Nelson Piquet. The Brazilian was about to lap Salazar, when Piquet slowed down for the chicane, it was there that Salazar went into the back of him taking himself and Piquet out of the race. But all was not over, as the hot tempered Brazilian started lashing out and punching Salazar in anger.

Salazar’s F1 career came to an end in 1983 after a short stint at RAM, where he wasn’t able to compete with some of the higher teir teams. He then switched to F3000 in South America before going to sports cars in 1988. He currently races in the Chilean rally championship.

Zslot Baumgartner - Hungary

Despite have the worlds largest eyebrows, Zslots Baumgartner to this day is the only Hungarian driver to copete in F1. Debuting for Jordan at his home race replacing the injured Ralph Firman, he retired from the race but managed to finish 11th in Monza. For the 2004 campaign, he managed to grab the seat going at Minardi, with little success was going to be on the table, he managed to scrape a solitary point and Minardi’s first points since Mark Webber in 2002 at the US grand prix after finishing 8th, second to last in the race but a point is a point.

Other than being handed a test driver role for Team Minardi USA in Champcar and for Tottenham Hotspurs in Superleague Formula, Baumgartner, and his eyebrows have all but disappeared from the motorsport scene.

Tomas Enge - Czech Republic

Tomas Enge became the first Czech driver to race in F1 after he replaced Luciano Burti who suffered a heavy crash at Spa which resulted in the end of his F1 career. Enge made his mark at the Italian grand prix where he finished 12 and a lap down followed by a 14th place finish in the States before finishing offf the season with a retirement in Japan. Hoping to hold his seat at Prost was short lived after the team folded in the off-season.

Enge after Formula 1 raced in a variety of disciplines, more known in the world of GT racing and many Le Mans apperances, including a win in 2003 in a Ferrari 550 Maranello.

Alex Yoong - Malaysia

Making his Minardi debut in 2001, Alex Yoong became the only Malaysian F1 driver. Despite the milestone, he never shone, he retired in Italy and the USA before finishing 16th in Japan. 2002 bought a bit more hope after finishing 7th in an accident filled race, he then later retired at his home grand prix in Malaysia before failing to qualify for the San Marino grand prix, the first driver to do so since Tarso Marques at the 2001 Belgian Grand Prix. He didn’t start the Spanish grand prix due to safety concerns. After more poor showings, including DNQs in Britain and Germany he saw the season out and unsprisingly not renewed for another season.

After formula 1, Yoong struggled to make a name for himself, after a few races in ChampCar, he turned to the A1 championship for Malaysia until the series folded. Two Stints at Le Mans and 3 races in the GP2 aisa series, Yoong settled down in the Audi R8 LMS Cup in which he won the Championship twice.

Prince Bira - Thailand

Price Bira, or Birabongse Bhanudej Bhanubandh (I’ll stick with Prince Bira, less of a mouthful.) raced in Formula 1 from 1950 to 1955 for Maserati, Gordini, and Connaught. His best finish in a F1 championship race were two 4th places at the swiss grand prix in 1950, and the french grand prix in 1954, however the prince did win two non-championship races in 1951 and 1954.

Despite being a F1 race driver, and reasonably successful, he was an Olymic sailor, competing at Melbourne in 1956, Rome in 1960, Tokyo in 1964 and Munich in 1972. He was also an expert pilot who managed to fly from London to Bangkok. Sadly, Prince Bira died in 1985 after a heart attack, becoming obscure after retirement meant that no one really knew who he was until a note was found in his pocket that was addressed to him.

Rikky Von Opel - Liechtenstein

Name sounds familiar huh? That’s because he is the great grandson to Adam Opel, the guy who created Opel cars. Well this guy too raced in Formula 1, with his suitcase of cash he was a true “pay driver”, but not with much success. 14 entries with 10 starts for both Ensign and Brabham led to 4 finishes and Bernie Ecclestone giving him, and his money, the boot in favor for the up and coming talent of Jose Carlos Pace.

Saying little is known about Von Opel is a slight understatement, his F1 career came to an end at the age of 27, and not long after that, he found religion and converted to Buddhism. With his faith changing him, not even his relatives money tempted him, and his new found faith took him to Tibet, however, he was known to be seen in New York dealing with shares in the stock market. But even then his whereabouts is still in dispute, not even a plea from his former boss to locate him has reeled in any results.

Robert Kubica - Poland

Perhaps the most well known one country wonder in this list, the Polish driver started life as a BMW Sauber test driver before coming in to replace a unmotivated/injured Jacques Villeneuve. In his first race, Kubica managed to drag his Sauber to 7th in a wet/dry race before being disqualified for an underweight car. But in only his third race, Kubica managed to score his maiden podium becoming the first polish driver to stand on the podium, and for being the first driver (at the time) since Alexander Wurtz to score a podium within 3 races of a debut. He was kept on for 2007 where he was a consistent points finished, however, it was this year that Kubica had a massive crash in Montreal which sidelined him for the Indianapolis grand prix. But that didn’t stop him winning on that same track a year later which went on to be his best year taking 6 podiums, a pole, and 3rd place in the championship. In 2010, he made a move to Renault where he had reasonable success with a 2nd in Australia and two 3rd places in Monaco and Belgium.

Just weeks before the start of the 2011 F1 season, Kubica was involved in a near fatal rally accident which partially amputated his forearm as well as fracturing his elbow, shoulder and leg. Amazingly, he recoveed and went on to win the Ronde Di Andora rally in which he almost died on. He currently now competes in the WRC with his own Fiesta Rally car.