Most Unwanted Records in Formula 1 That No Driver Wants To Be Associated With

Let's start with the most obvious and popular one. Yes, you guessed it, it's about Nico Hulkenberg, that holds the record for the driver with the most races (179) that never stepped up on the podium. The thing is, nobody can ever say that Hulkenberg was a bad driver. It's just the fact that he was in the wrong team at the wrong times, and when he had a real chance to achieve a podium place, he made some silly mistakes.

For example, Nico was leading the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix. However, he then crashed with Lewis Hamilton. Another good example is at the dramatic 2019 German Grand Prix, where he had an excellent chance for a podium place, but due to the weather, he crashed out while negotiating the final corner.

Going from a German driver to another German driver, Nick Heidfeld holds the unfortunate record for most podiums without a race victory. Heidfeld had 13 podium finishes and one pole position in his entire career. However, he was never able to get that sweet taste of success from the podium's top step.

Nick raced for a couple of good teams such as BMW, Sauber, or Williams, but luck was never on his side. As a fun fact, Carlos Sainz was extremely close to being the "proud" owner of this record because he had 11 podium finishes until he finally won his first race at the 2022 British Grand Prix.

Luca Badoer has the record for the most starts without a point. He had indeed spent most of his Formula One career with bad teams such as Scuderia Italia, Minardi, or Forti, but for a short stint of two races, he was a Ferrari driver. Back in 2009, Felipe Massa had that ugly crash at the Hungarian Grand Prix, so Ferrari was in need of a driver. After ten years of absence from Formula One, Luca Badoer was given a chance to get his first ever points. Unfortunately, he was extremely slow compared with the others, so Ferrari had to let him go.

Italian driver Andrea de Cesaris holds the record for the most races without a win (208) and the most retirements (147). Andrea was fast but very accident-prone in his early years. That's why he was nicknamed "de Crasheris' after 19 incidents during his debut season in 1981. In his 15 seasons, he failed to reach the chequered flag in more than 70% of his F1 starts because his cars were incredibly unreliable.

For example, between 1986 and 1988, he had a 22-race streak where he failed to finish any races. At the same time, Andrea de Cesaris is the only driver to retire from every race in a season but still make it to the podium. At the 1987 Belgian Grand Prix, he was classified third despite running out of fuel in the last lap.

Chris Amon holds the record for most laps led (183) and most pole positions (5) without winning a race. Besides all this, the New Zealand driver grabbed 11 podiums, but due to poor reliability and terrible luck, he could never get a win.

Leading a race on seven different occasions, a series of heartbreaking retirements kept Amon away from the chequered flag. However, Chris was very successful in non-F1 races, winning important events such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans or the 24 Hours of Daytona.

These are some of the most important unwanted Formula One records for which no driver wants to be remembered.