Seven F1 drivers who raced in the BTCC

There are plenty of examples of drivers who had maybe one or two F1 races under their belt also racing in the BTCC, but there are also several bona fide F1 drivers with decent careers at the top who decided to try their hands in tin tops.

While the successes both in F1 and in the BTCC vary wildly, from title winners to back-of-the-field sluggers, these are seven that stand out to us.

Jan Lammers

While he is perhaps better known for his sportscar exploits, Jan Lammers raced in F1 for four seasons, always for teams that struggled to qualify. However he did have several rather creditable top 10 finishes under his belt by the time he left F1 for good.

In 1994 he tried his hand at touring car racing with Volvo, in a season that is particularly memorable, for being the one that Volvo entered an estate. For various marketing reasons Volvo decided the 850 estate would be the car they raced with in 1994, and they picked Lammers to race alongside Swedish ace Rickard Rydell in all the races that season.

While the 850 was undoubtedly cool, it was not actually a very good racing car. Lammers and Rydell managed to score points at only 11 of the 21 races and never troubled the podium. Lammers highest finish was fifth at Brands Hatch, but the image of the 850’s boxy shape bouncing around the various circuits of the UK has gone down in legend.

Nigel Mansell

Perhaps the most famous BTCC/F1 crossover began in 1993, when reigning F1 champion Nigel Mansell signed on to have a go at the national tin top championship with Ford, as part of the special TOCA Shootout at Donington Park. Mansell had been racing in IndyCar – and become champion at the first attempt – so wasn’t exactly out of racing practice. However, wearing the standard Red 5, Mansell crashed with just six laps remaining. Losing control of his car he hit Tiff Needell’s Cavalier and crashed into the barrier at the bridge – knocking Mansell unconscious.

Somehow this didn’t put ‘Il Leone’ off, and he returned to the BTCC, again with Ford, in 1998, racing in three rounds. While most of his performances were particularly memorable, one wet race, again at Donington, saw the former F1 champ lead for several laps and come home fifth, in perhaps the best BTCC race in history.

Derek Warwick

Derek Warwick’s F1 career probably deserved more than it got, although his 1992 Le Mans win probably made up for the disappointments. When he retired from F1 fully he switched his attention to the British Touring Car Championship, first racing for the formerly dominant Alfa Romeo team. Unfortunately for Warwick, his time with Alfa coincided with the main Alfa Course team quitting the BTCC and the rest of the field catching up with the 155 that had dominated the year before. As a result Warwick’s 1995 was a bit of a trial, with just six points finishes for his efforts.

After a year away in 1996 he returned, not only to race, but co-founding Triple Eight Engineering, which took over the running of Vauxhall’s works BTCC team. While Triple Eight would go on to become one of the greatest teams in BTCC history, Warwick’s time in the Vauxhall hot seat would last just two seasons. In 1997 both he and team-mate John Cleland struggled with a Vectra that hadn’t managed to keep up the speed of its predecessor, the title-winning Cavalier. Neither driver won a race and they finished 14^th and 12^th respectively. The following season was better, with the team starting to get the hang of the Vectra. Cleland won twice and Warwick would add a third at Knockhill, an emotional victory after years of hard work. At the end of the season Warwick retired for good.

Love the BTCC? Read our list of the ten best modern BTCC cars.

Mark Blundell

Not the most auspicious of racing returns. The former McLaren, Ligier and Tyrrell F1 driver turned CART race-winner returned to the driver’s seat after approximately 16 years away to race in the 2019 BTCC season in an Audi A3.

It would be a single season. Mark Blundell managed to score points twice, finishing 14^th on his debut and then 13^th at Silverstone, some 26 races later. He would finish 27^th in the championship, with five points to his name, and some controversy littered along the way. He elected not to return, but has retained a stake in the championship with his team MB Motosport, which is run by AmD and fields Goodwood SpeedWeek presented by Mastercard star Jake Hill.

Gianni Morbidelli

Italian Modbidelli has a bit more touring car pedigree than most on this list, but his main tin top successes – and in fact all the rest of his tin-top career – came after his single season in the BTCC with Volvo in 1998.

Mobidelli’s F1 career had been steady, with very little of note other than a surprise podium finish at the final race of the season in 1995 in a Footwork – a race where he finished several laps down on the winner Damon Hill.

After he left F1 in 1997 Morbidelli was picked up by the factory Volvo squad to race its S40 alongside Volvo stalwart Rickard Rydell. Morbidelli was a regular points finisher, more often than not appearing inside the top eight, but was unable to match Rydell, who went several steps better and won the five races and the title.

Perhaps Morbidelli’s most famous moment was when he raced from pretty much the back of the field at Thruxton to finish fourth, a result that looked like it might help kickstart his season. In fact he finished 11^th in the following race at Knockhill and retired from the next four in a row. He clearly got the bug though, going on to race in the European Touring Car Championship, World Touring Car Championship, International Superstars Series (which he won), V8 Supercars and TCR.

Damon Hill

Here’s a name you didn’t expect to see on this list. Yes the 1996 F1 champion Damon Hill did race in the BTCC... once.

There was a period of Damon’s career – in fact most of it before he made it to F1 – when he struggled for funding and drives. Back in those days there was a one-hour long endurance race with two drivers included in the BTCC. Damon, searching for drives, signed on to partner Sean Walker in the 1989 endurance race at Donington park.

Sharing a red, white and black liveried Ford RS500, Walker and Hill did not discredit themselves, finishing a pretty decent fourth

Jim Clark

OK, not strictly the BTCC, but it would be remiss of us to write this list without mentioning the legendary Scot. Not just because of his prowess as a true maestro of multi-discipline motorsport, but because the two-time F1 champ didn’t just race in the British Saloon Car Championship (the predecessor to the BTCC) – he won it.

Clark’s 1964 campaign was one of true dominance. At the time the BSCC was split into several classes, with different types of cars competing in each class. You won points in your class that then went toward an overall mixed championship. Clark was racing in Class B in a Lotus Cortina, or to put it properly, the rest of the field was racing Clark. He won all eight championship rounds that season, beating John Fitzpatrick to the title by 10 points. 

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.