In modern Formula 1, continuity is considered the ultimate virtue. Drivers like Lewis Hamilton or Max Verstappen define an era with a single team over years, sometimes over a decade. But behind the glamour of these long-term marriages hides a completely different species of racing driver: the nomads.
Drivers whose careers read like an prologued journey through the paddock and whose mailing addresses changed almost as quickly as their sets of tyres.
But who stayed the shortest in one place? We have undertaken a statistical analysis to identify the drivers who changed teams most frequently in relation to their total grand prix starts.
Of course, a line has to be drawn somewhere; otherwise, Jack Aitken would win by default, having averaged only one race per team – having only driven one single race in his entire career at Sakhir 2020 as a Williams stand-in.
For our ranking, we have therefore set the requirement that a driver must have switched teams at least three times to truly count as a nomad. Additionally, the requirement was that they must have made at least one start in this millennium – because Formula 1 statistics become increasingly diluted the further back you go.
This is also what placed our #1 on this list, as the driver only competed in two grands prix in the 2000s – all others were prior to that.
Had we set the threshold slightly lower, namely at two switches, Sakon Yamamoto would have won, having competed in 21 starts for three teams: Super Aguri, Spyker, and HRT. This gives the Japanese driver an average of only seven races per team – exactly how many he drove as a replacement for each of the three squads.
In this regard, the sheer number of teams was actually not the deciding factor and would only have led to confusion, as the example of 10th-placed Heikki Kovalainen shows: Renault, McLaren, and Lotus are clear. And then?
Podium: second place Heikki Kovalainen, Renault
Caterham was officially a different team than Lotus, but the Finn didn’t have to go looking for a new apartment. And does his appearance for Lotus – the other Lotus, namely Lotus Renault – in 2013 count as a new team or still as Renault?
Because of this, we kept it simple: If a driver changed addresses, it counts as a new team, even if they had been there once before.
To find out who switched even more often than Kovalainen, read on here.
The top 10 nomads of modern F1
10. Heikki Kovalainen: 4 teams in 111 races
His career began in 2007 at Renault as the successor to Fernando Alonso; a year later, he replaced the Spaniard once again, this time at McLaren. Driving alongside Lewis Hamilton, who became world champion in 2008, he managed only a single grand prix victory in Hungary. In 2010, the Finn found a new home at the newcomer Lotus but had no real chance of scoring points for three years. In 2013, he returned once more to Enstone, where he filled in for Kimi Raikkonen for two races at Lotus Renault (which was indeed a different team).
9. Heinz-Harald Frentzen: 6 teams in 156 races
The Mercedes junior entered F1 in 1994 with Sauber, where he stayed for three years. In 1997, he moved to Williams, where he became world championship runner-up as Damon Hill’s successor. However, the German was mostly overshadowed there by Jacques Villeneuve and moved on to Jordan. He experienced his best years there and was a long-term contender in the 1999 title race. In 2001, however, he was fired during the season and moved to Prost in an exchange with Jean Alesi, where he drove for five races. His next stop, Arrows, shut down during the 2002 season before the circle closed with a farewell season at Sauber.
8. Robert Kubica: 4 teams in 99 races
One wouldn’t have thought the Pole would appear here after the first years of his career, as he remained loyal to BMW-Sauber for three and a half years after his 2006 debut. In 2010, he moved to Renault, where he stayed for only one year – though involuntarily. His horrific rally accident before the 2011 season initially ended his F1 career. However, Kubica fought his way back and completed a comeback season with Williams in 2018, which proved to be sobering in an underperforming car. In 2021, he also stepped in for Kimi Raikkonen at Alfa Romeo for two races.
Pedro Diniz, Forti Corse
7. Pedro Diniz: 4 teams in 98 races
The classic pay-driver of the 90s, who nevertheless performed quite respectably. Despite modest prior success, he was signed by Forti in 1995 because he brought a lot of money from Brazil. He was actually supposed to stay there for three years, but Forti was a hapless case. Consequently, Diniz moved to Ligier after just one year and then to Arrows a year later, where he managed to last two years. The Brazilian also stayed for two years at his final stop, Sauber, before his career ended following a scoreless 2000 season.
6. Johnny Herbert: 7 teams in 160 races
Herbert also just barely qualifies for this list due to his final season in 2000. The Briton was dismissed by Flavio Briatore after only a few races at Benetton in 1989, had a brief stint at Tyrrell, and was then active for Lotus until 1994, before completing one start for Ligier. After returning to Benetton alongside Michael Schumacher, he moved via Sauber to Stewart, where he took a surprise victory at the Nurburgring in 1999. Jaguar bought the team, but after the 2000 season, Herbert’s time in Formula 1 was over.
5. Pedro de la Rosa: 5 teams in 104 races
After stints at Arrows and Jaguar, driving two seasons for each, he signed as a test driver for McLaren, where he replaced Juan Pablo Montoya, first temporarily and then permanently at the end of 2006. This was the Spaniard’s most successful period in F1. De la Rosa moved back into the second tier to make way for Lewis Hamilton, but received an unexpected comeback chance at Sauber in 2010. He drove his final season in 2012 for the hopelessly outclassed backmarker team HRT.
4. Vitantonio Liuzzi: 4 teams in 80 races
Originally, he was supposed to share a cockpit with Christian Klien during Red Bull’s 2005 entry, but Liuzzi only got four races and became one of the drivers for Red Bull’s new second team, Toro Rosso, the following year. After being outperformed there by Sebastian Vettel, he joined Force India as a test driver. In mid-2009, he replaced Giancarlo Fisichella, who had moved to Ferrari as Felipe Massa’s replacement, and remained on board through 2010. In 2011, there was one final, unsuccessful swan song season with backmarker HRT.
3. Mika Salo: 7 teams in 109 races
After two races for Lotus at the end of 1994, the Finn actually seemed stable. Three years at Tyrrell was an enormously long time for a driver in the 90s, but after that, Salo became the king of team-switching. He first went to Arrows for one season before 1999 became his major year. That season, he became the ultimate “super-sub” for two teams: first replacing Ricardo Zonta at BAR for three races, and then Michael Schumacher at Ferrari – he famously handed a victory in Hockenheim over to team-mate Eddie Irvine. Salo then found a seat at Sauber and helped Toyota enter F1 in 2002.
2. Jos Verstappen: 7 teams in 106 races
The Dutchman was passed around the midfield in the 90s. With Benetton, Simtek, Footwork, Tyrrell and Stewart, he drove for five teams in five years between 1994 and 1998. In 1999, he also nearly became the replacement at Jordan for Damon Hill, who wanted to quit spontaneously. Arrows is the only team where Verstappen stayed for more than a year, but with only three points-scoring finishes in two years, success remained elusive. After a scoreless 2003 season with Minardi, he bid farewell to F1.
1. Luca Badoer: 5 teams in 50 races
The Italian still holds the record for the most world championship starts without ever scoring a point. With Scuderia Italia (1993), Minardi (1995), Forti (1996), and Minardi again (1999), the machinery was simply too poor – though it almost worked out at the Nurburgring in 1999. In the current millennium, Badoer drove only two races: in 2009 as a replacement for the injured Felipe Massa. Ferrari rewarded him at the time for his long years of service as a test driver, but the comeback turned into a disaster, and Badoer was taken out of the car after only two races.
Luca Badoer, Minardi M01 Ford
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