Derek Warwick

Interesting facts

His younger brother Paul also raced professionally in Formula 3000, before being killed in an accident in 1991. He began in British stock car racing, winning the Superstox English Championship at 16 in 1971 and the World Championship at Wimbledon Stadium in 1973. Ahead of 1985 he turned down a Williams-Honda offer to stay at Renault - the seat went to Nigel Mansell instead, who won twice in it, while Renault itself withdrew from F1 at year's end, leaving Warwick without a team. Ayrton Senna, using his contractual number-one status, vetoed Warwick becoming his Lotus teammate - Warwick raced sports cars for Jaguar instead, and eventually landed the Brabham seat after Elio de Angelis was killed testing in May 1986. At the 1989 Canadian Grand Prix, running faster in the rain than eventual winner Thierry Boutsen, an engine failure ended his race on lap 40 while leading. His biggest triumph came in endurance racing: in 1992 he won both the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the World Sportscar Championship with Peugeot. Derek Warwick raced in Formula 1 from 1981 to 1993, across 11 seasons as a British driver. He scored a total of 71 championship points over his career.