Johnny Herbert

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Johnny Herbert

Nationality	British
World Championship Career
Active years	1989 - 2000
Team(s)	Benetton, Tyrrell, Lotus, Ligier, Sauber, Stewart, Jaguar
Races	165
Championships	0
Wins	3
Podium finishes	7
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First race	1989 Brazilian Grand Prix
First win	1995 British Grand Prix
Last win	1999 European Grand Prix
Last race	2000 Malaysian Grand Prix

Johnny Herbert driving for Benetton in 1995

John Paul Herbert (born June 25, 1964 in Romford, England) is a British former racing driver from England. He competed in Formula One, where he won three races, and more recently in sports cars. He enjoyed much success in lower-level motor racing but never managed to achieve the same level of performance at the top level of motorsport.

During the mid-1980s, Johnny Herbert was widely regarded as a coming man of motor racing, likened by some to the Scot Jim Clark. Winning the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch in 1985, Herbert caught Eddie Jordan's attention, and together they won the 1987 British Formula Three title. Disaster struck in 1988, though, as Herbert, then a championship hopeful in International Formula 3000 was caught up in a major accident at Brands Hatch, badly breaking his legs in a fearsome impact with the barriers. It was an act of huge bravery that saw him back in a racing car at the beginning of 1989, despite the fact he could barely walk. Even more remarkably, he was now in Formula 1, scoring points on his debut in Brazil driving for the Benetton team, then managed by his long time mentor and friend Peter Collins.

However, Herbert's performances could not keep up that standard, and with the Benetton team under new management, he was dropped after failing to qualify for the Canadian Grand Prix. Herbert returned to Formula 3000, this time in the highly regarded Japanese series. It wasn't long before he received another call from Grand Prix racing, this time Tyrrell. From 1990 to 2000, Herbert was a fixture in Formula One, switching to the dwindling Lotus team, now managed by Peter Collins. After 3 years of frustration, Herbert left Lotus in mid 1994, joining Ligier and then Benetton for the last few races of the season. Although he failed to score any points in 1994, he was retained as Michael Schumacher's team-mate for 1995. At the British Grand Prix, he inherited a hugely popular Grand Prix win after Michael Schumacher collided with Damon Hill. He followed this in similar circumstances at Monza, finishing 4th in the championship.

Herbert driving for Audi in the 2004 Petit Le Mans.

After being dropped by Benetton, Herbert drove for Swiss outfit Sauber in 1996-1998, scoring two podium places. Moving to Stewart Grand Prix in 1999, he scored his third and final Grand Prix win in a remarkable wet/dry European Grand Prix. Staying at Stewart as they became Jaguar, Herbert endured another frustrating and pointless season, ending the year being stretchered off at Malaysia after a suspension failure caused him to crash heavily.

Since retiring from Grand Prix racing, Herbert has concentrated on Sports Cars, trying to repeat his Le Mans 24 Hours win of 1991 in a Mazda. The last two years have seen him as one of the front runners in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS), where he has won several events and was a challenger for the 2003 crown.

In 2005, Herbert was appointed to the post of Sporting Relations Manager at Jordan Grand Prix, which was then renamed Midland F1 for the 2006 World Championship. However, in September of that year Spyker Cars bought the team, and renamed it Spyker MF1. Another of the new owners' decisions was to not renew Herbert's contract.

[edit] Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Team	WDC	Points
1989	Benetton	BRA 4	SMR 11	MON 14	MEX 15	USA 5	CAN DNQ	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL Ret	ITA	POR DNQ	ESP	JPN	AUS		Tyrrell	14th	5
1990	Lotus	USA	BRA	SMR	MON	CAN	MEX	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN Ret	AUS Ret		Lotus	NC	0
1991	Lotus	USA	BRA	SMR	MON	CAN DNQ	MEX 10	FRA 10	GBR 14	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR Ret	ESP	JPN Ret	AUS 11		Lotus	NC	0
1992	Lotus	RSA 6	MEX 7	BRA Ret	ESP Ret	SMR Ret	MON Ret	CAN Ret	FRA 6	GBR Ret	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL 13	ITA Ret	POR Ret	JPN Ret	AUS 13		Lotus	15th	2
1993	Lotus	RSA Ret	BRA 4	EUR 4	SMR 8	ESP Ret	MON Ret	CAN 10	FRA Ret	GBR 4	GER 10	HUN Ret	BEL 5	ITA Ret	POR Ret	JPN 11	AUS Ret		Lotus	9th	11
1994	Lotus	BRA 7	PFC 7	SMR 10	MON Ret	ESP Ret	CAN 8	FRA 7	GBR 11	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL 12	ITA Ret	POR 13	EUR 14	JPN Ret	AUS Ret		Lig/Ben	NC	0
1995	Benetton	BRA Ret	ARG 4	SMR 7	ESP 2	MON 4	CAN Ret	FRA Ret	GBR 1	GER 4	HUN 4	BEL 7	ITA 1	POR 7	EUR 5	PFC 6	JPN 3	AUS Ret	Benetton	4th	45
1996	Sauber	AUS Ret	BRA Ret	ARG 9	EUR 7	SMR Ret	MON 3	ESP Ret	CAN 7	FRA DSQ	GBR 9	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL Ret	ITA 9	POR 8	JPN 10		Sauber	14th	4
1997	Sauber	AUS Ret	BRA 7	ARG 4	SMR Ret	MON Ret	ESP 5	CAN 5	FRA 8	GBR Ret	GER Ret	HUN 3	BEL 4	ITA Ret	AUT 8	LUX 7	JPN 6	EUR 8	Sauber	10th	15
1998	Sauber	AUS 6	BRA 11	ARG Ret	SMR Ret	ESP 7	MON 7	CAN Ret	FRA 8	GBR Ret	AUT 8	GER Ret	HUN 10	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	LUX Ret	JPN 10		Sauber	15th	1
1999	Stewart	AUS DNS	BRA Ret	SMR 10	MON Ret	ESP Ret	CAN 5	FRA Ret	GBR 12	AUT 14	GER 11	HUN 11	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	EUR 1	MAL 4	JPN 7		Stewart	8th	15
2000	Jaguar	AUS Ret	BRA Ret	SMR 10	GBR 12	ESP 13	EUR 11	MON 9	CAN Ret	FRA Ret	AUT 7	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL 8	ITA Ret	USA 11	JPN 7	MAL Ret	Jaguar	NC	0

Preceded by Andy Wallace	British F3 Champion 1987	Succeeded by JJ Lehto
Preceded by John Nielsen Price Cobb Martin Brundle	Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1991 with: Volker Weidler Bertrand Gachot	Succeeded by Derek Warwick Yannick Dalmas Mark Blundell