 Ricardo Rosset at British F3Donington Park event in 1994 | |
| Born | (1968-07-27)27 July 1968 (age 57) São Paulo,Brazil |
|---|---|
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| Nationality |  Brazilian |
| Active years | 1996–1998 |
| Teams | Footwork,MasterCard Lola,Tyrrell |
| Entries | 33 (26 starts) |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 0 |
| Careerpoints | 0 |
| Pole positions | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| First entry | 1996 Australian Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 1998 Japanese Grand Prix |
Ricardo Rosset (born 27 July 1968[1]) is a Brazilianracing driver. Runner-up in the1995 International Formula 3000 Championship, he later participated in 33Formula One Grands Prix, making his debut at the1996 Australian Grand Prix. He scored no championship points. He eventually quit Formula One to focus on developing a sportswear business in Brazil.
After graduating from the Formula Opel Euroseries, Rosset competed in theBritish Formula 3 Championship in1993 forAlan Docking Racing. He finished joint sixth in the standings, tied withPedro de la Rosa, with his best finish being one second place atSilverstone. Rosset moved to the AJS team in1994, and improved to fifth in the standings in a season dominated byJan Magnussen. He won his first F3 race that year atSnetterton, albeit on an occasion where Magnussen retired.
Rosset made his début inInternational Formula 3000 with theSuper Nova Racing team in1995. His teammate was the more experiencedVincenzo Sospiri, who won the drivers' championship that year. In 1995 Rosset came second to his teammate – winning two races, including his first ever F3000 race – and finished second in the championship.
Although he had an opportunity to joinMinardi, Rosset was hired byFootwork in1996 as teammate toJos Verstappen. He never matched the Dutch driver's pace (Verstappen was quicker in qualifying for all the races), although the team largely stopped development on the car whenTom Walkinshaw bought it. Rosset later stated that the cash-strapped team were unable to provide two identical cars, with a lack of spares, and they concentrated on the faster driver, Verstappen.[2]
In1997 Rosset's only option in Formula One was to joinMasterCard Lola, where he was partnered with his former F3000 teammateVincenzo Sospiri. However, the team pulled out of Formula One after one failure to qualify at the1997 Australian Grand Prix due to an uncompetitive and underdeveloped car, theLola T97/30, and a breakdown in sponsorship fromMasterCard. Rosset was left without a drive for the rest of the season.[2]
In 1998, Rosset was chosen byCraig Pollock to beTyrrell's second driver alongsideToranosuke Takagi, to the fury ofKen Tyrrell, whose first choice was Verstappen,[3] although Rosset later stated Tyrrell's choice wasNorberto Fontana.[2] Pollock had bought into the team with a view to establishingBAR, and saw Rosset's superior sponsorship finance as essential in balancing the team's budget. The decision led to Tyrrell leaving the team midway through the season.[4]
The 1998 season was another unsuccessful one for Rosset, and led to increasing criticism of his abilities. Failing to qualify atMonaco, he spun towards the end of the qualifying session, and embarrassingly beached his car on the kerb when he tried to spin the car round to the face in the right direction. WhenMurray Walker suggested that people were debating whether Rosset was F1 quality, co-commentator and ex-F1 driverMartin Brundle replied, "it's a fairly short debate, Murray". Rosset has countered the criticism against him, claiming that, for journalists, making a driver look stupid is more lucrative than discovering the truth. He blamed a worn clutch for the incident: "That's why it looks so bad... the clutch wasn't working."[2] Even Rosset's own mechanics were critical of him: after he damaged his car in a collision withJacques Villeneuve at Monaco and received a warning from the stewards, his mechanics switched the first and last letters of his surname on his paddock scooter to form the word "tosser".[5] Rosset later said, "I never saw that. Maybe behind the scenes, the mechanics, they were saying that. I remember something like that... I don't doubt it."[2]
Despite an eighth-place finish at the next race inCanada, which was ultimately the team's best result of the season, Rosset was in danger of losing his seat to Danish driverTom Kristensen. At a test atMagny-Cours, Rosset and Takagi posted almost equal times, with Kristensen around half a second slower, albeit with an older engine.[6] Rosset said in 2019 that Kristensen drove the same car as he did, with only a change of seat and minor adjustments.[2] Rosset went on to outqualify Takagi at the following race at the same circuit, theFrench Grand Prix.[7]
Rosset's problems included missing out on qualification for theSpanish Grand Prix by 0.06s, and an injury during practice for theGerman Grand Prix which prevented him from taking part in qualifying, while inBelgium he crashed into the carnage of the 14-car pile-up on the first lap after being unsighted by the heavy spray, and was unable to take the restart. A further failure to qualify at Tyrrell's final race inJapan, where he was hindered by a neck injury caused by a crash in practice, marked the end of his Formula One career.
Rosset later stated his belief that Tyrrell concentrated heavily on his Honda-backed teammate Takagi, and gave the Japanese driver an advantage in order to win favour from Honda. "They wanted him to look good... so I was somebody not very welcome," he said. "For sure, they weren't behind me."[2]
After leaving the team at the end of the season, Rosset quit racing entirely to concentrate on his sportswear business in Brazil. However, he made a return to racing in the 2008Brazilian GT3 Championship, partnering BrazilianfilmmakerWalter Salles.[8] At the end of the season, the pair had won four times in theirFord GT and finished second in the overall standings.[9]
Encouraged by this performance, Rosset bought theFootwork FA17 chassis that he raced in 1996, and planned to enter it in a historic F1 series in 2009,[10] but ultimately did not. He later bought his 1998Tyrrell 026 on eBay, and keeps both cars at his home. He has said of his Formula One career, "I was very grateful I had the chance... I did my best, the best I could do. I pushed as hard as I could... What people say, it doesn't bother me."[2]
Rosset went on to win thePorsche GT3 Cup Brasil in 2010, 2013, and 2015.[11]
(key)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Alan Docking Racing | Ralt RT37 | Mugen-Honda | A | SIL Ret | THR 8 | BRH 6 | DON DNS | BRH 6 | SIL 8 | OUL Ret | DON 8 | 6th | 18 | ||||||||||
| Dallara F393 | SIL 3 | DON 10 | SNE 3 | PEM 9 | SIL 2 | SIL 6 | THR 6 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1994 | Team AJS | Dallara F394 | Mugen-Honda | A | SIL 9 | DON 10 | BRH 6 | BRH 10 | SIL 6 | SIL 4 | BRH Ret | THR 6 | OUL 5 | DON 5 | SIL Ret | SNE 1 | PEM 4 | PEM 3 | SIL 3 | SIL 2 | THR 3 | SIL Ret | 5th | 132 |
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Super Nova Racing | SIL 1 | CAT 2 | PAU 9 | PER 1 | HOC 9 | SPA 4 | EST 5 | MAG Ret | 2nd | 29 |
(key)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | WDC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Footwork Arrows Hart | FootworkFA17 | HartV8 | AUS 9 | BRA Ret | ARG Ret | EUR 11 | SMR Ret | MON Ret | ESP Ret | CAN Ret | FRA 11 | GBR Ret | GER 11 | HUN 8 | BEL 9 | ITA Ret | POR 14 | JPN 13 | NC | 0 | |
| 1997 | MasterCard Lola F1 Team | LolaT97/30 | FordV8 | AUS DNQ | BRA | ARG | SMR | MON | ESP | CAN | FRA | GBR | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA | AUT | LUX | JPN | EUR | NC | 0 |
| 1998 | PIAA Tyrrell Ford | Tyrrell026 | FordV10 | AUS Ret | BRA Ret | ARG 14 | SMR Ret | ESP DNQ | MON DNQ | CAN 8 | FRA Ret | GBR Ret | AUT 12 | GER DNQ | HUN DNQ | BEL DNS | ITA 12 | LUX Ret | JPN DNQ | NC | 0 | |
| Year | Team | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | Rank | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Vogel Motorsport | Chevrolet Sonic | INT 1 16 | SCZ 1 | SCZ 2 | BRA 1 | BRA 2 | GOI 1 | GOI 2 | GOI 1 | CAS 1 | CAS 2 | CUR 1 | CUR 2 | VEL 1 | VEL 2 | SCZ 1 | SCZ 2 | TAR 1 | TAR 2 | SAL 1 | SAL 2 | CUR 1 | NC† | 0† |
| 2015 | Vogel Motorsport | Chevrolet Sonic | GOI 1 Ret | RBP 1 | RBP 2 | VEL 1 | VEL 2 | CUR 1 | CUR 2 | SCZ 1 | SCZ 2 | CUR 1 | CUR 2 | GOI 1 | CAS 1 | CAS 2 | BRA 1 | BRA 2 | CUR 1 | CUR 2 | TAR 1 | TAR 2 | INT 1 | NC† | 0† |
Source:[16] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
† Ineligible for championship points.
