Roy Salvadori

Roy Salvadori was an English racing driver who took part in the F1R series from 1953 to 1962, racing for the likes of Ferrari, Vanwall, Mercedes, Aston Martin and BRM.

Ferrari dominated the 1952 F1R season with Pietsch and Whitehead leading the way in the Championship, with a young Bob Gerrard making a name for himself also - though their 4th driver Cabantous was rather off the pace. That led to a new idea from the Ferrari top brass, to bring in a young and inexperienced driver they could help to mould in the Ferrari image - and that man was Salvadori, who entered the series to great fanfare in 1953 as "the next big thing". In a season where Ferrari had undisputably the best car on the grid, he comfortably out-performed all non-Ferrari's - though did end up 4th out of the 4 Ferrari's on the grid in the final reckoning. That said, he had shown flashes of brilliance, including not only winning the 1953 Italian GP but also taking a hat-trick there too (a feat that very few drivers ever achieve in F1R!).

However, Salvadori saw what many others also saw - that the 1954 car was a step in the wrong direction - and so he headed for pastures new with Vanwall, where he really shone to outperform the car and finish 8th in the overall standings...including a remarkable victory at the 1954 French GP! He was hampered by reliability issues though, which led to him looking for a move elsewhere for 1955...

...enter Mercedes, who had been challenging right at the sharp end in '54 and looked a great option for Salvadori to continue his winning ways...however, the '55 Mercedes W196 was a tough car to drive and Salvadori found himself out of favour compared to home grown talent Kling. A couple of 4th placed finishes late in the season were the best he could manage and when Mercedes announced their withdrawal from F1R the only option on the table was to return to the Vanwall team he had enjoyed so much success with previously.

However, in his absence, Peter Collins had made Vanwall "his team" and had the entire packaged designed around his needs - which was something Salvadori struggled to adapt to. That meant, while Collins challenged for the title and finished 2nd overall in '56, Salvadori didn't even finish inside the Top 10 in the Championship (for the 1st time in his career) with only a single points finish in the French GP that year to show for his efforts. 1957 produced more of the same (albeit with a better car that took him to 9th in the standings), with a couple of 4th places in Argentina and Germany leading to him deciding to once again depart the Vanwall outfit for pastures new in 1958.

By now, Salvadori's reputation as a safe pair of hands was undeniable - and with Ferrari cleaning house after a disasterous 1957 (by their standards), they were eager to bring Salvadori back into the fold. It took the Brit a while to get to grips with the tricky Ferrari 256, though back-to-back Podium finishes in the final two races of the season were enough to propel him to 4th in the standings - and that caught the attention of the fledgling Aston Martin outfit, who were keen to make a big splash in the F1R world with a marquee British driver signing...with Salvadori becoming that man!

Predictably, Aston Martin struggled in their first season - with a pair of 8th placed finishes being the best that Salvadori could manage, with his team-mate Brooks edging ahead of him. 1960 was to see a return to form though, with a Podium in the season opening Argentine GP showing he could still produce on the big stage - and securing him the position of 'best Aston Martin driver'. Although a severe lack of pace meant that he only managed one further point score that season, which in turn led to Aston Martin folding at the season end.

Once more without a drive, Salvadori was enticed by the Porsche outfit in 1961 to come on board to try and rescue their troubled existence...but not even he could do that, with only a 4th placed finish in the season opening Monaco GP to show for his efforts all season. Finally, in 1962 he moved to BRM, where he once again showed his skill at Monaco with a points finish there...but too often struggled to compete against the younger drivers and so elected to retrire at that point. He was involved in managing the Cooper team thereafter and ultimately went to live in Monaco to see out his years with his status as a British racing legend firmly intact.