The Formula 1 Driver Who Holds the Record for Being Passed the Most in a Single Season
Marussia’s Charles Pic during qualifying for the 2012 Australian Grand Prix.Photo: Clive Mason (Getty Images)
Not all Formula 1 records are exactly equal on the level of prestige. Max Verstappen being the youngest driver to ever win a Grand Prix? That’s pretty cool. Being the driver who set an all-time record for being passed the most in a single season? That is admittedly less cool, but that’s a distinction Charles Pic must bear.
French driver Charles Pic was never exactly a star in F1. His two-year stint as a driver started off with Marussia in 2012 and ended with Caterham the following year, during which time he failed to score a single point and recorded a best finish of 12th place at the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix.
The 12th-place high came at the end of a troubled season for Pic. During that year, he was passed by other cars a whopping 70 times, which made history. Until some other poor driver is overtaken on a more regular basis, this is the record that will be forever associated with Pic’s name. In a 20-race season, that meant Pic was passed 3.5 times per race.
But that largely came down to the car. It not only failed mandatory FIA crash tests, but a mid-season testing accident ultimately killed Maria de Villota, who was behind the wheel at the time. When it wasn’t being an active menace, the Marussia was painfully slow; only HRT performed worse that year.
It was an unfortunate situation for Pic, who had been a reasonably solid driver in feeder series like Formula Renault and GP2 and had scored wins at tracks like Monaco, Silverstone, and the Nürburgring. In 2014, he lost his seat in F1 and became a test driver for Lotus before competing in a handful of Formula E races. Since then, he’s somewhat dropped off the grid. It seems his unfortunate record isn’t an easy one to live down.
