Looking back: Al Pease - (not) the worst F1 driver ever

As part of my life on Twitter I like to dig out 'things that happened on this day' historical F1 snippets. Recently, I found one that intrigued me particularly. It concerned the 1969 Canadian Grand Prix, and the fabulous tale of a local entrant by the name of Al Pease.

To cut a long story short, in that race Pease became the only driver in history to be disqualified from an F1 race for being too slow. At the point he was kicked out he'd completed 22 laps, fewer than half the total that the leaders had managed at that point.

And Pease's other two attempts in Grands Prix weren't much better. In the 1967 Canadian race he did finish, but some 43 laps shy of the winner, and in the same Grand Prix in 1968 he failed to start because of engine problems, after setting a qualifying time way off the back of the pack.

So, Al Pease is a good candidate to be called the worst F1 driver ever? Well, no actually. As is often the case in F1 things aren't quite what they seem on the face of it.