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| Last updated: 15-April-2001 | |
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1978-82
Langes is the definitive Formula One pre qualifying victim |
With the limited number of cars on F1 grids in recent years, pay-drivers are guaranteed a Grand Prix start. But back in the good ol' days of pre-qualifying, the most that many drivers ever got were a few laps on the Friday morning. As such we bring you the story of Claudio Langes, from Brescia in Italy. With 14 DNPQs the sum total of his F1 career, he just edges out Pedro Chaves as the driver with the most DNPQs without ever surviving the pre-qualifying scramble.
Langes' record in lower categories would suggest he had some ability, but probably not enough to cut it in F1 without a healthy dose of sponsorship. As early as 1978 he was Italian 125cc karting champion, and by 1982 he was well entrenched in F3 racing, although somewhat strangely he was more a participant in European F3 than in national championships. |
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1982-83
Takes his Anson Toyota around the F3 circuses |
In 1982, he started the European F3 championship as a pay-driver for the Trivellato Racing team in a Dallara 382 with an Alfa Romeo engine, but he was burdened by spasmodically useful Pirelli tyres. As a result, he negotiated a move to drive Gary Anderson's Anson SA3C design, using a Toyota engine, and by scoring 10 points was equal 8th with John Nielsen.
However, when he took the Anson to rounds of the British and Italian championships, Langes failed to score a point. For 1983 he continued in European F3 for Anson, using their latest SA4 model, now with an Alfa engine. With 11 points, he was 9th overall, but didn't score any points in the British championship. |
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1984-85
Brief foray into F3000 before the deal falls through |
But 1984 was a different proposition, as Langes shifted first to Eddie Jordan Racing and then Barron Racing, driving a Ralt RT3 with a Toyota engine. A 3rd at Donington, 2nd places at the Osterreichring, Monza and Enna, plus a win at Knutsdorp saw Langes score 36 points, and finish 4th overall behind Gerhard Berger, Johnny Dumfries and the champion, Ivan Capelli.
By 1985, he was ready to move up to the new class of F3000, and he got a deal together with Barron Racing to start the season in an ex-F1 Tyrrell 012 Cosworth. But after two low-key outings at Silverstone and Thruxton, the deal fell apart, so it was down to Italian F3 to fill some time, whilst also making an appearance for EJR in the one-off Curacao F3000 Grand Prix driving a March 85B Cosworth, where he started 5th and came 3rd. |
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1986-87
Scores points in full season of F3000 with some top 10 finishes |
For 1986, he landed a F3000 drive with BS Automotive in a Lola T86/50 Cosworth, though, but after finishing 9th at Mugello, he was out until round 7 at Enna, when he returned to finish 5th. He then also scored a 6th at Le Mans Bugatti, but did not collect points at the Osterreichring, Birmingham and Jarama. Yet with 3 points, Langes was equal 17th with Richard Dallest.
Then in 1987, he switched to the FIRST team, driving a March 87B Cosworth, but it proved to be a disastrous time. With only a limited number of outings for the team, Langes failed to qualify at Donington, crashed at Brands Hatch and Jarama, had a gearbox failure at Enna, and only managed a solitary 10th place at Birmingham. Without a point, he was unplaced. |
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1988-89
Brief foray into F3000 before the deal falls through |
1988 was a whole lot better, though, as Langes moved to GA Motorsport, which had entered four Lola T88/50 Cosworths for Langes, Gregor Foitek, Giovanna Amati and Jari Nurminen. Apart from a few mechanical problems, plus accidents at Brands Hatch and Birmingham (where he flipped David Hunt's car on lap 2), he came 5th and 4th in consecutive races at Monza and Enna, those 5 points leaving him equal 15th with Volker Weidler.
The improvement would continue into 1989, when he moved to Forti, driving a Lola T89/50 with a Heini Mader-tuned Cosworth. After finishing 12th at Silverstone, he retired at Vallelunga and Pau, but finished all the races after that. 7th at Jerez was followed by a fine 2nd at Enna behind Andrea Chiesa, but only after Martin Donnelly took team-mate Jean Alesi out. |
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1989
Good performances show Claudio can cut the mustard |
Proving it was no fluke, he backed it up with 6th at Brands Hatch, and could have had more points at Birmingham but for an altercation with Thomas Danielsson. Then it was his turn to bang wheels with Donnelly at Spa, which again robbed him of a potentially good result, before 9th at Le Mans Bugatti and 7th at Dijon. With 7 points, he was 12th overall.
In 1989, Langes also had his one and only recorded sports car outing, when he drove an Alba AR9 with a Buick engine for the DeBlasi Racing team in a 360km race in Tampa in America, sharing the car with Marzio Romano, but the machine retired with electrical problems. |
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1990 EuroBrun Joins the worst team of 1989 who had expanded to two cars |
But for 1990, with what money he could muster, Langes took the bold jump out of F3000 into F1, but he could hardly find a worse address in pit lane. The EuroBrun team had been the only one which failed to qualify for any race in 1989, and internally was in turmoil. As if it hadn't been hard enough in 1989 running just one car, for 1990 they actually expanded to two cars, one for Langes and one for Roberto Moreno.
Starting the season with the ER189 from the previous year, Langes was always going to do it tough. At Phoenix he was 7th out of 9 cars in pre-qualifying, with only 4 to go through to the main qualifying rounds, but he was almost 2 seconds slower than Yannick Dalmas' AGS in front of him, with only Gary Brabham's awful Life and Bertrand Gachot's equally execrable Coloni behind him. By comparison, Moreno qualified a stunning 16th, in front of Nigel Mansell's Ferrari, and finished the race. |
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1990
EuroBrun give Langes just a token presence at some GPs |
Brazil was a whole heap worse, however. Failing to get to grips with the track, Langes was 8th in pre-qualifying, over 5s slower than Gachot. His difficulties continued at Imola, where he was 6th, once more slower than the Coloni despite a revised ER189B chassis (both AGSs were missing). At Monaco, he was back down to 7th, having finally outdone Gachot, but he was still 2.6s off Dalmas, 4.5s off Gabriele Tarquini in the other AGS, way off the pre-qualifying pace, and almost 12s away from Ayrton Senna's eventual pole time.
Things kept going from bad to worse. Come Canada, Langes' sponsorship and motivation was starting to run dry, and EuroBrun preferred not to give him a run. But rather than risk a fine, they sent him out for a few laps, then promptly parked his car, by which stage he had recorded only the 8th fastest time, 3s off Gachot, and an amazing 16.6s off Dalmas who didn't pre-qualify either. The trend continued in Mexico, where Langes was again 8th, 13.6s slower than the Coloni. |
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1990
Coloni's improvement see the EuroBrun at the bottom of the barrell |
Managing to redeem himself ever so slightly in France, Langes was back up to 7th, and less than 0.5s slower than Moreno. Less than 6s off Mansell's eventual pole time, this was perhaps his best performance, although the short Paul Ricard track helped. At Silverstone he was 7th again, but back to being miles off pre-qualifying pace, and in Germany he found himself being edged out by Gachot once more, the Coloni having switched from Subaru to Cosworth engines.
As Gachot and Coloni improved, the EuroBruns continued slipping. In Hungary they were 7th and 8th in pre-qualifying, Moreno ahead, and with the Onyxes gone from Belgium onwards, things were just a little easier, but Langes could still not better 6th in pre-qualifying at Spa, Monza, Estoril or Jerez. In Belgium he was over a second slower than Moreno, and still a handful of seconds off pre-qualifying. |
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1990
Budget sees no EuroBruns in Japan or Australia |
At Monza, where he could have been expected to do better, Langes completely failed, lapping 6.3s slower than his team-mate. Portugal was only slightly better, as Claudio managed a time only 2.2s off Moreno's best, while in Spain he was only 1.1s slower than the Brazilian. But at no stage did Langes even look remotely close to the pre-qualifying pace, whilst the AGSs and Gachot's Coloni were making the main qualifying rounds with regularity.
However, after Spain the money just about ran out at EuroBrun. Add to that the fact that Moreno had been drafted to replace the injured Alessandro Nannini at Benetton, and EuroBrun simply couldn't afford, nor be bothered about flying to Japan and Australia. And so Langes' F1 career was over, having impressed nobody with only 14 DNPQs to show, and he was back out in the cold. |
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1990s
The trail runs cold as Langes takes up touring cars |
As is occasionally the case with the drivers we profile, the trail runs completely cold in terms of Langes' exploits after his F1 sojourn. The Grand Prix Who's Who, which tends to be the ultimate resource for outlining what drivers did in their non-F1 careers, says that Langes raced successfully in touring cars thereafter. Some other sources say the same.
It may be that he competed on the local level in Italy, but unfortunately, we have found no indication of the categories in which Langes may have raced from 1991 onwards, let alone any results of note. If you know anything of Langes' post-F1 career, we'd love to know. Naturally, any information given will be credited. |
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