Joseph Simpson
Joseph Simpson was an American racing driver who started in F1 in 1999.
Early Career
Simpson was born in Sandusky, Ohio, in April 9, 1976. He had an abusive father, so he often snuck aboard a ferry to Pelee Island in Southern Ontario. His uncle, however, often took him Go-Karting on the island, which is why he always went on the island. His talent was first discovered around 1994 when he won the American Karting Championship. He raced back and forth between F3000 and Champ Car until he entered F1 in 1999.
1999: Replacements
Simpson got his start in F1 when BAR driver Ricardo Zonta was injured after the Brazilian GP. His first start was at the 1999 San Marino GP. In his three races with the team he retired from all three of them, all due to technical problems, showing off the teams' unreliability.
He remained unemployed until mid-way through the season, when Alex Zanardi was sacked from Williams due to poor performances. Simpson was called in and scored a point on his first race with Williams. Although he retired due to technical problems in Germany, he scored again in Hungary. After crashing out of Belgium, people thought he was injured, but instead, he drove in Italy and fiercely fought for a podium, instead settling for fourth.
2000: Arrows
Simpson got a drive for Arrows in 2000 after being replaced in Williams by Jenson Button. He nearly scored points in the first two races in Australia and Brazil, only missing the elusive point by seconds. Then he placed 13th in San Marino and retired from the race in Britain. He ran up to 4th in Spain (albeit due to strategy) but retired due to a gearbox problem. He finally scored points (a 5th) in the European GP at the Nurburgring, fighting for position with Fisichella's Benetton. Another 5th place resulted from the race from Canada. Then he placed 4th at a wet German GP, which was seen at the time as one of his best GPs he had ever driven. After that, he muddled through average results, including a retirement at his home GP in Indianapolis, but finished 6th in Suzuka and Malaysia. The 9 points was enough to give Arrows 7th place in the Constructors' championship.
2001: Return to BAR
Simpson returned to the (now more reliable) British American Racing team for the 2001 season.
Results
Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | WDC | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1999 | British American Racing | BAR 01 | Supertec FB01 | AUS | BRA | SMR Ret |
MON Ret |
ESP Ret |
CAN | FRA | GBR | 13th | 5 | |||||||||
Winfield Williams | FW21 | Supertec FB01 | AUT 6 |
GER Ret |
HUN 6 |
BEL Ret |
ITA 4 |
EUR Ret |
MAL Ret |
JPN 9 |
||||||||||||
2000 | Arrows F1 Team | A21 | Supertec FB02 | AUS 8 |
BRA 7 |
SMR 13 |
GBR Ret |
ESP Ret |
EUR 5 |
MON Ret |
CAN 5 |
FRA 10 |
AUT 10 |
GER 4 |
HUN 13 |
BEL 12 |
ITA Ret |
USA Ret |
JPN 6 |
MAL 6 |
10th | 9 |