Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

USA
Allan McNish, Toyota TF102
Prime
Special feature

Revisiting sportscar great McNish's one and only F1 season

It’s 20 years since Allan McNish made his long overdue Formula 1 debut with the brand-new Toyota team. But the circumstances were hardly ideal for the Scot, whose spell in F1 would prove to be all-too brief before making a successful return to sportscar racing.

It’s fair to say that Allan McNish didn’t fit the typical profile of a Formula 1 debutant when he lined up on the grid for the 2002 Australian Grand Prix with the brand-new Toyota team. Aged 32, the Scotsman hadn’t raced a single-seater since 1995 and was already well established as a top sportscar talent, having won the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1998.

Two decades have now passed since McNish’s one and only season as a grand prix racer before Toyota unceremoniously dropped the axe on both him and teammate Mika Salo. Reflecting on a campaign in which his best finish of seventh in Malaysia wasn’t enough to score points – 2002 was the last year in which only the top six were eligible to score – McNish concedes that “it was probably a bit too late coming in my career”.

Previous article Bottas ready to be "best version of myself" with Alfa Romeo
Next article Williams: Albon has "exceeded expectations" in first weeks

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

USA