MONZA — Charles Leclerc reported physical injuries following his heavy shunt at the Italian Grand Prix, leaving Ferrari with backup options on standby in Madrid as the team braces for a potential lineup change.
Ferrari is far from alone in needing to replace a driver through ill health, injury or worse, with the Covid-affected 2020 season a prime example of paddock-wide adaptation at short notice. Crash.net notes 11 previous in-season changes in Ferrari history, plus a notable near-miss in 1989 when Mario Andretti declined to replace Gerhard Berger after his horrific crash at Imola, forcing Ferrari to run a single-car entry in Monaco.
The earliest switch came in 1957 when Cesare Perdisa elected to retire after a heavy pre-season testing crash at Modena, opening the door for Wolfgang von Trips from the opening round. Andrea de Adamich later suffered a severe neck injury in the non-championship Race of Champions, and with Ferrari running three cars for Chris Amon and Jacky Ickx, Derek Bell was brought in at the ninth round at the Italian Grand Prix to restore the full complement. In 1972 Clay Regazzoni broke his arm playing football, handing Arturo Merzario his debut — sixth at the British Grand Prix and 12th in Germany.
Carlos Reutemann was hired to race in place of Niki Lauda after the Austrian's horrific crash at the Nurburgring, but Lauda recovered quicker than expected and after running only Clay Regazzoni in the 12th round, Ferrari fielded three cars at the Italian Grand Prix with Reutemann taken from Martini Racing. In 1982 Patrick Tambay was called up after Gilles Villeneuve died in a crash at the Belgian Grand Prix, debuting at Zandvoort, climbing to seventh in the standings and winning the German Grand Prix before continuing in 1983. Later that season Mario Andretti was pulled from semi-retirement after Didier Pironi suffered a career-ending injury at the German Grand Prix and took pole position at Monza in his final F1 appearance.
Nicola Larini completed two races in 1994 after Jean Alesi suffered a severe neck injury in a test at Mugello, finishing second at the tragic San Marino Grand Prix that claimed Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna, having also replaced the underperforming Ivan Capelli for the final two rounds in 1992. Mika Salo stood in for Michael Schumacher for six weekends in 1999 after the German broke his lower right leg on the opening lap of the British Grand Prix — having already covered three races for BAR for Ricardo Zonta — taking second and third at the German and Italian Grands Prix and sacrificing a certain victory in Germany to support Eddie Irvine's title bid. After Felipe Massa sustained serious head injuries when a spring from Rubens Barrichello's Brawn GP car struck his helmet at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Ferrari first approached Schumacher, but a neck injury found in a test in the 2007 car ruled him out, leading to Luca Badoer finishing 17th and 14th in Europe and Belgium before Giancarlo Fisichella left Force India to contest five races from Monza without scoring. Ollie Bearman, yet to make his debut, was most recently called up for the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix when Carlos Sainz was diagnosed with appendicitis.