Derek Warwick

Derek Stanley Arthur Warwick (born 27 August 1954) is a British former racing driver, who competed in Formula One between and . In endurance racing, Warwick won the World Sportscar Championship and 24 Hours of Le Mans, both in 1992 with Peugeot.

Born in New Alresford, Warwick was the older brother of Paul Warwick. He signed for Toleman in , debuting at the ; he did not qualify in the TG181 until the season-ending . In , he achieved four podiums with Renault.

In 2005 and 2006, Warwick raced in the inaugural season of the Grand Prix Masters formula for retired Formula One drivers. He has served as the fourth steward for three Grands Prix in 2010 and 2011. He was president of the British Racing Drivers Club (2011-2017), succeeding Damon Hill and preceding Paddy Hopkirk.

Early life and career

Warwick was born in Alresford, Hampshire, England. He began his career in British stock car racing under the Spedeworth organisation at tracks such as his local Aldershot Stadium. He won the Superstox English Championship in 1971 (at the age of 16) and the World Championship at Wimbledon Stadium in 1973. His younger brother Paul also raced with some success in Superstox before progressing to Formula 3000, in which he was racing when killed in an accident in 1991.

Warwick finished runner-up in the 1978 British Formula 3 Championship.

Formula One (1981–1993)

Warwick began his Formula One career with the fledgling F1 team Toleman for the 1981 season. He managed to qualify for only one race that year, the season finale at Las Vegas.

Warwick joined Renault in 1984 after Alain Prost left them at the end of 1983. Warwick, expecting to have a race-winning car, led the Brazilian Grand Prix, his first drive for them, only to retire because of a suspension failure caused by an early race wheel banging duel with the McLaren of Niki Lauda. He finished in second place in both the Belgian and British Grands Prix in and placed seventh in the championship. 1984 would prove to be the beginning of the end for the factory Renault team, the pioneers of turbocharging in Formula One. Neither Warwick nor new teammate Patrick Tambay won a race in 1984, the first time since that the team did not win a Grand Prix.thumb Warwick qualified third for Renault at the 1984 Dallas Grand Prix, but spun off after 10 laps.

The turning point in Warwick's career was his decision to stay at Renault for and reject an offer to drive for Williams-Honda. The seat was then offered to Nigel Mansell who, accepting the position, went on to win two races at the end of the season. 1985 was a poor one for Renault and the team withdrew from Formula One at the end of the year. Renault's withdrawal, and Ayrton Senna's refusal to let Warwick join him as teammate at Lotus (using his contracted number one driver status in the team, Senna refused to have anyone but a pure #2 as his teammate as he believed Lotus were not capable of supporting two championship contending drivers), left Warwick without a team for the season and he took up an offer to drive for Tom Walkinshaw's TWR Jaguar team in the World Sportscar Championship. Following the death of Elio de Angelis in a testing accident in May, however, Warwick was invited to take his place at Brabham. Unconfirmed rumours surfaced that Brabham owner Bernie Ecclestone had invited Warwick to take de Angelis's place as the Englishman was the only available top driver who had not actually contacted the team offering his services in the days following the Italian's untimely death. Warwick explained:

"I got a phone call from Bernie, who said that he really appreciated the fact that I didn't call him five minutes after Elio had died and would I like to drive for him." Warwick driving for Footwork at the 1993 British Grand Prix. In 1992, Warwick tested an IndyCar Lola T92/00 for Hall/VDS Racing for two days at Mid-Ohio in the off-season, to assess a possible move to CART for 1993. Ultimately he did not and instead returned to Formula 1.

Warwick had firm offers of paid drives for 1993 with Jordan and Footwork and ultimately chose the latter. Warwick returned to Formula 1 following a 3-year sabbatical and completed the full season in 1993, but managed to score only four points. He ended his career with a total of 71 Grand Prix points.

Sports and touring cars Warwick driving for Alfa Romeo at Brands Hatch during the 1995 British Touring Car Championship season. Warwick also competed successfully in sports car racing, winning the World Sportscar Championship in 1992, and was part of the Peugeot team which was victorious at the 24 hours of Le Mans race that year. He drove sports cars for Jaguar in 1986 and 1991.

Honda CR-X Challenge

In 1988, Warwick made an appearance in the Celebrity Car in the inaugural Honda CR-X Challenge.

Warwick entered a two-car team in the 1990 season. His drivers were mainly Robin Brundle (who won at Castle Combe) and Roland Dane (with whom, he would later set up Triple 8 Racing), although he raced himself at Donington Park and finished fifth. He also ran his brother Paul in a few rounds, peaking with third at Snetterton.

British Touring Car Championship

Warwick raced in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) after retiring from Formula One, driving for the Alfa Romeo works team in 1995. Despite the team's domination the previous year, their car was underdeveloped this time, leading to a poor season. In the first race of the season at Donington Park, he crashed and flying debris broke a TV camera lens, an incident featured in the highlights screened by the BBC a week later, with commentator Murray Walker quipping that Warwick owed them £6,000 for the damage ("that'll be six grand please, Derek!"). Warwick driving for Vauxhall in the 1998 British Touring Car Championship. After a year out of racing, Warwick co-founded the Triple Eight Racing team with Roland Dane and took over the running of the works Vauxhall 1997 BTCC entry, as well as owning three car dealerships in Southampton and Jersey. Originally set to be team principal, it was decided he would drive one of the cars alongside established Vauxhall driver John Cleland, winning a wet race at Knockhill in 1998. He retired from racing at the end of the year, but continued his involvement in the team for another three years.

Warwick now operates a Honda franchise in Jersey.

Later life

Warwick notably deputised for Martin Brundle (who was racing at Le Mans) as Murray Walker's co-commentator on ITV for the 1998 Canadian Grand Prix. In 2005 and 2006, Warwick raced in the inaugural season of the Grand Prix Masters formula for retired Formula One drivers. In 2010, he served as the fourth steward for the Spanish and Hungarian Grands Prix. In 2011, Warwick served as the fourth steward for the 2011 Turkish Grand Prix. This role is given only to former racing drivers who advise the stewards panel on incidents from a driver perspective. He was president of the British Racing Drivers Club, after succeeding Damon Hill. Paddy Hopkirk replaced him as president of the BRDC in 2016.

In 2015, Warwick received treatment for bowel cancer.

Racing record Career summary † Not eligible for points due to being a guest driver.

Complete European Formula Two Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

Complete World Sportscar Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete British Touring Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 1 point awarded 1996 onwards all races) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) ( signifies that driver lead feature race for at least one lap – 1 point awarded in 1998 only) Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Pos Pts 1995 Alfa Romeo Old Spice Racing Alfa Romeo 155 TS DON1 DON2 BRH1 BRH2 THR1 THR2 SIL1 SIL2 OUL1 OUL2 BRH1 BRH2 DON1 DON2 SIL1 KNO1 KNO2 BRH1 BRH2 SNE1 SNE2 OUL1 OUL2 SIL1 SIL2 19th 15 1997 Vauxhall Sport Vauxhall Vectra DON1 DON2 SIL1 SIL2 THR1 THR2 BRH1 BRH2 OUL1 OUL2 DON1 DON2 CRO1 CRO2 KNO1 KNO2 SNE1 SNE2 THR1 THR2 BRH1 BRH2 SIL1 SIL2 14th 33 1998 Vauxhall Sport Vauxhall Vectra THR1 THR2 SIL1 SIL26* DON1 DON2 BRH1 BRH2 OUL1 OUL2 DON1 DON2 CRO1 CRO2 SNE1 SNE2 THR1 THR2 KNO1 KNO2 BRH1 BRH2 OUL1 OUL25* SIL1 SIL2 9th 70

Complete Bathurst 1000 results Year Team Co-Driver Car Laps Ref 1997* Vauxhall Sport Peter Brock Vauxhall Vectra 148 6th 1998* Team Vectra John Cleland Vauxhall Vectra 157 5th

Super Touring race

Complete Grand Prix Masters results (key) Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap. Year Team Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 2005 Team Lixxus Delta Motorsport GPM Nicholson McLaren 3.5 V8 RSA 2006 Team Lixxus Delta Motorsport GPM Nicholson McLaren 3.5 V8 QAT ITA GBR MAL RSAcenter|small|Source: † Not eligible for points due to being a guest driver.

Complete WRC results Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pts Subaru Technica International Subaru Legacy RS MON POR KEN FRA GRC NZL ARG FIN AUS ITA CIV GBRRet NC 0

Helmet Warwick's helmet is blue with the entire chin area white and a white stripe running across the top, in the chin area there is a stripe on each side, his name written and a Union Jack.