
Lehto in numbers
10 official points · best championship finish: 12th in 1991
0Drivers’ titles
none
0Constructors’ titles
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1.6% of races
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0Constructors’ titles
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0Drivers’ titles
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0Constructors’ titles
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3.2% of races with Dallara
0Drivers’ titles
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JJ Lehto came into Formula 1 as British Formula 3 champion and left with the feeling that his big chance slipped away in a test. A Finn born in 1966, he made his debut with Onyx in 1989, and in 1991, with the Dallara, he was third at Imola from sixteenth on the grid, the only podium of his career.
In 1993 he was there for Sauber's first season: fifth in South Africa, in the team's very first race, and fourth at Imola. And for 1994 Benetton gave him the seat alongside Michael Schumacher. In a pre-season test he crashed and fractured vertebrae in his neck, missed the first two races and came back before he had fully recovered.
After four races Jos Verstappen replaced him, though he returned in Italy and Portugal while Schumacher served his ban, and finished the year with two races for Sauber. Outside Formula 1 he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice, in 1995 and 2005. In Formula 1 it was 62 Grands Prix and 10 points.
Rating by season
- First season
- 72 1991
- Peak
- 72 1991
- 1993
- 72 Sauber
3 seasons in the database, from 1991 to 1993. Our own rating, from 50 to 99.
Teams
Tags
Best year
1991
What would JJ Lehto have achieved with a different car or in a different era?
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His team-mates
7 team-mates across 5 seasons. When both finished the race, Lehto was ahead in 5 of 14; on the grid he started ahead in 21 of 57.
| Year | Team-mate | In the race | On the grid |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Gregor FoitekOnyx · 5 races | · | 1-4 |
| 1991 | Emanuele PirroDallara · 13 races | 1-3 | 4-9 |
| 1992 | Pierluigi MartiniDallara · 15 races | 4-1 | 8-7 |
| 1993 | Karl WendlingerSauber · 16 races | 0-2 | 8-8 |
| 1994 | Michael SchumacherBenetton · 4 races | 0-2 | 0-4 |
| 1994 | Jos VerstappenBenetton · 2 races | · | 0-2 |
| 1994 | Heinz-Harald FrentzenSauber · 2 races | 0-1 | 0-2 |
The first number is always Lehto's. A team-mate is whoever started the same race for the same team. "In the race" only counts races both finished, because a retirement says nothing about who was quicker. "On the grid" is the starting position, with penalties already applied.
Compare Lehto with another driver
Titles, wins, poles and podiums side by side, against any of the 789 drivers in history.