Australian Dave Walker holds quite the unenviable record of being the only driver to go a season scoreless, but his teammate went onto win the title.
This occurred in 1972 when Walker’s Lotus teammate Emerson Fittipaldi secured the title and he remained scoreless.
Walker had enjoyed a reasonably long and successful open-wheel career before making his debut at the age of just after his 30th birthday.
Having started in hillclimbing, Walker quit accounting to pursue a career in motor racing meaning a move to England occurred in 1962, but was less than fruitful.
He returned to Australia and contested the legendary Tasman Series before returning to England where he stayed to experience great success.
The 1969 British Formula Ford Champion and third in the European title, Walker progressed to Formula 3 racing a factory Team Lotus entry.
Walker secured the 1970 BRSCC Lombank Formula 3 Britain title and won the Shell Super Oil British F3 Championship the next year just as he made his Formula 1 debut.
Making his first start at the Dutch Grand Prix driving the Lotus 56B powered by a Pratt & Whitney turbine engine, Walker was thought to have an advantage due to its four-wheel-drive and superior torque.
But Walker spun off to retire much to team boss Colin Chapman and manager Peter Warr’s disappointment.
Walker was elevated to a full-time seat in 1972 partnering Emerson Fittipaldi. This proved a disaster as Walker and the team became increasingly disenchanted leading to a band for the Aussie after it was discovered he had tested a Formula 2 for another team.
He did return to close out the season after missing the Italian and Canadian Grands Prix, but it never got better.
It wasn’t because Walker wasn’t a quick driver, but reliability and strategy led to poor results as he finished a best of ninth in Spain.
The slinging match between Walker and Lotus proved long. Walker was of the belief Lotus gave him inferior equipment and gave more attention to Fittipaldi, while Chapman fought back by stating the Aussie had poor driving technique, poor fitness and lack of mechanical sensitivity.
Walker was not retained as he was replaced by Swede Ronnie Peterson for 1973 and remains the only driver to not score a point in the same season a teammate takes the Drivers’ title.
Passing away in 2024, Walker was part of an amazing era when Australian drivers took on the world.The Aussie Formula 1 driver to scoreless, while his teammate won the title