Super qualifier gets Peugeot break

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Who? Philippe Alliot What? McLaren-Peugeot MP4/9 Where? Hungaroring When? 1994 Hungarian GP

Why? There were times when Mika Häkkinen was seen as the "Irvinator" of the field. His aggressive style, probably combined with the disappointment over the failing McLaren-Peugeot combination, got him into trouble more than once during the 1994 season. At Hockenheim he was seen to be the catalyst to a multi-car pile-up at the start after which the FIA, in trigger-happy form those days, immediately meted out a one-race ban. This meant that for the Hungarian GP McLaren had to look for a substitute. Ron Dennis didn't need to go at lengths to get himself a stand-in because his engine deal with Peugeot meant that Philippe Alliot had been forced on him as a "test driver". Alliot's F1 career was already on the rocks by then and his performance at the Hungaroring was lacklustre to say the least, his reputation as a super qualifier notwithstanding. He returned to the F1 cockpit just once more, jumping in at Spa for his long-time employer Larrousse. If Philippe must be credited for something, it must be that he managed to stay in F1 for a relatively long spell without achieving any success worth mentioning.