Drivers

Born 9/24/1931, Richmond, Surrey, England

Deceased 8/28/1977, near Turin Italy

Starts:6

Points: 14

Wins:0

Poles:1

Fastest Laps:0

There is no doubt that Parkes’ F1 career held much promise. He was already a top sports car driver when he debuted for Ferrari, and his record is tremendous, for only six starts: he scored one pole, was second twice, and scored 50% of the time, in addition to qualifying in the top ten for all six starts. It didn’t start that well, as far as F1 was concerned. Parkes was entered in the 1959 British GP in a Formula 2 Fry, failing to qualify. He then spent the next few years driving in Formula Junior, Formula 2 and Sports Cars, eventually joining the Ferrari sports car squad. The Scuderia eventually decided to give Parkes a try in Formula 1 in 1966 and he did really well, qualifying 3rd and finishing 2nd in France. He then retired from the French and Germany Grand Prix, but in Italy he started from the pole and finished second again, leading many laps. For 1967, Parkes was to get further opportunities at Ferrari, specially since lead diver Bandini was killed in Monaco. He finished 5th in Holland, and then disaster struck in Belgium: he had a crash in the race, and broke both legs. Eventually Mike recovered, but was never used in Formula 1 again. He continued racing Sports and touring cars and died from a road crash in 1977.