1994 - JJ Lehto Ligier JS39B Test

Following a pre-season testing accident in which JJ broke vertebra in his neck, his 1994 season didn't go to plan.  He was side-lined through injury at the first two rounds being replaced by Benetton test driver Jos Verstappen.  Lehto rushed back to the fray felling under pressure at Imola, only to stall on the grid and be hit by the Lotus of Alex Zanardi (a true sporting legend).  It was a black weekend for F1 with the deaths of Roland Ratzenburger and Ayrton Senna, along with other bad accidents along the way.  Next up was the bumpy Monaco track which didn't suit an F1 driver with a bad neck and Lehto battled to a distant 7th place, no reward for a hard drive.  In Spain JJ ran 3rd until the engine gave out after 53 of the 65 laps.  Canada was another 7th place - upgraded to 6th and a point following the disqualification of Arrows driver Christian Fittipaldi.  Lehto was then dropped in favour of Verstappen for the next round in France, only to re-appear at round 12 in Monza following Schumachers two race ban.  Ninth place at Monza and a retirement in the following race in Estoril proved the end of JJ's Benetton adventure... 

 

But Benetton management had strong links to the Ligier team at the time.  

However, there was still seat shuffling going on in the last two rounds of 1994, and following the retirement of Andrea de Cesaris, Lehto was given a seat in the Sauber team for the Japanese and Australian races, where he retired and finished 10th respectively.