Dries van der Lof

Andres "Dries" van der Lof (born 23 August 1919 in Emmen, died 3 June 1956 in Rouen, France) was a Dutch racing driver who competed in Formula 1 from 1951 to 1956. He is often regarded as one of the best drivers to have never won a World Championship.

A competent businessman in the Netherlands, van der Lof started his top-level motorsport career with an ill-advised entry to the 1951 Indianapolis 500, in which he nonetheless impressed, finishing 17th of 22 finishers for Scuderia Commesso. Remaining with the team, he would enter the Belgian and Dutch Grands Prix over the next two years, with little success. However, it all changed in 1953, when he was finally able to obtain his first points: they were at the 1953 Belgian Grand Prix, where he also obtained his first podium. He scored more points in the Swiss Grand Prix, finishing 5th. These results attracted the attention of Jaguar and Aston Martin.

In 1954, when Juan Manuel Fangio was injured prior to the season's start, Mike Hawthorn was his initial replacement. However, after two races of poor results, he was quickly fired and replaced by van der Lof. Driving the works car, he started to show his true pace, being the only driver to win two races that year. However, he wasn't as consistent as teammate B. Bira, who ended up taking the title. He finished 2nd. 1955 looked promising, and he started out with a win at the Monaco Grand Prix. However, he and his teammate B. Bira were attacked outside their hotel following the 1955 British Grand Prix, and as a result of this, he was left out of the season.

1956 started out disappointingly for the Dutch superstar, retiring from the Monaco Grand Prix. However, while running in the points in the 1956 French Grand Prix, his rear suspension gave up, causing his car to veer left into the earth bank and catch fire immediately, while debris from the Lotus flew into the crowd. Dries van der Lof died from his burns at only 36 years old. Another 8 spectactors were also pronounced dead, with many others injured.

Complete Alternate Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	WDC	Pts.
1951	Scuderia Commesso	Kurtis Kraft 2000	Ferrari 375 4.5 V12	MON	500 17	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER					NC	0
		Maserati 4CLT/48								NED DNQ	ITA
1952	Scuderia Commesso	Maserati 4CLT/48	Ferrari 375 4.5 V12	MON	ENG	BEL 17	FRA	GBR	GER	NED DNQ	ITA	USA	AUS	NC	0
1953	Asso di Fori	Aston Martin AM-04	Jaguar JFE-2 4.5 V12	MON	NED Ret	BEL 3	FRA 9	GBR	GER	SUI 5	ITA	USA 13		12th	6
1954	Asso di Fori	Aston Martin AM-04	Jaguar JFE-2 4.5 V12	MON Ret	FRA Ret									2nd	24
	Jaguar - Aston Martin Racing					BEL 5	NED Ret	GBR 1	SUI 3	GER 1	USA Ret	ITA Ret
1955	Jaguar - Aston Martin Racing	Aston Martin AM-04	Jaguar JFE-2 4.5 V12	MON 1	FRA Ret	BEL Ret	GBR Ret	SCO	SOV	ITA				9th	9
1956	Team Lotus	Lotus 10	B.C.M.A. A/AS Griffin 2.5 L6	MON Ret	FRA Ret	BEL	GER	GDR	IRL	SCO	GBR	ITA	THA	NC	0