David Walker

David Walker (June 10, 1941 - May 24, 2024): An Australian racing driver who competed in Formula One during 1971 and 1972 for Team Lotus, where he holds an unfortunate Formula One record. Walker was given his Formula One debut at the 1971 Dutch Grand Prix driving the experimental Lotus 56B, powered by a Pratt & Whitney turbine engine. During the rain-affected race, Walker demonstrated the turbine car's advantages of four-wheel drive and superior torque by rising from his starting position of 22nd to 10th place within just five laps. However, he eventually spun off into retirement, showing the car's promise but also its challenges.

Based on this performance, Walker was promoted to a full-time Formula One seat for the 1972 season as the number two driver to Emerson Fittipaldi, driving the Lotus 72. The 1972 season proved disastrous for Walker while his teammate Fittipaldi enjoyed a championship-winning campaign. Fittipaldi won five races and scored 61 points to become World Champion, while Walker failed to score a single point all season. This gave Walker the unfortunate distinction of being the only driver in Formula One history not to score a single championship point in the same season his teammate won the Drivers' World Championship.

Walker's struggles were compounded when Lotus discovered he had tested a Formula Two car for another team, violating his contract. As punishment, he was dropped from the team for the Italian Grand Prix and Canadian Grand Prix, where he was replaced by Reine Wisell. Walker was not retained for the 1973 season, with Lotus replacing him with the talented Ronnie Peterson. After leaving Formula One, Walker's racing career effectively ended at the top level.

He passed away on May 24, 2024, at the age of 82. While Walker showed promise in lower formulae before reaching Formula One, his time at Lotus serves as a cautionary tale about the challenges of being paired with a dominant teammate and the difficulty of adapting to Formula One's highest level.