$200m former F1 driver dead at just 62

Former Formula One driver Johnny Dumfries has died at the age of 62, after a short battle with cancer.

Best known for a turbulent year as Ayrton Senna's Lotus teammate in 1986, Dumfries was a member of the Scottish aristocracy who, as the Earl of Dumfries and later the 7th Marquess of Bute, was the heir to a very large fortune.

His wealth in 2019 was estimated at more than $200 million.

https://twitter.com/MBrundleF1/status/1374044462003978250?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

A descendant of the famed King of Scotland, Robert the Bruce, he refused to take advantage of his position in the upper-class, preferring not to use his title, and wanting to be recognised for his motor racing ability rather than his family background.

He worked as a van driver for Frank Williams to finance his initial foray into Formula Ford, and first came to prominence in Formula 3 in 1983, a season remembered for a titanic battle for the title between Senna and Martin Brundle, a tussle eventually resolved in the Brazilian's favour at the final race of the season.

Leading motorsport annual Autocourse noted in its 1983 Formula 3 review that Dumfries on occasions "showed a great deal more cool than Senna" and "is a potential F3 champion for 1984."

That was a prediction that proved to be on the mark, with Dumfries winning 10 of the 17 rounds in 1984 to easily take the title.

A season of testing for Ferrari followed in 1985, which Dumfries later acknowledged was a mistake, before he found himself ensconced as Senna's teammate at Lotus in 1986, in somewhat controversial circumstances.

The team's major sponsor, John Player cigarettes, wanted a British driver alongside Senna. The team was keen to sign Derek Warwick, a very popular driver with the British media.

But Senna intervened, insisting the team had to be built around himself. He felt a British driver would be too much of a distraction, in a British team, with a British sponsor. He wanted his Brazilian countryman, Mauricio Gugelmin alongside him.

He threatened at one point to leave for Brabham, a move that in hindsight would have been disastrous for his career.

Eventually, a compromise was reached, and Dumfries was signed, but the British media was openly militant to the appointment, and Dumfries was up against it from day one.

"Hats off to Johnny Dumfries. A potential world champion he may not be but the manner in which he handled the media hostility surrounding his arrival at Lotus, and the ever-present pressure within the team, went a long way towards silencing his critics," Autocourse wrote in its review of 1986.

"Dumfries never complained and simply got on with the job and it was only cruel luck which robbed him of points first time out.

"He may have been out of his depth at times but the Scotsman earned respect from the team (a notable achievement which says much about the man) and he definitely deserved a second year in which to settle down and learn from his mistakes."

That second year never came, as the team took on Japanese driver Satoru Nakajima as part of a deal to use Honda engines. Dumfries bowed out of Formula One with a sixth-place finish in Adelaide.

https://twitter.com/markblundellf1/status/1374057668059533325?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

"Anybody who gets into a professional sport, gets into it because it starts with a passion," Dumfries told the F1 podcast Beyond the Grid in 2020.

"It was an enormous part of my life, I made mistakes, I would rather have not made those mistakes because my career could have been more successful.

"But it is what it is, and I wouldn't change anything."

Dumfries acknowledged that being Senna's teammate was no easy task, although by the time Senna died in 1994 Dumfries was just one of a number of teammates who'd been left floundering in the Brazilian's wake.

"It was a compromising situation at Lotus, and I would have been better off beginning my career with another team," he explained.

"Senna had the entire team around him, it wasn't easy driving alongside Senna. It wasn't.

"But I had my chance, it didn't really work out for me.

"To be quite honest with you, looking back on it, and looking at the circumstances, and looking at my experience at the time, they would have been better off giving that drive to Warwick."

https://twitter.com/ayrtonsenna/status/1374076630101024777?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

His motor racing dream wasn't done after Formula One, and in 1988 he teamed up with Jan Lammers and Andy Wallace to win the Le Mans 24 Hours, driving a Jaguar for Tom Walkinshaw.

Married twice, he had four children, three daughters and a son, who now inherits the title as the 8th Marquess of Bute.

His family confirmed his death in a short statement.

"The indomitable spirit and energy which Johnny brought to his life will be greatly missed, and the immense warmth and love with which he embraced his family."

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!