Where are they now? The final drivers to race for F1’s last 10 defunct teams

No Formula 1 team can last forever (unless, of course, your team happens to be Scuderia Ferrari), so, we’re taking a stroll down memory lane to fondly remember the last drivers to race for F1’s 10 most recent defunct teams.

For this article, we’re defining ‘defunct’ as teams that have stopped operating under that specific name. So, for example, ‘Alfa Romeo’ counts as a defunct team because Alfa Romeo currently does not race, even though the outfit evolved into the Sauber team that’s still in Formula 1.

Alfa Romeo (2019-2023)

Alfa Romeo competed in Formula 1 all the way back in the sport’s first season, but its most recent iteration only lasted for about five years before it evolved. And the final two drivers to compete for this outfit were Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas.

Both of those drivers continued with the team as it transitioned to the Sauber name in 2024, but both were dropped at the end of the 2024 season.

Bottas has returned to Mercedes as a third driver, while Zhou Guanyu — the first Chinese driver in F1 history — now holds down the fort as a Ferrari reserve.

The modern iteration of Alfa Romeo, as a team, still exists on the grid today in the form of Kick Sauber and will evolve into Audi in 2026.

AlphaTauri (2020-2023)

One of the biggest chameleons in recent years, AlphaTauri traces its lineage back to Toro Rosso and Minardi, and has recently become VCARB, or Racing Bulls.

In its final year of competition, the team had four drivers: Yuki Tsunoda, Nyck de Vries, Daniel Ricciardo, and Liam Lawson.

Tsunoda continued with this team, and in 2025, he is now a Red Bull driver after swapping seats with Lawson just two races into the season.

Rookie de Vries only lasted 10 races in his debut Formula 1 season before he was dropped and replaced with Daniel Ricciardo — a man who will appear quite a few times on this list! Currently, de Vries races for Mahindra in Formula E and has appeared in the World Endurance Championship with Toyota Gazoo Racing.

Ricciardo, we know, lasted with VCARB until after the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix, after which time he was replaced by Liam Lawson. Since then, Ricciardo has seemingly stepped back from the motorsport world, instead focusing on his wine collection with St. Hugo and his clothing brand, Enchanté.

Lawson also took over Ricciardo’s seat for a brief time in 2023, after the Australian driver broke his wrist. Lawson got five races that season and, after a few more in 2024, he went to serve as the second Red Bull Racing driver alongside Max Verstappen…which lasted all of two races.

AlphaTauri still exists on the F1 grid, though it has been renamed Racing Bulls.

Renault (2016-2020)

Resplendent in yellow, Renault has made a few appearances in the F1 scene, with its most recent outing during a five-year stint in the late 2010s. Its final two drivers in 2020 were Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon.

We’ve already chatted about Ricciardo, but that leaves us with Ocon. For 2025, the Frenchman has swapped to the Haas F1 team, where he’s competing alongside rookie Oliver Bearman.

The current Alpine team traces its lineage to Renault.

Toro Rosso (2006-2019)

Ah, Toro Rosso! In the team’s final year competing inter its Italian Red Bull name, it fielded three drivers: Daniil Kvyat, Alex Albon, and Pierre Gasly.

Kvyat remained with the outfit until the following year, after the team took on the AlphaTauri moniker. He was dropped at the end of the season and has since made a strong career for himself in endurance racing. In 2025, he’s one of the drivers helping the new Lamborghini prototype team find its footing in IMSA.

As for Albon and Gasly, who swapped the second Toro Rosso seat in 2019 — they’re both still in F1! Albon races for Williams, while Gasly joined Alpine.

Toro Rosso became AlphaTauri in 2020, which was again rebranded as Racing Bulls in 2024.

Racing Point / Force India (2008-2020)

Alright, I’m cheating here a little bit, but I’m counting the various iterations of Force India and Racing Point under one banner because otherwise it’d take up three of our 10 slots! The team went by Force India from 2008 to 2018, adopted the Racing Point Force India name in for 2018 only, and then became Racing Point in from 2019 through 2020.

The last drivers to compete for Racing Point were Sergio Perez, Nico Hulkenberg, and Lance Stroll in 2020, while Perez and Esteban Ocon finished up the Sahara Force India era by converting to Racing Point Force India in 2018.

It’s easy to group these outfits together, because almost every aforementioned driver is still competing in F1! Stroll has remained with the team, which is now known as Aston Martin, while Ocon competes for Haas and Hulkenberg races for Sauber (soon to become Audi).

The odd man out is Sergio Perez, who lost his Red Bull Racing seat at the close of 2024.

As far as the team itself goes, Racing Point/Force India has continued on in the form of Aston Martin.

More from F1 history:

? Where are they now? The 21 drivers from Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes debut

? Where are they now? The last 20 drivers to leave Formula 1

Manor (2016)

Manor lasted just one year, fielding Pascal Wehrlein for the full 2016 season while swapping from Rio Haryanto to Esteban Ocon about halfway through the year.

We’ve already discussed Ocon above; Haryanto, for his own part, has largely shelved his motorsport ambitions to focus instead on building a career in golf.

Wehrlein was something of a Mercedes wunderkind for much of his junior career in DTM, but his F1 career lasted only one further season. Afterward, he moved to Formula E. He won last year’s championship with Porsche.

Manor ultimately died after the 2016 season. Some elements of the team were purchased by Haas, but the team itself came to an end.

Marussia (2012-2015)

The final three drivers for Marussia are three drivers whose Formula 1 careers were quite short: Will Stevens, Roberto Merhi, and Alexander Rossi.

Stevens was the team’s only full-time driver during its final year of competition; after his F1 ambitions faded, he moved to sports car racing. This year, he’s competing with Cadillac Hertz Team Jota in the World Endurance Championship, and joined Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing for the first two events of the 2025 IMSA season. He’s an IMSA champion and a Le Mans winner in the LMP2 class.

Roberto Merhi started the 2015 season with Marussia, then swapped seats with Alexander Rossi, only for the two to swap back once again.

You’ll still catch sight of the Spaniard in the Formula 1 paddock, where he’s helping Carlos Sainz make the swap to Williams. He’ll also be racing in Super GT.

And Alexander Rossi returned to his home country to compete in the IndyCar series; in 2016, as a rookie, he won the Indianapolis 500. Rossi is still in the sport, making his move to Ed Carpenter Racing for 2025.

Marussia changed its name to Manor for 2016, then folded.

Lotus (2012-2015)

Few teammates were more maligned than 2015’s duo of Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado over at Lotus! Both drivers had earned a reputation for silly crashes and aggressive driving, and it was somewhat fitting that they brought Lotus’ most recent F1 stint to a close together.

Romain Grosjean continued in F1 for several years with Haas before he was dropped in 2020 after surviving a fiery wreck in Bahrain. At that point, he made the swap to IndyCar, though he no longer races in the series.

Rather, for 2025, Grosjean will serve as a reserve driver for the incoming Prema Racing team, while in IMSA, he’s joined Kvyat at Lamborghini.

The Venezuelan Maldonado served as a Pirelli test driver in F1 after his career folded alongside Lotus. He went on to sports car racing for a few years, though he now works in the business world.

Lotus became Renault in 2016, which continues to operate in Formula 1 under the Alpine name.

Caterham (2012-2014)

In 2014, Caterham kept itself roughly afloat for its final year in F1 by adopting several drivers: Marcus Ericsson, Will Stevens, Kamui Kobayashi, and Andre Lotterer.

We’ve just touched on Will Stevens already, so let’s turn to Ericsson. The Swedish driver moved on to the IndyCar Series, winning the 2022 Indianapolis 500 with Chip Ganassi Racing. He currently competes for Andretti Global.

Kamui Kobayashi’s greatest career success has been in endurance racing. He’s a two-time WEC champion at the highest level, and he won the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans, as well as two outings at the Rolex 24.

In 2025, Kobayashi’s schedule is still packed, as he contests events in WEC, Super Formula, and GT World Challenge Europe.

That leaves us with Andre Lotterer. He secured just one F1 start with Caterham before he moved off to sports car racing and Formula E. In 2025, he will replace Logan Sargeant at the 24 Hours of Le Mans after the American vacated his LMP2 seat with IDEC Sport.

Caterham entirely folded after the 2014 season.

HRT (2010-2012)

Last on our list of defunct teams is Hispania Racing Team, or HRT. In 2012, its driver lineup consisted of Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan.

Pedro de la Rosa’s career came to an end with HRT, after which point he became a test driver for Ferrari and a development driver for Super Aguri in Formula 1. Now, the Spaniard is an Aston Martin ambassador and a DAZN F1 pundit.

Finally, there’s Narain Karthikeyan, whose F1 career also ended with Caterham. Since then, he’s raced in sports cars and Super Formula, after which he founded a mobility startup named DriveX and advises on automobiles and track construction in India.

HRT ultimately folded, going into liquidation in 2013 after failing to find a buyer for the team.

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