When Ferrari picked up Niki Lauda, that was also a stumper. But it worked - and how! Similarly successful was the decision to pluck Italian born Mario Andretti back out of Indy Cars and plonk him behind the wheel at Monza of all places, late in 1982. He took pole, finished third and may have won if not for a sticking throttle.

But a number of their choices haven't been as inspired. For example, Stefan Johansson had been good but not great in junior categories, and in his previous 16 F1 entries he had done little to impress except for a fine 4th place in a Toleman at Monza in 1984. But there was nothing to suggest that he deserved the Ferrari drive vacated by Arnoux after one race in 1985. In the event, Stefan did quite well, scoring two 2nds in 1985, lots of other points-scoring finishes, 26 points for 7th overall in 1985 and 23 points for 5th overall in 1986. But really Stefan didn't give the impression of being anything but a seat-warmer.

OK, so the F92A that year was a shocker, but Capelli didn't help the Ferrari cause much. His average grid position in his 14 starts was 11th, and he even qualified as low as 20th in Mexico, 16th in Portugal, 14th in Britain, and 12th in Germany and Belgium, where he was out-qualified by Gabriele Tarquini in a Fondmetal! He had 5 engine problems, but he also spun off three times, famously wedging himself on the Monaco armco on the approach to the Rascasse.

Capelli was also involved in a start-line bingle in Mexico and crashed heavily in Canada. He only managed to score 3 points from a 5th and a 6th. Enough said. Capelli was summarily replaced for the final two races of the year by then test driver Nicola Larini.

Consider this fine list. In 1988 the Ferrari tester was super-sub Roberto Moreno, who'd previously had three F1 outings with Lotus and, of all teams, AGS. There was, of course, Prost-substitute Gianni Morbidelli, who'd only ever do moderately well in F1 with Dallara, Minardi, Footwork and Sauber. In the early 1990s Larini filled the role, having previously been shafted around by F1 teams of the calibre of Coloni, Osella, Ligier and Lambo.

And these days they've used Luca Badoer, ex-Scuderia Italia, ex-Minardi and ex-Forti, the driver with the most number of GPs under his belt without a single point. And they didn't even trust him enough to give him the main drive in 1999 following Schumacher's injury, preferring Hakkinen's arch rival Finn Mika Salo. Salo performed inconsistently, but was robbed of a win in Germany thanks to Irvine's title aspirations.

Next: All for One or None for All