It’s fair to say that Sakon Yamamoto is neither the most impressive, nor the most popular Formula 1 driver.

I do feel a bit sorry for the guy. It’s not his fault that HRT chose him to replace Bruna Senna for a race, then Karun Chandhok for what now looks like being the rest of the season. It’s not his fault that they are both popular drivers. It’s also not entirely his fault that one of his pit crew was injured when his car was released too early from its pit stop at the Italian Grand Prix.

And to be fair to him, he’s not that slow. He’s always qualified second of the HRT cars, but only in Germany by a hideous margin: over a second, apparently due to a “shifting problem”. Otherwise the margin has only been as high as 0.4 seconds in Britain, Yamamoto’s first race; and in Hungary it was under 0.1 seconds.

From some comments made about Yamamoto, you’d think he’s the new Yuji Ide. He’s not. Lest you had forgotten, Ide came to Formula 1 with Super Aguri in 2006, and managed just four races before losing his FIA Super License. His low point was causing Christijan Albers to barrel roll at the first corner of the 2006 San Marino Grand Prix.

Which all begs the question: where is Yuji Ide now? In short: Japan.

Initially Ide returned to Formula Nippon, sticking with Aguri Suzuki in the form of ARTA (Autobacs Racing Team Aguri). He had finished third in the championship in 2004 and second in 2005 – when he raced against a certain Sakon Yamamoto. Ide did not enjoy the same success on his return.

More recently he’s concentrated on Super GT, and this season he’s back with ARTA in that series. Who does he share that car with? Only bloody Ralph Firman, everyone’s favourite English-born Irish 2003 Jordan Formula 1 driver.

Things have improved for Ide since teaming up with Firman, who won the Super GT title in 2007. The pair are only 11th in the championship so far this year, but did win the most recent round at Suzuka.

I could spend all day looking up what happened to little-remembered former Formula 1 drivers. Now I’m resisting the temptation to find out what Christijan Albers has been up to this season…