This day in Formula 1 History...

Rokas Charlapavicius · Sep 15, 2012

September 12th:

1953 - Eric Thompson, driving for Connaught-Lea Francis, won a non-championship Formula One event - 1st RedeX Trophy held at Snetterton.

1954 - Jean Behra, driving for his native outfit Gordini, won a non-championship race 5th Circuit de Cadours in France, making it a french sweep.

1965 - Jackie Stewart driving for BRM scored his first career win when his team-mate Graham Hill moved over too far and bounced across the grass while approaching to the Parabolica for the last time, struggling to maintain grip on the mud and gravel and throwing away the victory

he managed to save it and finish 2nd. With another two contenders for victory dropping out: Jim Clark (Lotus) with fuel pump problem and John Surtees (Ferrari) with clutch problem, Dan Gurney (Brabham) took the final podium spot. Richard Attwood (Lotus-BRM) scored his first career point by finishing in 6th. This race saw 40 lead changes between 4 drivers (probably the most in history).

1976 - Ronnie Peterson won Italian Grand Prix for March scoring team's 3rd and last win and his 8th. Clay Regazzoni made home crowd happy by finishing 2nd for Ferrari, Jacques Laffite was 3rd. Niki Lauda made his first start since his horrible accident at the Nurburgring to finish in strong 4th for Ferrari to maintain what he had left of his championship lead.

1982 - Rene Arnoux won Italian Grand Prix driving for Renault scoring his 4th career win. Patrick Tambay made it a french 1-2 as he finished 2nd for Ferrari. Pole sitter Mario Andretti completed the podium with another Ferrari in 3rd this was his last ever podium. Keke Rosberg maintained his championship lead despite not finishing.

1993 - Damon Hill won Belgian Grand Prix for Williams after his team-mate and race leader at a time Alain Prost suffered from a miscommunication during his second pitstop that cost him time and two places. Michael Schumacher (Benetton) was the second one to benefit from Prost's misfortune as he finished 2nd. Despite Prost's misfortune Williams 1-3 result secured the Constructors Championship for them. This was Hill's second win of his career. Meanwhile Johnny Herbert finished 5th for Lotus scoring their last points.

1999 - Heinz-Harald Frentzen won Italian Grand Prix for Jordan after championship leader Mika Hakkinen spun off while leading comfortably. This was Frentzen's 3rd and last career win and also Jordan's only ever win in dry conditions. Mika Salo gave something to cheer about for the Ferrari fans as he finished in 3rd to score his last podium finish. Hakkinen's main championship rival Eddie Irvine did not benefit too much from the finn's retirement as he finished only 6th although he now got level on points with Hakkinen with 60 points a piece.

2004 - Rubens Barrichello and the whole Ferrari team made a comeback of the year as they finished 1-2 despite Barrichello starting on the wrong tyres and having to make an early pit stop and Schumacher having a spin on the first lap. Jenson Button completed the podium for BAR Honda. His team mate Takuma Sato finished 4th and with none of the Renault's finishing in points BAR leapfrogged them in the constructors championship.

2010 - Fernando Alonso won Italian Grand Prix for Ferrari from pole position getting Ferrari their first home win since 2006. This result elevated him to 3rd in the championship now 19 points behind the new championship leader Mark Webber who finished 6th and overtook the pre-race championship leader Lewis Hamilton who retired with a broken track rod after yet another Hamilton vs Massa moment in the first lap.

As always, thanks for reading.

Rokas Charlapavicius · Sep 16, 2012

September 13th:

1953 - Juan Manuel Fangio won Italian Grand Prix for Maserati scoring 7th win of his career and scoring first ever Grand Prix win for Maserati outfit. This was the last ever Formula One race to run under Formula Two rules. With this win Fangio overtook Giuseppe Farina (Ferrari, 2nd place in the race) in the standings for second. However Ascari was too far to be caught having clinched the title in the previous race he did not finish in this one as he crashed with 1 lap to go

. Meanwhile Luigi Villoresi finished 3rd in another Ferrari (in fact Ferrari was 2-3-4 in this race) to score his last ever podium. Pre-war era racing legend Hans Stuck had his last start in Formula One, it was the same case Yves Girand-Cabantous while Umbreto Maglioli made his debut in Formula One driving for Ferrari and finish in respectable 8th.

1953 - Erik Lundgren driving for Ford won his home non-championship event - 3rd Skarpnäcksloppet (<<try to pronounce that) held in Skarpnäck airfield.

1959 - Stirling Moss won Italian Grand Prix for Cooper in a tire-wear race. Moss'es lightweight Cooper allowed him to save tyres and driving very carefully he managed to preserve them enough to make a pit stop-less race. This tactic paid off. While Phil Hill and Dan Gurney (both driving for Ferrari) who both had led the race at some point, had to give up the lead because of tire wear and pit, giving away the chance of Ferrari victory at home, Hill and Gurney finished 2nd and 4th respectively. Jack Brabham (Cooper) finished in 3rd to maintain his championship lead. The championship was still alive going in to the final race of the season as Jack Brabham (Cooper 32 points), Stirling Moss (Cooper, 25,5 points), Tony Brooks (Ferrari, 23 points) all had a shot at the title. By the way with Cooper finishing in 1st and 3rd they secured the constructors title.

1981 - Alain Prost, driving for Renault, won Italian Grand Prix in Monza, with Monza having returned to the calendar after a one-year absence (1980 Italian Grand Prix was held in Imola). This win got Prost tied for 3rd in the championship with Alan Jones (who drove for Williams, and finished second in this race). Carlos Reutimann finished 3rd in the second Williams and with Nelson Piquet (Brabham) suffering engine failure in the second to last last lap, losing 3rd place and eventually getting classified only 6th, Carlos passed him in the standings and became the new championship leader. By the way, this was Prost's 3rd career win.

1992 - Ayrton Senna won Italian Grand Prix for McLaren in what turned to be his last win with a Honda-powered car after the leading two Williams drivers suffered problems (Nigel Mansell retired with electrical problems, while Riccardo Patrese suffered a hydraulics problem while leading with 6 laps to go, he eventually finished 5th.). This Williams disaster made no difference in the championship as both Nigel Mansell and Williams were already champions. Another fact I found funny is that the Andrea Moda team were refused entry to the Grand Prix and were thrown out of the Championship for bringing the sport into disrepute.

1998 - Michael Schumacher won Italian Grand Prix in a Ferrari 1-2 after a McLaren disaster. McLaren was 1-2 with David Coulthard in 1st and Mika Hakkinen in 2nd, but then Coulthard's engine blew and seconds later Schumacher, who had caught Häkkinen, passed the Finn when Häkkinen ran wide due to the smoke from Coulthard's engine. Afterwards Hakkinen tried to catch Michael Schumacher, only to have his brakes fail and spin off, he lost two places as a result and finished 4th. Eddie Irvine benefited from this McLaren failure to finish 2nd. While the younger of the two Schumacher's finished 3rd for Jordan. This was the last win for tyre manufacturer Goodyear. Michael was now level on points with Hakkinen, they now had 80 points a piece.

2009 - Rubens Barrichello won Italian Grand Prix in Brawn GP 1-2, scoring 11th and final win of his career. Jenson Button finished 2nd complete the 1-2 despite the fact that they both started from only the third row of the grid, but with the great strategy Brawn GP emerged victorious. Lewis Hamilton crashed out from 3rd position on the last lap thus giving it away to Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari). Adrian Sutil felt just short in the battle for third, but he did claimed the fastest lap of the race, Force India's first in Formula One.

Thanks for reading.

Rokas Charlapavicius · Sep 17, 2012

September 14th:

1952 - Luigi Villoresi driving for Ferrari, won a non-championship race - 3rd Gran Premio di Modena. This turned out to be his last major victory before retirement.

1952 - Louis Rosier won his home non-championship Formula One event - 4th Circuit de Cadours in France, driving for Ferrari.

1952 - Gunnar Carlson driving for american outfit Mercury (<never heard of this one before) won his home non-championship event - 2nd Skarpnäcksloppet held in Skarpnäck Airfield, Sweden.

1957 - Jean Behra won the 9th International BRDC Trophy, a non-championship event held at the legendary Silverstone, driving for BRM - the home outfit. This was his 3rd non-championship race win of a season.

1980 - Nelson Piquet driving for Brabham-Ford won Italian Grand Prix at Imola in dominant fashion scoring his 3rd career win. He took the lead from the leading Renault's (Rene Arnoux and Jean-Pierre Jabouille) by lap 4 and never looked back. Pole-sitter and championship leader Alan Jones (Williams) finished in distant second (29 seconds behind), but that wasn't enough to keep the lead in the championship as Nelson Piquet was now ahead by a point. However, there was still joy for Williams as the other Williams driver Carlos Reutemann finished 3rd and this result secured the constructors championship for Williams. This was the first ever Grand Prix to held in Imola and the only time that Italian Grand Prix was not held in Monza as it was under refurbishment at the time. The race was such a success that it was included in the 1981 calendar as San Marino Grand Prix.

2003 - Michael Schumacher took the weekend sweep as he won Italian Grand Prix for Ferrari to extend his championship lead over his main championship rivals Juan Pablo Montoya (Williams-BMW, 2nd in the race and now trailing not by 1 but by 3 points) and Kimi Raikkonen (McLaren, 4th in the race and now trailing not by 2 but by 7 points). Rubens Barrichello got in-between them to complete the podium in 3rd for Ferrari. Marc Gene, who replaced Ralf Schumacher in Williams as Ralf was recovering from concusion, finished 5th for Williams to score his best career result and his last ever points finish. This race holds the record for the fastest ever average race speed - 247.585 km/h.

2008 - Sebastian Vettel converted his wet qualifying pole into his first career win and a first and only win to date for Scuderia Torro-Rosso in a damp Italian Grand Prix. This win made Sebastian Vettel the youngest ever Grand Prix winner (aged 21 years and 74 days) ,while Scuderia Torro-Rosso became the first non-Ferrari Italian-based team to win since 1957 (for anyone wondering - Maserati was the previous non-Ferrari Italian-based team to win a Grand Prix when Juan Manuel Fangio won for them in the notorious Nurburgring). Championship leaders didn't had a great time: Felipe Massa made no grid progress what so ever to finish 6th, while Lewis Hamilton had to recover from a poor qualifying session to finish 7th from 15th on the grid.
This result meant that Lewis Hamilton now led the championship from Felipe Massa by just one point. This race also saw the last ever (to date) podium for Heikki Kovalainen who finished 2nd for McLaren.

September 15th:

1985 - Ayrton Senna won a rescheduled Belgian Grand Prix for Lotus scoring his 2nd career win and a 75th win for Lotus team. A reason for re-schedule was that on the weekend of original date the then newly laid surface had disintegrated and the race was cancelled until this date. There was also some controversy as McLaren's Niki Lauda got injured in practise and was unfit to race and so McLaren were forced to look for another driver. But to be able to put the other driver in the car (in this case John Watson) they needed to get approval from all the teams. Guess who disagreed?

. It was Ferrari, who saw an opportunity to close the gap to McLaren in the Constructors championship. This plan failed miserably as Michele Alboreto suffered a clutch problem on lap 3, while Stefan Johansson spun off on lap 7

. So in the end it was McLaren who pulled away from Ferrari increasing their lead from 2 to 6 points as Alain Prost finished 3rd for McLaren.
Nigel Mansell was 2nd for Williams. Also Minardi was running at the finish for the first time with Pierluigi Martini finishing in 12th.

2002 - Rubens Barrichello won Italian Grand Prix in a 1-2 result for Ferrari. Only other team that was on pace with Ferrari and that could have had a chance of victory was Williams-BMW, but none of them finished as Ralf Schumacher blew up and Juan Pablo Montoya retired with chassis damage. And with both Williams'es retiring and McLaren not being on pace, Eddie Irvine benefitted from all of this to finish 3rd for Jaguar. This was the last ever podium for both Eddie Irvine and Jaguar and the only time that season that a podium featured a car which was not a Ferrari, Williams or McLaren.

Thanks for reading.

Rokas Charlapavicius · Sep 18, 2012

September 16th:

1951 - Alberto Ascari won Italian Grand Prix for Ferrari scoring his 2nd career win. Alfa Romeo were 1-2 in qualifying (with Juan Manuel Fangio 1st, and Giuseppe Farina 2nd), but their domination didn't last as Ascari took the lead. Fangio retook the lead, but then he was forced to change tires, and Ascari inherited the lead once again on lap 8 and led to the end to take the win. Alfa Romeo's attemps to snatch the win from Ferrari failed as Fangio retired with an engine failure while Farina had to change his car. He took Felice Bonetto's car. Farina was probably fast enough to win, but a fuel leak put paid to his chances as he had to make 2 extra stops. So Alberto Ascari won, Jose Froilan Gonzalez who also benefited from Alfa Romeo retirements finished 2nd to make a Ferrari 1-2. The podium was completed by a sole finishing Alfa Romeo as Farina and Felice Bonetto finished 3rd (Bonetto's first podium) in a shared drive, a lap down. Juan Manuel Fangio now led Alberto Ascari in the standings by 2 points. With one race to go they were the only ones in the running for the title.

1962 - Graham Hill won Italian Grand Prix in a BRM 1-2 with Richie Ginther in 2nd. Pole man Jim Clark (Lotus) failed to finish with gearbox issues. This was Graham's 3rd win of his career. Willy Mairesse (Ferrari) finished 4th to score his last ever points, it was the same case for Giancarlo Baghetti who finished 5th for Ferrari. Bruce McLaren completed the podium, but felt further behind Graham Hill in the championship now 14 points behind in 2nd.

1967 - Jack Brabham, driving for his own team, took pole position, fastest lap and a race win in a non-championship 14th International Gold Cup held at Oulton Park.

1979 - Niki Lauda, driving for Brabham-Alfa Romeo won a non-championship race - Dino Ferrari Grand Prix held at Imola. The event was held to practice a Formula One race at the circuit. This race was supposed to alternate with Monza, but instead went on to become a San Marino Grand Prix.

2001 - Juan Pablo Montoya won Italian Grand Prix from pole position to score his first career win as he become the first colombian to do so in the process. Rubens Barrichello also held station from his qualifying result to finish 2nd. Ralf Schumacher in a second Williams managed to beat his older brother for the podium place. This was the first Formula One race after September 11th attacks. This race also saw the debut of Tomas Enge (the first czech driver in F1) and Alex Yoong (the first Malaysian driver in F1).

2007 - Kimi Raikkonen won an unusualy dull Belgian Grand Prix as the top 4 in qualifying held station. Felipe Massa finished 2nd to complete a Ferrari 1-2. They were followed by two McLarens of Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton now led the championship from Alonso by only 2 points.

September 17th:

1929 - A living legend Sir Stirling Moss was born. Between 1951 and 1961 he made 66 starts and achieved 16 wins, 24 podiums, almost 186 points, 16 pole positions and 19 fastest laps. Between 1948 and 1962 he made 529 starts in various races winning 212 of them. Unfortunately he never won the world championship, he was second in standings for four times between 1955 and 1958, and 3rd between 1959 and 1961. He is often called "the greatest driver never to win the World Championship". His Formula One career ender in 1962 after a bad crash in Goodwood which left him in coma for a month and partially paralysed until his recovery 6 months later. Afterwards he competed in a British Touring Car Championship and in numerous Historic races. It was only on 9 June 2011 during the Le Mans Legends qualifying session that Sir Stirling Moss announced his retirement from racing to listeners on Radio Le Mans.

1960 - Innes Ireland driving for Lotus, won a non-championship Formula One race - Lombank Trophy held in Snetterton. Jim Clark made it a Lotus 1-2, he took the fastest lap as a consolation. Jo Bonnier was 3rd.

1961 - Innes Ireland won another non-championship event. This time it was 3rd Flugplatzrennen held in Zeltweg Airfield. He had no competition as he led from lap 3 for 78 laps and lapped the field in the process. Ireland also took Pole Position and the fastest lap. Jack Brabham finished second in his own car. Jo Bonnier finished third in a Porsche.

1966 - Jack Brabham driving his own Repco-Brabham won the last non-championship event of the season. It was International Gold Cup held in Oulton Park.

September 18th:

I didn't find any events (Grand Prix's or non-championship races) held on this day.

1951 - Marc Surer was born. Between 1979 and 1986 he made 82 points, scoring 17 points and achieving 1 fastest lap. His racing career was cut short after crash at the 1986 ADAC Hessen-Rallye in his Ford RS200 which left him severely injured and killed his co-driver and friend Michel Wyder. Later on he became a BMW driver coach and also a television commentator at all Formula 1 events for Sky Sport in Germany.

Thanks for reading.

Rokas Charlapavicius · Sep 19, 2012

September 19th:

1953 - Stirling Moss driving for Cooper-Alta won the non-championship race: 1st London Trophy held at Crystal Palace circuit. I think

this was his first victory with a world championship car.

1954 - Karl Kling made the German sweep as he won the 1st Grosser Preis von Berlin driving for Mercedes. The race was held on northern part of the Bundesautobahn 115, for us racing fans better known as AVUS. This was a non-championship event.

1971 - Jackie Stewart won in a rain-shortened Canadian Grand Prix, driving for Tyrrell and scored his 18th career win. Ronnie Peterson finished 2nd for March to tighten his grab on the second place in the championship. The championship itself was already decided in Stewarts favour. Meanwhile Mark Donohue made his Formula One debut with McLaren chassis (in a Penske-White Racing entry) and got a podium straight away. Unfortunately this was his first and only ever podium. Meanwhile Reine Wissel (Lotus-Ford) finished 5th to score his last career points. Also Dennis Hulme scored the first ever fastest lap for McLaren team, Hulme finished 4th.

1973 - Cristiano da Matta was born. In 2003 and 2004 he raced for Toyota in Formula One. He made 28 starts scoring 13 points. He was fired from Toyota in the middle of 2004 season after not only due to performance issues, but also due to him openly making statements about how uncompetitive the Toyota was. He vowed to never again race in Formula One, as he felt it was not competitive enough, with too much emphasis on car performance. In 2006 he made a lucky escape as he collided with a deer while testing and suffered a massive head injury. Luckily he recovered and got back to the race car in 2008 and is racing to this day.

Thanks for reading.

Rokas Charlapavicius · Sep 20, 2012

September 20th:

1953 - Juan Manuel Fangio won the non-championship 4th Modena Grand Prix driving for home outfit Maserati. This was his last win of the season.

1969 - Jacky Ickx almost got the weekend sweep as he won for the 3rd time in his career, winning the Canadian Grand Prix held at Mosport, driving for Brabham. He started from pole, but had to share the fastest lap honours with his team-mate Jack Brabham who finished 2nd to complete a Brabham 1-2. This race made history because of two reasons - firsly, Johnny Servoz-Gavin finished 6th in a 4wd Matra-Ford and thus making it the first and only time a 4wd car scored a world championship point. And secondly, Al Pease - a local driver driving in a sole Eagle, became the only ever driver in history to be disqualified for being too slow.

1970 - Jacky Ickx won Canadian Grand Prix for the second year running, this time driving for Ferrari scoring his 5th career win. Intrestingly the team for which he drove made a 1-2 result, the same case as last year. It was Clay Regazzoni who completed a 1-2 for Ferrari. Jacky Stewart started from pole position, which was a first for his Tyrrell team, but retired after an axle problem one third of the race through. Peter Gethin finished in 6th for McLaren to score his first career point. With this win Ickx kept the slim hope of overtaking the championship leader Jochen Rindt who was killed on the weekend of the last race in Italy.

1975 - Juan Pablo Montoya was born. Between 2001 and 2006 he made 94 starts, driving for Williams and McLaren. He scored 7 wins, achieved 30 podiums, 13 poles, 12 fastest laps. In 2000 he won the Indianapolis 500, in 2003 he won Monaco Grand Prix. Only the legendary Graham Hill had achieved this feat. He also managed to win Indy 500, 24 Hours of Daytona and a CART championship title, all on first attempt the only driver to do so.

1987 - Alain Prost won Portuguese Grand Prix for McLaren to score his last win of the season. Gerhard Berger failed to convert his first ever pole-position into a win, as he finished 2nd for Ferrari, but he got fastest lap as a consolation. Nelson Piquet completed the podium for Williams to extend his world championship lead over Ayrton Senna (who finished 7th, outside the points) to 18 points. Also Martin Brundle had his 50th Formula One start (he failed to finish in a Zakspeed) while Andrea de Cesaris had his 100th start (he also failed to finish).

1989 - Richie Ginther died of heart attack. Between 1960 and 1967 he made 52 starts, won 1 race, achieved 14 podiums, and scored a total of 107 championship points. Although he won only one race, that was enough to put him in to the history books as that win was also Honda's first ever win in Formula One (1965 Mexican Grand Prix).

Thanks for reading.

Rokas Charlapavicius · Sep 21, 2012

September 21st: Not too much was going on that day in history of F1...

1986 - Nigel Mansell took a huge step towards the title by winning the Portuguese Grand Prix to take the 7th win of his career. He was driving for Williams-Honda. His team-mate Nelson Piquet finished 3rd to make a constructors championship now certain for Williams. Alain Prost got "sandwiched" between the Williams'es in his McLaren and kept his championship hopes alive. This was not the case for his team-mate Ayrton Senna who ran out of fuel, finished only 4th and dropped out of contension.

1997 - Jacques Villeneuve won Austrian Grand Prix for Williams as the early leader Mika Hakkinen retired with an engine failure on the first lap. Villeneuve also took fastest lap and pole position honours. This was his 10th career win. Michael Schumacher finished only 6th after receiving a drive-through for ignoring yellow flags. This made a huge turn around in the championship as Villeneuve reduced Schumacher's championship lead to a single point.

Thanks for reading.

Rokas Charlapavicius · Sep 22, 2012

September 22nd:

1957 - Jean Behra won his 4th non-championship race of the season and a third one in succesion as he won 5th Gran Premio di Modena, driving for local outfit - Maserati.

1968 - Denny Hulme won for the 4th time in his career as he destroyed the opposition in the Canadian Grand Prix. He lapped everybody, Bruce McLaren got the closest to Hulme as he completed a McLaren 1-2. Pedro Rodriguez completed the podium in his BRM. He was 2 laps down. Graham Hill, the championship leader, finished 4th a massive 4 laps down. Hulme and Hill were now level on points with 2 races left. Only 6 cars finished, with Jackie Stewart 6th in his Matra - 7 laps down.

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1974 - Emerson Fittipaldi had it all his way as he won Canadian Grand Prix from pole position (12th win of his career). He now got tied with Regazzoni (who finished 2nd in his Ferrari) in the championship. Ronnie Peterson completed the podium in his Lotus. Former world champion Dennis Hulme finished 6th in his McLaren to score his last ever point. This race also the debut of Penske team, Mark Donohue finished in 12th for them.

1991 - Riccardo Patrese won Portuguese Grand Prix from pole position for Williams. This was his 5th win of his career and a 50th win for Williams. Championship contender Nigel Mansell had a bad day when he had a bad pit stop - a wheel was not putted on properly Mansell set off down the pitlane and the tyre fell off leaving him stranded in the middle of the pit lane with three wheels. The team ran out and put a fourth wheel on the car, breaking many rules in the process. Ayrton Senna finished 2nd in a McLaren to almost secure his 3rd title. Jean Alesi completed the podium for Ferrari as he held off Pierluigi Martini in a Minardi.

1996 - Jacques Villeneuve won Portuguese Grand Prix (his 4th career win) for Williams as he overtook Michael Schumacher who was distracted by a back-marker Giovanni "Money driver" Lavaggi who had his last start. Michael Schumacher failed to keep his 2nd place as Damon Hill finished 2nd to complete a Williams 1-2. Michael got 3rd. This was the last ever Portuguese Grand Prix.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it

Rokas Charlapavicius · Sep 23, 2012

September 23rd:

1961 - Stirling Moss made history as he won 8th International Gold Cup held at Oulton Park in a 4WD Ferguson P99. This was the only time a 4WD car won a Formula One event. Jack Brabham and Bruce McLaren completed the podium - both driving for Cooper.

1973 - Peter Revson, driving for McLaren, won for the 2nd (and last) time in his career as he finished 1st in the Canadian Grand Prix. His team-mate Jody Schekcter didn't finish in a #0 car - first time in F1, a car #0 started a race. He retired after he collided with Francois Cevert after which yet more history was made as for the first time in Formula One history - a safety car appeared. Also Jackie Oliver, driving for Shadow, finished 3rd scoring his last podium. 3 times world champion Jackie Stewart finished 5th in a Tyrrell (in what turned out to be his last ever race as he didn't take part in the United States GP after his team-mate Cevert was killed in practise). Howden Ganley finished behind Stewart in 6th - taking his last points finish.

1990 - Nigel Mansell won Portuguese Grand Prix in a Ferrari. This turned out his last win for Ferrari and it also was his only win of the season. Ayrton Senna finished second in a McLaren to nearly secure his 2nd title, as he now needed 1 win in the remaining 3 races. Alain Prost kept his slim hopes alive as he finished 3rd in another Ferrari.

2012 - Sebastian Vettel cruised to victory in the Singapore Grand Prix after pole-sitter and early leader Hamilton retired with gearbox failure. The other front row starter Pastor Maldonado was never in contension for a win, but a hydraulics problem killed his chances of a podium. This elevated Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso to 2nd and 3rd respectively. This was Sebastian's 23rd career win. Vettel now reduced Alonso's championship lead to 29 points elevating himself from 4th to 2nd in the standings. Meanwhile Paul di Resta finished 4th in Force India to score his best career finish.

Thanks for reading.

Rokas Charlapavicius · Sep 24, 2012

September 24th:

1955 - Stirling Moss won the non-championship 2nd International Gold Cup, held at Oulton Park. He drove for Maserati. This was his second and last win of the season having previously won the British Grand Prix at Aintree driving for Mercedes.

1960 - Stirling Moss won the last non-championship event of the season, this time it was the 7th International Gold Cup, held at Oulton Park again. This time he drove for Lotus. This was his 2nd win of the season having previously won the Monaco Grand Prix for the same Lotus outfit. This was his 4th win at this event.

1972 - Jackie Stewart showed a dominant display as he won Canadian Grand Prix driving for Tyrrell. He finished 48 seconds ahead of first time pole-sitter Peter Revson (McLaren). Revson's team-mate Dennis Hulme completed the podium in third, but it wasn't enough to keep his 2nd place in the championship as Jackie Stewart now led him by a point. The new world champion Emerson Fittipaldi had an off day, as he finished 11th (2 laps down), but it didn't matter. This was Stewart's 21st career win and Tyrrell's 10th. Carlos Reutemann finished in 4th for Brabham to score his first career points.

1981 - Ryan Briscoe was born. In 2004 he made 5 appearances as a friday test driver for Toyota. He is now an Indycar driver for Penske.

1989 - Gerhard Berger won for the 5th time in his career and for the only time that season as he won an eventful Portuguese Grand Prix, driving for Ferrari, after overtaking Ayrton Senna at the start and benefiting from the early leader Nigel Mansell's pit stop disaster - Nigel went past his pit box, had to reverse in the pit lane thus breaking the rules. He was later black flagged. And to finish his "great" day off Mansell then collided with Senna putting them both out. Championship leader Alain Prost benefited greatly from his main championship rival Senna's retirement as he finished in 2nd to extend his lead over Senna to 24 points. Stefan Johansson (who started only 12th) completed the podium in a sensational result for Onyx team (this was the last podium for both Johansson and Onyx). Jonathan Palmer finished 6th in a Tyrrell to score his last ever point. Pierluigi Martini made history for Minardi team as he led for one lap (the only ever time Minardi led a race, Martini eventually finished 5th.). That's not all - 10 drivers from 10 different teams made up the top 10 finishers (a driver from each Ferrari, McLaren, Onyx, Benetton, Minardi, Tyrrell, Lotus, Brabham, Lola and March).

1995 - David Coulthard converted pole position into his first career win at the Portuguese Grand Prix, driving for Williams-Renault. Damon Hill couldn't maintain his qualifying pace as he finished 3rd in the second Williams. Michael Schumacher split the Williams'es to finish in 2nd for Benetton. This result meant that Damon gained only 2 points on Schumacher in the standings and was still 17 points behind. Coulthard's win elevated him to 3rd in the standings.

2000 - Michael Schumacher survived a spin with 4 laps to go and won the inaugural United States Grand Prix in Indianapolis after a hard chasing Mika Hakkinen retired with pneumatic valve system failure. This made a huge turn around in the championship as Michael went from 2 points down to 8 points up over Hakkinen. Rubens Barrichello completed a Ferrari 1-2, while Heinz-Harald Frentzen held off Jacques Villeneuve to finish 3rd for Sauber. Meanwhile Ricardo Zonta finished 6th in the second BAR to score his last career point. This was the first United States Grand Prix since 1991 and also the first time in Indianapolis history that the race was not held on the oval as an infield section was built up.

Thanks for reading

Rokas Charlapavicius · Sep 25, 2012

September 25th:

1942 - Henri Pescarolo was born. In terms of Formula One he made 57 starts between 1968 and 1976. He got 1 podium, 12 points and achieved 1 fastest lap. However, he is better known for his achievements in the Le Mans 24 Hour race. He won it overall in 1972, 1973, 1974 and 1984 and also in class in 1976 and 1996 - 6 wins in total. He also holds the record for the most Le Mans starts - 33.

1952 - Stirling Moss, driving for Maserati, won the 7th Goodwood Trophy. This was the penultimate non-championship event of the season.

1982 - Michele Alboreto won the final race of the season - Caesars Palace Grand Prix, driving for Tyrrell. This was his 1st career win, he also got his 1st ever fastest lap in the process. Alboreto benefited from the leading Renault's misfortunes - Rene Arnoux retired with engine trouble, while Alain Prost suffered badly from tyre degradation to see his 30 second lead dissapear. Prost eventually finished only 4th. Others to benefit were John Watson (McLaren in 2nd) and Eddie Cheever (Ligier in 3rd). This race was the championships 3rd visit to the United States - for the first time ever 3 races where held at the same country in the same season.
Watson's 2nd place was not enough to overhaul Keke Rosberg's lead in championship, although that was very unlikely anyway as he needed to win with Rosberg not scoring points. Rosberg finished 5th and secured his only world championship.
Meanwhile, for the first time in 18 years there was a 3-way battle for the constructors title entering the final race. Ferrari held on to it, despite not having a driver finishing because others had underperformed - McLaren, who needed to overhaul Ferrari by 11 points, had Niki Lauda retiring with engine issues, while Watson got only 6 points for second place - not enough obviously; meanwhile Renault needed a 1-2 with Ferrari outside the points - but Alain Prost was only 4th while Rene Arnoux retired.

1983 - Nelson Piquet won European Grand Prix, held in Brands Hatch, for Brabham from 4th on the grid, scoring his 10th career win. This boosted his championship chances significantly as he reduced Prost's championship lead to 2 points, now entering the last race of the season. Alain Prost finished in 2nd for Renault to minimise his losses. Another championship contender Rene Arnoux (Ferrari) finished outside the points to significanly reduce his chances in the championship as he was now 8 points behind with 9 on the table. This was the first ever world championship race to officially wear the European Grand Prix name. This race also saw the debut of a current circuit owner Jonathan Palmer (he finished 13th in a 3rd Williams entry), the last ever appearance by Theodore Racing (Roberto Guerrero finished in 12th for them) and last ever points finish for Bruno Giacomelli (he finished 6th in a Toleman).

1988 - Alain Prost won Portuguese Grand Prix for McLaren after slipsteaming past his team-mate Ayrton Senna on lap 2. Senna later experienced fuel readout problem which caused him to slow down and let Ivan Capelli (March) to 2nd place in the race (that was the only time in the season that McLaren was passed by something other than McLaren). Capelli stayed in 2nd to the finish. Meanwhile Thierry Boutsen (Benetton) finished in 3rd after Michele Alboreto ran out of fuel in the last corner. Alboreto was classified 5th, while Senna had an unscheduled pit stop to finish in 6th. Prost now led Senna in the standings by 5 points.

1994 - Damon Hill won Portuguese Grand Prix in a 1-2 for Williams. David Coulthard finished in 2nd to score his first ever podium, he also took the fastest lap honours. This was Hill's 7th career win. This is the last race to date where there was no former world champion in the field as Nigel Mansell didn't take part.

2005 - Juan Pablo Montoya won Brazilian Grand Prix in a McLaren's first 1-2 result since 2000 Austrian Grand Prix. This also turned out to be Montoya's 7th and last career win. Kimi Raikkonen finished in 2nd, but it wasn't enough to keep himself in the running for the championship as 3rd place finisher Fernando Alonso (Renault) become the youngest World Champion at the time. Meanwhile Rubens Barrichello finished in 6th to score his last points for Ferrari.

2011 - Sebastian Vettel took lights to flag victory in the Singapore Grand Prix, driving for Red Bull Racing, scoring his 19th career win. Jenson Button finished in 2nd for McLaren to leap from 4th into 2nd position in the standings. Mark Webber completed the podium in the 3rd Red Bull.

Thanks for reading

Rokas Charlapavicius · Sep 26, 2012

September 26th:

1953 - Late Roy Salvadori won the non-championship 6th Madgwick Cup held at Goodwood. He was driving for Connaught-Lea Francis.

1959 - Stirling Moss won the non-championship 6th International Gold Cup held at Oulton Park. He was driving for Cooper outfit.

1993 - Michael Schumacher, driving for Benetton, made his one-stop strategy work as he won Portuguese Grand Prix from 6th on the grid scoring his only win of the season and 2nd of his career. Alain Prost settled for 2nd (although he could have easily won) to secure himself a 4th world championship title with 2 races to spare. This was because his team-mate and main championship rival (and original pole sitter for that matter) Damon Hill stalled on the dummy grid and had to start at the back. He recovered to complete the podium, but it wasn't enough to keep his championship hopes alive.

1999 - Johhny Herbert won European Grand Prix for Stewart after he benefited from the right strategy and a string of retirements: Coulthard stayed on dry tires for too long, Fisichella spun off in very wet conditions, Heinz-Harald Frentzen (a championship contender at the time, driving for Jordan) retired with an electrical problem, Eddie Irvine (also a wc contender driving for Ferrari) had a 30 second pit stop, Ralf Schumacher (Jordan) had a puncture while in the lead with a handful of laps to go.
This was the first ever win for "Stewart" and Johhny's 3rd and last career win. Jarno Trulli finished in a sensational 2nd for Prost to score his first podium finish. Rubens Barrichello made it 2 Stewart's on the podium. Meanwhile Marc Gene finished in 6th in a Minardi to score his first career point, holding off championship contender Eddie Irvine for a point which proved so costly for Eddie at the end of the year.

2004 - Rubens Barrichello made history as he won the first ever Chinese Grand Prix, driving for Ferrari, scoring his 9th career win. His team-mate and already champion for the 7th time - Michael Schumacher had an off weekend. He spun off in qualifying and started last, then had another spin and a puncture in the race and finished outside the points for the first time that season. Jenson Button (BAR Honda) and Kimi Raikkonen (McLaren) exchanged position from qualifying to complete the podium. This race also saw a return of Jacques Villeneuve who replaced sacked Jarno Trulli at Renault, a return of Ralf Schumacher (who finally recovered from his injuries sustained in the United States Grand Prix earlier in the year), and a return of Timo Glock who replaced Giorgio Pantano at Jordan. Villeneuve finished 11th, Glock finished 15th, Ralf didn't finish after a puncture.

2010 - Fernando Alonso led from start to finish and also got the fastest lap in the process as he won Singapore Grand Prix for Ferrari. Sebastian Vettel felt just short as he finished in 2nd for Red Bull (only +0.3 of a second behind). Mark Webber finished 3rd and maintained his championship lead while Alonso jumped in to 2nd in the standings.

Thanks for reading.

Rokas Charlapavicius · Sep 27, 2012

September 27th:

1952 - Ken Downing won the non-championship event: 5th Madgwick Cup held at Goodwood. He was driving for Connaught. This was his only career win in a single seater.

1953 - Artur Rosenhammer won the non-championship race - 2nd Bernau Autobahnschleife. He drove for EMW (Eisenacher Motorenwerk).

1981 - Jacques Laffite scored his 6th (and last) career win as he won Canadian Grand Prix for Ligier (their last win until Monaco 1996). This win enabled him to stay in the running for the championship, he was now 6 points behind the leader in 3rd. The other two contenders didn't have something to cheer about - Carlos Reutemann, the championship leader, finished only in 10th for Williams - 3 laps down, meanwhile Nelson Piquet finished 5th for Brabham and although he was now only a single point behind Reutemann in the drivers championship his race position wasn't enough to keep his team in the running for the constructors as Williams wrapped it despite scoring a big fat 0. John Watson finished 2nd for McLaren also getting the fastest lap in the process. 3rd place was taken by a local hero and a Ferrari icon Gilles Villeneuve.

1987 - Nigel Mansell passed the pole-sitter Nelson Piquet at the end of the first lap and never looked back as he won Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez, driving for Williams. This was his 5th win of the season and 12th of his career. His win also elevated him to 2nd in the championship keeping his slim hopes alive (18 points behind with 20 on the table). That was because Nelson Piquet finished only 4th after a lengthy pit stop. Ayrton Senna's attempt to make a pit-stop less race failed as he finished only 5th, losing his 2nd place in the standings, but still remaining in the running for the title although his chances were very slim (19 points behind). Two McLaren's completed the podium - Alain Prost in 2nd, Stefan Johansson in 3rd.

1992 - Nigel Mansell, who had already clinched his 1st and only world championship, won Portuguese Grand Prix for Williams taking lights to flag victory. This was 30th career win and 9th of the season which was (at the time) a record for wins in a season . Two McLaren's completed the podium - Gerhard Berger in 2nd, Ayrton Senna in 3rd.

1998 - Mika Hakkinen drove a masterful race to win Luxembourg Grand Prix - his 8th career win. He passed Eddie "the purposed road block" Irvine on lap 14 and afterwards he jumped Schumacher on a 1st pit-stop exchange and held him off after the second stop. Michael Schumacher finished in 2nd for Ferrari. The podium was completed by McLaren driven by David Coulthard, who jumped Eddie Irvine after a second pit stop exchange. Hakkinen now broke the tie at in the top of the standings, leading Schumacher by 4 points going into the final race of the season. P.S. The race it self was not held in Luxembourg, it was held in Nurburgring. That name was given because German Grand Prix name was worn by Hockenheim. Also in this race Jean Alesi had his 150th start.

2009 - Lewis Hamilton converted a Pole Position into a race win as he won Singapore Grand Prix after his main rival in the race Sebastian Vettel was handed a drive through for speeding in the pit lane. This was Lewis'es 11th career win. Timo Glock finished in second for Toyota to score his last podium to date. Meanwhile Heikki Kovalainen finished in 7th for McLaren to score his last points to date.

Thanks for reading.

Rokas Charlapavicius · Sep 28, 2012

September 28th:

1952 - Rudi Fischer won his second non-championship race of the season as he won the 8th Internationales Avusrennen, driving for Ferrari.

1963 - Erik Comas was born. Between 1991 and 1994 he made 59 starts scoring 7 points. He drove for Ligier and Larrousse teams. It was him that Senna ran to after Erik's crash at Spa 1992. After Senna's death two years later Comas was so shocked that he pulled the plug after 1994 season. Afterwards he completed in Super GT and All-Japan Grand Touring Championship. He was pretty successful there - he won the GT500 title in 1998 and 1999, and earned runner-up in the standings in 2000. By the end of the 2003 season he was the most successful driver in series history with the most career championship points ever scored by a single driver. So not bad at all.

1968 - Another living legend of the sport Mika Hakkinen was born. Between 1991 and 2001 he made 161 starts, won 20 Grand Prix's, got 51 Podiums, 26 poles, 25 fastest laps, scored 420 points. It's enough to say that he is the two-times world champion (1998, 1999) and Michael Schumacher considers him as the guy he feared and respected the most as they pushed each other to the limit and over it. After his Formula One tales he competed in DTM scoring 3 wins.

1980 - Alan Jones won Canadian Grand Prix for Williams despite being involved in a multi car start crash triggered by the collision of himself and his championship rival Nelson Piquet . Luckily for Alan the race was restarted, meanwhile his rival Nelson Piquet was not so lucky. His car was too badly damaged and he had to start in spare, qualifying spec car which meant that later in the race Piquet's engine was to inevitably fail, and it did, leaving Jones with a win and securing him his first and only world championship title. Didier Pironi had actually passed Jones for the lead later in the race and won on the road but was then given a 1 minute penalty for a jump start, leaving him in 3rd. Carlos Reutimann also benefited from Pironi's penalty to make it a Williams 1-2. This was Jones'es 9th career win and Williams'es 10th.

1997 - Jacques Villeneuve won Luxembourg Grand Prix for Williams-Renault after the 2 leading McLaren's retired within minutes of each other with apparently the identical engine failures (for Hakkinen it was his 3rd retirement from the lead in that season). This was Jacques 11th and last career win. His team-mate Heinz-Harald Frentzen finished in 3rd. The 2 Williams'es were split by Jean Alesi in 2nd for Benetton. I also have to mension Olivier Panis who in his first race since breaking both legs earlier in the season managed to finish in 6th for Ligier, scoring a point. Also Yamaha had their last point as an engine supplier when Pedro Diniz finished in 5th with an Arrows.

2003 - Michael Schumacher took a huge step towards his 6th world championship title by winning the United States Grand Prix for Ferrari, as he proved once again as being the master of changeable conditions driving through the field passing Wilson, pole sitter Raikkonen, Frentzen and Button to win. Michelin runners were struggling in the wet - Kimi was the perfect example who couldn't do anything to Michael and finished 2nd after passing Heinz-Harald Frentzen who eventually finished 3rd for Sauber and scored his last career podium. Meanwhile Justin Wilson finished in 8th for Jaguar to score his only career point.

2008 - Fernando Alonso won a very contraversial Singapore Grand Prix for Renault, because after he pitted Alonso's team-mate Nelson Piquet.Jr crashed on purpose to bring out the safety car and make Alonso a race contender as everybody else pitted on the safety car period giving Alonso the lead which he never lost. Safety car period proved very costly for then the race leader Felipe Massa because after his pit-stop he was released from the pit lane with his fuel hose attached, had to stop and wait for it to get detached and lost 2 laps in the process, dropping precious points and quite possibly the title. Nico Rosberg recovered from a ridiculous 10 second stop-go penalty for refuelling when the pitlane was closed to finish in 2nd for Williams scoring his second ever podium and best career finish. Lewis Hamilton finished in 3rd for McLaren and with his main championship rival Massa in trouble he now extended his lead in the standings to 7 points. Meanwhile David Coulthard finished in 7th for Red Bull Racing to score his last career points. It was the same case for Kazuki Nakajima who finished in 8th for Williams.

Thanks for reading.

Rokas Charlapavicius · Sep 29, 2012

September 29th (little activities on that day):

1951 - Giuseppe Farina won the very last event of the season - the 4th Goodwood Trophy. This was a non-championship event. He was driving for Alfa Romeo. This was his 3rd non-championship race win of the season and 4th in total.

1991 - Nigel Mansell put a stunning drive to win the Spanish Grand Prix for Williams, scoring his 21st career win. He passed Schumacher, then Senna...

...then after a slight delay in pits he once again passed Senna, who later spun in the rain (yes, Senna spun in the rain

), and then on lap 20 Mansell passed pole-sitter Gerhard Berger (who started from McLaren's 75th pole) and never looked back. Berger later retired with an electrical problem leaving Alain Prost to finish in 2nd for Ferrari. Senna then benefited from Berger's retirement and Schumacher's spin to get up to 3rd, only to fade back to 5th. Riccardo Patrese took advantage of that to finish in 3rd, making it two Williams'es on the podium. This result kept Mansell's slim championship hopes alive as he was now 16 points behind Senna with 2 races (20 points) remaining. This race also saw the last appearance for AGS team - with both drivers (Fabrizio Barbazza and Olivier Grouillard) failing to pre-qualify.

2002 - Rubens Barrichello won the United States Grand Prix after being let passed by Schumacher in the final meters of the race - winning by 0,011 of a second (the closest in the modern era, although staged). David Coulthard stayed in his qualifying position to complete the podium in a McLaren. This was Ferrari's 8th 1-2 result of the season and Barrichello's 5th career win. Also Jenson Button had his 50th career start, he finished in 8th for Renault, 1 lap down.

Thanks for reading.

Rokas Charlapavicius · Sep 30, 2012

September 30th:

1941 - Reine Wissel was born. Between 1970 and 1974 he made 22 starts, driving for Lotus, BRM and March. He got on to the podium in his very first race (1970 United States Grand Prix), but that was pretty much it. That was his only podium, he also got 13 career points.

1946 - Jochen Mass was born. Between 1973 and 1982 he made 105 starts, driving for Surtees, McLaren, ATS, Arrows and March. He managed to win 1 race (1975 Spanish Grand Prix) and also had 8 podiums, 2 fastest laps and scored 71 points throughout his career. After Formula One he competed in sports cars - winning 12h of Sebring in 1987 and 24h of Le Mans in 1989. He now drives the Mercedes-Benz museum's historic cars.

1950 - Reg Parnell won the non-championship 3rd Goodwood Trophy, driving for BRM. This was 2nd non-championship event win of the season.

1979 - Alan Jones barely managed to hold off the local hero Gilles Villeneuve and won the Canadian Grand Prix for Williams. Villeneuve ended up just 1 second behind in 2nd for Ferrari. This was Jones 5th career win which moved him up to 3rd in the championship. Clay Regazzoni finished 3rd in the second Williams in what turned out to be his last ever podium. This race saw the first retirement from Formula One by the double world champion Niki Lauda as after practise sessions he announced that he had no more desire to "drive around in circles". Lauda returned to F1 in 1982.

1990 - Alain Prost won Spanish Grand Prix for Ferrari after his championship rival (and pole-sitter for the 50th time in his career) Ayrton Senna couldn't keep up and later retired with a radiator issues. This was Alain's 44th career win. His team-mate Nigel Mansell finished in 2nd to complete a Ferrari 1-2. Prost reduced Senna's lead to 9 points in the standings. Alessandro Nannini finished 3rd for Benetton in what turned out to be his last podium and last race as his arm was severely injured in the helicopter crash just a week later after which he never drove in F1 again.

2001 - Mika Hakkinen won the United States Grand Prix for McLaren after seeing the retirement of both Williams'es and a hard chasing Rubens Barrichello and then winning the strategical battle with Michael Schumacher who ended up 2nd for Ferrari, and team-mate David Coulthard who ended up 3rd scoring his 50th podium. This was Hakkinen's 20th and last career win and last podium too. Also Jean Alesi had his 200th start, he finished in 7th for Jordan. This race also marked an end of an era as the broadcasting legend Murray Walker had his last Formula One commentary.

This was the first international sport event held in USA after the September 11 attacks.

2007 - Lewis Hamilton won Japanese Grand Prix from pole-position for McLaren. He also took fastest lap honours. Heikki Kovalainen finished in 2nd for Renault after the collision between Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel behind the safety car. Kimi Raikkonen tried to put pressure on Heikki but eventually finished 3rd for Ferrari. This was Hamilton's 4th career win and Kovalainen's first ever podium. This race also saw the first ever points finish for Adrian Sutil and first and last point for his Spyker team as Adrian finished in 8th after Liuzzi was penalised for overtaking Sutil under yellow flags, losing his 8th place in the process.

Thanks for reading.

Rokas Charlapavicius · Oct 1, 2012

October 1st:

1955 - Harry Schell won his 2nd non-championship race of the season. It was 1st Avon Trophy held at Castle Combe circuit. He was driving for Vanwall.

1961 - Tony Marsh got pole, win and fastest lap as he dominated the 5th Lewis-Evans Trophy race driving for BRM. The race was held in Brands Hatch circuit. Also this race was unusual because drivers from outside of Britain were not allowed to participate

1967 - Jim Clark survived a massive scare in the final laps to win the United States Grand Prix in a Lotus 1-2. He had a big lead after Graham Hill's clutch problem left him unable to change gear temporarily and dropped him 45 seconds behind, but with 2 laps to go Clark suffered from rear suspension support failure and had to nurse the car home, eventually winning by only 5 seconds. Championship leader Denis Hulme didn't benefit from Lotus problems as he was lacking some fuel in his tank leaving him in 3rd, but still with the championship lead. This was Clark's 23rd career win.

1978 - Carlos Reutemann benefited from local hero and already world champion Mario Andretti's brake failure to win the United States Grand Prix for Ferrari. Alan Jones finished in 2nd for Williams after the second Ferrari driven by Gilles Villeneuve blew a piston denying a Ferrari 1-2. Jody Scheckter finished in 3rd after a heart-brake for Jean-Pierre Jarier who recovered from a puncture, drove through the field from 11th to 3rd only to run out of fuel with less that 4 laps to go. Jean-Pierre Jabouille finished in 4th for Renault, scoring first points with a car powered by a turbocharged engine and his first career points. This was Reutemann's 9th career win.

1989 - Ayrton Senna won Spanish Grand Prix from pole-position. In fact the top 3 in qualifying held station. Gerhard Berger finished in 2nd for Ferrari, world champion Alain Prost finished 3rd in another McLaren. This race saw the debut of J.J.Lehto - he failed to finish after a gearbox problem in his Onyx.

1995 - Michael Schumacher fought his way past the leader Jean Alesi (who was on 1 stop strategy) with just 3 laps to go to win the European Grand Prix for Benetton. Pole-sitter David Coulthard suffered from oversteer and finished 35 second behind in 3rd for Williams. Championship contender Damon Hill spun off in an attempt to catch Coulthard effectively giving away the title to Schumacher. This was Michael's 17th win.

2006 - Michael Schumacher drove from 6th on the grid in changeable conditions to win Chinese Grand Prix. Alonso recovered from a bad pit stop (he reduced Schumachers lead from 40 to 3 seconds), and finished in 2nd after being let passed by team-mate Fisichella. Fisi finished 3rd. The championship was now wide open as Alonso and Schumacher were level on points (116 a piece) but Michael was leading on countback, going into the final two races. This also turned to be Schumacher's 91th and most likely last career win.

Thanks for taking your time to read this.

Rokas Charlapavicius · Oct 3, 2012

October 2nd:

1954 - Stirling Moss won the last non-championship event of the season - 1st Daily Telegraph Trophy held at Aintree. This was his 3rd non-championship race win of the season. All of these wins were achieved while driving for Maserati.

1966 - Jim Clark won the United States Grand Prix for Lotus after an early race leader Lorenzo Bandini (Ferrari) blown the engine on lap 20, while the guy who then inherited the lead, Jack Brabham, also blew his engine on lap 55. Jochen Rindt finished in 2nd for Cooper, despite running out of fuel and having to coast to the line. Another contender for the win John Surtees had to recover from the collision with a backmarker Peter Arundell and finished 3rd in the another Cooper. This was Clark's 20th career win and Lotus'es 25th. Arundell also recovered from the collision to finish 6th and recorded his last points finish.

1977 - James Hunt won the United States Grand Prix from pole for McLaren after the early leader Hans-Joachim Stuck suffered from losing the clutch cable, eventually retiring. Later Hunt backed off too much and had to hold off the charging local by the name of Mario Andretti. There was no change, however, and Andretti finished in 2nd for Lotus. Jody Scheckter finished in a distant 3rd for Wolf. This was Hunt's 9th career win. Also Clay Regazzoni had his 100th Grand Prix start, he finished in 5th for Ensign.

1988 - Alain Prost made a good start from the 10th all McLaren front row of the season to win the Spanish Grand Prix. He held off Nigel Mansell who was on his tale before the pit stops, but lost some time with a wheel nut problem. Nevertheless, he still managed to finish in 2nd place. Alessandro Nannini pulled off a great stint passing both Riccardo Patrese and Ayrton Senna in one lap to finish 3rd. Senna had a late pit stop and once again suffered from a fuel readout problem finishing only 4th and losing the world championship lead in the process. Prost now led him by 5 points with 2 races remaining. This was Prost's 34th career win.

October 3rd:

1953 - Bob Gerard won the penultimate non-championship race of the season. It was the 2nd Joe Fry Memorial Trophy race held at Castle Combe circuit. He was driving for Cooper-Bristol outfit.

1965 - Graham Hill won the United States Grand Prix for the BRM after winning the duel with Jim Clark in the first 12 laps and then holding off Dan Gurney and Jack Brabham in the latter parts of the race. Clark retired early with a piston failure while Gurney and Brabham reduced Hill's lead from half a lap to nothing in the rain, but their attempts to take the lead failed. Gurney tried, but overshot the corner and then later was hindered by a slipping clutch denying him any chance of victory. Brabham's attempt to take the lead failed because he was forced of the track by Hill, spinning off in the process. Nevertheless they all stayed in the podium positions with Hill winning and Gurney with Brabham finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively. This was Hill's 10th career win. This race also saw the debut of Bob Bondurant - he finished 9th, 4 laps down in a Ferrari.

1971 - Francois Cevert won the last race of the season - the United States Grand Prix after his team-mate and world champion Jackie Stewart suffered from tire vibrations and waved Cevert by. The only one to challenge Cevert was the Ferrari of Jacky Ickx who closed in on Cevert as he was starting to struggle with the same problem as his team-mate Stewart. But Ickx challenge was short lived as his engine blew leaving oil all over the circuit. Cevert actually slipped on that oil and hit the barrier, but recovered to win. Jo Siffert just barely managed to hold on to 2nd position in his BRM as his car started to pray for fuel. Ronnie Peterson closed in, reducing Siffert's advantage from 33 to 4 seconds, but felt just short and was left with 3rd. This was Cevert's first and only win. Siffert's 2nd place turned out to be his last podium and the race itself turned out to be his last race as he was killed in a non-championship event named the World Championship Victory Race just 3 weeks later.

1976 - James Hunt converted pole-position into a race win as he won Canadian Grand Prix for McLaren. His main championship rival Niki Lauda finished only in 8th, meaning that Hunt closed the gap on him significantly, now only 8 points behind with 2 races to go. Patrick Depailler recorded fastest lap while on his way to 2nd position in a Tyrrell. Mario Andretti completed the podium in 3rd. This was Hunt's 6th career win.

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it.

Rokas Charlapavicius · Oct 4, 2012

October 4th:

1952 - Roy Salvadori won a non-championship 1st Joe Fry Memorial Trophy held at Castle Combe circuit. He was driving for Ferrari.

1964 - Graham Hill won United States Grand Prix for BRM, putting up a great drive after being left in 4th after the first lap. Championship contender Jim Clark passed the early leader Surtees only to retire with a misfire and then, after exchanging cars with his team-mate, he was again left with a problem - this time a shortage of fuel held him back. Surtees eventually had to surrender the lead again, this time to Hill and then couldn't re-ignite the battle as he lost some time behind the backmarkers. So, in the end Graham Hill won for the 8th time in his career and extended his lead in the championship to 5 points, John Surtees finished in 2nd and moved up to 2nd in the standings aswell, passing Clark. The best of the rest was Jo Siffert who completed the podium which was a first one for him. Meanwhile Walt Hansgen finished in 5th for Lotus to score his only points in his last f1 race. It was also last points for 6th placed Trevor Taylor in a BRP-BRM.

1970 - Emerson Fittipaldi won the United States Grand Prix after a runaway leader Jackie Stewart (who was holding a one minute lead) retired with engine problems; Stewart's pursuer Jacky Ickx also experienced problems and had to make a pit stop to repair a fuel line. Pedro Rodriguez inherited the lead from Stewart, but failed to make a pit-stop less race, had to pit and surrendered the lead to Fittipaldi leaving him far ahead. This was Fittipaldi's maiden win in just his 4th start. Rodriguez finished 2nd, while Reine Wisell had his only ever podium in 3rd for Lotus. Jacky Ickx finished only 4th which meant that he now couldn't overhaul Jochen Rindt's points total, so Rindt became the only ever posthumous world champion. Meanwhile Derek Bell finished in 6th for Surtees to score his only ever point.

2009 - Sebastian Vettel dominated Japanese Grand Prix, leading from start to finish in his Red Bull. Jarno Trulli benefited from a slow exit from the pit lane by Lewis Hamilton, jumped him and finished 2nd for Toyota. Lewis completed the podium in 3rd for McLaren. This was Vettel's 4th career win which kept him in the running for the championship as WC leader Jenson Button finished only 8th, but still held a lead of 16 points over Vettel and 14 over his team-mate Rubens Barrichello with only two races remaining. Jarno Trulli's 2nd place turned out to be the last podium finish for both him and his Toyota team.

Thanks for reading

Rokas Charlapavicius · Oct 5, 2012

October 5th:

1969 - Jochen Rindt, driving for Lotus, finally converted a pole position (his 5th of the season) into a race win after Jackie Stewart (Matra) suffered an engine failure not long after passing Rindt for the lead. Piers Courage came home in 2nd for Brabham. John Surtees (BRM) was left with 3rd after the other podium contenders experienced problems: Jacky Ickx had oil pressure problems while Jack Brabham's car became thirsty and he had to pit. The race was slighly overshadowed by the crash of Graham Hill. Hill had a spin and stalled, damaging the tire in the process. He then got out of the car, push started it, but had to drive around to the pits without fastening his seat belts because he couldn't fasten them alone. Then disaster struck as his tire exploded, his car went into enbankment and Hill was thrown out of the car and broke both legs in the process.
This was Rindt's first career win. Piers Courage's 2nd place was his second and last career podium. This was the same case for 3rd placed former champion John Surtees. Meanwhile Silvio Moser finished in 6th for Brabham to score his last career point.

1975 - Niki Lauda, who had already secured his first world championship title, won the last race of the season, converting a pole position into a race win at the United States Grand Prix. He led from start to finish. Emerson Fittipaldi followed Lauda around to finish in 2nd, 5 seconds down. Jochen Mass emerged in 3rd after some bad luck for others: Jean-Pierre Jarier retired with a seized rear wheel bearing, Vittorio Brambilla's seat got loose, while Hunt struggled with his gear selection and brake balance eventually letting Mass by. Ronnie Peterson's tried to catch Mass for the podium place near the end of the race, but the chase came to an end when he locked up, not only losing a chance to get a podium, but also getting a vibration and letting Hunt back through on the last lap. This was Lauda's 7th career win.

1980 - Alan Jones recovered from a first lap off track excursion and drove through the field from 14th position to win the United States Grand Prix in a Williams, after the others had problems or were just simply slower. The most heart-breaking retirement was that of Bruno Giacomelli, who led from his 1st ever pole-position start for the first 31 laps, only to see Italian electrics fail in his Alfa Romeo. Carlos Reutimann finished in 2nd to complete a 1-2 for Williams. Didier Pironi was 3rd in a Ligier. Two former world champions had their last ever start: Emerson Fittipaldi failed to finish, while Jody Scheckter finished 11th and last - 3 laps down in a Ferrari.

Thanks for reading.