Cars, drivers, teams, and even world championships all have to start somewhere, so it’s time to take a look at the good, the bad and the ugly of Formula 1 debuts
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Time for a debut or two
THE MAIN EVENT
For the second time in its history as a grand prix venue Bahrain hosts the season opener, this time owing to the postponement of Australia’s round to the tail end of the 2021 calendar. That means a friendlier start time for European viewers, as well as the likelihood of a more eventful and representative opening race than we’ve become used to seeing at Albert Park.
Since this year’s cars are in effect B-spec versions of last year’s, cooling ought to be less marginal than it generally is in this desert location, where the day-into-night race format brings wide-ranging temperature changes. Teams will have an hour’s less practice time as well, since the Friday sessions have been shorn of 30 minutes each – but since only a few months have elapsed since the last race here, that shouldn’t introduce too much unpredictability into proceedings.
2020 RACE RECAP
Last year’s race delivered a chastening reminder that Formula 1 can never afford to be complacent about safety. Romain Grosjean survived a horrifying first-lap incident when his Haas burst into flames, which also required an 80-minute race stoppage while the barriers were mended.
Another shunt after the restart left debris which inflicted a puncture upon Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas, forcing him to make a pitstop which ruled him out of the battle for the win. That left Lewis Hamilton in charge of the race as Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez battled for second, a position determined when Pérez’s engine failed late on. Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Alex Albon took the final podium position.
KEY CORNER: TURN 1 There are many different ways of tackling this hairpin but the trick is not to brake too late, because that can compromise you for the next corner. The key is to preserve some momentum.
RACE DATA
Circuit name Bahrain International Circuit
First grand prix 2004 Number of laps 57
Circuit length 3.36 miles Race distance 191.53 miles Longest straight 0.75 mile Elevation change 182 feet Lap record 1m31.447s Pedro de la Rosa (2005)
F1 races held 17
Winners from pole 7 Pirelli tyre compounds
C2, C3, C4
CAR PERFORMANCE Downforce level Medium Cooling requirement High Full throttle 66%
Top speed 203mph Average speed 137mph
TIMETABLE
(UK TIME)
Friday 26 March Practice 1 11:30-12:30 Practice 2 15:00-16:00 Saturday 27 March Practice 3 12:00-13:00 Qualifying 15:00-16:00 Sunday 28 March Race 16.00
Live coverage Sky Sports F1 Highlights Channel 4
When Honda pulled out of F1 in December 2008, Brawn GP rose from its ashes and made its debut at the 2009 Australian GP. First and second in qualifying and the race, with the car that would have been the Honda RA109 but which was now powered by Mercedes, was an impressive start
Mario Andretti qualified on pole for his race debut, the 1968 US GP at Watkins Glen, ran second until the front wing on his Lotus broke, then eventually retired with a broken clutch. However, Andretti had already qualified for the Italian GP two races earlier, only to be prevented from starting by the organisers as he intended to compete in America in between qualifying and the race
Formula 1 is littered with teams which failed to be even remotely competitive and in 1992 Andrea Moda was one such outfit. Barred from race one, and not ready for race two, Robert Moreno at least tried, and failed, to pre-qualify for the Brazilian GP. In nine races the team managed just one start...
When the Brabham BT46B ‘fan’ car appeared at the 1978 Swedish GP, Lotus driver Mario Andretti called it a “bloody great vacuum cleaner”. Increased downforce meant it was a controversial yet legal winner for Niki Lauda, but the car was then withdrawn from further competition by the team
Giancarlo Baghetti leads Dan Gurney in the 1961 French GP at Reims. Baghetti, in a semi-works Ferrari 156, would go on to win his first world championship F1 race and he remains the only driver to achieve this feat since the inaugural race. He actually won his first three F1 races, having won his first two non-championship F1 GPS earlier in 1961
Four drivers about to take part in their first F1 race, the 2001 Australian GP, and they turned out to be a reasonable bunch. From left to right, Kimi Räikkönen (2007 champion), Juan Pablo Montoya (seven-time race winner), Fernando Alonso (2005 and 2006 champion) and Enrique Bernoldi
Everything has to start somewhere and it was at Silverstone in May 1950 that the Formula 1 world championship began, with the fifth running of the British Grand Prix. The winner of the race was Alfa Romeo’s Giuseppe Farina and the Italian would also win the inaugural world championship
When is a debut not a debut? Hans Heyer (in the yellow ATS Penske) completed nine laps in the 1977 German GP at Hockenheim but hadn’t actually qualified for the race. Heyer slipped out of the pits and joined the race until his gearbox failed. And then he was disqualified...
Johnny Herbert’s F1 debut in a Benetton at the 1989 Brazilian GP was nothing short of a miracle. Seven months after the F300o shunt when he thought he’d lost his legs, and unable to walk far without sticks – which explains the bike in the pitlane – he finished an amazing fourth
When Lola entered F1 with its own team in 1997, after years as a chassis supplier, it was an unmitigated disaster. At the Australian GP Vincenzo Sospiri (right) and Riccardo Rosset were well outside the 107% time needed to qualify. Lola never re-appeared, Rosset went on to race for Tyrrell, but this was Sospiri’s only shot at F1
Nigel Mansell had already tested for Lotus when Colin Chapman handed him his F1 debut in a third car at the 1980 Austrian GP. Mansell scraped onto the grid in last place, and then spent 40 laps until his engine expired sitting in fuel that had leaked into the cockpit. Nasty burns were an unwelcome memento of his first F1 race
Lewis Hamilton made his F1 debut with Mclaren and wasted no time proving how good he was, overtaking team-mate Fernando Alonso on the opening lap of his first race, the 2007 Australian GP. A podium, behind Kimi Räikkönen and Alonso, heralded the start of a record-breaking Formula 1 career
Only three drivers have qualified on pole for their first F1 start: Mario Andretti, Jacques Villeneuve and Carlos Reutemann. Like Andretti, Reutemann managed to do this on home soil and the 1972 Argentinean GP was also Bernie Ecclestone’s debut as Brabham team owner. Reutemann would finish seventh after tyre issues
At what point during the 1991 Belgian GP meeting this picture was taken is unknown, but something on the timing screen in the Jordan garage had obviously piqued Michael Schumacher’s interest. Schumacher qualified seventh for a team also in its debut F1 season, only to retire on lap one with clutch failure
Revealed to the media in late September 1975 and first tested in October that year, Tyrrell’s six-wheel P34 didn’t make its debut until the fourth race of the 1976 season, the Spanish GP. Tyrrell only entered one P34, for Patrick Depailler, who qualified third and ran in that position for 23 laps, before crashing out of the race on lap 25
F1 in the USA had been on hold after the 2007 race at Indianapolis until the newly constructed Circuit of The Americas in Austin was awarded the race for 10 years, starting in 2012. The track, which includes a 134-foot rise to the first corner, received praise from drivers on its debut, even though it was a difficult circuit to master
Jacques Villeneuve arrived in F1 as the reigning Indycar champion and Indy 500 winner, at a Williams team that was at the top of its game. He qualified on pole for his debut race, the 1996 Australian GP, and led team-mate Damon Hill for 50 laps until an oil leak forced him to slow and settle for second
At 25, and after missing out on a race drive with Benetton for 2001, Mark Webber started his F1 career with a bang in front of his home crowd at the 2002 Australian GP. Driving for Minardi, which had last scored a point in 1999, he took advantage of a first-lap accident which eliminated eight cars to claim an unlikely fifth
When, in 1976, Frank Williams left the team Walter Wolf had just bought a controlling stake in, Wolf decided to build his own car for 1977. He hired a group of deisgners, headed by ex-hesketh man Harvey Postlethwaite, and the result was the Wolf WR1. Jody Scheckter took the car to a famous debut win in the season-opening Argentinean GP