FIVE OTHER TIMES F1’S ‘WINNER’ DIDN’T WIN
1973 Canadian Grand Prix
The safety car isn’t only a modern Formula 1 phenomenon, as it was tried fleetingly as early as 1973. And it’s little wonder it was quietly dropped for nearly two decades. A wet-to-dry race where all changed tyres partway through – in an age of manual lap charts and chaotic pitstops – was confusing enough. But in Mosport’s Canadian Grand Prix it was compounded when the pace car was brought out and was put in front of Howden Ganley’s Iso-williams, which almost no-one thought the leader. Once racing resumed a consensus formed that Emerson Fittipaldi’s Lotus has passed Jackie Oliver’s Shadow late on for victory, yet officials provided a fitting conclusion by instead waving the chequered flag at a separate group of cars, which again included Ganley, further down the track. After some arguments Peter Revson’s Mclaren was declared victor.
1978 Italian Grand Prix
This case was rooted in tragedy, as in the first attempt to start the 1978 Italian Grand Prix at Monza the starter showed the green light rather quickly, perhaps before all had come to a halt. There was startline carnage, after which Ronnie Peterson died on the operating table. And for the restart the starter went apparently to the opposite extreme. A young Gilles Villeneuve, on the front row for Ferrari, twitched and went before the signal. Mario Andretti, starting alongside, went with him. The rest never saw them again but the front pair each got a minute added. Andretti’s Lotus beat Villeneuve to the flag, but sixth and seventh respectively was their lot. Niki Lauda, who’d come home third, was handed the win.
1982 Brazilian Grand Prix
In early 1982 the top two was scratched altogether from the results, in the Brazilian Grand Prix at Rio with Nelson Piquet’s Brabham and Keke Rosberg’s Williams the victims. It was to do with a wheeze by Cosworth-powered teams to get with their more powerful but heavier turbocharged rivals. They realised they could run light by bolting on a water tank, ostensibly for brake cooling, and fill it up nicely before weighing time. Piquet and Rosberg were protested by Ferrari and Renault and an FIA Tribunal upheld it. Renault’s Alain Prost got the win. For Piquet it was particularly regrettable as not only was it a home win lost, he’d also collapsed on the podium from his exertions.
1987 Mexican Grand Prix
Piquet is particularly hard done by in this reckoning, as he lost two F1 wins after getting to the flag first. One phenomenon lost to history is that when F1 races were stopped partway through and restarted, the result would be calculated with an aggregate time from across the two parts. In the 1987 Mexican Grand Prix, Piquet lost a load of time from colliding with Alain Prost on lap one. This was a prelude to a fine recovery drive. The race got halted before half-distance due to a big Derek Warwick crash, Piquet seized the lead at the restart and was first home, but he’d only made back 19 of the 45 seconds he’s lost to his Williams team-mate Nigel Mansell in part one. So Mansell was the victor.
2008 Belgian Grand Prix
These days a whole suite of penalties can be applied to F1 drivers, and Lewis Hamilton was deprived 2008’s Belgian Grand Prix thanks to one of them. In the late laps some typical-for-spa rain arrived, and Hamilton got into a topsyturvy battle with Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari for first. At one point Hamilton got past by leaving the track at the chicane, and as is required gave the place back. But at the very next turn he outbraked Raikkonen for the lead, and the stewards thought this was aided by the lingering advantage from his corner cut. Twenty-five seconds – the equivalent of a drivethrough penalty – was added to his race time and various arguments made in Hamilton’s defence mattered not. First became third and – Raikkonen having subsequently binned it – Raikkionen’s distant team-mate Felipe Massa got victory.