Retrospective Infinite Improbability Drive of the Race

pasta_maldonado · Post by **pasta_maldonado** » 11 Sep 2012, 16:57

Similar to the Retrospective Reject of the Race thread, literally just what it says on the tin.

I'll start off with the 1983 United States Grand Prix West and McLaren. Who could have honestly predicted they would climb to 22nd and 23rd to finish 1st and 2nd?

FullMetalJack · Post by **FullMetalJack** » 11 Sep 2012, 17:44

1989. Phoenix Street Circuit. Rial. Christian Danner. Nuff said.

Post by **Londoner** » 11 Sep 2012, 18:30

1989 Portuguese Grand Prix - Stefan Johansson - 3rd place, on tyres worn to the canvas, in a freaking ONYX. :shock:

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 11 Sep 2012, 18:32

2006 Hungarian GP: Button and DLR.

1994 Imola: Nicola Larini (for his only podium), David Brabham and Damon Hill (for racing while their teammates were dead/unlikely to survive respectively)

AdrianSutil · Post by **AdrianSutil** » 11 Sep 2012, 19:52

1995 - Adelaide: Gianni Morbidelli.
Even he was surprised to finish 3rd! A lot of luck involved but Gianni escapes reject status by not having an unreliable Footwork for one race.

1996 - Monaco: Olivier Panis.
In a race where only 3 cars actually finished, Panis uses clever strategy and a large amount of luck to win his first and ligier's last win at Monaco. Holding off a charging Coulthard at the end.

1997 - Monaco: Rubens Barrichello.
A 2nd place for Stewart. In the rain. At Monaco. First finish, first points, first podium. Stunning.

1998 - Austria: David Coulthard.
Yes, the McLaren was the best car that year by a mile and a half. But no-one expected DC to come from last to 2nd. A poor qualifying, then a double-team effort by Arrows saw him drop to last place before a stonking drive through to back-up his teammate at the flag.

1999 - France: Heinz-Harald Frentzen.
The start of a 'what might have been' season for Jordan. The only year where they were serious title contenders.

2002 - Australia: Mark Webber.
A tiny Italian team scores points for the First time in 3 years thanks to an Australian debutant, with an Australian boss, at the Australian Grand Prix. You couldn't make it up. I had tears in my eyes.

2008 - Australia: Sebastian Bourdais.
Proof again that he suffered from horrendous bad luck. Was running in 4th ahead of Raikkonen when his engine blew with 3 laps remaining. Still classified in the points though.

2008 - Britain: Rubens Barrichello.
In rainy conditions, Barrichello somehow drags the sh!tbox that was the Honda RA108 into 3rd place.

2008 - Italy: Sebastian Vettel.
'Golden Boy' scored an emotional win for former-Minardi team Toro Rosso at Monza after Champion-style drive in tricky conditions.

UncreativeUsername37 · Post by **UncreativeUsername37** » 11 Sep 2012, 20:55

1967 South African Grand Prix:
1. John Love, there's even a page about it.
2. Pedro Rodriguez.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 11 Sep 2012, 21:22

AdrianSutil wrote:1995 - Adelaide: Gianni Morbidelli.
Even he was surprised to finish 3rd! A lot of luck involved but Gianni escapes reject status by not having an unreliable Footwork for one race.

I would also nominate Panis for this, being able to hold Gianni off for the final few laps depite having to let Damon pass to lap for a second time and with a self-detonating engine. Plus a nomination for Damon for keeping his head while all those around him were losing theirs.

FullMetalJack · Post by **FullMetalJack** » 11 Sep 2012, 21:25

2004 United States Grand Prix - You know the rest.

Post by **Ataxia** » 11 Sep 2012, 21:34

1990 Japanese Grand Prix - Aguri Suzuki

Managed a 3rd. In a Larrousse...

AdrianSutil · Post by **AdrianSutil** » 12 Sep 2012, 00:52

dr-baker wrote:
AdrianSutil wrote:1995 - Adelaide: Gianni Morbidelli.
Even he was surprised to finish 3rd! A lot of luck involved but Gianni escapes reject status by not having an unreliable Footwork for one race.

I would also nominate Panis for this, being able to hold Gianni off for the final few laps depite having to let Damon pass to lap for a second time and with a self-detonating engine. Plus a nomination for Damon for keeping his head while all those around him were losing theirs.

Lovely poem. Reminds me of the Bassett England manager film.

Here in the Panis in trouble moment from the race:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kstxvf1 ... ata_player

Skip to 5:34 to listen to the engine. It's probably only running half it's cylinders but I love the sound :lol:

the whole race is on there by the way. I've watched it a few times for a trip down memory lane.

FMecha · Post by **FMecha** » 12 Sep 2012, 02:21

Pasta, I have created a thread like this in the past, just in case you don't know.

DOSBoot · Post by **DOSBoot** » 12 Sep 2012, 11:46

1985 Australian GP - Ligier: Jaques Laffite, and Phillipe Strieff giving the team a double podium finish.

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 12 Sep 2012, 11:51

1992 Canadian Grand Prix - Karl Wendlinger for hauling that crapbox of a March-Ilmor into 4th place. Honourable mention to Erik Comas for scoring Ligier's first point in three years.

DOSBoot · Post by **DOSBoot** » 12 Sep 2012, 20:45

Just watched the 1982 Season Review, and here are my takes for the season.

South Africa - Alain Prost: For recovering a win after suffering a puncture.

Brazil - John Watson: Started 12th, and finished 4th. (2nd by default.)

USA West - Riccardo Patrase: Started 18th, finished 4th. (3rd by default.)

San Marino - Eliseo Salazar: Unrejectified with a lucky 5th in a ATS.

Belgium - Chico Serra: 6th in a Fittipaldi. His only scorce, and the team's last point.

Monaco - Andrea de Cesaris: First podium in what could have been a win for him. Also unrejectifed.

Detriot - John Watson: Won the race after starting 17th.

Canada - Marc Surer: Started 16th, finished 5th.

Netherlands - Mauro Baldi: Scores his first point, after starting 16th.

Britain - Patrick Tambay: Scores his first podium on his second race with Ferrari after being out for half a season. After starting 13th as well.

France - French Drivers: For getting the top four results on thier home turf.

Germany - Marc Surer: For coming in 6th after starting 26th.

Austria - Elio de Angelis: For holding off Keke Rosberg to give Lotus thier win in nearly 4 years.

Switzerland - Keke Rosberg: Fights hard to get his first win, and the championship lead.

Italy - Mario Andretti: Pole position, and a podium, after being out of the sport for nearly a year.

Las Vegas - Eddie Cheever: 3rd in his home country.

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 13 Sep 2012, 06:38

1998:

Australia: Frentzen, for finishing third, ahead of Irvine and JV
Brazil: Wurz, maybe
Argentina: Alesi, for finishing fifth, just keeping Coulthard behind - in a then-almighty McLaren
San Marino: Alesi again for scoring a point
Spain: Barrichello
Monaco: Arrows
Canada: Stewart
France: Ferrari for their 1-2
Great Britain: Everyone who finished the race, but if this isn't plausible, then Ralf Schumacher for scoring Jordan's first point in 1998
Austria: Has to be Coulthard
Germany: Villeneuve for surprisingly being competitive
Hungary: Michael Schumacher
Belgium: All drivers finishing on the lead lap (the Jordans, Alesi, Frentzen and Diniz)
Italy: Ralf Schumacher
Luxembourg: no idea, absolutely
Japan: Hill, for that pass on the final lap on Frentzen

Benetton · Post by **Benetton** » 13 Sep 2012, 08:36

1997 Canada - Fisichella
1998 Canada - Fisichella
1999 Canada - Fisichella
2000 Brazil - Fisichella
2001 Belgium - Fisichella
2003 Brazil - Fisichella
2005 Belgium - Raikkonen

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 13 Sep 2012, 10:12

1997 Hungary: Mr D. Hill. Don't think I need explain?

Post by **Londoner** » 13 Sep 2012, 10:43

I think the Belgium 98 award should be shared between Hill, Ralf and Frentzen, as they were the only three drivers to complete the race in their original cars, and not suffer any damage of any sort. There was a grand total of 26 damaged cars from that weekend (Villeneuve's massive crash in practice, 13 cars written off in the pile up, and the 10 cars that retired, mainly through crashing, after the restart.) Plus, Coulthard and Nakano finished the race in cars that had been practically rebuilt during the race. :lol:

ibsey · Post by **ibsey** » 13 Sep 2012, 12:46

Shizuka wrote:1998:

Luxembourg: no idea, absolutely

The obvious one to suggest is Mika Hakkinen, who put in arguably one of his greatest ever drives that day, beating both Ferrari's the hard way. This was all the more impressive given the amout of pressure the media had put on Mika's shoulders, before that race. However 'the Hak did not crack'.

As an alternative, might I suggest Fischella who outqualified DC in a superior car. Furthermore IIRC, Fisco pulled off a well worked passing move (on Frentzen I believe) that took about half a lap to finish off.

Here's a couple of others I can think of;

Monaco 2000; Jean Alesi, for pulling off a miracle in that sh#tbox of a Prost & qualifying the thing in a superb 7th position. I haven't seen this race for a while, but IIRC Alesi was running ahead of Barrichello, who eventually finshied 2nd, when the Prost did it's usually thing of breaking down. Alternatively one could consider Trulli's qualifying 2nd, but since his teammate Frentzen qualified 4th, that seems to me to be a less impressive feat than Alesi's efforts (FYI Alesi's teamate Heidfeld qualified 18th).

Spa 2000; Alesi again, for being the 1st to swtich to slicks & haul that awful handling prost up to 4th position in the race. I have watched this race recently & even after this when all the drivers were on slicks Alesi (who qualified 17th) was still catching R Schumi's Williams (who qualified 6th) ahead of him at a rate of 0.5 seconds per lap. Having also watched just how badly balanced that Prost was handling during the qualifying session (particularly under braking for the 'old' Bus Stop where Alesi had undoubtable the biggest oversteer moment I have ever seen an F1 car do!!!), prompting Martin Brundle (ITV commentor) to state something like "the Prost is easily the most evil handling car out there". Therefore one can only imagine the level of skill Alesi was demostrating that day.

Alternatively one could consider Hakkinen, but since he appeared to have a vastly superior car, personally I don't think his performance matched that of Alesi's that particular day.

1989 Candian GP - Derek Warwick in the Arrows perhaps? IIRC he lead the race for a while.

AdrianSutil wrote:1997 - Monaco: Rubens Barrichello.
A 2nd place for Stewart. In the rain. At Monaco. First finish, first points, first podium. Stunning.

I would also suggest Mika Salo be a good contender for this particular race also, since he hauled one of the worst cars to 5th at the end of the race. All that with a broken front wing as well.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 13 Sep 2012, 14:33

1995 Canadian GP: Jean Alesi?

Rocks with Salt · Post by **Rocks with Salt** » 13 Sep 2012, 23:20

1983 Belgian Grand Prix (because I just watched the whole thing on YouTube): Probably Derek Warwick, even though he ultimately didn't score any points and was completely off-screen throughout the video. He went from 22nd to 7th and passed his teammate Bruno Giacomelli, who qualified 16th, along the way. It would be his best finish until he closed out the season by scoring points in the last four races. Oh yeah, and he did it in a Toleman.

FullMetalJack · Post by **FullMetalJack** » 13 Sep 2012, 23:27

Monaco 96' - Olivier Panis.

If you don't know why, go home.

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 13 Sep 2012, 23:34

2001 Monaco Grand Prix: Eddie Irvine for dragging that Jaguar kicking and screaming all the way to a podium

DOSBoot · Post by **DOSBoot** » 13 Sep 2012, 23:42

Now for 1991.

USA - Tyrrell: Double points finish for the team.

Brazil - Aryton Senna: Finally wins his home race with two broken gears.

San Marino - JJ Letho, Pierlugi Martini, and Lotus: Letho for scoring 3rd in a Dallara, Martini for giving Minardi's first best joint result, and Lotus for a double points finish.

Monaco - Emanuele Pirro: Unrejectifies himself with a 6th place after failing to pre-qualify in the previous race.

Canada - Jordan: Double points finish in only their 5th race.

Mexico - Andrea de Cesaris: A consecutive 4th place finish. Proving that his previous result was no fluke.

France - Maurício Gugelmin: Just shy of a point for Leyton House.

Great Britain - Bertrand Gachot: Another point for Jordan.

Germany - Jordan: Another double points finish for the team.

Hungary - Ivan Cappelli: Gives a point for Leyton House.

Belgium - Andrea de Cesaris: In one of his best drives, he comes very close to a 2nd place finish, only for his engine to blow up with 3 laps to go.

Italy - Micheal Shumacher: 5th on his first stint with Bennetton.

Portugal - Pierluigi Martini: 4th in a Minardi.

Spain - Maurício Gugelmin: Just shy of a point for the third time in one season.

Japan - Martin Brundle: 5th in Yamaha powered Brabham.

Australia - Gianni Morbidelli: 6th in his only stint with Ferrari.

AdrianSutil · Post by **AdrianSutil** » 14 Sep 2012, 00:33

Ibsey, Salo also completed the whole race without a fuel stop. I can remember the mechanics getting drenched whilst standing in the pitlane for the last dozen laps, expecting Salo to dive in at the last second but he kept trundling round. IIRC, had he stopped for fuel, he would've dropped behind both Fisichella and Magnussen, finishing 7th and out the points. It was a typical hero or zero drive for him.

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 14 Sep 2012, 07:10

Wizzie wrote:2001 Monaco Grand Prix: Eddie Irvine for dragging that Jaguar kicking and screaming all the way to a podium

2002 Italian Grand Prix too then.

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 14 Sep 2012, 07:13

Shizuka wrote:
Wizzie wrote:2001 Monaco Grand Prix: Eddie Irvine for dragging that Jaguar kicking and screaming all the way to a podium

2002 Italian Grand Prix too then.

2002 as a whole could be a IIDOTY for Jaguar for managing to turn that piece of crap Jaguar R3 from arguably the second slowest car in the field to scoring the only podium outside the top three teams all year

RonDenisDeletraz · Post by **RonDenisDeletraz** » 14 Sep 2012, 07:23

Wizzie wrote:
Shizuka wrote:
Wizzie wrote:2001 Monaco Grand Prix: Eddie Irvine for dragging that Jaguar kicking and screaming all the way to a podium

2002 Italian Grand Prix too then.

2002 as a whole could be a IIDOTY for Jaguar for managing to turn that piece of crap Jaguar R3 from arguably the second slowest car in the field to scoring the only podium outside the top three teams all year

But they probably should have been at that level anyway considering their budget.

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 14 Sep 2012, 07:36

eurobrun wrote:
Wizzie wrote:
Shizuka wrote:2002 Italian Grand Prix too then.

2002 as a whole could be a IIDOTY for Jaguar for managing to turn that piece of crap Jaguar R3 from arguably the second slowest car in the field to scoring the only podium outside the top three teams all year

But they probably should have been at that level anyway considering their budget.

Actually, with the amount of money Ford was pumping into the operation, they should have been about Renault was :lol:

ibsey · Post by **ibsey** » 14 Sep 2012, 14:58

AdrianSutil wrote:Ibsey, Salo also completed the whole race without a fuel stop. I can remember the mechanics getting drenched whilst standing in the pitlane for the last dozen laps, expecting Salo to dive in at the last second but he kept trundling round. IIRC, had he stopped for fuel, he would've dropped behind both Fisichella and Magnussen, finishing 7th and out the points. It was a typical hero or zero drive for him.

Not to mention a great strategy call from Tyrell, which resulted in their only points that season.

Indeed Salo proved that his heroic drive in 1997 was no fluke, since he was equally outstanding the following year in the beautifully looking, but horribly unreliable Arrows. Salo qualified a superb 8th on the grid, ahead of some very big names. Then in the race he finished 4th, although it has to be said thanks to other drivers failing to finish. One of whom was Jean Alesi, who IMO was almost as impressive as Salo in the race, hauling his Sauber into 4th position before his gearbox let him down with just 6 laps to go. I vividly remember watching this race live & when his car started developing the problem that ultimately led to his retirement, as an Alesi fan I had gotten so used to mechincal failures & various other things frustratingly robbing Jean of good results I was kind of like..."oh well there's a suprise!!!". :roll:

Another outstanding Monaco performance, from a 'underdog' team, that belongs here is Brundle's drive from Monaco 1989. In his book, Martin decribes how it was one of his best drives, in F1 despite finshing 6th. He had qualified in 4th position + managed to get into 3rd in the race, easily keeping pace with the leaders. Then had to make a pitstop, which lasted over 2 minutes, to change the battery. Yet still finsihed in the points despite this. Before the pitstop, he had been over 30 seconds ahead of his teammate who finshied the race in 3rd position.

Brundle also describes getting into the same "zone" in that particular race, Senna once talked about experiencing in Monaco 1988. Which I find very interesting indeed. Here's just a little extract from his book;

"When a car is working as it did for me in Monaco 1989, you feel ther is nothing you can't achieve. It's almost like you are building into a frenzy. The corners are flowing, the car is always moving & you can cope with everything...You get into a fantastic rhythm & its like playing a video game on fast forward. The corners keep coming at you & you eventually get slightly ahead of them, instead of struggling to keep up. When you get within that zone, you are catching drivers by 4 / 5 seconds per lap. There is no feeling quite like it in Motor Racing."

Another great drive from an "underdog" I've just remember was Barrichello in the wet at Donnington in 1993. Although he was slightly overshadowed that day by the brilliant drive of another certain Brazilian driver.

FullMetalJack · Post by **FullMetalJack** » 14 Sep 2012, 15:04

ibsey wrote:1989 Candian GP - Derek Warwick in the Arrows perhaps? IIRC he lead the race for a while.

Wasn't Nicola Larini running 3rd in an Osella at one point? I'm sure someone in one of the reject teams was. If so, they're in with a shout.

Post by **Nuppiz** » 14 Sep 2012, 15:26

redbulljack14 wrote:Wasn't Nicola Larini running 3rd in an Osella at one point? I'm sure someone in one of the reject teams was. If so, they're in with a shout.

Indeed he was, and he was still in 4th position before his electronics failed after 33 laps.

Post by **tommykl** » 15 Sep 2012, 05:14

Nuppiz wrote:
redbulljack14 wrote:Wasn't Nicola Larini running 3rd in an Osella at one point? I'm sure someone in one of the reject teams was. If so, they're in with a shout.
Indeed he was, and he was still in 4th position before his electronics failed after 33 laps.

Had they not failed, there probably wouldn't be any controversy over whether Osella is a reject team or not...

Post by **Ataxia** » 15 Sep 2012, 12:14

tommykl wrote:
Nuppiz wrote:
redbulljack14 wrote:Wasn't Nicola Larini running 3rd in an Osella at one point? I'm sure someone in one of the reject teams was. If so, they're in with a shout.
Indeed he was, and he was still in 4th position before his electronics failed after 33 laps.

Had they not failed, there probably wouldn't be any controversy over whether Osella is a reject team or not...

I thought they were...

Post by **Nuppiz** » 15 Sep 2012, 12:20

BaconLettuceNinja wrote:
tommykl wrote:Had they not failed, there probably wouldn't be any controversy over whether Osella is a reject team or not...

I thought they were...

While they only scored 5 championship points, Jo Gartner finished 5th at the 1984 Italian Grand Prix, but the car was ineligible to score points because Osella had originally only entered one car for the championship. Had this not been the case, then the team's total would be 7 points, just enough to escape reject status.

FantometteBR · Post by **FantometteBR** » 15 Sep 2012, 15:26

1984 Monaco GP: shared between Ayrton Senna and Stefan Bellof, reasons you know

1971 Italian GP: Peter Gethin (for the thrilling win) or Howden Ganley (a good impressive weekend behind a BRM)

DOSBoot · Post by **DOSBoot** » 16 Sep 2012, 04:34

Here's my take on 2009 before we started covering it at the 2009 British GP.

Australia: Brawn GP
Maylaysia: Nick Heidfeild
China: Red Bull
Bahrain: Jarno Trulli
Spain: Fernando Alonso
Monaco: Felipe Massa
Turkey: Nico Rosberg

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 16 Sep 2012, 04:38

2005 Canadian Grand Prix: Ferrari
2007 Canadian Grand Prix: Alexander Wurz
2007 European Grand Prix: Marcus Winkelhock
2007 Japanese Grand Prix: Mark Webber/Sebastian Vettel/Heikki Kovalainen
2008 Canadian Grand Prix: David Coulthard
2008 Japanese Grand Prix: Fernando Alonso (I mean, who expected Renault to win on a relatively standard track?)

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 16 Sep 2012, 07:45

My take on 1999:

Australia: Barrichello (and to an extent, de la Rosa)
Brazil: Barrichello until his engine failure; otherwise Frentzen
San Marino: Hill for actually being competitive for once
Monaco: Trulli (qualifying 7th in the Prost is a somewhat rare sight... as well as finishing there)
Spain: Trulli - 9th in quali (Panis 15th), scores a point in a processional race; also Villeneuve until his gearbox went
Canada: Who else than Fisichella?
France: Frentzen
Great Britain: Diniz
Austria: Irvine... and Wurz for scoring two out of his three points (seriously, what happened to him after GB 1998?!)
Germany: Salo
Hungary: Fisichella until his retirement
Belgium: Coulthard
Italy: All three podium finishers: Frentzen, Ralf Schumacher and Salo, as well as Zanardi
Europe: If we take only finishing drivers, then all three podium finishers again (Herbert, Trulli, Barrichello), but mainly Herbert - if not: It has to be Badoer then
Malaysia: Stewart
Japan: Alesi

gnrpoison · Post by **gnrpoison** » 17 Sep 2012, 02:54

I am surprised no one has mentioned it on this thread but surely for the 1992 Monaco Grand Prix it would be Roberto Moreno, also 1990 French Grand Prix could go to Leyton House who had failed to qualify the round before in Mexico and almost had a 1 - 2 finish.