Early Celebrations....

[StoneColdSpider]

im watching the motoGP of Spain on TV and i just saw the 125cc race and the guy leading celebrated his victory a lap to early and ended up finishing 4th he seiously thought the race had finished and stood up on the bike and was waving to the fans only to realise there was still 1 lap left.... this got me thinking... has this ever happned in F1 where a driver has celebrated his "victory" early and ended up losing??

[Dom]

Well there was the famous incident in Canada in 1991 (I think) with Mansell waving to the crowd on the final lap before stalling at the hairpin.

[WeirdKerr]

in GP2 or was it F3000....

Bjorn Wirdheim.....

[Debaser]

Apparently the guy (called Simon) was counting the laps by looking at the clock tower (the track was Catalunya) and not his pitboard, so he thought the race ended 1 lap early. He then fell to 6th, got to 4th and was denied 3rd by a photo finish. At his home race as well...

[Debaser]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsp ... 099343.stm

[Faustus]

I know it happened in F3000, when Bjorn Wirdheim threw away his win in Monaco 2003.
I can't think of it happening in Formula 1. There have been drivers that crashed during their celebrations, like Vittorio Brambilla in Austria 1975.

[LukeB]

It's not any kind of motor racing, neither is it the last lap (as such), but the Snowboard Cross final at the winter olympics 2006. Jacobellis less then 30 seconds from the line apparently thought the race was effectively over...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPCOin3l8OY
I think the commentator nearly gave himself a heart attack, one of my all time favourite sporting moments.

[Paul Hayes]

Wasn't there an 80s race (1984 sometime?) when Prost won, but did an extra racing lap just in case, because he wasn't sure?

[dr-baker]

And didn't Pele forget to wave the chequered flag for the winner earlier this decade at a Brazilian grand prix?

[Ross Prawn]

Well there was the famous incident in Canada in 1991 (I think) with Mansell waving to the crowd on the final lap before stalling at the hairpin.

Indeed there was! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXHL94JBPks

Mansell to this day insists it was a mechanical gremlin. But as Frank Williams explains in this video, the car fired up straight away after they brought it back. The rumored explanation was that Nigel hit the the 'off' switch with his glove whilst waving at the crowd.

Its also nice to watch Piquets reaction when asked if he has any sympathy for Nigel.

[Ross Prawn]

We could also honorably mention Ayrton Senna, who famously slowed down to cruise to victory in Monaco 1988, and cruised straight into the barriers. (To be fair this was not last lap though.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik7LH-5lwjI

[Python]

One of my favorites happened last year in an Indy Light's race at Mid Ohio. It was the last lap and the guy in the lead (I don't don't remember who it was) and is just about ready to take the checkered flag...but for some reason or another he pulls into the pits and loses.

[Fitch]

Mark Martin did the same thing in a NASCAR Race in the Mid-90's....The race was finishing under caution and he thought the Checkers had flown and he pulled into the pits............To this day if he is leading a race that finishes under caution he'll do an extra lap just to be sure.....

[watka]

Here's another Winter Olympics clip of epic failure(s): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfQMJtilOGg

The only recent instances of last lap retirement from the lead I can think of are Hakkinen at Spain 2001, and Hill at Hungary 1997 (he finished 2nd, but it was one of the saddest things I've ever seen)

[Bleu]

Wasn't there an 80s race (1984 sometime?) when Prost won, but did an extra racing lap just in case, because he wasn't sure?

1985 British Grand Prix, chequered flag was shown one lap too early. So he did one extra lap to be sure he had completed the full race distance.