"You Lucky Bastard" For Races Thread

[ibsey]

Not sure if this idea has been done before (apologies if it has) but lets nominate which drivers were particular lucky during GP's. So I shall start off by nominating Tiago Monteiro at the 2005 US GP. If getting your only podium in F1 because most of your rivals pulled out of the race beforehand isn't lucky. Then I don't know what is. However I'm sure there are other great examples out there waiting to be unearthed by you guys.

[TomWazzleshaw]

Olivier Panis at the 1995 Australian GP must surely count as sheer dumb luck alone kept that Mugen Honda engine together long enough for him to claim second place.

[Warren Hughes]

Olivier Panis at the 1995 Australian GP must surely count as sheer dumb luck alone kept that Mugen Honda engine together long enough for him to claim second place.

Surely every finisher except Damon Hill is a lucky bastard at that Grand Prix. And Morbidelli would have been even more so if Panis had eventually stopped.

[ibsey]

Olivier Panis at the 1995 Australian GP must surely count as sheer dumb luck alone kept that Mugen Honda engine together long enough for him to claim second place.

Indeed. For the last few laps, I seem to recall that engine was puffing more smoke than Cheech & Chong ever did. Also worth a mention is Gianni Morbidelli. IIRC judging by the look on his face, no one seemed more surprised that he ended up on the podium than him. Funnily enough I was playing F1 1995 on the PS1 only last night, at Adelaide, for the first time in over 10 years or so.

[pi314159]

HWNSNBM in Indianapolis 2004 - Scored a point just by making it to the finish.

Fernando Alonso in Valencia 2012 - Had two race leaders retiring in front of him.

Peter Broeker in the US GP 1963 - Almost scored points in that Stebro joke.

[Shizuka]

Ligier for Hockenheim 1994 surely has to be in with a shout.

[Warren Hughes]

Aguri Suzuki in the 1990 Japanese Grand Prix?

Yeah, I went there.

[Aerospeed]

Olivier Panis at the 1995 Australian GP must surely count as sheer dumb luck alone kept that Mugen Honda engine together long enough for him to claim second place.

Speaking of Panis, he's vet lucky he didn't smash the Ligier in the wall at Monaco '96!

[tommykl]

Sebastian Vettel, Abu Dhabi 2012

[Jocke1]

Frentzen at Monza '99?

[UncreativeUsername37]

Everyone behind the pileup who gained a bunch of positions, every race with a pileup

[andrew2209]

Alessandro Nannini at the 1989 Japanese GP
Thierry Boutsen at the 1990 Hungarian GP
Gilles Villeneuve at the 1981 Spanish GP

Also Sebastian Vettel at the 2012 Brazilian GP, for surviving that collision.

[ibsey]

I'd say Warwick was pretty lucky for not being wiped out by Berger in this incident http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSyfqiEx0Ow

Also Patrese for this incident a year earlier http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMoi1sDgN0Y

[DOSBoot]

Jenson Button - Canada 2011: Went to the pits five times, and ended up last at one point. But worked his way up through the field thanks to several outcomes, and won the race with a rare error from Vettel on the final lap.

[TomWazzleshaw]

Everyone behind the pileup who gained a bunch of positions, every race with a pileup

On that note, Jaguar at the 2002 Australian GP deserves special mention. They spent all of the pre-rce buildup being hopelessly off the pace when it turned out the original R3 was a hunk of shite but, lo and behold, the field goes mental on race day and Irvine somehow sneaks into 4th place

[Onxy Wrecked]

Everyone behind the pileup who gained a bunch of positions, every race with a pileup

Then Robert Richardson Jr. in his NASCAR debut definitely belongs in this one as he finished 18th at Talladega after starting 41st as he finished in front of the likes of Jeff Gordon and Monaco GP winner Juan Pablo Montoya and the drivers who finished 27th or worse saw accidents and mechanical failures and presumably Gordon and Montoya saw crash damage themselves. Richardson has never seen a result above 20th in NASCAR's Sprint Cup since.

For F1 You Lucky Bastard: Vitaly Petrov at Australia in 2011. Heidfeld qualified far worse in 18th when compared to Petrov in 6th and the final results put Petrov in 3rd and his teammate Heidfeld in 14th. Swap the car number and Petrov has a F1 Rejects profile waiting for him.

[the Masked Lapwing]

For F1 You Lucky Bastard: Vitaly Petrov at Australia in 2011. Heidfeld qualified far worse in 18th when compared to Petrov in 6th and the final results put Petrov in 3rd and his teammate Heidfeld in 14th. Swap the car number and Petrov has a F1 Rejects profile waiting for him.

No he wouldn't, he unrejectfied himself in 2010. Although he was definitely a lucky bastard in Abu Dhabi.

[Chives5150]

Everyone behind the pileup who gained a bunch of positions, every race with a pileup

Then Robert Richardson Jr. in his NASCAR debut definitely belongs in this one as he finished 18th at Talladega after starting 41st as he finished in front of the likes of Jeff Gordon and Monaco GP winner Juan Pablo Montoya and the drivers who finished 27th or worse saw accidents and mechanical failures and presumably Gordon and Montoya saw crash damage themselves. Richardson has never seen a result above 20th in NASCAR's Sprint Cup since.

You might also be able to add several Nationwide Series guys like Johnny Borneman, III (5th at the 2010 Talladega race),Tayler Malsam (6th at the 2012 Daytona race), and Timmy Hill (7th at the 2012 Daytona race), for surviving the carnage of the superspeedway tracks.

[Onxy Wrecked]

For F1 You Lucky Bastard: Vitaly Petrov at Australia in 2011. Heidfeld qualified far worse in 18th when compared to Petrov in 6th and the final results put Petrov in 3rd and his teammate Heidfeld in 14th. Swap the car number and Petrov has a F1 Rejects profile waiting for him.

No he wouldn't, he unrejectfied himself in 2010. Although he was definitely a lucky bastard in Abu Dhabi.

Or at least another damn you lucky bastard of the Johnny Dumfries variety.

[Salamander]

For F1 You Lucky Bastard: Vitaly Petrov at Australia in 2011. Heidfeld qualified far worse in 18th when compared to Petrov in 6th and the final results put Petrov in 3rd and his teammate Heidfeld in 14th. Swap the car number and Petrov has a F1 Rejects profile waiting for him.

No he wouldn't, he unrejectfied himself in 2010. Although he was definitely a lucky bastard in Abu Dhabi.

How the hell was he a lucky bastard in Abu Dhabi? That was one of the few races where he was in the same time zone as Kubica.

[TomWazzleshaw]

For F1 You Lucky Bastard: Vitaly Petrov at Australia in 2011. Heidfeld qualified far worse in 18th when compared to Petrov in 6th and the final results put Petrov in 3rd and his teammate Heidfeld in 14th. Swap the car number and Petrov has a F1 Rejects profile waiting for him.

No he wouldn't, he unrejectfied himself in 2010. Although he was definitely a lucky bastard in Abu Dhabi.

How the hell was he a lucky bastard in Abu Dhabi? That was one of the few races where he was in the same time zone as Kubica.

He was lucky in the sense that Liuzzi collected Schumacher on lap 1, allowing Rosberg and Petrov among others to make their only stop under the resulting safety car. Hell, Rosberg was actually on track to win the race for the first 15 laps as a result until it turned out the softs were lasting far longer than anyone expected.

[the Masked Lapwing]

No he wouldn't, he unrejectfied himself in 2010. Although he was definitely a lucky bastard in Abu Dhabi.

How the hell was he a lucky bastard in Abu Dhabi? That was one of the few races where he was in the same time zone as Kubica.

He was lucky in the sense that Liuzzi collected Schumacher on lap 1, allowing Rosberg and Petrov among others to make their only stop under the resulting safety car. Hell, Rosberg was actually on track to win the race for the first 15 laps as a result until it turned out the softs were lasting far longer than anyone expected.

And the fact that at any other track in the world, Alonso and Webber would have taken two laps max to pass him.

[TomWazzleshaw]

How the hell was he a lucky bastard in Abu Dhabi? That was one of the few races where he was in the same time zone as Kubica.

He was lucky in the sense that Liuzzi collected Schumacher on lap 1, allowing Rosberg and Petrov among others to make their only stop under the resulting safety car. Hell, Rosberg was actually on track to win the race for the first 15 laps as a result until it turned out the softs were lasting far longer than anyone expected.

And the fact that at any other track in the world, Alonso and Webber would have taken two laps max to pass him.

Nah, Webber wouldn't have gotten past in a month of Sundays as that Red Bull was as slow as a Life in a straight line. And to be fair to Renault, they were very strong in traction zones and straight lines all year, both features that Aba Dabby have plenty of.

[Onxy Wrecked]

Everyone behind the pileup who gained a bunch of positions, every race with a pileup

Then Robert Richardson Jr. in his NASCAR debut definitely belongs in this one as he finished 18th at Talladega after starting 41st as he finished in front of the likes of Jeff Gordon and Monaco GP winner Juan Pablo Montoya and the drivers who finished 27th or worse saw accidents and mechanical failures and presumably Gordon and Montoya saw crash damage themselves. Richardson has never seen a result above 20th in NASCAR's Sprint Cup since.

You might also be able to add several Nationwide Series guys like Johnny Borneman, III (5th at the 2010 Talladega race),Tayler Malsam (6th at the 2012 Daytona race), and Timmy Hill (7th at the 2012 Daytona race), for surviving the carnage of the superspeedway tracks.

The most extreme case was that there was a race in 2002 where Jimmy Kitchens and Andy Kirby finished in the top ten both got their only top ten finish in this race.

[Jocke1]

Denny Hulme at Anderstorp '73.

[ibsey]

John Watson at the 1981 British GP. Lucky firstly that he narrowly avoided the collision involving his teammate, Jones & Villeneuve on lap 3. Also lucky that the two renualts, Pironi's Ferrari had mechincal failures. Whereas Piquet apparently suffered tire failure, causing his crash.

Reckon Berger can also thank his lucky stars that the camera that fell off his teammate's car at Monza 1995 & subsequently caused his retirement from that race. Didn't fall closer to Berger's head. Could have been very nasty indeed.

[James1978]

In a similar vein to Ligier at Germany 1994; similar in 1985 where they managed 2nd and 3rd through all the more fancied frontrunners (save Rosberg) falling other themselves to throw away a podium. They even managed to survive colliding with each other in the closing laps!

[dr-baker]

Olivier Panis at the 1995 Australian GP must surely count as sheer dumb luck alone kept that Mugen Honda engine together long enough for him to claim second place.

Indeed. For the last few laps, I seem to recall that engine was puffing more smoke than Cheech & Chong ever did. Also worth a mention is Gianni Morbidelli. IIRC judging by the look on his face, no one seemed more surprised that he ended up on the podium than him. Funnily enough I was playing F1 1995 on the PS1 only last night, at Adelaide, for the first time in over 10 years or so.

Had Panis's engine actually blown (and at least two laps before the chequered flag), then Pedro Diniz in a Forti Ford would have scored a point. One other DNF, and Gachot in a Pacific of all things would have scored too...