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#1 CountDooku

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Posted 25 April 2015 - 16:19

People,

It's two weeks until the next F1 race and I am bored with having to actually socialise with normal humans during the weekend. My girlfriend is out of sorts as well as she can't complain that I'm spending my weekends watching F1. 

 

I'm a relatively new F1 fan (2005) and the Autosport forums have been invaluable in helping me learn a lot of the history of the sport. For our entertainment (and my knowledge) during this trying break, I'd like you more knowledgeable old-timers to post useful/silly/mundane/funny bits of F1 trivia from any season to help us see the next two weeks through. 

 

Extra points for niche-ness, lols, creativity etc!

 

PS: I'm not keeping score. 



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#2 realracer200

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Posted 25 April 2015 - 17:17

and what kind of F1 trivia do you want exactly?



#3 ninetyzero

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Posted 25 April 2015 - 17:20

Every F1 race ever held has been won by a man.



#4 NoSanityClause

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Posted 25 April 2015 - 17:31

Every F1 race ever held has been won by a man.

Hey, Nico Rosberg won races, too!



#5 WhiteSGPlayer

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Posted 25 April 2015 - 17:34

Every F1 race ever held has been won by a man.

 

Fallen at the first hurdle, I'm afraid :p

 

Desiré Wilson, 1980

 

http://en.wikipedia....ing_News_Trophy



#6 Jimisgod

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Posted 25 April 2015 - 17:50

Chicane F1 seems to have gone under. Sad.

#7 MensRea

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Posted 25 April 2015 - 17:50

tumblr_inline_mjg9yjDE6B1qz4rgp.jpg

 

This Ligier took three podiums in 1976 before that air-intake was removed.....

 

And every time i see it , it reminds me of these...

 

att298448.jpg



#8 CountDooku

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Posted 25 April 2015 - 17:58

and what kind of F1 trivia do you want exactly?


All sorts of trivia! I think I was sufficiently vague to imply that.

#9 Amphicar

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Posted 25 April 2015 - 18:00

Shamelessly recycling my most recent post in the Abandoned & Deserted thread: at 16 miles, the Pescara circuit in Italy was the longest track ever used for an F1 race.



#10 SanDiegoGo

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 00:02

can it be about drivers and other F1 personnel, too?



#11 CountDooku

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 01:53

can it be about drivers and other F1 personnel, too?


Anything F1 related

#12 D28

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 03:56

For the shortest F1 race, I nominate the 1975 Spanish GP, at 42 min 53.7 seconds, Race was stopped because of Rolf Stommelen accident killing 5 spectators.



#13 ensign14

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 06:24

Australian GP 1991 was shorter.  Less than 25 minutes.

 

Not F1, but the worst best result in the World Championship is 21st.  Tony Crook, British Grand Prix 1952.

 

Highest number ever in a World Championship event: 208, Lella Lombardi, British GP 1974.  She was sponsored by Radio Luxembourg whose frequency was 208.  Lombardi's more famous place in history is for being the only woman to get into the points - and for having the lowest career points total of any point scorer, as her 6th at Spain 1975 was only worth 0.5 points.

 

Highest number to start: 136, Rudi Krause, German GP 1952.  Back then in Germany they dished out different numbers for every car at the same meeting.  The GP cars that year therefore started at 101 (the previous year at 71).



#14 Rob G

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 06:35

Australian GP 1991 was shorter.  Less than 25 minutes.

And the 1951 BRDC International Trophy was shorter still, with a deluge ending the 163km race at less than 28km, or 17 minutes. There were other non-championship events that were scheduled to be ridiculously short, but I believe this was the only one to be so adversely affected by weather.



#15 ensign14

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 07:11

Fewest finishers in a Formula 1 race: 1.  And it's happened a few times.   Anyone prepared to guess where and when...?



#16 Jackmancer

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 07:50

Didier Pironi and Gilles Villeneuve had a fierce rivalry. After the race at Imola, where Pironi disobeyed teamorders, Villeneuve pledged to never speak with him again, which ultimately became true after he lost his life in a session before the race. Pironi broke his legs later that year, ending his F1 career, and then after a few years, fatally crashed in a powerboat.

 

Here comes the trivia.

 

Pironi's girlfriend was pregnant at the time Pironi died, and later gave birth to twins. She named them Gilles and Didier.



#17 Dalin80

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 08:16

Fallen at the first hurdle, I'm afraid :p

 

Desiré Wilson, 1980

 

http://en.wikipedia....ing_News_Trophy

 

 

Kind of-ish, that was the British f1 season not the actual F1 season. Hence why there were only 10 entrants and 6 finishers none of whom were entered into the F1 championship that year and weren't exactly top tier drivers. The actual British GP at brands that year was won by Alan Jones.


Edited by Dalin80, 26 April 2015 - 08:17.


#18 Jimisgod

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 08:26

Fewest finishers in a Formula 1 race: 1.  And it's happened a few times.   Anyone prepared to guess where and when...?

 


Non championship ones?

#19 SirVanhan

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 08:32

About Desiré Wilson, she won that race in a Wolf, run by the Theodore Racing team. Theodore, which was a Hong Kong team, raced with both Wolf and its own cars in its short Formula 1 time. The TR1 was not a good car, it only scored two official points... except Keke Rosberg won a race with it, in the 1978 BRDC International Trophy. Yes it was a non-championship, heavy wet race, but it was an important non-championship heavy wet F1 Grand Prix, which had amongst the competitors: official Lotus, Tyrrell and Brabham.


Edited by SirVanhan, 26 April 2015 - 08:33.


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#20 ensign14

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 09:36

The TR1 didn't score any points at all.  Theodore's only two points came with the TY01 and N183, the latter of which was basically an Ensign.

 

Non championship ones?

 

Yes.



#21 Boing 2

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 10:12

The Ferrari 640 had the first semi auto gearbox in F1 but it gained a bad reputation for poor reliability. In reality the gearbox itself was fine but Ferrari ran a 4 bearing crank on their engine that whipped at high revs and threw off the belt that charged the battery. As the system was largely electrical that shut the gear selector down and the retirement was listed as gearbox failure.

 

Chapman had a history of under-speccing his cars design (allegedly trying to get through scruitineering with silver painted cardboard firewalls) when the mechanic making the suspension of the new Lotus 49 got the spec sheets he thought the steel was too light so doubled it in thickness. The car went out to test and came back rapidly to the pits with suspension folded up like tinfoil....

 

The 'ultra sophisticated' active suspension on the Williams FW14b had it's software written by one man in about a week...

 

 

The following is from distant memory (and Tyrrel autobigraphy)  so may not all be correct.

 

Tyrrell were quite an innovative team, amongst the many things they introduced, or tried and failed were:

 

First team to deck out their pitcrew in team colours after gaining ELF sponsorship.

 

First team to race an airbox.

 

First (and only?) six wheeler F1 car.

 

First team to use pneumatic airguns to remove wheels.

 

First team to race a proper, fully raised nose.

 

First team to run aerodynamic fairing over (then) steel wishbones, which later became todays aero-profiled carbon wishbones.

 

Ran experimental 3 spoke alloys but they failed at Interlagos.

 

Tried to run front tyres on the rear wheels at Monza to reduce drag (Goodyear stopped that one....)

 

[edit] First team to run x-wings.

 

That's on top of less innovative but still uncommon things like monopost front wing, hydraulic interlinked suspension, designing a car around 3rd gear corners because they were the most common corner type on the calender.

 

 

As a trivial addition, when Tyrrell unveiled their six wheeler to the press they hired a bus to transport the journos to the track to see the car, as a clue they used a 6 wheeler bus with 4 front steering wheels, just like the car.


Edited by Boing 2, 26 April 2015 - 11:42.


#22 Amphicar

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 10:37

 

The following is from distant memory (and Tyrrel autobigraphy)  so may not all be correct.

 

Tyrrell were quite an innovative team, amongst the many things they introduced, or tried and failed were:

 

First (and only?) six wheeler F1 car.

 

As a trivial addition, when Tyrrell unveiled their six wheeler to the press they hired a bus to transport the journos to the track to see the car, as a clue they used a 6 wheeler bus with 4 front steering wheels, just like the car.

Tyrrell was certainly the first F1 (and only) team to race a six wheeler but March, Williams and Ferrari all experimented with variations on the 6 wheeled theme:

 

1976-March-2-4-0_2243004b.jpg  

 

williams-inline2.jpg

 

ferrari-t6-inline-reut-trac.jpg



#23 Boing 2

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 10:49

Tyrrell was certainly the first F1 (and only) team to race a six wheeler but March, Williams and Ferrari all experimented with variations on the 6 wheeled theme:

 

 

 

Sorry, should have said '...to be raced'.  I knew about the March and Williams, haven't seen that Ferrari before though.



#24 Amphicar

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 11:08

There were several Soviet era Russian F1 projects, none of which actually made it as far as entering a race.

 

In 1965 there was the Moskvitch GD-1 G5, which was intended to have a 1.5-litre 8-cylinder engine fitted with four dual Webers and pumping out 200 bhp. When funds ran out, the 8 cylinder engine was replaced by the inline 4 from the Moskvitch 412, which produced a mere 124hp.

 

mg5m_1.jpg

 

The Khadi 8 was a streamlined Russian "F1" car designed in Kharkov in 1967. It was powered by an 8-cylinder, 1974cc engine with an output of 340hp

 

khadi-8.jpg

 

After the Khadi 8 was badly damaged in a crash it was rebuilt in the early 70s as the Khadi 10. Fitted with a 250hp engine, it had about half the power of the DFVs of the time - so the project was abandoned. Note the Soviet take on the Gold Leaf Team Lotus livery!

 

khadi-10.jpg



#25 Nonesuch

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 13:09

Michael Schumacher won the 2002 driver's championship with 144 points, almost double that of Rubens Barrichello who came 2nd with 77 points. It is, as far as I know, the only season in which the champion finished on the podium at every race.

 

Because Lewis Hamilton switched from McLaren to Mercedes, he has driven all his F1 races with a Mercedes engine. His total of 152 races with an engine constructor is surpassed only by Michael Schumacher, who drove 180 races with a Ferrari engine.

 

Speaking of which, Sebastian Vettel is the only driver who has won a race with a customer-Ferrari engine, for Toro Rosso in 2008.


Edited by Nonesuch, 26 April 2015 - 13:10.


#26 Jackmancer

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 13:21

Unthinkable Red Bull trivia :) They raced with a Ferrari engine, in 2006.



#27 PayasYouRace

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 13:25

Unthinkable Red Bull trivia :) They raced with a Ferrari engine, in 2006.

 

And then fobbed it off on STR because they preferred a Renault.



#28 Kristian

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 13:46

One driver led 50% of the laps in his career, and holds the record for the best ever start in F1, but he only raced once. Who was he? 

Marcus Winkelhock (Europe 2007)

 

And slightly harder... which driver did not qualify but still illegally took the start of the grand prix without any officials noticing and lasted for 10 laps before retiring?  

Hans Heyer (Germany 1977)

 

(highlight the rows below the questions to see the answers)77)


Edited by Kristian, 26 April 2015 - 13:46.


#29 Jackmancer

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 13:56

One driver led 50% of the laps in his career, and holds the record for the best ever start in F1, but he only raced once. Who was he? 

Marcus Winkelhock (Europe 2007)

 

And slightly harder... which driver did not qualify but still illegally took the start of the grand prix without any officials noticing and lasted for 10 laps before retiring?  

Hans Heyer (Germany 1977)

 

(highlight the rows below the questions to see the answers)77)

 

I knew both! Winkelhock (jr) also holds the record for starting last and first in the same Grand Prix (his only start).



#30 NoSanityClause

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 13:59

In 1987 a certain Sebastian Vettel was born. That same year Red Bull sold their first can of their energy drink.



#31 Graveltrappen

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 14:05

I knew both! Winkelhock (jr) also holds the record for starting last and first in the same Grand Prix (his only start).


And also the stats for biggest percentage of retirements (100%)

Also the stat for being the only driver to start last on the grid and lead the race in his debut race.

#32 jimjimjeroo

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 14:47

The only person to be Cart and F1 world champion simultaneously.... Nigel Mansell

#33 jimjimjeroo

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 14:48

The only F1 driver to win his only F1 race on his birthday, Jean Alesi 1995 Canadian GP

#34 PayasYouRace

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 15:15

The only person to be Cart and F1 world champion simultaneously.... Nigel Mansell

 

For a single week I might add   ;)



#35 Collombin

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 15:17

The only drivers to win a WDC race wearing a car number the same as their age are Dan Gurney, Michele Alboreto and Gerhard Berger.

The lowest finishing position of any driver in a race in which they scored WDC points is 33rd.

British drivers finished 1-2-3-4-5 in the 1965 British GP. French drivers finished 1-2-3-4 in the 1982 French GP. Italians finished 1-2-3 in the 1950 Italian GP (with the 2nd placed car shared by 2 Italians, so that's 4 Italians in the top 3).

Edited by E.B., 26 April 2015 - 15:17.


#36 Jackmancer

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 15:37

In the complete history of F1, there has never been an 'Noah's Ark' (all cars lined up on the grid, teammate by teammate). Even Indy 2005 didn't feature a Noah's Ark (Ferrari, Ferrari, Jordan, Minardi, Jordan, Minardi).

 

It's the ultimate fact to prove drivers matter, not just the car :)



#37 Dan333SP

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 15:41

Longest race- 2011 Canadian GP, just over 4 hours. Also holds the record for most pitstops by a race winner (6) and safety car deployments (6).

1999 Canadian GP- First race to finish behind a pace car. Also the first and only fastest lap by Eddie Irvine.

#38 PayasYouRace

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 15:43

Brazil GP 2003 - None of the steps of the podium had the correct driver on them.



#39 Kristian

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 15:51

Brazil GP 2003 - None of the steps of the podium had the correct driver on them.

 

 

and one was in an ambulance!

 

Probably the weirdest podium ever. 



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#40 YoungGun

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 15:56

Jochen Rindt, the only driver to posthumously win the WDC.



#41 Rob G

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 16:17

Of the 16 drivers on the grid at Monaco in 1967, eight of them would die in race cars by the end of 1971.



#42 Rob G

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 16:22

Not counting the US GP fiasco, the fewest amount of cars in a World Championship F1 race was 10 in the 1958 Argentine GP. They only comprised of three types: six Maserati 250Fs, three Ferrari D246s, and a single Cooper T43.


Edited by Rob G, 26 April 2015 - 16:23.


#43 Jackmancer

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 16:27

Jochen Rindt, the only driver to posthumously win the WDC.

 

That story is really sad.

Rindt had promised his girlfriend to retire once he became the WDC. 



#44 Collombin

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 16:29

That story is really sad.
Rindt had promised his girlfriend to retire once he became the WDC.


There was some debate at the time about whether he should even be eligible for the title, given his death. How terrible does that sound?

#45 NoSanityClause

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 16:30

Longest race- 2011 Canadian GP, just over 4 hours. Also holds the record for most pitstops by a race winner (6) and safety car deployments (6).

1999 Canadian GP- First race to finish behind a pace car. Also the first and only fastest lap by Eddie Irvine.

Still not as many as the winner of the first motorracing GP, Mr.Ferenc Szisz, who won the Le Mans GP in 1906 while driving a Renault. He made an astounding average speed of 101 km/h, considering that he pitted 19 times for tires. Then again, the race lasted more than 12 hours...

 

 

Jochen Rindt, the only driver to posthumously win the WDC.

He was also the first person to name Bernard Charles Ecclestone, "Bernie". Yes, he was fearless alright.


Edited by NoSanityClause, 26 April 2015 - 16:30.


#46 ensign14

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 17:03

Giulio Cabianca was killed during a test session when he crashed into a delivery van.

 

No world champion driver died of natural causes until Johnny Herbert won a GP.



#47 johnmhinds

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 17:08

Giulio Cabianca was killed during a test session when he crashed into a delivery van.

 

No world champion driver died of natural causes until Johnny Herbert won a GP.

 

Denny Hulme died of a heart attack in 1992. He was racing at the time but wasn't injured in the lightish crash he had while pulling to a stop.


Edited by johnmhinds, 26 April 2015 - 17:09.


#48 PayasYouRace

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 17:12

Oh yes, well remembered about Denny.

 

PS. I hate liking posts about deaths in racing, but it's purely for the trivial value.



#49 YoungGun

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 17:19

Where would Japan 1976: Lauda versus Hunt rank in the greatest world championship deciding race?



#50 johnmhinds

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Posted 26 April 2015 - 17:19

And James Hunt died of a heart attack in 1993.

 

So while the Johnny Herbert trivia is slightly humorous it isn't correct.