47 replies to this topic

[lulup]

Only consider the incident,not the protagonist of that incident PLEASE¡I
My choice is 98 Silverstone MS won that race in the PIT¡I

[kenny]

The FIA

[Dimo]

The disgruntled Mercedes employee in Germany this year has to rank up there...

[Alien]

Originally posted by Dimo
The disgruntled Mercedes employee in Germany this year has to rank up there...

That guy may have taken the win away from Mclaren - Mercedez. He forced the yellow and the difference that Mika and DC had made up to that point was eliminated.

[Dimo]

Originally posted by Alien

Originally posted by Dimo
The disgruntled Mercedes employee in Germany this year has to rank up there...

That guy may have taken the win away from Mclaren - Mercedez. He forced the yellow and the difference that Mika and DC had made up to that point was eliminated.

Absolutely true.

The fact that such an offbeat event should have a direct impact on the race result was my point exactly.

[Megatron]

When the Andrea Moda team hit the track, that was pretty bad....

[wembi]

I did not see it, but I recently read in a respect F1 magazine, that Nelson Piquet ( who was quite a prankster in his days), played a rather vicious joke on his own mechanics during a testing session in 1983. Piquet who was driving a Brabham then went out on the Silverstone track for a couple of laps. After posting a few quick ones and indicating that he would try to even go quicker, the Brabham of Piquet came round again at a much slower by the start/finish line where his whole team was standing by the wall. The engine was running, the car was rolling...but no one could see the head of the driver. Had he had an accident? Did he have a collision with an object on the back side of the track? Did Piquet...get...get...oh no, DECAPITATED??? The car eventually thumped itself against the guard rail and everyone went running to it...and they found it, empty. All the way on the other side of the track ( by the pit entry way), a much LIVING Nelson Piquet, was rolling on the grass laughing his ass off at his mechanics. He had jumped out of the car before the car had gone by the pit straight...just to as he called it" bring a bit more excitment to the Testing session". Mr. Piquet was getting bored.

Anyway, I must admit that although this was a cruel joke from Piquet, I loved it! Those were the good days. You won't see Hakkinen or Coulthard play these kind of jokes on anybody these days.

[Dimo]

Originally posted by wembi
He had jumped out of the car before the car had gone by the pit straight...just to as he called it" bring a bit more excitment to the Testing session".

I've never heard of that incident...I must admit I wasn't into F1 back then.

Was he given any fine or discipline? I can't imagine what Ron Dennis would do if MH or DC did something like that. I would bet they would miss a race...

[wembi]

Sorry, Dimo. I failed to mention that it was a private Testing session and yes, in this day and age, Piquet would have been fined by both the FIA and his own team...Very SAD, unfortunately. People have become way too serious.

[david_martin]

Taki Inoue getting run over with by a fire marshalls vehicle during the 1995 Hungarian GP after his Footwork stopped on the track with an engine problem during the race. The marshalls left him writhing in pain on the ground with a broken leg for several minutes while they extinguished the tiny oil fire at the back of the car....

[Ross Stonefeld]

Didnt the safety car at Monaco (in 95) hit Taki's car as it was being towed away at the end of a session as well?

Im surprised Piquet pulled that off, you can hear a race car all the way around the track and I imagine that you'd notice the sudden drop in noise

[Nikolas Garth]

Originally posted by Dimo

Originally posted by Alien

Originally posted by Dimo
The disgruntled Mercedes employee in Germany this year has to rank up there...

That guy may have taken the win away from Mclaren - Mercedez. He forced the yellow and the difference that Mika and DC had made up to that point was eliminated.

Absolutely true.

The fact that such an offbeat event should have a direct impact on the race result was my point exactly.

So what do you have to say about the safety car restart shortly after, coz of Diniz taking someone out(possibly Alesi??) ????

[daveturbo]

By Ridiculous I assume that you mean one that has you not knowing whether to laugh, shout or shake your head, an incident so stupid that it should never have happened. How about Ferrari thinking Rubins was driving a Reliant Robin?

Err.. has anyone got another wheel, chaps.....

[Nathan]

Originally posted by wembi
I did not see it, but I recently read in a respect F1 magazine, that Nelson Piquet ( who was quite a prankster in his days), played a rather vicious joke on his own mechanics during a testing session in 1983. Piquet who was driving a Brabham then went out on the Silverstone track for a couple of laps. After posting a few quick ones and indicating that he would try to even go quicker, the Brabham of Piquet came round again at a much slower by the start/finish line where his whole team was standing by the wall. The engine was running, the car was rolling...but no one could see the head of the driver. Had he had an accident? Did he have a collision with an object on the back side of the track? Did Piquet...get...get...oh no, DECAPITATED??? The car eventually thumped itself against the guard rail and everyone went running to it...and they found it, empty. All the way on the other side of the track ( by the pit entry way), a much LIVING Nelson Piquet, was rolling on the grass laughing his ass off at his mechanics. He had jumped out of the car before the car had gone by the pit straight...just to as he called it" bring a bit more excitment to the Testing session". Mr. Piquet was getting bored.

Anyway, I must admit that although this was a cruel joke from Piquet, I loved it! Those were the good days. You won't see Hakkinen or Coulthard play these kind of jokes on anybody these days.

Im sorry, but he's not the only one laughing his ass off.

Whatever happened to that Mercedes employee? Was he fired?

[LUCKYSTRIKE]

if not one of the most bizarre incidents witnessed by motorsport fans for a long time, when a man, wearing a white raincoat full of slogans against Mercedes-Benz, jumped onto the track, forcing the safety car to come out and thus bringing the field together. and thus allowing Barrichelo his first win in F1. (excerpt taken from the atlas F1 archive)

[Billy]

Originally posted by Nikolas Garth

Originally posted by Dimo

Originally posted by Alien

Originally posted by Dimo
The disgruntled Mercedes employee in Germany this year has to rank up there...

That guy may have taken the win away from Mclaren - Mercedez. He forced the yellow and the difference that Mika and DC had made up to that point was eliminated.

Absolutely true.

The fact that such an offbeat event should have a direct impact on the race result was my point exactly.

So what do you have to say about the safety car restart shortly after, coz of Diniz taking someone out(possibly Alesi??) ????

which was a result of the bunched field after the first restart.

[westendorf]

My vote is for poor Taki Inoue gettting run down. Thanks for someone else mentioning it. GFW

[nigel red5]

Well, there has been more than a few......here are some of the best ones that i can think of..

1. The medical car crashing at Monaco before the Sat morning practice 2000, now that was funny!

2. Eddie Irvine during qulifying for France `99, the conditions were completely ridiculous, Eddie trying to negociate the final chicane before the end of the lap.....he was going at walking pace at the time and still lost it in about 4 inches of water, in fact that whole qualifying session was ridiculous....should never have taken place.

3. The `98 Australian GP.....both Mclarens cruising around, and still lapping at 4 secs per lap quicker than any other car! - they beat Frentzen by 1 min 47 secs. The sheer dominance that day was ridiculous....far more convincing than any `92 Williams or `88 Mclaren. I sat there gobsmacked at their level of pace for about an hour afterwards.

4. Jean-Marc Gounon during 1993 Japanese GP. Midway thro the race, he was all on his own in the Minardi. He came up to the "hairpin" curve, and just floored the throttle at the apex for no reason at all.......he rotated about twice - that was so pathetic that i laughed for ages.

[Nathan]

Thanks for reminding me Nige.

I think one of, not the funniest, but one of them was in Canada, I believe '92. A few laps left, Mansell is way in the lead, like 30+seconds I belive. Nigel Mansell starts to celebrate a bit early. If Im not mistaken that year Williams had some gearbox software problems with the gear selection. Nigel went to down shift at a corner, yet the gearbox wouldnt do it. At the same time, the engines software was programmed to control and properly lower the RPM's as the downshift paddle were selected. However Williams never tied this unit with the gearbox. So Nigel kept clicking the downshift button to get it to work, but as he was doing it, the engines computer starting cutting the revs down. To make a long story short, he stalled the engine and lost the race.

What I find funny is, Nigel was so confident he was going to win, he began to wave to the crowd before the race was over. I hope he teaches his children not to count their chickens before they hatch!

[Wolf]

I can't belive nobody has mentioned DC hitting a pit wall. That's the stuff of champions!

[hyper!! james]

Two incidents from 1993 spring to mind.

Gerhard Berger coming out of the pits and straight into the wall on the other side of the track would have to be one, as would a Minardi literally leap-frogging the other on the way to the finishing line (I can't remember what races these happened at, sorry!)

And two from this year:

Jenson Button almost eliminating the entire top four under the safety car before throwing his Williams into a barrier and of course Mika Hakkinen furiously shaking his fist at Gaston Mazzacane because he thought he was lapping the Argentinian rather than racing him.

But nothing beats the hillarity that was Taki Inoue. May that man go down in history as the greatest legend F1 ever saw

[Jackman]

Piquet leading by a long distance in Germany (85?) and coming up to lap Elio Salazar before his first pit stop. Down the straight and into the first chicane, and Salazar messes it up, taking Piquet out at the same time. Piquet jumps out of the car, before it stops, and comes over to Salazar and starts kicking him and punching him (in the helmet) until the marshalls come and pull them apart.

Piquet apologised later when his team pointed out that the telemetry told them his engine was about to let go ...

[Jackman]

Hyper,

Berger's clutch stuck open and the cars bottom hit the floor, throwing him across the track (as Brundle was bearing down the straight). Could have been Imola.

The other incident was Monza, and it was Christian Fittipaldi and teammate in the Arrows - crossing the finishing line at the end of the race, and the second car didn't realise that the first was slowing, ran over the back wheel, tipping the car over end on end before landing, breaking all the suspension and losing a wheel, yet still sliding directly down the line painted on the road. Remarkable.

[nigel red5]

Berger incident - It was Portugal 1993, and it was Derek Warwick`s footwork that missed him by inches.

Piquet / Salazar - 1982 Hockenheim.

[Dironey]

How about Ron Dennis stuffing his brand new McLaren F1 road car in the wall - lap one, turn one? Gerhard Berger was his passenger and he had optimistically planned to warn Ron about the tricky turn two.

Still, I think I'll vote for Taki Inoue getting hit by marshals' cars twice in the same season. You could get paranoid for less...

[Vunz]

DC going off from pole position on the installation lap, Italy 1995.

[lulup]

That ex-Mercedes guy must be the FASTEST man in F1!!Because of him,both McLaren car's place from 1 & 2 down to 2 & 3!!!That guy beat MH & DC just by his FOOT!!!Imagine if he DRIVE............

[pRy]

DC hitting the pit wall and the Mercedes guy

[tifosi]

The Fittipaldi incident was hilarious. The fact that he actually landed right side up was great.

Running over Inoue was good. Pitiful, but funny now that he is all right.

I forget exactly which race, but Alain Prost in a Ferrari, crashing on the warm-up lap, might have been France. Didn't Schumacher do this in Monaco also?


The most absolute RIDICULOUS incident however is any of the dozen or so starts made by Michael Andretti in an F1 car. This guy just plain could not get the concept of releasing the clutch and pressing down on the gas correctly.

[Vunz]

Schumacher crashed in Monaco '96, but was the first race lap.

[Gruff]

Tyre chicanes -
I) Belmondo whacking the temporary one Spain 94
II) Hakkinen (amongst others) whacking them Italy 96(7?)

RE Fittipaldi, I think they were at Minardi and the teammate was Fabrizio Barbazza?

Colour schemes -
Minardi 97
Jordan 95

Crashes -
Lamy spinning about 3 times in a row trying to correct from an excursion down the wrong road (Minardi) Australia 95
Coulthard x2 (pitlane, formation)
DC & MH crashing together, then again in the pits Estoril 96
Mansell (stalling) Canada 91(?)

FIA
Renaming European/Germany II as "Luxembourg"

Sponsors
The Booker hoax on Sauber (94)
MTV and others Simtek (94-95)

[John B]

The shady organization of the Leyton House team (was it drug-related?), which disapeared from the grids in the early 1990s

Wembi, I'm sure the mechanics and sponsers were thrilled about having to fix any damage that occurred to the car...though with Bernie's money in the mix, I'm sure it wasn't too bad...

[John B]

I just remembered undoubtably one of the best ones ever

At Zolder in 1981, Rene Arnoux was unable to qualify his Renault and missed the race - they were introducing a new car, his either broke down or spun into the gravel, and the old one didn't cut it - and was in a pisser of a mood leaving the track. He cut around a long line of cars heading for the exit, and an offical stepped in front of him to stop him. Arnoux kept going, and the official wound up a passenger on the hood of the car driving to the hotel.

The best part here, is that Renault officials saw the car go by on the highway, and thought their driver was goofing off with a friend...

Once they got there the cops were called, and Arnoux was arrested in the hotel kitchen! But first there was some confusion, because apparently Prost told the cops that the suspect was Jacques Laffite

[Sudsbouy]

I would have to say that the FIA has been the most consistently ridiculous participant in F1. One incident that stands out in my mind was the ultimate disqualification of MS because he passed the pole man on the warm up lap. I know he didn't respond to black flags, but it was a really stupid chain of events to begin with. Then they have their clause about 'bringing the sport into disrepute' that protects them from criticism from inside the sport.

Thank you.

[K-One]

Jean Alesi running out of gasoline (twice?).
I don't know if his radio was working or not but I guess a professional racing driver should watch his pitboard or know when to come in. One F1tv-show had recorded small bits of radiocommunication from Alesi's team and they were quite interesting to hear...

[Todd]

Originally posted by Dironey
How about Ron Dennis stuffing his brand new McLaren F1 road car in the wall - lap one, turn one? Gerhard Berger was his passenger and he had optimistically planned to warn Ron about the tricky turn two.

Still, I think I'll vote for Taki Inoue getting hit by marshals' cars twice in the same season. You could get paranoid for less...

LMFAO! Optimistically planned to warn Ron about the tricky turn two! That is too funny, even if it hadn't been about Ron Dennis.

[smarty]

Nobody mentioned famous pitstop of Eddie last year. The guy was supposed to be a championship contender and do you remember the puzzled faces of mechanics when they realized that they are short of one wheel at the end of the pitstop?

[mhferrari]

Life's Imola Hot Lap in 1990

7 some odd minutes to lap!
A CRAZY 40 someodd km/h speed!
AND IT DIDN'T MAKE POLE!!!!!

[13psi]

How about Rosset pulling a bonzai move in the "big crash" at Spa in '98. I don't think he ever lifted, he was sure he could make it through.

[hannu]

MSin Monaco 98 and this years CART GP in australia
there was so many stupid manouvers it was like watching
some amateur hour.

[SB]

Originally posted by tifosi
I forget exactly which race, but Alain Prost in a Ferrari, crashing on the warm-up lap, might have been France. Didn't Schumacher do this in Monaco also?

Prost in San Marino in 1991 when he drove a Ferrari. There was rain before the rain and so the track was slippy. He span off in the fast right band towards Rivazza on the warmup lap. Berger also span at the same place but he saved the car and brought the car to the grid.

The Tifosi watched their drivee span and retired before the race was acturally started. They just coulfnt believe it.
Also that would have given Prost the 200th GP start. Now he has only 199 ....

SB

[BuzzingHornet]

The rolling start at Spa 2000
or Zonta's stop (racing)-and-go (cruising)penalty in Austria

[Hooster]

Melbourne 98. Truly ridiculous.

[brum]

How about Eddie spinning about 10 times in the rain in Candian GP 2000. That was unbelievable.

That must be the record for the number of spins by a driver in a race.

Great thread guys!!!

[Phoenix]

Schumacher being allowed to win the British GP in the pits while doing a 10 sec penalty

what a fix

what a cheat

[FlagMan]

M Schumacher spinning in the pit lane at Silverstone during practice for this years GP. Somehow the cameras missed it completely...

[Golden_Rider]

Originally posted by Phoenix
Schumacher being allowed to win the British GP in the pits while doing a 10 sec penalty

what a fix

what a cheat

Hm, this is one of the incidents where I personally thought "wow, brilliant thought". I mean, MS had to come into the pits to take his penalty within three laps, and it just happened to be the case that the third lap was also the last one. So what he did was unconventional, but cool

Nevertheless, it did not matter anyway since the team was informed of the penalty far too late (in fact so late that the penalty was not effective anymore because it was against the "within 30 minutes of the incident" rule). If you have a look at the race result on http://www.atlasf1.c...bri/burley.html you will see that the ten seconds were subtracted from MS' time (12 seconds to MH), but on http://www.forix.com you will see the 22 second gap to MH after the penalty was cancelled. Anyway, as http://www.atlasf1.c...bri/gordon.html explains, the rule is that within 12 laps of the race finish you do not have to take the penalty at all, the ten seconds are simply added to the total race time:

If an incident for which a time penalty is imposed occurs with 12 or less complete laps remaining to the finish of the race, the stewards shall have the right to add the time penalty to the elapsed time of the driver concerned.

Well, still, as the situation was pretty confusing, what Ross told MS to do was IMO the best they could do without any clear info on how the penalty was to be served.

[p][Edited by Golden_Rider on 11-24-2000]

[Eric McLoughlin]

The Piquet/Salazar incident at Hockenheim was in 1982.
How about the last two laps of the 1982 Monaco GP when five different cars led at various points. The race was eventually won by Patrese in the Brabham, his first victory.
In 1981, the start of the Monaco GP was delayed because of flooding INSIDE the tunnel. An explosion in the kitchen of Loews Hotel had ruptured some water pipes which leaked through the roof of the tunnel.
The 1985 Belgian GP being abandoned after first practice because of the track breaking up.
The drivers' strikes of the FISA/FOCA war period (1981/82).
BBC refusing to show Grand Prix races on TV in 1975 (I think) because one team (Surtees) were sponsored by Durex.
The variable ride height system designed by Brabham to circumvent pit lane scrutineering in 1982.