205 replies to this topic

[Zmeej]

What are your fave moments of happiness at having seen non-lethal, non-injury moments of a driver 

spin, or,

enduring car failure, or

being taken/taking themselves out of a race?

 

They can be of the current season, recent seasons, or from history.

 

Edited by Zmeej, 08 September 2022 - 15:45.

[William Hunt]

I always was happy when Alain Prost retired in my youth. I couldn't stand him (but today beiing older I do respect his talent & achievements a lot, as a child I didn't, don't hate him anymore but young teenagers think more black & white and I was no exception).

 

Was happy as well when Michael Schumacher retired during his dominant Ferrari days. Not a fan of any kind of driver dominating.

 

If I had to choose one moment it would be Alain Prost spinning out during the... warm up lap in a Ferrari in Imola. Let's say I was happy that day. It happened in Imola 1991.

 

Another moment I was glad was when Senna spinned out of the lead, colliding with the Williams of substitution driver Jean-Louis Schlesser, in Monza of all places. The Ferrari's of Berger & Alboreto were on the heels of Senna and scored a double win just a week after Enzo Ferrari had died.

Interesting is that later that day I heard on the Belgian national radio that Ferrari was possibly going to be disqualified because of their fuel.

 

Cheever & Warwick who finished 3rd & 4th would have won that race then for Arrows. But a day later Ferrari weren't disqualified and the press didn't write about it anymore. I would have been even more happy had Arrows won since I always supported underdog teams (which is why I support teams like Williams, Sauber & Haas today) and it would have been their first (and only) win, also for Eddie Cheever who was a bit of an underrated driver.

 

I always had found that suspicious since it was in Italy and a dream win for Ferrari. Felt like the FIA didn't want to take that special home win from Ferrari. Sadly we'll never know if there was something wrong with their fuel or not. This was Monza 1988. I was still in primary school back then, aged 11-12 that year.

 

It's not that I didn't like Senna that I was happy Berger won that race. I hated Prost in those days and supported Senna in his duel with Prost. Senna was the best driver for me from that era and with a very big margin. But I was mostly happy because McLaren was winning all races that year... except in Monza. I was fed up with their domination.

 

I am convinced though that if Senna had not collided with Schlesser that Berger would have won as well because Gerhard was gaining quickly on Senna who seemed to have a problem with his car, I actually think Senna was low on fuel.

 

PS: I see now on wikipedia the explanation of the fuel problems of Ferrari:

 

"In the scrutineering bay, Berger's Ferrari's fuel capacity was checked four times. The first time, FISA officials were able to refill the tank with 151.5 litres of fuel, exceeding the limit of 150 litres. A second refill and then a third were undertaken, and still the Ferrari took too much. Eventually they succeeded in adding just 149.5 litres at the fourth time of asking."

 

So it took Ferrari 4 refills to prove their car was legal and didn't start the race with too much fuel!!! Aparently there also was a similar problem with Cheever's car (but not disqualified either). They don't mention Alboreto on wikipedia, on the radio they said it was both Ferrari's and not just Berger.

 

If McLaren had not been so dominant in '88-'89 the championship would have been even so much more exciting because behind McLaren it was wide open, Ivan Capelli was also damn quick that year in the March.1

Edited by William Hunt, 08 September 2022 - 02:57.

[John B]

Schumacher's engine failure at Suzuka 2006 after the mid season mass damper affair.

From other series, Kevin Harvick crashing himself out last year at the Charlotte roval after intentionally wrecking Chase Elliott is an obvious one for many fans

[Jackmancer]

By far Dan Ticktum saying the F3 Asian Championship is some kind of lesser championship (but he wanted super license points) before finishing 9th in the standings.

[Izzyeviel]

Lotus at Spa 1989, Penske at Indy 1995, Vettel at Canada, Vettel & Webber at Turkey, Vettel again at Hockenheim, The FIA at Indy 2006... Mansell not being able to fit into his Mclaren...its a long list.

[Dara]

Montoya crashing head first into a camera

[PitViperRacing]

Not going to lie, Toto at Abu Dhabi was pretty enjoyable to watch.

[Widefoot2]

Not going to lie, Toto at Abu Dhabi was pretty enjoyable to watch.

Any event worthy of a "TOTO SMASH!!" is tops in my book.

[Zmeej]

Curiously enough, my dates with the Big S didn’t begin until Nige went to Ferrari, whereupon there were many festivals no matter what team he drove for, engendered only partially by the fawning of the compatriotic commentariat. Thoroughly enjoyed most of Piquet’s jibes at him, although the Brazilian did go too far once in a while.

 

And yet few of those matched the hilarity engendered when Mansell was bounced by Ron Dennis for being too fat.

 

For whatever reason, my jollity at Prost’s difficulties didn’t begin until Senna joined him at McLaren, but they obviously did continue when he joined the Scuderia. There were a few glorious moments when Monsieur Alain came out of retirement with Williams.

 

Although I didn’t exult over Nakajima’s misfortunes per se, Hunt did, and that was fun.

 

Conversely, felt very happy when JH was forced to utter grudging compliments to Patrese when the Italian did something well.

 

Happiness over things negative happening to Schumi began when he joined Benneton, accompanied by bitterness when things went well for him. As such, didn’t wait for him to become dominant at Ferrari to begin grinning and clapping at his reversals.

 

The Swerve’s arrival at Ferrari prompted the eruption of a very special loathing, whose intensity persists. Often took credit when things went awry for him.

 

More anon…

Edited by Zmeej, 08 September 2022 - 06:20.

[wj_gibson]

Toto Wolff crying at Abu Dhabi last year after spending all year leaning on Michael Masi. That’s quite hard to beat.

[Zmeej]

Not really.

 

For me, the purest moment came when The Cube kissed the wall while pitting from the lead, prompting a glorious eructation from Murray Walker. 

Edited by Zmeej, 08 September 2022 - 06:12.

[kar]

The whole Chinese Grand Prix 2007.

[cyclist]

The Mercedes german grand prix debacle was very satisfying. A team that was just the perfect winning machine messing up so badly was just enjoyable.

 

Even if I was too young to see it live, I imagine enjoying the 1988 italian gp very much the moment Senna crashed.

Edited by cyclist, 08 September 2022 - 06:16.

[Ivanhoe]

Nico and Lewis taking each other off at Spain 2016.

[Casey]

Ham all alone at the restart Hungary last year questioning the teams decision to keep him out on inters on a dried up track .

That was surreal . 

Edited by Casey, 08 September 2022 - 06:29.

[Cliff]

Abu Dhabi and I don’t think anything is ever going to beat that. From my obviously biased pov as a Max fan it felt like justice after all that had happened through the season.

Combined with the happiest moment in my sports watching life it was just perfect, even though it might sound a bit petty.

[Peat]

Nico and Lewis taking each other off at Spain 2016.

 

Yeah, that takes the cake for me. Literally made me fall to my knees laughing. 

[JimmyClark]

BAR in 1999. After all their bombast and disrespect of the established way of doing things in F1, their disaster of a season was utterly hilarious.

[P123]

Ron Dennis used to be quite smug at McLaren's late 80s success, so I wouldn't be surprised if there were a collective amount of paddock-wide schadenfreude when McLaren were beaten by Williams.

[TecnoRacing]

Just to accelerate the downhill direction of this thread...

 

Silverstone 2021 was pretty satisfying.

[as65p]

The Donington 1993 PC where Prost gave a lengthy description of the problems he allegedly had with his Williams and Senna replied "Would you like to swap cars?" That was great.

[Beri]

The smug on this picture of Ron Dennis and Alonso after all that has happened previously.
 

[LittleChris]

Mosley being caught with the hooker wife of an MI5 Operative. Mansell losing a certain win at Montreal due to letting the revs fall too low half way round the last lap. Scheckter only scoring two points the year after being World Champion.

Edited by LittleChris, 08 September 2022 - 07:44.

[mirrorboy]

Hakkinen, Monza, 1999

[owenmahamilton]

One of the funniest things I remember seeing happen in F1 but however hard I try I cannot find any video evidence of it happening is the year (which I cannot remember) that Michael Schumacher in a Ferrari exited the pits after a pitstop at the Canadian Grand Prix and what looked like his drive shaft fell off as he accelerated away.

[player1s]

Hamilton saying his team doesnt make mistakes and then his team utterly f**king up the 2022 car.

[JimmyClark]

To be fair, there is also the reverse schadenfreude of Maldonado being completely written off and joked about by fans and media, then he storms to win the Spanish GP. 

[Gareth]

I’m taking the fact that most of these were personally painful moments as a sign that I’ve enjoyed watching a lot of winning in F1, rather than that you all hate me

[mhno1f]

Jerez '97 "That didn't work, you hit the wrong part of him my friend."

[Rediscoveryx]

To be fair, there is also the reverse schadenfreude of Maldonado being completely written off and joked about by fans and media, then he storms to win the Spanish GP. 

 

I like this type of schadenfreude much more.

 

The "old and talentless" Damon Hill ending up as a thoroughly well-deserved WDC also springs to mind. As does Ross Brawn taking over the Honda team when their board room excecs decided to pull the plug and then romping away to both titles the following season is another good one.

[MJB5990]

Singapore 2017. 

 

I was out at the time, viewing potential wedding venues in the middle of nowhere, relying on very dodgy phone signal to keep up with the action on the Sky Sports app.

[Anderis]

I have to say I somewhat enjoy Ferrari's inability to score titles after they had torpedoed efforts to change F1 in 2009, acted arrogantly and threatened to leave F1.

 

McLaren having a very average season after switching from Honda to Renault after some people had suggested they had had F1's best chassis only let down by the Honda engine (I've never bought that looking at how average they had been with Mercedes engine in 2013-2014) was also satisfying to watch.

[CSF]

One of the funniest things I remember seeing happen in F1 but however hard I try I cannot find any video evidence of it happening is the year (which I cannot remember) that Michael Schumacher in a Ferrari exited the pits after a pitstop at the Canadian Grand Prix and what looked like his drive shaft fell off as he accelerated away.

 

1996.

 

Toto Wolff when things go wrong is always lovely.

Edited by CSF, 08 September 2022 - 08:35.

[DS27]

People saying they may as well hand Mercedes the championship trophy after their car was unveiled, only for them to struggle for most of this season. 

[Alex79]

I could describe it but the YT clip speaks volumes. The Mercedes pitstop that went utterly wrong in Germany 2019

https://youtu.be/f205T6Y4btw

Edited by Alex79, 08 September 2022 - 08:55.

[Alex79]

I like this type of schadenfreude much more.

The "old and talentless" Damon Hill ending up as a thoroughly well-deserved WDC also springs to mind. As does Ross Brawn taking over the Honda team when their board room excecs decided to pull the plug and then romping away to both titles the following season is another good one.

As a boy I always liked Hill because of his suprise inclusion in Williams "how did that slowpoke brabham driver end up in a Williams?" I kept thinking (and I did not know who his father was, that came later ;) ) always thought the zero on his car was a dig at his chances of ever being good enough

Edited by Alex79, 08 September 2022 - 09:01.

[jpm2019]

I could describe it but the YT clip speaks volumes. The Mercedes pitstop that went utterly wrong in Germany 2019

https://youtu.be/f205T6Y4btw

the camera work is amazing on this one. 

[Zmeej]

Hakkinen, Monza, 1999

 

Not cool.

[MichaelPM]

Every time people go wild about a driver being the fastest that F1 has ever seen, then the driver steps out of a Newey influenced car and the reality hits hard.

[pRy]

I took a certain amount of pleasure in Multi 21. Not because I disliked Webber but because it was one of those rare moments where you could see the difference between the Great White's of the sport and the little fish, which is often what makes the difference between success and mediocrity.

[Zmeej]

I could describe it but the YT clip speaks volumes. The Mercedes pitstop that went utterly wrong in Germany 2019

https://youtu.be/f205T6Y4btw

 

the camera work is amazing on this one. 

 

+1

 

The soundtrack added is too.

[Ali_G]

BAR in 1999. After all their bombast and disrespect of the established way of doing things in F1, their disaster of a season was utterly hilarious.

 

Pollock had come out with some amount of **** pre-season including a claim they would win their first race.

[Zmeej]

Too depressing.

[Zmeej]

The Donington 1993 PC where Prost gave a lengthy description of the problems he allegedly had with his Williams and Senna replied "Would you like to swap cars?" That was great.

 

[Zmeej]

I took a certain amount of pleasure in Multi 21. Not because I disliked Webber but because it was one of those rare moments where you could see the difference between the Great Whites of the sport and the little fish, which is often what makes the difference between success and mediocrity.

 

 

The Hippo featured in my moments of the Big S frequently.

 

In that instance, felt the way you did.

 

Upon very recent reflection, have had sobering second thoughts. It is kinda reminiscent of Pironi on Villeneuve.

Edited by Zmeej, 08 September 2022 - 13:44.

[JimmyClark]

Pollock had come out with some amount of **** pre-season including a claim they would win their first race.

 

Yeah it really was extraordinary. It didn't help that he had one of those smug faces. 

 

Villeneuve didn't even finish the first 11 races. It was utterly hilarious. 

[ensign14]

Schumacher cheating at Jerez 1997.

 

Because it laid to rest any doubts anyone could have had about his cheating at Adelaide 1994.

[Risil]

The whole of Monaco in 1996: Schumacher bins it on the first lap, and then you watch a succession of lesser drivers lose or sabotage their own chance to win their first Monaco Grand Prix

[Ali_G]

Yeah it really was extraordinary. It didn't help that he had one of those smug faces. 

 

Villeneuve didn't even finish the first 11 races. It was utterly hilarious. 

 

Reynard up to that point had won ever race on their debut in a new series. Not that time lol.

[HP]

McLaren PR's at the start of this millenia was just a target for all kinds of Schadenfreude. Ron Dennis a few months before 9/11 said that appearance is everything, so the PR department and Dennis himself did some outstanding jobs.

 

Year 2001 probably. McLaren struggling with reliability. Then Ron Dennis declaring they are finally squashed the gremlins ... to just have a double DNF in the race.

 

Dunno if it was that same race, but DC telling the team that there is a screw bouncing in the cockpit and the team telling him not to worry about. IIRC he had to retire later in that race.

 

Also DC at McLaren. They told me the car is 1 second faster on the drawing board (it was a Newey designe). And then he went on: I just wish it were true.