Ask The Apex

We often see both cars from the teams lining up next to each other on the grid, especially in the top ten this season (e.g. at Abu Dhabi this weekend positions 5-10 were two Ferraris, two Mercs, two FIs). Has there ever been an occasion where the entire grid lined up two-by-two?

Ah, the old "Noah's Ark" grid. Certainly there's never been a race where the whole grid lined up two-by-two (unless you count Indianapolis 2005, which really shouldn't count).

I've had a quick look back through the records. When you go back before about 1980 things get a bit tricky with multiple-car and single-car teams; additionally in the 1960s and earlier, grids didn't necessarily line up two-by-two, but four-three, three-four, three-two-three and so on.

In terms of the most number of rows of the grid that had cars from the same, two-car team, the highest I can find is two examples with six:
POR96.jpg
HUN02.jpg


Alternatively, if you start from the front row looking at successive rows, I don't think there has ever been a race where the top ten all lined up in pairs. I can find three examples where the top four rows were paired, plus one other row further back:

SAN92.jpg

JPN02.jpg

JPN06.jpg


There have been some very close calls, though. If not for Brundle and Alesi, the first six rows would have been in pairs at Magny-Cours 1992:
FRA92.jpg


Mr. Brundle was again to blame for upsetting the potential symmetry at Spa in 1988: he was standing in for an unwell Nigel Mansell. If only Nigel had been there...

BEL88.jpg


And finally, another contender - Suzuka 1998 would have had the first seven rows in pairs, if that Mr. Schumacher wasn't quite so fast...

JPN98.jpg


Ironically of course, Schumacher stalled in that race and dropped to the back.
 
Wow, that was a splendidly in-depth answer - thanks :thumbsup:

It's actually quite heartening that the difference in performance between cars has never quite trumped the combination of driver skill and natural variability due to outside influences (mechanical problems, track condition changes, etc...) to make a rigid 2x2 grid.

Although if you consider the Hungary 2002 grid you posted, but this time count consecutive pairs irrespective of position* (i.e. we also count the McLaren and BAR pairs), that's up to 8 pairs from a 20-car race!

*given that each "row" of the grid is staggered.
 
2008 had 5 different winning teams:
Ferrari
McLaren
BMW
Renault
Torro Rosso

and 7 different winning drivers
Hamilton
Massa
Raikkonen
Kubica
Kovalanen
Alonso
Vettel

Has any other season ever beaten that?
 
1982 had 11 Winning drivers:

1) Alain Prost (Renault):S Africa, Brazil.
2) Niki Lauda (McLaren-Ford): USA, GB.
3) Didier Pironi(Ferrari): San Marino, Dutch,
4) John Watson (McLaren-Ford): Belgium, Detroit.
5) Riccardo Patrese (Brabham-Ford): Monaco.
6) Nelson Pique (Brabham-Ford/BMW): Canada.
7) Rene Arnoux (Renault): France, Italy
8) Patrick Tambay (Ferrari): Germany.
9) Elio de Angelis (Lotus-Ford): Austria.
10) Keke Rosberg (Williams-Ford): Switzerland
11) Michele Alboreto (Tyrrell-Ford): Caesars Palace.

and 7 winning constructors:
1) Renault
2) McLaren-Ford
3) Ferrari
4) Brabham-Ford
5) Williams-Ford
6) Tyrrell-Ford
7) Lotus-Ford

Edit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_Formula_One_season
 
That was one crazy season! If Pironi had let Villeneuve win at Imola then there would have been 12 winners! (See Wikipedia if you don't know what I'm talking about)
 
We could do with a season like that again. There's not much variety in having Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull winning virtually all the races every year.
 
Seasons with Seven Or More Winners

1968 7 (Stewart, G Hill, Hulme, Clark, McLaren, Ickx, Siffert) from 4 constructors (Lotus, McLaren, Matra, Ferrari)
1970 7 (Rindt, Ickx, Brabham, Stewart, P Rodriguez, Reggazoni, E Fittipaldi) from 5 constructors (Lotus, Ferrari, Brabham, March, BRM)
1974 7 (Peterson, E Fittipaldi, Reutemann, Lauda, J Scheckter, Hulme, Reggazoni) from 5 constructors (McLaren, Ferrari, Lotus, Brabham, Tyrell)
1975 9 (Lauda, E Fittipaldi, Pace, J Scheckter, Mass, Hunt, Reutemann, Brambilla, Regazzoni) from 6 constructors (Ferrari, McLaren, Brabham, Tyrell, Hesketh, March)
1976 7 (Hunt, Lauda, Regazzoni, J Scheckter, Watson, Peterson, Andretti) from 6 constructors (McLaren, Ferrari, Tyrell, Penske, March, Lotus)
1977 8 (Andretti, Lauda, J Scheckter, Hunt, Reutemann, Nilsson, Laffite, Jones) from 6 constructors (Lotus, Ferrari, Wolf, McLaren, Ligier, Shadow)
1979 7 (Jones, J Scheckter, G Villeneuve, Laffite, Depailler, Jabouille, Regazzoni) from 4 constructors (Ferrari, Williams, Ligier, Renault)
1980 7 (Jones, Piquet, Arnoux, Pironi, Reutemann, Laffite, Jabouille) from 4 constructors (Williams, Renault, Brabham, Ligier)
1981 7 (Piquet, Prost, Reutemann, G Villeneuve, Laffite, Jones, Watson) from 6 constructors (Williams, Renault, Brabham, Ferrari, Ligier, McLaren)
1982 11 (Prost, Watson, Pironi, Lauda, Arnoux, Patrese, Piquet, Tambay, De Angelis, K Rosberg, Alboreto) from 7 constructors (McLaren, Renault, Ferrari, Brabham, Lotus, Williams, Tyrell)
1983 8 (Prost, Arnoux, Piquet, Watson, Tambay, K Rosberg, Alboreto, Patrese) from 6 constructors (Renault, Ferrari, Brabham, McLaren, Williams, Tyrell)
1985 8 (Prost, Alboreto, Senna, Mansell, K Rosberg, De Angelis, Piquet, Lauda) from 5 constructors (McLaren, Ferrari, Lotus, Williams, Brabham)
2003 8 (M Schumacher, R Schumacher, Montoya, Barrichello, Coulthard, Raikkonen, Fisichella, Alonso) from 5 constructors (Ferrari, Williams, McLaren, Jordan, Renault)
2008 7 (Massa, Hamilton, Raikkonen, Alonso, Kubica, Kovalainen, Vettel) from 5 constructors (Ferrari, McLaren, Renault, BMW, Toro Rosso)
 
That really highlights what a standout season 1981 was, 2 more winners than the next highest and it has the most wet races.
You mean with 7 winners, not 11!
It's interesting to see how, from 1974 to 1985, ten out of 12 seasons had 7 or more winners. It just shows the strength in depth and competitiveness of the early 80's. Also, special mention to the amazing 2003 season.
 
Eh? No 1981 was the season with the most winners, with 11. The next highest was 1975 with 9, an unusually high number anyway, this is 2 lower than 1981.
 
You mean with 7 winners, not 11!
It's interesting to see how, from 1974 to 1985, ten out of 12 seasons had 7 or more winners. It just shows the strength in depth and competitiveness of the early 80's. Also, special mention to the amazing 2003 season.

Also, reliability was a big issue back then was it not?
 
I was going to say I thought Rosberg won the title in the season with most winners... What a plonker I am :givemestrength:
But you are correct. Keke Rosberg did indeed win the 1982 WDC despite only winning one race but with 44 points ahead of Pironi (2nd) and Watson (3rd) both on 39 points. Pironi pipped Watson due to countback, having two wins and two third places against Watson's two wins and one third place.
 
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