Snatched defeat from the jaws of victory

[TN23]

If we're talking mistakes:
Belgium 1998: Schumacher should have been more cautious when lapping Coulthard
Monaco 1982: Prost spinning just after Murray had said he was 'surely on his way to victory' and Daly, for throwing away his only chance of a win by taking his front wing and rear wing off the car before his gearbox seized up
Monaco 1988: Senna crashes at Portier
France 2002: Raikkonen runs wide on the last lap
Monza 1999: Hakkinen crashes then doesn't hide himself very well whilst crying
Germany 1999: Hakkinen crashes out of the lead
Monaco 1970: Jack Brabham crashes into the barrier under pressure from Rindt
Monaco 1984: Mansell spins on a white line
Brazil 1993: Prost crashes into Fittipladi's Minardi in the wet
Australia 2003: Late spin by Montoya
Australia 1985: Pretty sure Lauda crashed when Rosberg pitted
Japan 1990: Overenthusiastic pit exit by Mansell breaks driveshaft
Canada 1991: Mansell stalls when waving to fans, Piquet 'almost came'
China 2010: Rosberg skids off leaving Button in the lead
Italy 1987: Senna goes off on ancient tyres whilst trying to lap Ghinzani
Belgium 1992: Brundle distracted by Schumacher's off and doesn't pit for tyres as scheduled. Schumacher stops and takes the lead as a result
Australia 1995: Coulthard has brain fade and bins it in the pit entry barrier
Britain 1998: Hakkinen goes off in the rain, Schumacher wins controversially

Is that comprehensive enough?

 

[Slyboogy]

I also forgot San Marino 1999 Hakkinen well had that in the bag and had a commanding lead over Schumacher and Coulthard.

 

[Legs]

Is that comprehensive enough?

You missed out Senna at Adelaide in 1989...

 

[KekeTheKing]

Australia 1985: Pretty sure Lauda crashed when Rosberg pitted

Pretty much.

The first time that Keke pitted, Senna clipped his rear wheel, taking part of his own front wing off, forcing him to make a stop of his own.

The second time that Keke pitted, Ayrton assumed the lead, with Lauda moving into P2. A couple laps later, Lauda passed Senna for first on Lap 55. On Lap 57, Niki made a mistake under braking, and his car veered right into the wall, damaging the suspension.

There was quite a few laps left though, and I have no doubts whatsoever that Keke would have caught him up by the end of the race anyway.

 

[Brogan]

There's a list here on the f1.com site: http://www.formula1.com/news/features/2011/6/12192.html

 

[RayInTorontoCanada]

Keke, do you have a video edit of that race? I remember that season well because Alboreto's title challenge faded when Enzo Ferrari switched their Turbo tuning outfit (Getrag / KKK) at the same time as Williams was on a resurgence with the Honda engines. If you have a video of that race, i'd love to see it. Thanks in advance.

 

[KekeTheKing]

Keke, do you have a video edit of that race?

Indeed I do. Should be uploaded soon.

Alboreto was right in the middle of the action, albeit a lap down.

 

[RayInTorontoCanada]

Alboreto was right in the middle of the action, albeit a lap down.

Do you know the story behind it? I wrote a story on it on 606 about two winters ago. Ferrari, mid season, changed their tuner on their Turbos to an American firm (for commercial reasons) and the net result was one turbo failure after another with Alboreto DNFing while Prost raked up the points. This was a rumour and I was a young teenager at the time...so I still find it interesting. If you have any info on it, that would be good. Perhaps we can have a thread on it (Ferrari's/McLaren's/Williams'/Senna's 1985 season)?

 

[KekeTheKing]

Yes, the sight of a flaming Ferrari was not uncommon near the end of 85. My favorite was when he came into the Brands Hatch pits while undoing his seat-belts, hopping out of the car while it was still moving, and while it was still well and truly ablaze.

Here are the highlights from Australia 1985.

 

[RayInTorontoCanada]

Thank you, Keke!

 

[Il_leone]

Ray
The first three obvious choices the others less famous

1. Mansell 1991 Montreal - he waved on the last lap and allowed the car to die because the gearbox went into neutral and Piquet came by laughing

2. Hamilton 2007 China - simply for the ridiculousness in Ron's head wanting to humiliate Alonso and dithering to bring Lewis in when it was not necessary to go and win

3. Hakkinen 1999 Monza he threw it away in the lead and then cried in the bushes

4. Schumacher 1998 Spa well in the lead until he came up to Coulthard and I had a thought he may crash into DC and to my amazement he did and Damon won

5. Raikkonen 2005 Nurburgring - he flat spotted his tyre and Alonso was closing in and Kimi's suspension went last lap

6. Hakkinen 2001 Spain - was on course for victory and the clutch exploded. Schumacher who had his problems had slowed down and won

7. Montoya 2003 Melbourne under no pressure spun and allowed Coulthard throw to win

8. Hakkinen 1999 Imola almost as bad as Monza 99

9. Senna 1988 Monza the race that got away and prevented the clean sweep and it was the first race after Enzo died

10. Brabham 1970 Monaco lost it on the last corner under pressure from Rindt

11. DC and Fisichella 1999 Nurburgring both went off whilst leading in the wet

 

[RayInTorontoCanada]

5. Raikkonen 2005 Nurburgring - he flat spotted his tyre and Alonso was closing in and Kimi's suspension went last lap

Il Leone, wasn't that the year it was against the rules to change tyres? McLaren thought they'd get penalized, right? So they left Kimi out and the vibrations from the flat-spotting buckled the suspension under heavy breaking. Is it true that McLaren thought they would be penalized? Or is it true they had no intention of anything other than winning that race...that 3rd wouldn't be good enough?

 

[Il_leone]

Others

Hill at Hockenheim 1995 lap 1 which was music to the Germans and Schumacher
Hill at Hungary 1997 cruelly robbed on the last lap in producing the shock of the decade - an Arrows win..those 4 pts was enough for Jacques Villeneuve to be world champion although its debatable if JV would have slowed as much to let the Mclaren's through at the last race then

Hill Hockenheim 1993 tyre blew whilst leading 2 laps from home

 

[Il_leone]

Il Leone, wasn't that the year it was against the rules to change tyres? McLaren thought they'd get penalized, right? So they left Kimi out and the vibrations from the flat-spotting buckled the suspension under heavy breaking. Is it true that McLaren thought they would be penalized? Or is it true they had no intention of anything other than winning that race...that 3rd wouldn't be good enough?

Yes it was the year tyre changes were not allowed but Kimi had a huge lead and locked up which started the flat spot that caused all sorts of vibration issues with the suspension

It was another case of MClaren dithering again with Ron in charge...like to see who champions Ron ahead of Martin for this bungle

 

[RayInTorontoCanada]

Ya I remember. Kimi came up to lap Villeneuve and the exchange didn't go smoothly and he nearly tripped over JV and went flat-spotting off into the run off area. I recall Dennis saying they only wanted the win and didn't care about 3rd or 4th or whatever...and left him out. Dennis didn't know if it was legal anyway...and the FIA changed the No Tyre Change rule on safety grounds there after, I believe.

 

[Brian_W_Lawrence]

There's a list here on the f1.com site: http://www.formula1.com/news/features/2011/6/12192.html

That isn't a full list of drivers who took the lead on the last lap, currently
my list has 26 races:

32 ITA 1953 JM Fangio 8 Maserati A6GCM Ascari spun off on final corner

36 FRA 1954 JM Fangio 5 Mercedes-Benz W196 passed team-mate Kling

84 USA 1959 B McLaren 1 Cooper-Climax T51 passed team-mate Brabham



98 FRA 1961 G Baghetti 5 Ferrari 156 passed Gurney

124 BEL 1964 J Clark 1 Lotus-Climax G Hill ran out of fuel

159 ITA 1967 J Surtees 1 Honda RA300 Clark retired with fuel starvation

165 BEL 1968 B McLaren 1 McLaren-Cosworth M7A Stewart ran out of fuel



187 MON 1970 J Rindt 1 Lotus-Cosworth 49C Brabham went off

191 GBR 1970 J Rindt 2 Lotus-Cosworth 72 Brabham out of fuel

206 ITA 1971 P Gethin 2 BRM P160 passed Peterson

254 ESP 1975 J Mass 2 McLaren-Cosworth M23 passed Ickx - red flagged

289 FRA 1977 M Andretti 1 Lotus-Cosworth 78 passed Watson (almost out of fuel)

300 RSA 1978 R Peterson 1 Lotus-Cosworth 78 passed Depailler (fuel pickup)



361 RSM 1982 D Pironi 3 Ferrari 126C2 passed team-mate Villeneuve [boo]

363 MON 1982 R Patrese 2 Brabham-Cosworth BT49D Pironi retired (fuel injection)



505 CDN 1991 N Piquet 1 Benetton-Ford B191 passed Mansell (who 'hit wrong

button')

515 JPN 1991 G Berger 2 McLaren-Honda MP4/6 passed team-mate Senna [conceded]

608 HUN 1997 J Villeneuve 1 Williams-Renault FW19 passed D Hill [in an Arrows!]

614 Eur 1997 M Häkkinen 1 McLaren-Mercedes MP4/12 passed Villeneuve [conceded]



668 ESP 2001 M Schumacher 3 Ferrari F2001 Häkkinen retired (clutch)

686 AUT 2002 M Schumacher 2 Ferrari F2002 passed team-mate Barrichello

(conceded)

696 USA 2002 R Barrichello 3 Ferrari F2002 passed team-mate Schumacher

(conceded)

700 BRA 2003 G Fisichella 1 Jordan EJ13 passed Räikkönen - red flagged

738 EUR 2005 F Alonso 3 Renault R25 Räikkönen retired (suspension

failure)

749 JPN 2005 K Räikkönen 2 McLaren-Mercedes MP4/20 passed Fisichella



846 CDN 2011 J Button 1 McLaren-Mercedes MP4/26 passed Vettel (ran wide)

The first column is the GP number starting from Silverstone 1950.

The number following driver's name is the stint he had in the lead of that race - those with a
one (McLaren, Clark, Surtees, McLaren again, Rindt, Andretti, Peterson, Villeneuve, Häkkinen,
Fisichella & Button) took the lead for the first time on the final lap.

 

[Brogan]

Nice one Brian

 

[Brian_W_Lawrence]

These drivers took the lead with less than 10 laps remaining
(number of laps in final column):

13 GER 1951 Alberto Ascari 2 Ferrari 375 6

28 FRA 1953 Mike Hawthorn 6 Ferrari 500 4

38 GER 1954 Juan Manuel Fangio 2 Mercedes-Benz W196 6

56 ITA 1956 Stirling Moss 3 Maserati 250F 3

62 GER 1957 Juan Manuel Fangio 2 Maserati 250F 2

72 GER 1958 Tony Brooks 1 Vanwall [57] 5

81 GER 1959 Tony Brooks 11 Ferrari Dino 246 9

91 GBR 1960 Jack Brabham 2 Cooper-Climax T53 6

97 BEL 1961 Phil Hill 8 Ferrari 156 6

104 MON 1962 Bruce McLaren 2 Cooper-Climax T60 8

131 MEX 1964 Dan Gurney 1 Brabham-Climax BT7 2

139 ITA 1965 Jackie Stewart 15 BRM P261 2

143 BEL 1966 John Surtees 3 Ferrari 312/66 5

151 RSA 1967 Pedro Rodriguez 1 Cooper-Maserati T81 7

154 BEL 1967 Dan Gurney 1 Eagle-Weslake T1G 8

157 GER 1967 Denny Hulme 1 Brabham-Repco BT24 3

180 GER 1969 Jacky Ickx 1 Brabham-Cosworth BT26A 8

192 GER 1970 Jochen Rindt 7 Lotus-Cosworth 72 2

196 USA 1970 Emerson Fittipaldi 1 Lotus-Cosworth 72C 8

198 RSA 1971 Mario Andretti 1 Ferrari 312B 4

227 SWE 1973 Denny Hulme 1 McLaren-Cosworth M23 2

230 NED 1973 Jackie Stewart 1 Tyrrell-Cosworth 006 9

232 AUT 1973 Ronnie Peterson 2 Lotus-Cosworth 72E 6

236 ARG 1974 Denny Hulme 1 McLaren-Cosworth M23 2

245 GBR 1974 Jody Scheckter 1 Tyrrell-Cosworth 007 6

252 BRA 1975 Carlos Pace 1 Brabham-Cosworth BT44B 8

261 GER 1975 Carlos Reutemann 1 Brabham-Cosworth BT44B 5

281 ARG 1977 Jody Scheckter 1 Wolf-Cosworth WR1 6

284 LB 1977 Mario Andretti 1 Lotus-Cosworth 78 4

288 SWE 1977 Jacques Laffite 1 Ligier-Matra JS7 3

296 CDN 1977 Jody Scheckter 1 Wolf-Cosworth WR1 2

311 ITA 1978 Mario Andretti 1 Lotus-Cosworth 79 6

337 GER 1980 Jacques Laffite 1 Ligier-Cosworth JS11/15 5

348 MON 1981 Gilles Villeneuve 1 Ferrari 126CK 4

351 GBR 1981 John Watson 1 McLaren-Cosworth MP4 8

352 GER 1981 Nelson Piquet 1 Brabham-Cosworth BT49C 7

362 BEL 1982 John Watson 1 McLaren-Cosworth MP4B 2

370 AUT 1982 Elio de Angelis 1 Lotus-Cosworth 91 5

371 SWI 1982 Keke Rosberg 1 Williams-Cosworth FW08 2

384 AUT 1983 Alain Prost 1 Renault RE40 6

402 ITA 1984 Niki Lauda 1 McLaren-TAG MP4/2 9

407 RSM 1985 Alain Prost 1 McLaren-TAG MP4/2B 3

412 GBR 1985 Alain Prost 2 McLaren-TAG MP4/2B 6

416 ITA 1985 Alain Prost 2 McLaren-TAG MP4/2B 7

430 GER 1986 Nelson Piquet 3 Williams-Honda FW11 6

443 GBR 1987 Nigel Mansell 1 Williams-Honda FW11B 3

444 GER 1987 Nelson Piquet 1 Williams-Honda FW11B 5

445 HUN 1987 Nelson Piquet 1 Williams-Honda FW11B 6

447 ITA 1987 Nelson Piquet 2 Williams-Honda FW11B 8

448 POR 1987 Alain Prost 1 McLaren-TAG MP4/3 3

464 ITA 1988 Gerhard Berger 1 Ferrari F1/87/88C 2

474 CDN 1989 Thierry Boutsen 1 Williams-Renault FW12C 3

477 GER 1989 Ayrton Senna 2 McLaren-Honda MP4/5 3

480 ITA 1989 Alain Prost 1 McLaren-Honda MP4/5 9

483 JPN 1989 Ayrton Senna 3 McLaren-Honda MP4/5 3

490 MEX 1990 Alain Prost 1 Ferrari 641 9

491 FRA 1990 Alain Prost 1 Ferrari 641 3

522 MON 1992 Ayrton Senna 1 McLaren-Honda MP4/7A 8

529 ITA 1992 Ayrton Senna 1 McLaren-Honda MP4/7A 6

542 GER 1993 Alain Prost 2 Williams-Renault FW15C 2

545 ITA 1993 Damon Hill 1 Williams-Renault FW15C 5

576 ITA 1995 Johnny Herbert 2 Benetton-Renault B195 8

578 Eur 1995 Michael Schumacher 1 Benetton-Renault B195 3

582 AUS 1996 Damon Hill 2 Williams-Renault FW18 5

592 GER 1996 Damon Hill 2 Williams-Renault FW18 3

604 CDN 1997 Michael Schumacher 3 Ferrari F310B 3

606 GBR 1997 Jacques Villeneuve 3 Williams-Renault FW19 7

615 AUS 1998 Mika Häkkinen 3 McLaren-Mercedes MP4/13 3

637 FRA 1999 Heinz-Harald Frentzen 1 Jordan-Mugen Honda 199 7

645 MAS 1999 Eddie Irvine 3 Ferrari F399 4

659 BEL 2000 Mika Häkkinen 3 McLaren-Mercedes MP4/15 4

691 FRA 2002 Michael Schumacher 3 Ferrari F2002 5

778 EUR 2007 Fernando Alonso 1 McLaren-Mercedes MP4/22 5

795 GER 2008 Lewis Hamilton 4 McLaren-Mercedes MP4/23 8

796 HUN 2008 Heikki Kovalainen 3 McLaren-Mercedes MP4/23 3

815 BEL 2009 Kimi Räikkönen 3 Ferrari F60 9

842 CHN 2011 Lewis Hamilton 2 McLaren-Mercedes MP4/26 5

I'll see if I can pull the data to show who lost the lead (and maybe why).

 

[Legs]

Thanks to Brian for his brilliant list on the 'Aces Losing Races' thread!

 

[Dave Aston]

That Monza slipstreamer that Peter Gethin won... '71?