The Nine

teabagyokel

#dejavu
Valued Member
Seven winners in seven races, eh? Remarkable, no? What about if there was nine...

1. 1961 French Grand Prix/1982 Monaco Grand Prix
Giancarlo Baghetti/Riccardo Patrese
The first driver of the 9 on both of the occasions there have been nine winners from 9 were Italians taking their maiden wins. Baghetti, of course, was on his debut, while Patrese had had several years where he'd at least earned the mortal emnity of James Hunt. Nevertheless, both were endebted to the falling off the road of others - Baghetti was in the fourth Ferrari when the other three failed, he beat Porsche to the line. Patrese saw Prost, Pironi and de Cesaris fail to make the finish.

2. 1961 British Grand Prix/1982 US East Grand Prix
Wolfgang Von Trips/John Watson
Very different in this case. Taffy was in a dominant car at Silverstone and won from fourth on the grid, leading home a Ferrari 1-2-3. Wattie's McLaren was not a car built to qualify well from Grands Prix and he won from 17th on the grid. Both had Americans in second place though, with Phil Hill and Eddie Cheever taking the podiums.

3. 1961 German Grand Prix/1982 Canadian Grand Prix
Stirling Moss/Nelson Piquet
So the most popularly acclaimed driver to not win the title and one of the least popular to win it on multiple occasions. It took more than a dominant car to win in the wet at the Nurburgring, which was fantastic for Stirling since his Rob Walker Lotus was not a dominant car. He beat the Ferraris home. Piquet, meanwhile, lead a unique one-two since he had a turbo BMW and his team-mate Patrese had a Ford Cosworth DFV. The race is sadly remembered for the death of Ricardo Palletti, however.

4. 1961 Italian Grand Prix/1982 Dutch Grand Prix
Phil Hill/Didier Pironi
Tragedy was now to strike Monza in 1961 with the death of Wolfgang Von Trips gifting the title to his victorious team-mate Phil Hill. Pironi was another Ferrari driver making a title dash in 1982 with his one defeat of the entire field of the year. Pironi would not celebrate the success that Hill was able to.

5. 1961 US Grand Prix/1982 British Grand Prix
Innes Ireland/Niki Lauda
While Ferrari were a serious presence at Brands Hatch in 1982, following returning retiree Niki Lauda of McLaren home, it was their withdrawal from the US Grand Prix in 1961 which opened up the field. And it was Colin Chapman's big day as Innes Ireland won the factory Lotus team's first race. And his only race in F1. Of course, Lauda was already a two time champion, and there was one left to come for the Austrian...

6. 1962 Dutch Grand Prix/1982 French Grand Prix
Graham Hill/Rene Arnoux
The 1962 Dutch Grand Prix opened the new season, and with high attrition it was the unfamiliar name of Tommy Taylor who finished second to maiden winner Graham Hill. The runner-up at Paul Ricard in 1982 had a more stellar career - Alain Prost hoped to be allowed past his team-mate Arnoux to support his title challenge, but Arnoux led home a French 1-2-3 with Pironi in third.

7. 1962 Monaco Grand Prix/1982 German Grand Prix
Bruce McLaren/Patrick Tambay
It is ironic that in his title year, Graham Hill did not win the Monaco Grand Prix. He led most of the race, but when on lap 92 he retired from engine trouble, it was Cooper's McLaren (four years before his eponymous team's birth) who took the win. It was Nelson Piquet who retired from the lead at Hockenheim twenty years later in a collision with Eliseo Salazar, and Patrick Tambay brought the late Gilles Villeneuve's iconic car #27 home for an emotional victory, particularly considering Pironi's terrible accident from qualifying.

8. 1962 Belgian Grand Prix/1982 Austrian Grand Prix
Jim Clark/Elio de Angelis
So two tragic drivers won their first race for Lotus. Clark's inaugral victory was achieved having led for all but the first few laps at the magnificent Spa-Francorchamps, de Angelis profited from Prost's retirement near the end to take victory at the impressive Osterreichring. Clark went on to greatness, and there are those who say de Angelis could have done so too.

9. 1962 French Grand Prix/1982 Swiss Grand Prix
Dan Gurney/Keke Rosberg
So both times, the last of the run was in France. Dan Gurney's 4 victories saw him take 3 different constructors' inaugral wins and it was Porsche's turn at Rouen. Twenty years later, at Dijon, an inaugral win was recorded by Keke Rosberg. For Keke it was to be the only win of the year on the way to the title, Gurney would never win that honour, but his gilded career is scarcely less so due to that.

Then Jim Clark and Rene Arnoux went and spoiled all the fun...
 
Thought you were referring to the Fellowship of the Ring for a minute...

Anyway, some magical names to conjure with there, along with many memories.

Maybe there won't be nine in a row this season, but I don't see why there couldn't be two more different winners, when you consider that either of the two Lotuses as well as Schumacher, Perez or Massa could yet win a race. Even Senna is not an impossibility (albeit a long shot) given what his team mate has already achieved in the same car.
 
Good stuff tby!

If my calculations are correct then we have already tied another sort of mark this year. With 5 different constructors winning races to start the 2012 season, that equals the run that 1982 saw with 5 different constructors winning from Britain to Switzerland.

The start of the 1962 campaign saw 4 different constructors open the season with victories. And the 61-62 stretch saw a total of 5 constructors win in those 9 GP, so we've already matched that in 2012 as well.
 
Thanks to statsf1, we can give you the definitive answer on Constructors...

1982 German Grand Prix - Ferrari (Tambay)
1982 Austrian Grand Prix - Lotus (de Angelis)
1982 Swiss Grand Prix - Williams (Rosberg)
1982 Italian Grand Prix - Renault (Arnoux)
1982 Las Vegas Grand Prix - Tyrrell (Alboreto)
1983 Brazilian Grand Prix - Brabham (Piquet)
1983 US West Grand Prix - McLaren (Watson)

- A total of 7 different constructors.

Interestingly there have been only four occasions we had 8 or more winners of 8 races. Three of them included the Austrian and Swiss Grands Prix of 1982.
 
The old carry-over into the next season thing. Gets ya (me) every time. I think it sort of diminishes the streak as well. Different regulations, different personnel, different equipment, etc...

Not that we shouldn't recognize it though.
 
The record for most constructors to win consecutive races in a single season is 5 -

1974 (SA-Swe, GB-Can)
1975 (Ned-Aut)
1977 (Swe-Aut, Aut-Can - overlapping)
1981 (Esp-Aut)
1982 (GB-Swi, Ger-Veg - overlapping)
1983 (Brz-Mon)
1985 (Smr-Fra)
2012 (Aus-Esp)
 
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