IN A new series, I will be looking back at six classic races every weekend from the country about to stage an event in the 2011 FIA Formula One World Championship. This is my selection, of races in Monaco between 1991 and 2010. Enjoy the archive!
1991
WINNER: Nelson Piquet (Benetton Ford), 2nd: Stefano Modena (Tyrrell Honda), 3rd: Riccardo Patrese (Williams Renault)
NIGEL Mansell totally dominated the 1991 event, but he endured the curse of Murray Walker and the race ended up being won by his bitter rival, Nelson Piquet. It was Pirelli’s last win in Formula One before they got involved in the sport again this season. The Williams Renault was turning into the fastest car and they annexed the front row in qualifying. Mansell beat his team-mate Riccardo Patrese off the startline, with Ayrton Senna giving vain chase in third. On lap 25, Senna went out with electronic issues, which had also claimed his team-mate Gerhard Berger. The scene was set for a Williams 1-2, but Patrese’s gearbox starting misbehaving and he dropped to fourth. On the last lap, Mansell was waving to the crowd in celebration, whilst Walker was using his line ‘his first win of the 1991 season for BBC viewers.’ Round the Casino hairpin and the Williams ground to a halt, with a sudden gearbox failure. It let Piquet in for a lucky win, whilst the impressive Stefano Modena earnt his best ever Grand Prix finish in a Tyrrell Honda.
1995
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| SOLE: Win for Jean Alesi in his career came emotionally in 1995 |
WINNER: Jean Alesi (Ferrari), 2nd: Rubens Barrichello (Jordan Peugeot), 3rd: Eddie Irvine (Jordan Peugeot)
ON HIS 31st birthday, Jean Alesi secured an emotional and popular victory in Montreal. To add fuel to the fire, the Frenchman was driving Ferrari No.27, driven in the past by the Canadian darling, Gilles Villeneuve. Michael Schumacher had been storming to an easy win, but the champion suffered a gear selection problem, which robbed the German of certain victory. Thanks to a late tangle between Martin Brundle and Gerhard Berger, Schumacher still finished fifth. Alesi only just made it to the line, as he spluttered to a halt out of fuel on the slowing down lap. For once, his luck held together when he needed it most. Gearbox failure left an unhappy Damon Hill on the sidelines and this allowed the two Jordan’s of Rubens Barrichello and Eddie Irvine through into an unlikely double podium result for the underperforming squad.
1998
WINNER: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), 2nd: Giancarlo Fisichella (Benetton Playlife), 3rd: Eddie Irvine (Ferrari)
IN AN incredible event, Michael Schumacher produced a stirring comeback drive to win and relight a fading championship challenge. He was helped by a miserable day for the all-conquering McLaren’s, who both retired. Mika Hakkinen’s gearbox got jammed at a restart, whilst David Coulthard pulled off with transmission failure. There had been a restart after Alexander Wurz clipped Jean Alesi and barrel-rolled his Benetton three times into the gravel trap. On the second start, Ralf Schumacher spun his Jordan wildly, and Alesi, limping around with no front wing after contact with Eddie Irvine, was collected by Jarno Trulli. The Prost car ended up on the top of Alesi’s spare chassis. Irvine recovered from a puncture to finish a fighting third. Even after the McLaren’s disappearance, Schumacher Snr didn’t make life easy for himself. On lap 20, he returned to the racetrack after a scheduled pitstop and pushed the Williams of Heinz-Harald Frentzen off the circuit. Patrick Head was furious, and with good justification. Schumacher was given a stop-go penalty and then survived a vicious attempt by Damon Hill to put him in the wall on his comeback charge. Hill was accused of dangerous weaving by his former enemy, and his luck ran out, as his throttle cut out, which wrecked his podium chances. On a charge, Schumacher hunted down the long-time leader Giancarlo Fisichella, got ahead after his second stop and went onto record a stunning victory. After his rolling antics early on, Wurz did very well to finish a superb fourth in the spare Benetton.
2005
WINNER: Kimi Raikkonen (McLaren Mercedes), 2nd: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), 3rd: Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari)
THIS was a case of waiting for your rivals to falter and Kimi Raikkonen did that in 2005. Raikkonen was behind the two Renault’s and his team-mate for the majority of the afternoon, but benefited from their dramas to win in Canada. First, Giancarlo Fisichella crawled around to retire with a total hydraulic failure, gutted to lose a potential race victory. Next, runaway championship leader Fernando Alonso made a rare mistake touched a wall and terminally damaged his rear suspension. Finally, Juan Pablo Montoya was so incensed by a poor McLaren strategy call, that he exited the pits with the red light still on during a Safety Car period. The Colombian was promptly disqualified. Raikkonen survived a late steering scare to hold off Michael Schumacher for his third win of the season, whilst Rubens Barrichello came through from a pitlane start to finish third for Ferrari.
2007
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| LUCKY: Kubica escaped serious injury from this smash in 2007 |
WINNER: Lewis Hamilton (McLaren Mercedes), 2nd: Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber), 3rd: Alexander Wurz (Williams Toyota)
A STAR was well and truly born in this event in 2007, as Lewis Hamilton overcame four nerve-racking Safety Car periods to earn his first ever Formula One victory. His feat was overshadowed by a sickening crash for the BMW Sauber of Robert Kubica. On lap 27, shortly after the first Safety Car period to recover Adrian Sutil’s crashed Spyker, Kubica clipped the Toyota of Jarno Trulli on the rundown to the Casino hairpin. The Pole’s front wing went underneath his chassis, launching him airborne and violently into the crash barriers. The car totally disintegrated and the remains rolled back across the road to the opposite guardrail. Incredibly, Kubica escaped with just a sprained ankle and would miss only one event in his full recovery. Aside for one lap during the first Safety Car, Hamilton led throughout and stayed cool under intense scrutiny, on a day when the more experienced got into trouble. Both Felipe Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella were disqualified for repeating Juan Pablo Montoya’s mistake in 2005, by charging back into the race with the red light still on at the pitlane exit. Hamilton’s team-mate, Fernando Alonso went off the track four times at the first corner during the race, and finished a lame 7th, having been sensationally passed in the closing stages by Takuma Sato’s Super Aguri Honda. Hamilton cruised over the line relatively comfortably to head home Nick Heidfeld’s BMW and Alexander Wurz, who secured his first podium for ten years. He’d started down in 19th on the grid, which highlighted the chaos that was Canada 2007.
2010
WINNER: Lewis Hamilton (McLaren Mercedes), 2nd: Jenson Button (McLaren Mercedes), 3rd: Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
LEWIS Hamilton managed his tyres the best last season to earn back-to-back wins on Formula One’s return to North America following a one year sabbatical. Hamilton led Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso home, in the only event that saw drivers having to make multiple pitstops on a dry racing day. Had it not been for some rotten luck in traffic against Jarno Trulli and Karun Chandok, Alonso might well have stolen the win for Ferrari. Sebastian Vettel nursed a gearbox issue to finish fourth, just ahead of team-mate Mark Webber, who’d tried a different race strategy in an effort to win, but wound up fifth. In his comeback season, Michael Schumacher drove appallingly and got criticised for squeezing Robert Kubica onto the grass and Felipe Massa into the wall. He finished in 11th.
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