F1 classic races - Germany

THIS BLOG HAS BEEN DONE EARLIER THAN THE SCHEDULED DATE OF THE GERMAN GRAND PRIX, DUE TO MY IMPENDING WORK PLACEMENT IN LONDON NEXT WEEK!

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 staged under the German Grand Prix between 1991 and 2010.  Enjoy the archive!

1994

WINNER: Gerhard Berger (Ferrari), 2^nd: Olivier Panis (Ligier Renault), 3^rd: Eric Bernard (Ligier Renault)

FERRARI’s victory drought of nearly four years came to an end in the 1994 German Grand Prix, but it won’t be remembered for Gerhard Berger’s dominant victory from pole position.  Instead, it will be remembered for the frightening refuelling fire involving Benetton’s youngster Jos Verstappen.  Verstappen was in fifth place when he came in for a scheduled pitstop.  A fuel filter had been removed and petrol escaped from the refuelling rig, before the Benetton went up in flames.  Amazingly, Verstappen escaped with only minor burns, as did several of his team’s mechanics.  This race would also be remembered for a massive pile-up at the start of the race.  Ten cars were wiped out including Johnny Herbert, Mika Hakkinen, Mark Blundell, Michele Alboreto and Eddie Irvine.  Hakkinen was blamed and earnt a one-race ban for his troubles.  Damon Hill failed to capitalise on a rare engine failure for Michael Schumacher by clouting Ukyo Katayama at the third chicane on the first lap and winding up out of the points.  The high attrition rate allowed the uncompetitive Ligier Renaults of Olivier Panis and Eric Bernard to finish on the podium.  Oh and did I ever forget to mention that Gerhard Berger won this race for Ferrari!

1997

WINNER: Gerhard Berger (Benetton Renault), 2^nd: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), 3^rd: Mika Hakkinen (McLaren Mercedes)

IT WAS one of the greatest comebacks in sport.  Gerhard Berger came back from a sinus infection and the tragic death of his father in an aeroplane crash to record his final victory in F1 for Benetton.  He began in pole position and made an unfancied two-stop strategy work.  However, he did earn some fortune, as Giancarlo Fisichella’s Jordan suffered a puncture whilst leading.  Fisichella retired cruelly with suspension damage which allowed the home favourite Michael Schumacher to finish second.  Neither Williams finished; Heinz-Harald Frentzen after a first lap collision with Eddie Irvine and Jacques Villeneuve spun off whilst trying to pass Jarno Trulli’s Prost.

1999

WINNER: Eddie Irvine (Ferrari), 2^nd: Mika Salo (Ferrari), 3^rd: Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Jordan Mugen Honda

MCLAREN should have secured a 1-2 at the home of Mercedes-Benz, but they blew it, as they did traditionally in 1999 and Ferrari took the maximum points instead.  David Coulthard touched Mika Salo’s Ferrari early on and damaged his front wing.  Later, a stop-go penalty for cutting the chicane whilst passing Olivier Panis compromised DC further and he finished a distant fifth.  World champion Mika Hakkinen was cruising to another victory when a refuelling rig problem at his sole pitstop dropped him to fourth.  A lap later, he passed Heinz-Harald Frentzen, but suffered a 200mph tyre blow-out entering the stadium.  He careered headfirst into the tyres, but escaped unharmed.  Salo drove brilliantly all weekend, but handed certain victory over to team-mate and championship contender Eddie Irvine.  Frentzen completed the podium procedure and there was another notable drive from Ralf Schumacher, coming through from 11^th on the grid to a fourth place finish.

2000

WINNER: Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari), 2^nd: Mika Hakkinen (McLaren Mercedes), 3^rd: David Coulthard (McLaren Mercedes)

RUBENS Barrichello charged through from 18^th on the grid to win his maiden Grand Prix in an event full of crashes, overtaking and even a lunatic running across the track during the race.  The 2000 race started spectacularly when home favourite Michael Schumacher tangled with Giancarlo Fisichella, sending both into the barriers at the first corner.  Like in 1999, the McLaren’s of Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard dominated the early stages before the disgruntled Mercedes employee walked across the road just after half-distance.  The Safety Car came out and Hakkinen was preferred over Coulthard by McLaren, leaving DC stranded back in sixth.  Another Safety Car was deployed after Jean Alesi and Pedro Diniz collided and this was followed by the rain.  Hakkinen and Jarno Trulli elected to pit for wet tyres, but Barrichello stayed out on dry weather tyres and as only the stadium section was damp, it turned out to be an inspired gamble.  The emotion on the Brazilian’s face as he broke down on the podium with his national flag showed how much it meant to him.  The two McLaren’s survived to finish second and third and Jenson Button starred in the Williams.  Having been forced to start at the back of the grid, Button finished an inspired fourth, his best result of a sensational rookie season.

2003

WRECK: Raikkonen's car in tatters, seconds into the 2003 race

WINNER: Juan Pablo Montoya (Williams BMW), 2^nd: David Coulthard (McLaren Mercedes), 3^rd: Jarno Trulli (Renault)

THE weekend was dominated by BMW Williams at ‘Hotenheim!’  Their drivers, Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher were quickest in every single session, but Ralf was out seconds into the start of the race.  He wandered across the circuit on the rundown to turn one and squeezed Rubens Barrichello between him and Kimi Raikkonen.  The result was the three cars made contact, with Raikkonen’s McLaren connecting hard with the tyre barriers.  All three drivers; championship contenders were eliminated on the spot.  With Ralf out of the way, Montoya was left to win as he pleased, by over a minute.  There was a battle royal for second spot between Jarno Trulli, Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso and David Coulthard throughout the race.  Schumacher and Coulthard both passed Trulli, but fate dealt Michael a rare blow, as he picked up a puncture with just three laps to go.  He limped back to the pits and salvaged seventh place.  Coulthard finished second; his first podium since Australia and Trulli, despite being laid by a flu bug all weekend, came third for his first rostrum since Nurburgring 1999.  The result moved Williams to the top of the constructor’s championship and Montoya to within six points of Schumacher.

2009 – Held at the Nurburgring

WINNER: Mark Webber (Red Bull Racing Renault), 2^nd: Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing Renault), 3^rd: Felipe Massa (Ferrari)

HAVING fought back from a leg breaking shunt in pre-season, Mark Webber finally ended years of bad luck and misfortune to win his first Formula One Grand Prix.  Webber started on pole position, but his aggressive defence on Rubens Barrichello in the rundown to turn one earnt Webber a drive-through penalty.  Despite this, he put in the drive of his life; at times lapping over one second quicker than his nearest challengers.  The cooler track temperatures, coupled with a three-stop strategy and a faulty fuel rig turned a possible podium for Barrichello into a very frustrated sixth place result.  Afterwards, he launched an extraordinary attack on his team for making him ‘lose the race.’  Sebastian Vettel was outshone by Webber on his home ground all weekend, but completed a Red Bull 1-2, whilst Felipe Massa made a welcome return to the podium for Ferrari.  Force India lost the possibility of their first points in the sport, when contact with Kimi Raikkonen left Adrian Sutil without a front wing.  Sutil was left back in 16^th at the end, when fifth place was possible at the finish.

Tom Walkinshaw loses cancer battle

OWNER of the rugby union side Gloucester Rugby and ex-F1 team Principal Tom Walkinshaw passed away on Sunday night.  He was 64, losing his brave battle with long cancer.

Born in Scotland in 1946, Tom was a keen racing enthusiast from an early age and began racing in 1968 in Formula Ford.  He won the production class in the British Touring Car Championship in 1974 and raced as high as Formula 2.  However, it was his success as a team owner that made Tom Walkinshaw a famous name in the motor racing industry.

He established TWR (Tom Walkinshaw Racing) in 1976, and began a very fruitful partnership with Jaguar in sportscars.  Before this, he won the European Touring Car Championship title in 1984 in a Jaguar and came third two years later alongside Win Percy in the legendary Australian touring car battle, the Bathurst 1000.

In 1988, Tom retired from driving and decided to concentrate on management, and it bought immediate results.  Their motorsport portfolio increased very rapidly, and it was Jaguar where the main success came.  

They won the World Sportscar title in 1987, winning eight of the ten races.  A year later, the Jaguars stormed Le Mans.  Johnny Dumfries, Andy Wallace and Jan Lammers took the honours and Walkinshaw was also responsible for poaching technical director Ross Brawn from Arrows, and making him into a legendary force in sportscars.  Sauber Mercedes dominated the 1989 event, with a 1-2 finish, but the Jags returned to the winners’ rostrum in Le Mans in 1990.  With Sauber not returning, the Jaguar team overcame a stiff challenge from Porsche to take a historic 1-2 finish.  Lammers, Wallace and Franz Konrad were second, behind John Nielsen, Price Cobb and Martin Brundle.  It was Brundle’s greatest career achievement and the BBC commentator remembers Tom’s passion for Le Mans; “He was a mentor to me; an entrepreneurial racer and a great tactician.”

FIERY: Verstappen's 94 fire spelt the end at Benetton for Tom

At the British Grand Prix in 1991, news brokethrough of TWR’s 35% buyout in the Benetton Formula One team.  Walkinshaw would join Flavio Briatore in owning the team and took the talented Brawn with him to Benetton.  It was Walkinshaw’s insistence of the talents of Michael Schumacher, who’d raced for Sauber Mercedes in sportscars against Tom’s Jaguar squad that gave Briatore the belief to poach Schumi from under Jordan’s noses at Monza in 1991.  In 1994, he played an instrumental part in Schumacher’s first world championship title.  However, he was seen as the controversial villain in the team and parted company with Benetton at the end of the season.  Walkinshaw was seen to challenge the black flag against Schumacher at the British Grand Prix.  A race later, and a fuel filler was removed at the German Grand Prix, which led to a catastrophic refuelling fire for Dutchman Jos Verstappen.  Although a junior member of the team was officially blamed, it is widely claimed that Walkinshaw gave permission for the filler to be removed, hence on an FIA deal, ending his career with the newly-crowned top team in Grand Prix racing.

Tom wound up at the Benetton-owned Ligier team for 1995, and then a falling out with Briatore led to a deal for him to take sole control of the team fall through.  Consequently, he bought out Jackie Oliver’s Footwork team in 1996 and renamed it Arrows.  His persistence saw Yamaha engines come onboard, Bridgestone tyres to make their debut a year earlier than planned and encouraged world champion Damon Hill to join the ambitious programme.  The programme was a disaster.  The car was massively uncompetitive and although Hill came so close to winning the Hungarian Grand Prix, until a throttle problem on the last lap cost him the race to Jacques Villeneuve, Hill and Walkinshaw parted company at the end of the season, and not on the best of terms.  Damon, who now owns the BRDC valued Walkinshaw’s ambition; “He was a very big-hearted guy who put everything he had into motor racing in all of its forms.”

FADING: Tom with Briatore and Bernie in his final F1 season

Afterwards, it was largely downhill in Formula One for Tom Walkinshaw, although there were a few highlights.  On the track, there was a double point’s finish in Monaco in 1998 and Verstappen ran as high as second in the 2001 Austrian and Malaysian Grand Prix’s.  Off-track, he secured a massive sponsorship deal with the mobile phone giant Orange for 2000, but it wasn’t enough for the failing Arrows team.  The Arrows team went bust at the end of the 2002 season, after failing to pay Jaguar its fee for Cosworth engines.  The team’s last appearance in F1 came at Hockenheim in 2002.  Although his TWR team helped Rickard Rydell and Volvo to a British Touring Car Championship title in 1998 and he continued to run a touring car team in Australia, his major involvement in motorsport was finished.

At the same time as the Arrows team was disappearing out of F1, Walkinshaw started to turn his attentions towards rugby union.  He was the chairman of Premiership rugby from 1998-2002 and pumped plenty of money into his role as Gloucester chairman.  Although he turned the club into a leading force, he was unable to turn that money into success on a domestic or European scale.

Tom Walkinshaw (14 August 1946 - 12 December 2010)

Some will say he had a ruthless and dark side to his business, but Tom Walkinshaw was a mild, generous and kind man, who didn’t quite achieve the success he craved, especially in motorsports ultimate pinnacle.  However, he was a massive presence and a real hard-worker and he will be missed, both in the rugby and motor racing circles.

RIP Tom