Formula One News

France 2002 – Michael Schumacher

Rather unbelievably the stage was set for Michael Schumacher to secure a record-equalling 5^th world title on the 21^st of July 2002. What had been a long shot at the start of the weekend became something of a formality once Schumacher’s Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello had his car completely fail on his while on the grid. Barrichello was Schumacher’s only real threat for the title by this stage of the season, with him gone all Schumacher needed to do was win the race and for Juan Pablo Montoya to finish off the podium.

Montoya was on pole though and would hold off Schumacher at the start of the race. It was clear Schumacher had better pace though and he was expected to jump the Williams driver in the opening pitstop sequence. Schumacher duly did just that, however he had made a rare mistake while exiting the pits by crossing the white line. A drive through penalty was awarded to him and he slipped back behind McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen, whom had himself jumped Montoya in the pits.

Schumacher was not ready to give up on a 5^th championship and a 61^st victory. He reeled Raikkonen in and put the young Finn under tremendous pressure in the closing laps. Eventually the McLaren driver was forced into an error, slipping wide on oil left behind by Allan McNish’s Toyota on the run down to the Adelaide hairpin.

Schumacher pounced at once and completed a smart comeback from an error you’d usually only attribute to a rookie. A 5^th title was his and a place in history was secured forever.

Germany 2009 – Mark Webber

Mark Webber and Rubens Barrichello started alongside each other for the 2009 German Grand Prix and would remain that way most of the way down the main straight on lap 1. Webber swiped across the track and made contact with Barrichello at high speed, though both cars came away from the impact undamaged. Barrichello snatched the lead, Webber was given a drive through penalty for a dangerous move and it looked like his hopes of a maiden win were shattered.

Webber had other ideas though. After retaking the lead from Barrichello when the Brazilian stopped early, Webber set about going on a charge. Red Bull pulled Webber in for his 1^st stop and he quickly retook the lead before stopping again to take his penalty. This left Felipa Massa in the lead from Barrichello. Webber made his way back up to 2^nd place prior to the 2^nd and final stops, before leapfrogging Barrichello once again in the pit sequence to take a famous 1^st F1 victory.

Canada 2011 – Jenson Button

Jenson Button was down in 21^st place on lap 37 of the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix. By lap 70 he was 1^st. His journey there was filled with incidents, luck and pitstops. Button started the race in 7^th place and rose to 5^th at the start. He made an error mid-lap and dropped down to 7^th again behind Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton. After getting by Hamilton when Hamilton made an error, Button defended robustly from his team-mate. This led to the pair having a race-ending collision for Hamilton down the main straight on lap 8.

Button, who had stopped for intermediate tyres prior to the safety car period to retrieve Hamilton’s stricken McLaren, was then given a drive through penalty for overspeed during the safety car period. Dropping to 15^th, his hopes of victory went from slim to zero. Or so we all thought.  Button methodically began to make his way back up the order to 8^th place before the rain intensified to a point that full wets were required. This dropped Button back down to 11^th as the race was halted for a 2 hour period due to the weather. When the race eventually restarted Button once again started to make his way back up the order.

Button then had an incident with Alonso on lap 37, which left Alonso stranded on a kerb and brought out the safety car yet again. Button suffered a punctured tyre in the clash and the subsequent pitstop would drop him down to 21^st and last place. For a 3^rd time Button had to fight his way through the field.

With DRS being enabled on lap 46, this journey became easier for Button and he quickly rose to 10^th and back into the points. Following the field switching to dry tyres, Button was in 4^th and only had Schumacher, Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel ahead of him. A 6^th safety car for an accident further down the field bunched the field up and made Button’s life just that bit easier. He quickly breezed by both Webber and Schumacher on the same lap and set off after leader Vettel.

On the final lap Vettel still led by 0.9s from Button, until the reigning champion ran wide through turn 6 and allowed Button to take the lead and win one the finest comebacks F1 had ever seen.