1st round results:
Blake wins the first round, with all of them answered properly.
Giles Guthrie was next, with 18 points. After that, three more participants (
qwazy|06, iceburns238, THE ED3) gave it a shot, but were all very good at pointing out Cote d' Azur...I mean Monaco. So for those of you who aren't Blake, here's the correct answers:
Who: Jose Froilan Gonzales
What: Ferrari 125
When: 1951 British GP
Where: Silverstone
This is the photo of Ferrari's first World Championship victory. Of course, Ferrari had won Grands Prix before as a prominent Alfa Romeo entrant, starting in 1933, and managed the team so sucessfully that soon he ran Alfa Romeo's Grand Prix team. In 1937, when Alfa Romeo became disappointed with the results (since Auto Union and Mercedes-Benz were dominating every Grand Prix and event worth the prize money), Alfa Romeo split off their racing program; Enzo Ferrari developed the "Alfetta" (158) and Alfa did their own thing...eventually firing Enzo Ferrari in 1939, shortly before WWII was set to stop motor racing.
Enzo Ferrari set up his own shop, and competed against Alfa Romeo after the war ended. Now the Alfettas that Enzo helped create were pitted against his little racing outfit, which ran the little Ferrari 125 in many events. But Alfa Romeo was dominant during 1947-48, with Wimille, Trossi, and Fagioli winning races, with Ferrari only winning a few minor events until their break came in 1949. Alfa Romeo decided there wasn't much left to prove in Grand Prix racing, but all the while Ferrari's cars were picking up wins. When the World Championship was announced for 1950, Alfa Romeo suddenly had a new-found interest in beating Ferrari once more.
Although the record books show the score of Alfa 6 | Ferrari 0, the truth is that Ferrari ran ever closer and closer to the 12-year-old Alfas with each race. In 1951, Ferrari finally managed to take on Alfa toe-to-toe in the French GP, but was sidelined with reliability. The breakthrough came in the British GP: Gonzales, who was Alberto Ascari's teammate at the time, held off Fangio to win after a great mid-race battle.
The Alfa Romeo streak was broken, and at the end of the year, even though they had a Wolrd Championship driver in Fangio, they knew Ferrari would have the upper hand. When Alfa pulled out of GP racing, the formula changed to Formula Two regulations, and so Ferrari was left to dominate racing until Mercedes-Benz came along...
1960's
Who: Dan Gurney
What: Porsche 804
When: 1962 French GP
Where: Rouen
Dan the Man! And not just for America (insert patriotic music here), but for Brabham's first win (UK/Australia), Eagle's (USA! USA! U..British Engine!) only win at Spa in 1967, and pictured here, Porsche's first GP win(weren't they known as West Germany at the time?).
Porsche were a sports-car constructor, but in those days, the line between sports-car and formula car might be a little blurry: Lotus, Porsche, Lola, Ferrari all entered various sports-car races with purpose-built cars. Porsche ran in F2 races during the late-1950's and early 1960's, and used their know-how to construct a 1.5 challenger called the 804. Dan Gurney was no match for an ever-improving Lotus and the Graham Hill's BRM, but he scored a win in France in 1962 when Graham Hill suffered an engine failure.
The works Porsches didn't enter any races after 1962, but Porsches were run privately until 1964, when Count Carel Godin de Beaufort was killed during practice for the 1964 German GP.
1970's
Who: Ricardo Patrese
What: Shadow DN7-Ford
When: 1977 Monaco GP
Where: Monte Carlo
What's one of the only records Michael Schmacher doesn't have (yet)? The most Grands Prix started, that's what. This is a picture of Ricardo Patrese's first race, in 1977. The Italian would go on to start in 255 more races, driving for Shadow, Arrows, Brabham, Alfa Romeo, Williams, and finally Benetton. The drive with Shadow came under tragic consequences, when poor Tom Pryce was killed two races earlier in the South African GP. But Riccardo, who was racing well in F2 at the time, drove to a quiet 9th place.
But what changes took place between that event and his final race at Adelaide in 1993? Lots...you could make a time capsule about all the changes that occured during his time as a professional Grand Prix driver: The tragic Ronnie Peterson "incident", Ferrari's last non-Schumacher World Champion, Jones vs. Reutemann, the FISA/FOCA war, scoring Arrows' only pole, the tragic Ferrari year of 1982, elimination of ground effects, the turbo era in full swing, the Prost vs. Senna vs. Mansell vs. Piquet saga, Elio de Angelis' accident changing the sport's safety regs, the rise of Senna to Titan/God, that awful Life team, the ascension of Michael Schumacher, and finally the kiss-and-make-up of Senna and Prost.
Yeah, those were the crazy and fun years of Formula One racing (and non-racing).
1980's
Who: Pierluigi Martini
What: Minardi M188-Ford
When: 1988 Detroit GP (aka: United States GP)
Where: Detroit
Minardi scores their first point! Can you imagine any other team struggling for three-and-a-half years (Osella doesn't count) just to score a point? It all came together in the 1998 Detroit GP, when Giancarlo Minardi's prodigal son, Martini (winner of races together in F2 in 1984) helped bring the Minardi name to F1 racing in 1985. Just to make matters worse, they were using those awful Motori Moderni engines (not enough power, reliability, or fuel economy) after a few races. Martini was sent "down to the minors" in 1986 and 1987, while Nannini, de Cesaris, and Campos tried to make the Minardi competitve. Although Nannini shined on occasion (especially practice and qualifying), Martini wasn't missing out on anything.
Adrian Campos didn't look like he belonged in F1, after failing to qualify the neater and more reliable M188, now with Ford-Cosworth DFZ power for three races in a row. After the Canadian GP, he was sacked, and Martini, who was having good results in F3000, was brought back in. Martini kept the car on the road, away from the walls, and stayed on the crumbling Detroit asphalt for a great 6th place finish. Martini would get to stay with the team, and that one point meant that Minardi would not have to deal with the nuisance of pre-qualification during 1989.
With Minardi's recent absence from F1, this pic almost brings a tear to my eyes...
1990's
Who: Andrea de Cesaris
What: Jordan 191-Ford
When: 1991 Mexican GP
Where: Mexico City/Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
Jordan's first F1 effort was something of a surprise: The sucessful F3 and F3000 entrant was ready for the big time, and we all saw a mature Andrea de Cesaris take the leadership role at Jordan. At the Canadian GP, both cars scored points, and here at the Mexican GP, Andrea ran with the big boys all race long, but his poor car failed just a few yards from the end. He pushed the car almost to the line; fortunately, he gave up, or his might have been disqualified!
The Jordan 191 is also the last of the beautiful GP cars (okay, this is the over-opinionated bit) to grace the grids of what is now known as Formula One racing.
