The Greatest Ever F1 race

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Hey guys, i searched and it gave up nowt.

In your opinion, what is the greatest ever F1 race? I think its probably the 1971 italien GP, when Peter Gethin won by 0.01 seconds, after a brilliant slipstream race. Either that or the 1957 German GP when fangio clawed back a 51 seconds deficit in 3 laps to win. What#s your best race ever?
EDIT: Thanks to Bee, who found out the name of the Italien GP winner. And to pupik, who corrected me about the german gp win.
 
Peter Gethin won the '71 Italian GP from Ronnie Peterson.

Fangio caught up to the leaders to win the German GP in 1957.

I know the purists (Hey...that's me!) hate me for saying so, but after years of deprivation of decent F1 racing, the 2005 Japanese GP is going to be hard to forget. After all, the restrictions on the all the cars, drivers, and the ability to actually make a good race out of all that F1 racing has become, makes that day a really special event in the history of Grand Prix racing.

So many races recalled from the past are caught up in the hype and mystique of the "good old days", so its nice for our generation to actaully get a race worth mentioning. Otherwise, it's a tough sell to get people to see present F1 racing as a thrilling spectacle.
 
But the 2005 Japan GP was only interesting because slower cars qualified in the dry, while the top cars qualified in a deluge, effectively inverting the grid. It was fun watching Alonso and Raikkonen desperately trying to get to the front, but if not for the crazy weather on Saturday, this race would have been no more outstanding than any other.
 
zoxxy
This may sound cliché, but the last 3 laps of the Dijon Prenios race. Not sure which year though. But damn, did they haul some major ass or what! 👍
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Yeah, since we saw that video I have to agree with you 👍
It's pretty damn exciting to watch if you haven't seen it before.
 
I loved that Dijon race, it was amazing to see them make contact several times and not lose complete control. Too bad we don't have races like that anymore.
 
Rene Arnoux and Giles Villeneuve were the two lions at Dijon '79. Duh.
 
Wow, that vid reminds me more of BTCC than F1. :scared:

I guess the best race I've ever seen would have to be Suzuka last year, simply because I haven't seen enough of any other races to comment. Still, I've read about the '57 German GP, which sounds awesome. :D
 
The 1957 German GP would probably go down in my books as the best F1 race of all time.
pupik
I know the purists (Hey...that's me!) hate me for saying so, but after years of deprivation of decent F1 racing, the 2005 Japanese GP is going to be hard to forget. After all, the restrictions on the all the cars, drivers, and the ability to actually make a good race out of all that F1 racing has become, makes that day a really special event in the history of Grand Prix racing.
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Yeah, that was a very special race. Unfortunatly, when I saw it, the reception was horrible – but it didn’t take anything away from the spectacle.
kylehnat
But the 2005 Japan GP was only interesting because slower cars qualified in the dry, while the top cars qualified in a deluge, effectively inverting the grid. It was fun watching Alonso and Raikkonen desperately trying to get to the front, but if not for the crazy weather on Saturday, this race would have been no more outstanding than any other.
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Yeah, so what? You could say if Fangio had a perfect pit stop that the 1957 German GP wouldn’t have been anything special. The circumstances are, generally, what makes the really great races.
 
not every race back then was like '79 Dijon. it was just that one moment in time. I mean '05 Imola was absolutely spectacular, all of it, not just the last 13 laps(which were incredible). stuff like that happens from time to time. it just can't happen all the time because it would lose it's effect since we would see it all the time.




rock. :cool:
 
Drift260Z
not every race back then was like '79 Dijon. it was just that one moment in time. I mean '05 Imola was absolutely spectacular, all of it, not just the last 13 laps(which were incredible). stuff like that happens from time to time. it just can't happen all the time because it would lose it's effect since we would see it all the time.




rock. :cool:
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I have no idea how MS found that speed 👍 stunning!! 👍

Tell me more about this 1957 GP?
 
The Ferraris had a big lead up front and slowed down to maintain when whaddya know, Fangio's flyin up from behind. By the time they got the news of how fast he was coming, it was too late and he passed the Ferraris (I think he was in third and there were two ahead of him) to take it.
 
1996 Spain, 1984 Monaco, 1998 Spa, 2005 Japan, 2005 Imola, 1957 Germany and probably a whole load of others if I spent time thinking.
 
87 British Grand Prix - Mansell closing down Piquet both in the Williams, then finally passing him on the run down to Stowe. It was one of the few GP's i've attended and was watching it all from Abbey. You could just about see the Hanger Straight from the banking at Abbey in those days and actually watching the move for real really sticks in my memories. The Atmosphere was electric and the crowd invasion after he won was totally spontanious (not to mention dangerous) unlike the taken-for-granted track invasions that always occur at Monza. The crowds on the track eventually halted Mansell on his warm-down lap in front of us at Abbey so i too jumped the fence and got pretty close to him as he got out - pure magic 👍
 
1986 Jerez
it was a battle between Senna in the Lotus and Mansell in the superior Williams Honda because mansel had to make a extra pit stop
Mansel had closed the gap and when they crossed the Finish line
the gap was only 0.014 sec
 
Phoenix 1990

Qualifying order got messed up severely because of differences in rain tyres (the Pirellis were far superior, and the bottom-dwelling teams ran them, causing such anomalies as Martini's Minardi on the front row and de Cesaris in 3rd). Alesi qualified fourth, Berger on pole, Senna fifth. Overnight, the track dried out quickly (as it goes in Phoenix). Alesi promised before the race that he'd be leading by the end of the first lap on Pirelli's inferior dry tyres. When the race started, he was leading by the first corner.

What followed was one of the greatest duels in F1's history, unfortunately cut short by Alesi needing to conserve at the end of the race after having held Senna back and spectacularly kept himself from being passed while on the outside.
 
1993 European Grand Prix at Donington. Senna lapped every car in the field except for Damon Hill's Williams, with an uncompetitive car. That was some brilliant driving.
 
Aside from the races already mentioned, I did enjoy Monaco 2004. Schumacher had won every race of the season to that point, but he was only 4th on the grid, behind Trulli (pole), Button and Alonso. After the dramas of the first few laps, Schumi was down in 6th, Button 3rd and the Renaults leading, Trulli in front of Alonso. During the pitstops, Schumacher put in fastest lap after fastest lap to pass Button and Alonso. Two accidents in the tunnel left Schumacher and Alonso in the wall, and Button started hunting down Trulli, both men driving for their first win. Button trimmed a 7 second lead less than half a second at the finish, but it was all in vain, and Trulli took his first - and thus far only - win.
 
The 2003 British GP was a great race, it had absolutely everything, Toyotas leading the feild 1 and 2, Villeneuve in the BAR desperately defending his position from Schumacher in the Ferrari, Barrichello passing Raikkonen and Montoya and a butt load of other drivers to win the race, there was pretty much overtaking going on wherever you chose to look, great race!
 
all yo guys mentioned some great races :) i enjoyed suzuka from 2005. it was the only f1 race i watched from start to finnish this/last year
 
Mr. Boy
1993 European Grand Prix at Donington. Senna lapped every car in the field except for Damon Hill's Williams, with an uncompetitive car. That was some brilliant driving.
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This was indeed a display of brilliant driving by Senna, but he was helped by the fact that the Williamses pitted 13 times between the two of them (and ran out of new tyres in the end because of it) compared to Senna's 5 (I think), including one extra stop where no work was carried out (a miscommunication). Senna actually set the fastest lap of the race by going through the pits (cut out a large part of the end of the lap and I don't think there were pit lane speed limits then (but I'd like to be corrected on that if I'm wrong)).
 
In 1993, pit lane speed limits were only in place during practice. In 1994, they started being enforced during the race.
 
Roo
Aside from the races already mentioned, I did enjoy Monaco 2004. Schumacher had won every race of the season to that point, but he was only 4th on the grid, behind Trulli (pole), Button and Alonso. After the dramas of the first few laps, Schumi was down in 6th, Button 3rd and the Renaults leading, Trulli in front of Alonso. During the pitstops, Schumacher put in fastest lap after fastest lap to pass Button and Alonso. Two accidents in the tunnel left Schumacher and Alonso in the wall, and Button started hunting down Trulli, both men driving for their first win. Button trimmed a 7 second lead less than half a second at the finish, but it was all in vain, and Trulli took his first - and thus far only - win.
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For me, Monaco races simply cannot be the best races ever. I find that the track is too slow and sure it has heritage and all of the drivers want to win it more than any other race. But the track is apalling and really strangles the performance of a modern F1 car. And the "battle" for the win in 2004 cannot be compared to say that of the '57 german gp, so button reeled in a 6.5 second lead, Whoa. Fangio reeled in what was it a minute or so? Then once button got close to trulli they just follow each other, how exciting. Monaco for me is the worst track on the calendar along with Hungary, and i tend to fall asleep watching races there.









But thats just my opinion :)
 
The best race I've seen was not an entire race, but rather a part of one, the battle between Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna at Silverstone, when Abbey Corner was the fast left hand sweep it use to be. Its amazing to see how Prost's williams becomes a little unsettled while going through that corner with Senna's Mclaren right next to him going past, just amazing!!! actually any race with battles between Senna and Prost.....but currently i would say Imola 2005 and Suzuka 2005.
 

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