5 things to know about the European GP

nelson piquet
The first European GP was held in Brands Hatch in 1983 and was won by Nelson Piquet

The European Grand Prix is a prestigious event in the history of the Formula One Calendar. It was first introduced in the 1980s but became a regular feature from 1999 until 2012. After a hiatus of 3 years, the European GP will be reinstated on the calendar at a brand new venue that is Baku. So here are 5 things you need to know about the European GP.


#1 Six Venues

The very first European GP was held in Brands Hatch in 1983 and was won by Nelson Piquet. The next and only other time that Brands Hatch hosted the European GP was in 1985 and was won by Nigel Mansell, much to the delight of the British fans.

In 1984, Brands Hatch was unable to host the European GP, so the alternate venue was a shortened version of the Nordschleife. After a brief gap from 1986 to 1992, the very next year in 1993, the venue shifted back to Great Britain but this time at Donington Park and the race was won by the late great Ayrton Senna.

In 1994 the race was held in Jerez before returning to the Nurburgring for the next 2 years. In 1997 the Grand Prix made its final appearance in Jerez before moving to Nurburgring for good until 2008. That year the paddock was back in Spain but at the Valencia Street Circuit until 2012. Now in 2016 after a brief hiatus, the European GP is back but in Azerbaijan.

#2 The World’s most expensive car park

Nurburgring 2007
The victims included Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Adrian Sutil, Nico Rosberg, Vitantonio Liuzzi and Scott Speed

The 2007 European GP was held at a fairly dry Nurburgring but the chance of rain was extremely high. When the heavens did open a number of drivers were caught out at Turn 1. The victims included Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Adrian Sutil, Nico Rosberg, Vitantonio Liuzzi and Scott Speed.

Mercifully the race was red-flagged and Hamilton was able to rejoin but the other drivers were forced to sit on the sidelines.

#3 2012 European GP/Ferrari driver reunion

European GP 2012
The Ferrari Reunion

This would be the final European GP (Until Baku) to be hosting an F1 race. Leading up to the race start, the entire top 10 were on the option tires as expected. Michael Schumacher, Mark Webber and Sergio Perez were the only ones on the grid to use the prime tires.

As the chaos settled, it was Fernando Alonso who took the checkered flag with Raikkonen 2nd and rounding out the podium for the 155th time was Michael Schumacher. It was pretty much a Ferrari driver reunion since Schumacher and Raikkonen were former Ferrari drivers at that time.

#4 How many pitstops?!

ayrton senna
The 1993 Donington Park victory remains as Senna’s greatest victory

Now let’s turn the clock back to 1993, it was a very damp Donington that greeted the drivers and Prost was on pole with teammate Damon Hill in 2nd, Schumacher 3rd, Senna 4th, Wendlinger 5th and Andretti 6th. Senna may have won the Grand Prix but the real story was what happened behind him.

Because of the changeable weather conditions coupled with a few strategic miscalculations by the Williams team, they squandered a potential 1-2 and had to settle for 2nd and 3rd. What made matters even worse was that pole man Prost made 7 pitstops, which to this day remains as the highest number of pitstops in a race.

Bonus fact: Ayrton Senna had put nearly the entire field a lap down bar Damon Hil who was 1:23 seconds down the road. To this day, the 1993 Donington Park victory remains as Senna’s greatest victory, incidentally, he also set the fastest lap while in the pitlane.

#5 Last to first to last again

Markus Winklehock
Markus Winklehock

Fast-forward to 2007 and we are back again to another deluge filled European GP. With the threat of rain on the way but no means to predict when it would happen, meant that the teams had to roll the dice. Close to the end of the warm-up lap, Spyker rookie Markus Winklehock drove into the pitlane for a set of full wet tires.

After the shenanigans caught out all the other drivers, they also drove into the pits and leading the race by 33 seconds was, you guessed it right, Markus Winklehock. Finally, the race officials stopped the race to allow the conditions to improve. Thus, German Winklehock became the first F1 driver to start last and first in the same race.

Sadly his dream debut quickly turned into a nightmare as he soon lost the lead at the re-start and was forced to retire with hydraulic issues. To his credit, this was only his third day in the car and the first day in wet conditions.

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Edited by Staff Editor