After the entertainment and standing around of Canada's red flagged two-part race last weekend, The Elbow takes a look back at six of the great two-part races from F1's past, from Hamilton's spot of fortune on Germany to Berger's fiery end at Imola.
1) 2010 Korean Grand PrixPrior to Sunday's Canadian epic, the previous wet race we were treated to was last year's inaugural Korean GP at Yeongam. After lengthy worries and debates about whether the track would even be ready for the event, everyone turned up and got on with the job. And then it rained a lot. Sebastian Vettel was on Pole Position, but it was Bernd Maylander who led the field away in the Safety Car for a delayed start to the race, albeit only for a handful of laps as the race was red flagged.
After a delay of almost an hour, the race began again behind the pace car, waiting until lap 17 before green flag conditions ensued. Immediately there was mayhem, as Championship leader Mark Webber lost his Red Bull and collected Nico Rosberg's Mercedes in the process, while wet-weather expert Jenson Button had a nightmare afternoon. After another safety car period, Lewis Hamilton slid wide and handed second position to Fernando Alonso, which proved vital when comfortable leader Vettel's engine detonated, leaving the Ferrari driver to take the victory and memorably cackle over the radio as he did so.
Watch highlights of the rain-affected Korean debacle, all set to some dreadful American rock music, here.
2) 2007 European Grand Prix
The race we weren't allowed to call the German GP at the Nurburgring saw chaos almost from the first corner, where Nick Heidfeld collided with BMW team mate Robert Kubica, sending him tumbling down the order and causing Hamilton to pick up a puncture. However, the rain then began to pour down, meaning everyone had to pit for wets at the end of the first lap, lessening Hamilton's disadvantage. Everyone that is except Kimi Raikkonen, who managed to skate straight through the corner at the pit entrance and back onto the track, and Markus Winklehock, making his debut in the Spyker having started on wets already.
We then had the extraordinary situation of six cars aquaplaning off the track at the first corner and somehow not hitting each other in the gravel. Button, Rosberg, Sutil, Speed and Liuzzi were done for the day, but Hamilton somehow managed to keep his engine running and was bizarrely allowed to be craned back onto the track and rejoin the race, which had by this time been red flagged.
Sadly for Winklehock this rendered his 30 second lead meaningless, and upon the restart once the safety car pulled off he was quickly outpaced by Massa and Alonso, before dropping out of the race with mechanical failure. Hamilton had been allowed to unlap himself under the daft safety car rules, but rendered that meaningless by pitting too early for dry tyres and collapsing back down the order. And after Heidfeld had committed his second daft act of the afternoon by crashing into Ralf Schumacher, and Raikkonen had broken down in the third placed Ferrari, the rain began to fall again late in the race. This gave Alonso the edge in the slippery conditions and he put a superb move on Massa to take the victory, which led to a typically Latin shouting match between them in Parc Ferme.
Watch the race-halting moment, as described by this YouTube uploader as 'a grand procession of multi-million dollar cluster-fuckery', here.
3) 2001 Belgian Grand Prix
Michael Schumacher took his 52nd and record breaking victory in this race at Spa, but it is probably best remembered for a horrifying accident involving Luciano Burti in the Prost. Juan Pablo Montoya had been on Pole ahead of team mate Ralf Schumacher, but after an aborted start when Heinz-Harald Frentzen stalled his Prost, Montoya too then stalled his Williams. Ralf led away but was passed by his brother by the end of the first sector of the first lap, but the race came to an abrupt halt on Lap 4 when Burti challenged Irvine into Blanchimont, knocked off his front wing and sailed under a tyre barrier and into the armco. Thankfully he escaped serious injury bar bruising, but never raced in F1 again.
At the restart (a completely new race of 36 laps), Williams decided to change Ralf's rear wing, but ran out of time, leaving him up on his jacks and relegating him to the rear of the field. Thus Michael led away, with the fast starting Benetton of Fisichella jumping into second ahead of David Coulthard. After incessant pressure Coulthard eventually jumped the Italian to take second behind the dominant Ferrari. Behind extraordinary battles raged between Jarno Trulli, Rubens Barrichello, Ralf and Jean Alesi, driving his 198th Grand Prix, who took advantage of Jordan team mate Trulli's engine failure to beat Ralf to the flag for 6th behind Barrichello.
Watch the entire 2011 Belgian GP, at least until the FOM discover it, here.
4) 1994 Japanese Grand Prix
Arguably the creme de la creme of two part Grands Prix came at Suzuka in 1994. Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were locked in a surprisingly titanic battle for the Championship, with the German 5 points clear going into the race. Schumacher beat Hill to Pole and led away at the start, but carnage quickly followed as Johnny Herbert, Ukyo Katayama and Taki Inoue aquaplaned and spun off on the pit straight just 3 laps in, bringing out the Safety Car. After a few slow laps the race resumed, only for Michele Alboreto, Franck Lagorce and Pierluigi Martini to crash out almost straight away.
Then the most serious incident of the race occurred as Martin Brundle aquaplaned off at Dunlop, straight into the gravel trap where Gianni Morbidelli's Footwork already was, with marshals and a truck tending to it. Brundle narrowly missed being decapitated, but collided with a marshal, breaking the unfortunate worker's leg. The race was stopped immediately, to be decided on aggregate timing.
The restart soon saw Schumacher pit, taking on a relatively light load as Benetton expected the race not to run to it's planned conclusion. Thus Hill took over the lead, which he maintained after his own single stop. Schumacher eventually overhauled Hill on aggregate, but dropped into second when he made his second and final stop. There followed an incredible charge from Schumacher as he raced to close down the aggregate lead of Hill, being only 2.4 seconds behind going into the final lap.
The Englishman however held his nerve to win by "THREE POINT THREE SIX SECONDS!" as Murray Walker jubilantly shouted to the bleary eyed thousands in the UK, as the gap was reduced to one point. That wasn't all though. Behind the front two there had been a sensational battle for third between Jean Alesi and Nigel Mansell, with Mansell eventually passing Alesi on the track at the chicane on the final lap, although he was still behind on aggregate. The two warmly embraced in Parc Ferme afterwards, a heart-warming end to a sensational Grand Prix.
See highlights of Damon Hill sensationally not being rubbish here.
5) 1989 San Marino Grand Prix
Ayrton Senna qualified on his fifth consecutive Imola Pole, and led away at the start, following an agreement with team mate Alain Prost that whoever got the best start would lead into the first corner (effectively Tosa at Imola). Behind Nigel Mansell was third ahead of Riccardo Patrese and Gerhard Berger. Then on lap 5, Berger speared straight off the track and into the wall at Tamburello, and the world watched in horror as his car burst into flames. Incredibly, Berger survived with only a couple of broken bones and some burns, although he was forced to miss the next race in Mexico.
On the restart of a now aggregate race, Prost made the better start but Senna seized an opportunity and passed the Frenchman into Tosa. It was at this point that their infamous feud effectively began, with Prost believing the Brazilian had gone back on the deal, while Senna claimed it was no longer in place as it was effectively the start of part two. This of course culminated in Championship deciding collisions in Japan in 1989 and 1990. Finishing behind the McLarens in this race were Alessandro Nannini, Thierry Boutsen, Derek Warwick and Dr Jonathan Palmer.
Gawp at Berger's awful red flag-inducing accident here.
6) 1981 French Grand Prix
Rene Arnoux, returning to the scene of his thrilling Dijon battle with Gilles Villeneuve two years previously, took Pole Position in his and Renault's home Grand Prix, with John Watson's McLaren separating him from team mate Alain Prost. However it was Nelson Piquet, 4th on the grid in the Brabham, who took the lead at the start ahead of Watson and Prost, with Arnoux making an awful start and plummetting down the order. Prost then managed to overtake Watson for second, but was unable to do anything about Piquet.
Then, with 23 laps to go, a torrential downpour ensued, with Jacques Laffite simultaneously dropping out in his Ligier. The organisers red flagged the race, only for the rain to stop, meaning the race was restarted and decided on aggregate timing. On the restart, Prost, Watson, Arnoux and Pironi all quickly got ahead of Piquet on the track and pulled away, with Prost gaining enough of a lead over Watson that he was able to pass both the Northern Irishman and the Brazilian on aggregate to take an emotional first victory in his home Grand Prix. Watson and Piquet completed the podium ahead of Arnoux and Pironi, meaning three Frenchmen in the top 5.
Watch highlights of the French race here.
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