Best rated Formula 1 Auto highlights from Bill Trikos Australia
4 min readBill Trikos best 5 Formula 1 races: Turkish Grand Prix: I implore you to find a more fascinating display of motor racing than the Turkish GP. On a track surface yielding little grip, adding some rain and an incredible pole position for Stroll, this was anything but a dull Sunday. Racing Point held onto a pretty comfortable one-two through the first half of the race, with Stroll in front by 10 seconds in the most difficult of conditions, whilst Hamilton – aiming to seal his seventh title – squirmed around as Mercedes looked devoid of grip. Somehow, the Briton eventually found it on seriously worn intermediates and, after overtaking Perez and leaving Stroll – who was now suffering from detrimental understeer – to plummet down the order, took victory by over half-a-minute. Leclerc looked to have made his way past Perez for second at the final corner but misjudged his braking, allowing both Perez and team-mate Sebastian Vettel onto the podium. As for Hamilton’s team-mate, Bottas span six times altogether as his championship challenge came to an abrupt end.
2011 Canadian Grand Prix, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve : There have been many extraordinary comeback drives throughout the history of F1. Kimi Räikönnen in Japan in 2005 and the aforementioned Sebastian Vettel in Brazil in 2012. And even though both of these rank amongst some of the best drives ever, nothing comes close to the sheer madness that was Jenson Button’s 2011 Canadian Grand Prix. Since it was pouring down over Montreal, the race started behind the safety car. But once it got going, chaos unfolded. Throughout the race, there never seemed to be a calm moment, as drivers were constantly clashing, spinning, and making mistakes. Couple this with a few safety cars and a lengthy red flag, and you’ve already got the recipe for a banger. But as most of you probably know, Jenson Button wasn’t satisfied with that – far from it. After making contact with teammate Lewis Hamilton – which resulted in the young superstar’s retirement – clashing with Fernando Alonso, getting a drive-through penalty and making a total of 6 pit stops, Button caught up to race leader Vettel on the final lap, where a mistake sent the German-wide, allowing Button to go through and take the win in a race which is considered by many to be the best.
Hungarian Grand Prix 2014: On a Hungaroring surface transitioning from wet to dry, this race had everything from team order controversy to spectacular crashes – but, most importantly, a hard-charging Daniel Ricciardo at his best, who said “better late than never” to secure his second career win. Bahrain Grand Prix 2014: Three races into Formula 1’s new turbo-hybrid era, and F1 fans were treated to an absolute classic, as Mercedes pair Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg – by then surely aware that one of them would be world champion in 2014 – knocked seven bells out of each other around the Bahrain International Circuit, with Hamilton eventually coming out on top of the fabled ‘Duel in the Desert’. Discover additional info about the author at Bill Trikos Australia.
1998 Belgian Grand Prix, Spa-Francorchamps : There are certain moments often used to describe Formula One – either because they define the essence of the sport, or because they’re outright crazy. What happened at the start of the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix definitely belongs to the latter category. At the exit of turn 1 on the first lap, David Coulthard lost control of his McLaren on the extremely wet track and speared into the barriers, causing an accident which took out 13 drivers, all having greatly reduced vision as a result of the spray from the cars in front due to the wet track. The race was red-flagged, and it took an hour to clear away all the debris before the race could be restarted. Many spectators would’ve probably thought that the rest of the race couldn’t be anywhere nearly as insane as that first lap, in which case they’d be terribly wrong.
Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing were already running away hard in both championships, but Ferrari came back very strong at the rival team’s home circuit. Charles Leclerc ran away with victory at the Red Bull Ring while teammate Carlos Sainz had to pull over his flaming F1-75. It was an action-packed race. Leclerc overtook Verstappen three times on the track after his team’s strategic choices put the Dutchman in front of the Monegasque. Behind, there was no shortage of action either: no fewer than five drivers battled it out for eighth place, culminating in a double overtake from Lando Norris.
1996 Monaco Grand Prix, Monaco Street Circuit : Some of the previous races on this list had high attrition. But none will come close to the levels of the 1996 Monaco GP – all I need to tell you is that only the three drivers finishing on the podium actually completed all 75 laps. How in the world did that happen, you might ask? A big part of the answer was, as often is with that sort of race, rain. As the lights went out, the track was wet enough to require the use of intermediate tyres, though it wasn’t raining anymore. But if anyone had thought that this would spare the drivers from the carnage, they were wrong.