F1

Highest number of gained places during a race.

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 33 total)
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  • #129039
    Mads
    Participant

    Hello everyone.

    I have a question here, as the title says, what driver have gained the most places from their grid position to their race finish in a single race?

    #163550
    AndrewTanner
    Participant

    Now that is a good question…are you talking specifically F1?

    #163551
    Prisoner Monkeys
    Participant

    If you’re talking about a single lap, Marcus Winklehock went from dead last to leading the race in a Spyker at the Nurburgring in 2007.

    #163552
    AndrewTanner
    Participant

    One that instantly springs to mind…Alonso at Monaco last year. I had to check on here but he started 24th after sticking it in the barrier and finished 6th.

    #163553
    Ned Flanders
    Participant

    There was a feature on this in F1 Racing a few years back, although it only included drivers who finished first. I think the furthest anyone has come from behind to win was Rubens Barrichello at Hockenheim 2000, he started down in 18th. Although, who knows, maybe someone made up even more places without winning?

    #163554
    Mads
    Participant

    Andrew: well it was F1 i had in mind, but expanding it to other racing series could be interesting too :)

    #163555
    sw6569
    Participant

    hmm

    I definitely read about this topic or saw something similar recently. This is a bit abstract, but I seem to remember that the driver who gained the most places in a grand prix finished 3rd in that race.

    hopefully it’ll come to me soon!

    EDIT – have had a think, my thoughts came from a comment from Martin Brundle in the 1998 japanese grand prix when Schumacher retired from 3rd having started last. He mentioned how Schumacher was only the second person to do that before he retired. I’ll try to find the clip to remember who the first was

    #163556
    Red Andy
    Participant

    At Bahrain in 2006, Raikkonen started 22nd (last) and finished 3rd.

    But John Watson won the 1982 Long Beach GP from 22nd on the grid.

    #163557
    Prisoner Monkeys
    Participant

    According to Wikipedia, John Watson holds the record. He started the 1983 USGP West in 22nd position for McLaren and won. Niki Lauda started in 23rd and finished second, also for McLaren.

    After Watson is Bill Vukovich, who won the 1954 Indianapolis 500 from 19th place on the grid in the days when the Indy 500 was considered a part of the championship despite none of the regular drivers actually taking part.

    Third place is Rubens Barrichello, who won the 2000 German Grand Prix from 18th place. Then you have Watson again, winning the 1982 Detroit Grand Prix from 17th on the grid; he’s tied with Kimi Raikkonen who won the 2005 Japanese Grand Prix from the same position.

    Then there’s another tie for sixth: Jackie Stewart won the 1973 South African Grand Prix from 16th, with Michael Schumacher winning the 1995 Belgian Grand Prix under the same circumstances. Eighth place will be controversial; Fernando Alonso won the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix from 15th place.

    Finally, we have a five-way tie for tenth place, with all drivers winning from 14th on the grid: Bob Sweikert at the 1955 Indianapolis 500, Alan Jones at the 1977 Austrian Grand Prix, Olivier Panis at the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix, Johnny Herbert at the 1999 European Grand Prix, and Jenson Button at the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix.

    And it’s on Wikipedia, so it must be true.

    #163558
    sw6569
    Participant

    ah, that scraps my train of thought then. still though, schumi at japan in 1998 was spectacular.

    That must have been a hell of a race from Watson! although it does look like the mclarens were superior from reading the above

    #163559
    Prisoner Monkeys
    Participant

    Apparently – it was three years before I was born, so I wouldn’t know exactly – they’d really struggled in qualifying, but somehow managed to turn it around overnight.

    #163560
    Red Andy
    Participant

    If memory serves, that 1982 race at Long Beach was one of the races featured in Andrew Benson’s “classic F1” series on the BBC website. If you go through his archives you might be able to find the highlights.

    #163561
    JCCJCC
    Participant

    The Grand Prix where Watson & Lauda did a 1-2, starting from positions 22 and 23 in the grid was in 1983. I had the DVD of that race, and watching the race it was not so impressive as it sounds “winning from the 22nd place”.

    The McLarens passed some cars on the last positions of the grid, then with the retirements and tyre stops they moved away to 3rd and 4th place, just behind Laffite and Patrese. Patrese tyres where almost off, Laffite tryed to pass and spun, McLarens where 2nd and 3rd, and they easily pass Patrese who was struggling with his tyres.

    #163562
    paulgilb
    Participant

    As was mentioned in the trivia quiz thread the other day, the biggest difference between start position and finish position (excluding Indy 500s) was achieved by Roberto Mieres in Britain 1954 (he started 32nd and finished 6th). Curiously, Onofre Marimon went from 28th to 3rd in the same race! statsf1.com claims that Marimon was 6th at the end of the first lap, which does sound somewhat unlikely.

    If Indy 500s are included, then Jim Rathmann holds the record, climbing from 32nd to 2nd in 1957.

    Other big climbs through the field include Montoya in Germany 2005 (started 20th, finished 2nd), and Lewis Hamilton in Turkey 2006 GP2 sprint race (climbed from 21st to 2nd after a spin, but started the race much higher up).

    #163563
    Pyromaniac
    Member

    If we are allowed to think outside of F1, the 2009 NASCAR race at Pocono (round 14) was won by Tony Stewart who started an impressive 43rd…stone dead last!

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