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The History Album: San Marino in Pictures | ||
| by Mark Alan Jones, Australia; Pictures provided by Rainer Nyberg |
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1981 First race for a new young driver driving for a new young team at a new young Grand Prix was always going to be a tough task to qualify. Derek Warwick aboard the Toleman TG181 Hart Turbo in 1981. Don't worry Derek, sure you didn't make this one but there's plenty more races to come for you.
Gilles Villeneuve at Imola 1982, in the Ferrari 126C2. Only Ferrari, Renault, Tyrrell, Alfa Romeo, Osella, ATS, Toleman turned up for this race during the prolonged war between FISA, the governing body, and FOCA, the association of most of the teams. That didn't make for a dull race, though; Didier Pironi and Villeneuve had a fierce late race battle when Pironi passed Villeneuve, against team orders. Pironi got the win and Villeneuve vowed never to speak to Pironi again. Two weeks later, he was killed at Zolder.
Patrick Tambay had electrical problems on Friday, then a blown engine. The spare car's engine was off song. Then in qualifying a turbocharger failed. But on race day it all clicked. Tambay's Ferrari did run out of fuel, but only after he crossed the finish line first. The Frenchman dedicated his victory to his late good friend, Gilles Villeneuve.
The drive of his career? Stefan Johansson qualified a lowly 15th in the Ferrari 156/85 in 1985. In the race, however, the Swede charged through the field, at times lapping two seconds a lap faster than Prost. Ayrton Senna was ahead of Prost but three laps from home Johansson swept by the out-of-fuel Lotus to snatch the lead in front of the huge Italian crowd. Less than a lap later Johansson too was out of fuel - there hadn't been a fuel gauge in the car.
The first points! Martin Brundle in the 1987 Zakspeed 871. It was the first race for the new model car and one of those days when nobody wanted to finish. Brundle was 5th, two laps down on fourth placed Stefan Johansson, but a point is still a point and they had two of them - the first two ever scored by a Zakspeed.
Ayrton Senna and the McLaren MP4/4 were utterly dominant in 1988. Pole position was achieved and in the race his only real opposition was Alain Prost. Prost's opening lap was marred by an engine that refused to run cleanly. Senna pulled a gap and maintained it. All Senna needed to do was keep the fuel needle in the positive to ensure a finish; with the gap he had on Prost, a finish was a win.
At to 260 km/h something broke on the front wing of Gerhard Berger's 1989 Ferrari 640 and the car plunged off the track and into the wall. After the sickening impact Berger had sustained minor fractures only. Maybe not even ten years before he would have been killed outright. But the crash also ripped open the fuel tank and 200 litres drenched the brave Austrian before catching fire. The world watched in horror for 30 seconds before the fire crew extinguished the flames. Berger missed only one race recovering.
Roberto Moreno in the 1990 Eurobrun ER189. Moreno actually qualified the car at Imola, a rare occurrence, but failed to complete a lap in the race after throttle slide difficulties.
In 1990 Lamborghini had looked pretty good powering the Larrouse team. For 1991 they left Larrouse, despite a podium finish at the Japanese Grand Prix, to join a new team, Modena Lambo, a team they were much more closely involved in. It never clicked. Rather than being in regular contention for points, they were lucky to qualify. At Imola Eric van de Poele was lucky, and even luckier to bring the car home in ninth in wet conditions.
Karl Wendlinger in the near sponsorless March CG911 Cosworth qualified 12th in 1992, and the car was starting to show some form. Could the March name be revived? Not today; Wendlinger finished 12th and 3 laps down.
Before his horror year at Williams and two championships in CART, Alex Zanardi drove Formula One. Here in 1993 he punts the Lotus 107B Cosworth. A points finish was dashed by a late incident with JJ Lehto which caused Zanardi to spin into the wall, setting off past the pits with the rear of the car on fire and one wheel looking set to depart the chassis.
It was indeed a black weekend at Imola in 1994, one Formula One will never be allowed to forget. After Rubens Barrichello's very lucky escape on Friday the paddock breathed a sigh of relief, until Roland Ratzenberger crashed his Simtek S941 Cosworth on the run to Villeneuve Corner. The paddock was shocked at the death of the young Austrian, at this stage nobody thought it could have gotten worse...
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| Mark Alan Jones | © 2000 Kaizar.Com, Incorporated. |
| Send comments to: jones@atlasf1.com | Terms & Conditions |
All images provided by Rainer Nyberg | |