Top 5 Moments of Good Sportsmanship in Formula One

Published 07/31/2017, 7:36 AM EDT

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Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton’s clash at the 2017 Baku GP will go down in the echelons of infamy and may tarnish a number of reputations. Also, while there have been incidents where drivers have committed questionable acts for the sake of the championship or to win, there have been a few acts of good sportsmanship in Formula One. Essentially Sports looks at the top 5 moments of Good Sportsmanship.

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It was the scene of one of the most controversial incidents in Formula One, but it was not the first time such an incident had occurred. A year earlier, the McLaren Mercedes of David Coulthard had won the race in Spielberg, the Ferrari duo of Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher were 2nd and 3rd respectively. Barrichello was asked to let Michael pass and take P2, the Brazilian resisted until the very last corner. Fast-forward to 2002, Ferrari performed the same tactics again and asked the 2 to swap positions. Once again Barrichello resisted, but Jean Todt reminded him that it was for the Championship. This time, Barrichello let Schumacher through right at the finish line. Schumacher had no prior knowledge that the swap would take place and was equally surprised when Rubens let him past at the chequered flag. Amid a lot of booing by the fans, upset at seeing a staged finish, Schumacher insisted that Barrichello take the top step and even handed him the winner’s trophy. Later on in the season, at the US Grand Prix at Indianapolis, Schumacher allowed Barrichello to pass him right at the finish line to take the win.

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The 1970s was a fairly dangerous era, the 1973 season alone saw 2 driver fatalities. The first of these was the demise of British driver Roger Williamson. Williamson was racing in the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, driving for March-Ford at the time. On lap 8, a suspected tire failure caused him to lose control of his car and he was pitched into the wall at high speed. The force of the accident caused the car to be catapulted over 300 yards before coming to a rest upside-down against the barrier. As a result of being dragged across the tarmac, the petrol tank caught fire. Though Williamson was unhurt in the crash, he was still stranded in the flaming wreckage. Under normal circumstances, a red flag would have been waved, but the inexperienced marshals waved yellow flags and the race continued for everyone else. Everyone else except for David Purley, Purley halted at the side of  the track and rushed to help his fellow countryman. He tried turn the car upright but could not do it alone. But the marshals were not wearing flame retardant gear and were unable to come near the wreckage. Purley grabbed the only fire extinguisher that was available but it wasn’t enough to put out the fire. Although Williamson passed on despite Purley’s best efforts, the act of risking one’s own life to help another in need will surely go down as one of the greatest moments of sportsmanship.

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During the 1991 Formula One season, Englishman Nigel Mansell and Brazilian legend Ayrton Senna battled fiercely for the championship. But off the circuit, they had utmost respect for each other. At Mansell’s home race in Silverstone, Senna and Mansell were in a league of their own at the front and were constantly swapping places. Finally, Mansell hit the front and fended off Senna all the way. With 10 laps left, Senna’s McLaren ran out of fuel and he dropped to 4th. After taking the chequered flag, Mansell picked up a stranded Senna and gave him a ride back to the pitlane amid disapproving eyes of the marshals.

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On Sunday, the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen were leading the pack from the Mercedes team. With Vettel having steering issues and Raikkonen unable to pass him, Mercedes took the opportunity to allow Lewis Hamilton to have a crack at catching and passing the Finn. But the nature of the Hungaroring circuit meant that catching a driver was one thing, passing him was another thing altogether. The Merxedes team had instructed Valtteri Bottas to make way for Hamilton so that the latter could go on the offense. Hamilton was given a 5-lap window to get the job done, after which, they would swap back. By then, Bottas had dropped back quite a bit, and within Red Bull driver Max Verstappen’s sights. What followed next was Hamilton easing up and allowing his teammate to catch up. Finally, on the last corner of the last lap, Hamilton backed off, enough for Bottas to take P3 and to hold of Verstappen. Many had been under the impression that Hamilton will not let Bottas back through but this act has certainly silenced his critics.

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This incident took place during the practice session of the 1992 Belgian Grand Prix. Frenchman Eric Comas had lost control of his Ligier at Blanchimont and the impact knocked him unconscious. Senna was the first man on the scene and he stopped his car, ran over to the unconscious Frenchman and switched off the car. He then proceeded to hold Comas’ head upright until medical help had arrived on scene. Comas narrated the incident in an interview,

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“I had the bad luck to arrive the first on that curve, from that moment I do not remember anything because I crashed directly to the barriers. I have no memories of that moment, there are images that I saw later. My memory stopped a few seconds before my crash, and the front left wheel of the car smashed through my head on the right side. It knocked me out like a K.O. in boxing, and the car meanwhile went back to the middle of the track, but I kept, unconsciouly, accelerating. I was unconscious in the car accelerating like crazy. Ayrton arrived and directly heard the crazy sound produced by the engine, the motor was screaming at 7000 to 8000 RPM or something around. He stopped his car, he ejected himself from it and at his own risks came to my car and stop the engine. Even with the yellow flags, the circuit was still very dangerous, he searched for the circuit breaker and stopped the motor preventing it from burning or even exploding. After the impact it seems that there were some leaks of fuels so the risk was high. In a few seconds it could have exploded, yes, probably, so Ayrton Senna saved my life, yes.”

 

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Written by:

Dhruv George

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.
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