The thousandth Formula 1 Grand Prix
04/13/2019
This weekend marks the 1000th Formula 1 Grand Prix. However, this important anniversary shines much less brightly than one would actually expect. Nobody, but absolutely nobody, wanted this anniversary to take place in China of all places, where motorsport has no tradition at all.
In addition, Liberty Media did not receive any simplified import regulations from China for all the historic racing cars that they would have liked to show this weekend.
Fortunately, Silverstone is celebrating its 70th anniversary next year and something really big is being planned. The historic part could even outstrip the current Grand Prix. There will certainly be no shortage of spectators at Silverstone. But never mind, it's the way it is now.
Did you know that there is only one team that has been involved since the first Grand Prix season and will now also be taking part in the 1000th race in China today? This team is called Ferrari. However, the Italians are not contesting their 1000th Grand Prix because they have not taken part in all the races. Ferrari is contesting its 973rd F1 GP since 1950 this weekend.
Why are 27 races missing? First of all, they only competed in one of a total of eleven Indy races, which also counted towards the F1 World Championship many decades ago in order to justify a "world" championship for the FIA. Only Alberto Ascari was officially on the grid with the Ferrari in 1952, but retired in an accident on the 41st lap.
Now there are still some races missing. These gaps arose because Enzo Ferrari was often offended and therefore boycotted the Austrian GP in 1976, for example. Then he had to leave his cars at home a few times due to metalworkers' strikes, or he was short of money. In 1961, for example, he saved the trip to the US GP, as Phil Hill had already been crowned world champion after the Trips accident in Monza.
Nevertheless, the Italians' performance is remarkable when compared with other major brands. Alfa Romeo, for example, stopped in 1951 after the World Championship title, came back in 1979 until 1985 and started all over again that year. Mercedes-Benz withdrew in 1955 and did not officially return to the starting grid until 2010. Then some really big brands such as Lotus, Tyrrell and Brabham disappeared.
The Italians are strong record holders in F1 history: with 96 races, they were also the most frequent hosts of an F1 race, followed by Germany with 77 races.
The absolute top performance by an Italian, however, belongs to Andrea de Cesaris, the ex-Sauber driver. He started a total of 208 races and failed to finish 150 times. Most of the time he even retired due to an accident, which is how he got his nickname: Andrea de Crasheris!
Riccardo Patrese needed the most patience from one victory to the next: he won the 1983 South African GP and then, 2402 days and 99 races later, the 1990 San Marino GP.
The only woman to score a World Championship point, albeit only half a point, also came from Italy. It was Lella Lombardi, who was in sixth place with the March at the 1975 Spanish GP when the race was stopped prematurely due to Rolf Stommelen's serious accident. As a result, only half the points were awarded and sixth place went to Lella Lombardi.
Now let's see if Ferrari can win the 1000th and thus also the anniversary race today. We wish Sebastian and Charles the best of luck.
