1975 Swedish Grand Prix
Niki Lauda won his third race in a row after long-time leader Carlos Reutemann hit throttle problems in his Brabham and lost a bit of pace in the closing laps, eventually finishing second. Pole-sitter Vittorio Brambilla had been having a good run in his March, leading the early laps, until he dropped back with a puncture and later retired with gearbox problems.
Also worthy of note was 23-year-old Tony Brise – racing in his third grand prix, Brise battled with the likes of Emerson Fittipaldi and Ronnie Peterson to finish sixth for the Hill team. Sadly, it would be the only point of his career, as he died in the plane crash which also killed Graham Hill and other members of the Hill team at the end of the year.
2008 Canadian Grand Prix
An utterly bonkers race which saw the track breaking up over the course of the weekend, with repairs being made right up until the start of the race. The crumbling surface caused Mark Webber to crash out of qualifying, with the state of the circuit being likened to a motocross track.
Lewis Hamilton was dominating the race when a safety car was deployed for Adrian Sutil’s stricken Force India – much of the field dived into the pits, with Kimi Raikkonen and Robert Kubica leapfrogging Hamilton in the process. Both drivers stopped at the end of the pit lane due to a red light but Hamilton didn’t see it and ploughed straight into the back of Raikkonen, putting both drivers out of the race (Nico Rosberg also hit the back of Hamilton, but was able to keep going).
This left the two BMW-Sauber drivers of Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld battling with Fernando Alonso’s Renault for the win. Alonso took himself out of the equation when he hit the wall, leaving Kubica to try and pull out enough of a gap on his teammate to make an extra stop and come out in the lead. It worked, and the Pole went on to win his first grand prix, with Heidfeld second and David Coulthard third for Red Bull, the final podium of his career.
You can hear more about this race in our ‘That Time When’ podcast
2014 Canadian Grand Prix
Mercedes’ run of dominance came to an end when both cars developed issues with their MGU-K at around half distance. This left them down on power and under threat from the rest of the field, and also put a huge strain on the brakes of both drivers. This caused Hamilton to retire 10 laps later but Rosberg was able to keep going, remarkably remaining in the lead thanks to Sergio Perez in second holding off the rest of the field. It also showed just how good the Mercedes was – even with a power deficit and compromised braking, Rosberg was still able to post competitive lap times on a track that’s all about horsepower and braking performance.
Eventually, Daniel Ricciardo found a way past the Force India and just a couple of laps later was able to pounce on Rosberg with three laps to go, where he stayed to take his first win. Sebastian Vettel also got past Perez to put both Red Bulls on the podium, while Perez crashed out on the final lap when Felipe Massa attempted to pass him.
