1961 Monaco Grand Prix
Stirling Moss put in one of his finest performances to guide his privately-entered Rob Walker Lotus 18 to victory ahead of the might of the Ferrari team, whose 156 ‘sharknose’ was not only the best-prepared car for the new 1.5-litre regulations of 1961, but also easily the most powerful. That counted for little around Monaco, however, and Moss – famously driving with the side panels of his car removed to help him keep cool – passed Richie Ginther early on, maintaining a gap of a few seconds to the Ferraris for much of the 100-lap, almost three-hour-long race. Ginther crossed the line 3.6 seconds behind Moss at the finish, while Phil Hill had dropped back to a slightly distant third.
1972 Monaco Grand Prix
In one of the most surprising results in F1 history, Jean-Pierre Beltoise took his sole F1 victory in soaking wet conditions. Beltoise was a solid driver who’d achieved some good results in the past for Matra, but by this point in his career he was driving for BRM – a team on the decline and with a car that was best suited to fast circuits – thanks to its V12 engine – not tight and twisty stuff like Monaco.
Starting fourth on the grid, Beltoise took the lead at the start and simply rocketed off into an unassailable lead, lapping almost the entire field. Even more amazingly, the one car he didn’t lap was second-placed Jacky Ickx, a guy with a massive reputation as a rain master. Ickx also lapped pretty much everybody, but even he had no answer for an inspired Beltoise and was some 40 seconds behind at the flag. Emerson Fittipaldi was third and Jackie Stewart fourth as BRM celebrated what would be the team’s 17th and last win.
1995 Spanish Grand Prix
Michael Schumacher led home Johnny Herbert (who took his first F1 podium) for a Benetton one-two after Damon Hill hit gearbox trouble on the last lap, dropping from second to fourth. That promoted Gerhard Berger to third and surprisingly gave Ferrari the lead in the constructor’s championship, despite having not won any of the first four races of the season.
2006 Spanish Grand Prix
Fernando Alonso sent a packed Spanish crowd wild when he dominated the race to take his first victory on home soil. Michael Schumacher finished a distant second as Giancarlo Fisichella made it two Renaults on the podium.
2017 Spanish Grand Prix
A surprisingly entertaining race which saw plenty of overtaking up at the front as Sebastian Vettel did battle with the two Mercedes drivers. After pulling off a superb move on Valtteri Bottas, Vettel had to defend from Lewis Hamilton after making his final pit stop, which he just about managed after a bit of wheel-banging. Hamilton regrouped and completed the pass a few laps later (appropriately on lap 44) and went on to win ahead of Vettel, with Daniel Ricciardo grabbing third.
