1976 Spanish Grand Prix
James Hunt took his first win of the season as Niki Lauda finished second – not a bad result for the Austrian, considering he’d broken his ribs in a bizarre tractor accident while mowing the lawns of his house. Gunnar Nilsson took his first career podium in third, while Chris Amon finished fifth for Ensign, scoring the last points of his career.
This was also the race where Tyrrell debuted the incredible P34, giving Patrick Depailler the honour of racing F1’s first six-wheeled car while Jody Scheckter had to make do with the old four-wheeled 007. Depailler gave the car a good showing, too, qualifying third and running in contention for a podium until he crashed out following an issue with the brakes.
After the race there was drama, however, when it was announced that Hunt’s McLaren had been disqualified from victory for being fractionally too wide – an unusual decision, given that the regulations on car width had apparently been based on McLaren’s car. The team appealed the decision, citing that the extra width had been caused by the fact that the tyres had expanded due to the heat and that the measurements should have been taken when the car was cold. Two months later, McLaren won its case and Hunt was reinstated as the winner.
1999 San Marino Grand Prix
Mika Hakkinen led away from pole but 18 laps into the race made an unusual mistake and crashed heavily into the wall coming out of the final chicane. That left David Coulthard in the lead, but he could only finish second after being jumped by Michael Schumacher in the pit stops – Coulthard and McLaren blamed unresponsive backmarkers – who went on to take Ferrari’s first win at Imola in 17 years, with Rubens Barrichello rounding out the podium for Stewart in third.
