The 2019 Formula 1 season is about to get underway. This year, as with every year, spectators are anticipating high velocity face-offs between the best drivers, technical teams and racing machines on the planet. As with all great events, F1 racing is not without its idiosyncrasies.
Here are five things you probably didn’t know happened in Formula One:
1. Plastic bag destroys Sergey Sirotkin’s debut
Image Source: autosport.com
Sergey Sirotkin’s long awaited debut at the 2018 Australian Grand Prix was cut short – not by a crash, technical fault or driver’s error – but by a plastic sandwich bag.
The bag, last seen flapping around in the high winds lashing the Melbourne circuit, was sucked into the rear brake duct of the car during the fourth lap of the race. The result? A soaring disc temperature and catastrophic brake failure which, rather fortuitously, did not result in loss of life.
2. Monaco and the missing diamonds
Image Source: lorenhazelwoodmedia.com
At the 2004 Monaco Grand Prix, Jaguar teamed up with the producers of Oceans 12 to promote the latest film in the popular franchise. In keeping with the diamond heist theme, two large flawless diamonds set in solid gold were built in to the nose cones of the Jaguar racing cars driven by Mark Webber and debutant Christian Klien.
The 20-year-old Austrian didn’t have an auspicious start to his career and promptly crashed into the barriers in the opening lap. When the car was towed to the pits two hours later, the $185,000 gem had disappeared… never to be seen again!
3. Four months prep for the Singapore GP
Image Source: formula1.ferrari.com
The Singapore night race is a logistical nightmare. It takes 25,000 people working flat out over four months to get the 5,063 km street circuit up to scratch. Along with erecting 10km of debris fencing and more than 4,300 safety barriers, teams have to lay a special grip-enhancing surface to the streets.
Lighting up the circuit is as labour intensive. It involves laying 108,000 metres of power cables and setting up 1,600 light projectors and 240 steel pylons. More than 3 million watts of electricity, powered by 12 twin-powered generators, is required to do the job. Each generator has a dedicated engineer and a back-up generator standing by in case of power failures.
4. Africa F1: fact or fantasy
Image Source: dailymail.co.uk
Africa has not hosted a Grand Prix in this century. It is the only continent that is routinely ignored by the FIA. The last race held in Africa was the 1993 South African Grand Prix, a race that featured luminaries like Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, Damon Hill, Christian Fittipaldi and Ricardo Patrese.
Rumours abound that F1 is returning to Africa. Prime locations include Zambia, Rwanda, Botswana and South Africa and there are even plans to construct a circuit close to the iconic Victoria Falls.
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Will Africa feature on the F1 schedule anytime soon? Bernie Ecclestone is quoted as supporting the long-awaited return to the second largest continent on earth. We’re sure the legions of F1 fans across Africa simply cannot wait!
5. Wet weather whittles down the field to three
Image Source: racefans.net
At the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix, 21 drivers qualified for the race but only three finished. Torrential rain before and during the legendary Monte Carlo street race caused absolute chaos. The bulk of the drivers either retired, spun off the road or crashed.
Runner-up, David Coulthard had to start the race in one of Michael Schumacher’s helmets as he had serious visibility problems during the qualifying laps with his own. The eventual winner was Frenchman Olivier Panis who won his one and only F1 race.
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