With the value of winning races such an explosive issue at the moment I thought it would be a good idea to revise a post I first did two years ago.
Heading into the 2007, I thought it would be interesting to see how long ago it was since each driver on the grid last won a race.
Some of them, of course, have never won an F1 race – in fact one of them hasn’t won an international motor race since before the new millennium…
McLaren
Lewis Hamilton
2008 Chinese Grand Prix
McLaren-Mercedes
14.925s ahead of Felipe Massa
Heikki Kovalainen
2008 Hungarian Grand Prix
McLaren-Mercedes
11.061s ahead of Timo Glock
Ferrari
Felipe Massa
2008 Brazilian Grand Prix
Ferrari
13.298s ahead of Fernando Alonso
Kimi Raikkonen
2008 Spanish Grand Prix
Ferrari
3.228s ahead of Felipe Massa
BMW
Robert Kubica
2008 Canadian Grand Prix
BMW
16.495s ahead of Nick Heidfeld
Nick Heidlfeld
1999 F3000 A1-Ring
West Competition Team Lola B99/50
8.957s ahead of Soheil Ayari
Renault
Fernando Alonso
2008 Japanese Grand Prix
Renault
5.283s ahead of Robert Kubica
Nelson Piquet Jnr
2006 GP2 Istanbul Feature Race
Piquet Sports GP2 Dallara
17.879s ahead of Lewis Hamilton
Toyota
Jarno Trulli
2004 Monaco Grand Prix
Renault
0.497s ahead of Jenson Button
Timo Glock
2007 GP2 Valencia Ricardo Tormo Sprint Race
iSport GP2 Dallara
5.474s ahead of Javier Villa
Toro Rosso
Sebastien Buemi
2008 GP2 Hungaroring Sprint Race
Arden GP2 Dallara
7.978s ahead of Andy Soucek
Sebastien Bourdais
2007 Champ Car World Series, Mexico City
Neman/Haas/Lanigan Panoz DP01
1.906s ahead of Will Power
Red Bull
Mark Webber
2001 F3000 Magny-Cours
Super Nova Lola B99/50
7.454s ahead of Justin Wilson
Sebastian Vettel
2008 Italian Grand Prix
Toro Rosso
12.512s ahead of Heikki Kovalainen
Williams
Nico Rosberg
2005 GP2 Bahrain Sprint Race
ART GP2 Dallara
8.335s ahead of Ernesto Viso
Kazuki Nakajima
2006 F3 Euroseries Lausitzring Reverse-grid race
Manor Motorsport Dallara Mercedes
7.423s ahead of Richard Antinucci
Brawn GP
Rubens Barrichello
2004 Chinese Grand Prix
Ferrari
1.035s ahead of Jenson Button
Jenson Button
2006 Hungarian Grand Prix
Honda
30.837s ahead of Pedro de la Rosa
Force India F1 Team
Adrian Sutil
2006 Japanese F3, Fuji Speedway (race four)
TOM’s Dallara F305-Toyota
2.491s ahead of Kazuya Oshima
Giancarlo Fisichella
2006 Malaysian Grand Prix
Renault
4.585s ahead of Fernando Alonso
Image (C) GP2 / Glenn Dunbar
EWB
19th March 2009, 16:04
Rubens and Jenson are switched.
matt
19th March 2009, 17:13
apparently button finished just ahead of himself lol
Rob
19th March 2009, 16:05
Rubens/Jenson are the wrong way round
KAB
19th March 2009, 16:06
You have got Barichello’s win mixed up with Buttons
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
19th March 2009, 18:55
Fixed!
qazuhb
19th March 2009, 16:14
If they were not switched that would be FAST, Jenson ahead of himself by over a whole second! :)
Clare msj
19th March 2009, 16:15
Oooh Heidfeld, its been a while since he won! And there’s me convinced he will be fighting for the title this year! I’ve still got my faith in him this season – will make it even better when he does win a race because he hasnt done so for aaages(I am positive he will win at least one this year! :D )
David@Geelong
20th March 2009, 2:17
He nearly made it at the Canadian round in 2008.
Came in second to Kubica. Heidfeld let him passed if my memory is correct.
el Diablo
19th March 2009, 16:16
Interesting article- I’d never considered how strange it must be for the likes of Heidfeld and Webber to go so long without any sort of race win. You’d probably consider those two, along with Nico Rosberg or Timo Glock, most likely to win their first F1 race in 2009.
In reality though I can’t see anyone breaking their duck this year, which would make 2009 the first ‘no new winner’ year since 2005.
Scott Joslin
19th March 2009, 16:33
Wow, that has to play on Nick’s mind. I wonder if he has even won a race on his PS3?
Weber is having a drought too
Keith – what was the date of that Sutil win?
Filipe
19th March 2009, 16:36
2006.
Loki
19th March 2009, 16:55
10 years without a race win, that’s harsh – can you even remember what its like to win. Of course, being F1 drivers it shouldn’t be a problem given the right machine, but you wonder if they were ever in the situation of being out in front would they bottle it? I doubt it, they’re F1 drivers…but 10 years…if I don’t play badminton for 2 weeks I feel pressure when I’m in the lead!
ajokay
19th March 2009, 17:04
Poor Nick and Mark. Imagine being a racing driver and not have won a race for so long. I feel sorry for them now.
Heres to both of them fighting for the championship this year.
Funny to see that the last race that Piquet won was ahead of a 2nd place Lewis Hamilton. I bet he wishes for those days back again.
Phil
19th March 2009, 20:18
Thing is, that GP2 race was the one where hamilton stormed from 16th place to 2nd after spinning at the start.
Mr Soap
19th March 2009, 20:41
Phil –
Well, not quite, that was the sprint race, Piquet won the Feature race the day before. The Sprint race he finished 5th, I believe.
KingHamilton
19th March 2009, 17:05
I think the reason why Heidfeld hasnt won a race is because up until last season He had never had a car which was capable of winning. And even lasts season he would of had to get through Ferrari and Mclaren, or have a bit of luck like Kubica and Alonso did last year.
I hope Heidfeld wins a race this year, I want to see him in the Championship race!
chaostheory
19th March 2009, 23:56
It’s no luck! – it’s Lewis :P
Dougie
19th March 2009, 17:06
Yeah, Nick & Marks drought coincide with them moving to F1 pretty much into uncompetitive machinery.
However, Nakajima’s… does that really count as a win, being reverse grid and all… Did he ever win a race from a fastest first grid start?
Tim
19th March 2009, 22:04
No, Nakajima’s best from a “fastest first” start was second. But he showed reasonably well in GP2 (top rookie in 2007 with five podiums) and, although Nico Rosberg has generally had the upper hand, he hasn’t exactly blown Kazuki into the weeds.
dan
19th March 2009, 17:08
im hoping Kubica will be fighting for the championship this year, despite his weight disadvantage
tifosi4eva
19th March 2009, 17:09
Heya everyone, I have returned ready for action in the new season!
It is interesting when you compare the wins, for example Heidfeld has become a regular poduim attender but has not won a race for almost ten years! That is just astonishing. Then you have the likes of Vettel, where he has already won a formula1 race but that is the only time he has ever been on the podium in formula 1.
Internet
19th March 2009, 17:20
@ajokay: Hamilton spun in that race, and had to fight back to the 2nd place from the back of the field. Much more impressive performance than Piquet in that context.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjotF2Bwbmg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yn7L-fA3XZo&feature=related
zp
20th March 2009, 2:29
why did he spin in the first place? 8-)
Internet
19th March 2009, 17:21
Of course, on the other hand not so impressive considering he shouldn’t have spun in the first place.
Robert McKay
19th March 2009, 17:37
Ha ha like it :-D
Hounslow
19th March 2009, 17:41
Nakajima . . . reverse grid F3 race. Does sort of make you wonder how he got into F1, doesn’t it?
But ‘Quick’ Nick; ten years!
diseased rat
19th March 2009, 21:34
I’m pretty sure it’s because Williams get free engines from Toyota for taking him.
Lustigson
19th March 2009, 18:21
@ Loki
> 10 years without a race win, that’s harsh – can you even remember
> what its like to win.
If you think 10 years is a long time between wins, what about Roberto Moreno – 12 years between his last win in F3000 in 1988 and the next in Champ Car in 2000.
Jos Verstappen – 15 years between his last win in F3 in 1993, and his latest successes in the 2008 Le Mans Series. But perhaps there are more examples.
Sasquatsch
20th March 2009, 11:56
Jos Verstappen won the A1GP of South Africa in 2006. So it’s less than 13 years.
Fer no.65
19th March 2009, 20:07
Alex Wurz won nothing since that 1997 Le Mans win with the Porsche.
ajokay
19th March 2009, 20:48
And of course, when Jacques Villeneuve was kicked out of F1 two thirds of the way through 2006, it had been 9 years since his last win at the Nurburgring in 1997.
ajokay
19th March 2009, 20:55
…and checking out his Wikipedia page, has only won the 2008 1000km of Spa Le Mans Series race since that final F1 win in 1997 – 11 year gap.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
20th March 2009, 8:40
Did Wurz not win anything in the Peugeot last year then?
ajokay
20th March 2009, 10:07
Alex Wurz’s Wikipedia (where I always end up going for this type of thing) page says he came 5th in the 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans, and placed DNF in the 2008 1000km of Spa, both with the Peugeot team. He took part in no other races, as far as I can see.
Leslie
19th March 2009, 21:44
I’ve long held the view that for most of the drivers who have raced in Formula 1 over the years it was the end of the road as far as winning races was concerned. Gone are the days when the answer to the question would have been ‘on the same day as the last GP in the saloon/sporstcar race or the previous weekend in the Nurburgring 1000 klms’. Perhaps we’ll see that again now that drivers are underemployed due to the testing ban………..but I doubt it because they have to spend so much time doling out teamspeak and sponsor guff to the media; what a yawn.
Tim
19th March 2009, 22:12
I remember Nick Heidfeld’s last race win – he had a pretty dominant season of F3000 to win the title before heading into F1 with Prost.
More impressive, however, was Nick’s previous season (his first in F3000) when he pushed Juan Pablo Montoya incredibly hard for the title. Montoya should have walked it, but didn’t – including a particularly sloppy performance at Monaco. Heidfeld took things to the very last round and would have been even closer but for a fuel infringement in qualifying at the last race.
Soheil Ayari, now there’s a name to conjure with…
Jay Menon
20th March 2009, 1:24
Nick’s probably been one of the unluckiest drivers on the grid. He was gutted when he didn’t get the McLaren drive after Mika, as he was held it good regard by the team after his test stint there.
Having said that, Nick’s not World Champion material, with all due respect. He just lacks that extra spark somehow, he’s possibly too much of a nice guy. He looks like a great team player, and he’s never given much credit for it I guess.
Mark Webber on the other hand, he’s never even consistently finished on the podium, he’s probably had 1 good season.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
20th March 2009, 8:39
Heidfeld’s got two records of note at the moment:
Most second places without a win (seven).
Most consecutive finishes (28).
glamourBob
20th March 2009, 2:11
While we’re on the subject, I’m not sure why Coulthard gets invited to the Race of Champions. He’s never been a champion of anything. Bless him.
theRoswellite
20th March 2009, 5:30
This reminds me of the really old days when there were “non-championship” GP races, with often someone winning who didn’t usually do so. Question.
Does anyone know if there is any agreements preventing this type of race from going on today? I’m sure there would be all hell to pay if FOTA tried to stage something….outside….the domain of our two “Sisty-Uglers”…B&M.
They were great fun, and just about the racing. Of course that was back when an entire season might be 10 races or less.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
20th March 2009, 8:37
No, don’t think so.
theRoswellite
20th March 2009, 5:33
(…are any agreements..)
Ben
20th March 2009, 11:14
The non championship races always involved locals rocking up with their F1/F2 machinery and racing, to which the Championship F1 drivers would also enter.
What prevents it happening today is purely economics, not many people would be able to afford an F1 car for their own racing pursuits, and the cars (and rules) develop too quickly for people to be able to buy 1-2 year old cars and still be competitive.
The old drivers (Brabham, Moss, McLaren etc) used to bring several cars to non championship races just to sell to local drivers. Thats just not possible nowadays.
The number of circuits actually able to host F1 races are pretty slim too, gone are the days where you could lay out osme haybales on an airfield and host an F1 race. Not many countries would have multiple circuits capable of hosting F1 races to be able to make the finances of someone running an F1 outisde of the world championship viable.