Motorsports Trivia Thread!

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I'm just idly thinking; has any Formula One driver driven for more than three of the "big" teams of that driver's time after the 1950s? Once driver contracts became a bit more stable. I can't think of a driver who has done it with four. There were a few before that time like Fangio and Moss but not since the 1950s or maybe the 1960s.

Mario Andretti drove for Lotus, Ferrari and Williams in a one-off appearance in 1982.
Nigel Mansell drove for Williams, Ferrari and McLaren although McLaren were in an off-cycle despite being one of the "big four".
Gerhard Berger drove for Ferrari, McLaren and Benetton where in his second stint Benetton were also one of the "big four".
Fernando Alonso drove for Renault, McLaren and Ferrari.
 
Alain Prost drove for Renault, McLaren, Ferrari and Williams, all of which I'd consider big teams. He also won races with all of them. There may be others but Prost is probably the most successful.
 
Greycap
Alain Prost drove for Renault, McLaren, Ferrari and Williams, all of which I'd consider big teams. He also won races with all of them. There may be others but Prost is probably the most successful.
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Ooh, that's an excellent shout. Prost's early career at Renault sort of escaped me. Renault would have been at least one of the top teams 1981-84.

Edit: Unsurprisingly Ferrari is the most common team here. Including Fangio, Moss is the only driver to have not driven for them.
 
Mansell started off with Lotus, does that count?

EDIT: I should have checked how Lotus fared from '80-'83.
 
DK
Mansell started off with Lotus, does that count?

EDIT: I should have checked how Lotus fared from '80-'83.
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Lotus only won one Grand Prix in that period - The 1982 Austrian won by the late Elio de Angelis.

1982 is one of my favourite seasons of F1. Keke Rosberg won the WDC with one victory, a consistent season & bad luck for those in much faster cars.
 
Pete05
Lotus only won one Grand Prix in that period - The 1982 Austrian won by the late Elio de Angelis.

1982 is one of my favourite seasons of F1. Keke Rosberg won the WDC with one victory, a consistent season & bad luck for those in much faster cars.
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Its my favorite season. The sheer element of surprise in each race and the standings in the end. If it just wouldn‘t have taken one of the greatest from us on a cold day in may.
 
Liquid
I'm just idly thinking; has any Formula One driver driven for more than three of the "big" teams of that driver's time after the 1950s? Once driver contracts became a bit more stable. I can't think of a driver who has done it with four. There were a few before that time like Fangio and Moss but not since the 1950s or maybe the 1960s.

Mario Andretti drove for Lotus, Ferrari and Williams in a one-off appearance in 1982.
Nigel Mansell drove for Williams, Ferrari and McLaren although McLaren were in an off-cycle despite being one of the "big four".
Gerhard Berger drove for Ferrari, McLaren and Benetton where in his second stint Benetton were also one of the "big four".
Fernando Alonso drove for Renault, McLaren and Ferrari.
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Keeping the bar at 3 - Micheal Schumacher drove for Benetton, Ferrari and Mercedes.
 
Barra333
Keeping the bar at 3 - Micheal Schumacher drove for Benetton, Ferrari and Mercedes.
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I suppose Mercedes-Benz were one of the big teams at the time but... they weren't exactly great whilst he was there.
 
Liquid
I suppose Mercedes-Benz were one of the big teams at the time but... they weren't exactly great whilst he was there.
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Yeah, he was a couple of years ahead of them being great, but they were at the front of what is now F1.5.
 
SilkCutXJR
Its my favorite season. The sheer element of surprise in each race and the standings in the end. If it just wouldn‘t have taken one of the greatest from us on a cold day in may.
Click to expand...
Pete05
Lotus only won one Grand Prix in that period - The 1982 Austrian won by the late Elio de Angelis.

1982 is one of my favourite seasons of F1. Keke Rosberg won the WDC with one victory, a consistent season & bad luck for those in much faster cars.
Click to expand...

It was all that but....

I got to see my childhood hero die on TV that year. :(
 
Senna was another 3-er: Lotus, McLaren and Williams
Raikkonen: McLaren, Lotus and Ferrari
Button: BAR, Brawn and McLaren
Lauda: Brabham, Ferrari and McLaren
Stewart: Tyrrel, Matra, BRM, (March)


However, Carlos Reutemann can go on the list of 4s
Brabham, Ferrari, Williams, Lotus
Jody Scheckter too
McLaren, Tyrrell, Wolf, Ferrari

And John Surtees could go on a list of 5, having won races with:
Ferrari, Honda, Surtees, BRM and McLaren. Plus he also drove for Lotus, lola and Cooper
 
Jimlaad43
Button: BAR, Brawn and McLaren

Jody Scheckter too
McLaren, Tyrrell, Wolf, Ferrari

And John Surtees could go on a list of 5, having won races with:
Ferrari, Honda, Surtees, BRM and McLaren. Plus he also drove for Lotus, lola and Cooper
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None of the bolded teams were one of the "big three" teams of the time, and I'd argue that Brawn weren't either; they were a small team that won. BAR once managed to finish second in the WCC, an exceptional result for a midfield team. Wolf won some races but were, like BAR, a small team doing well. None of them were big grandee teams with multiseason continued success.

Surtees never won for BRM and only had non-championship victories for his own team, although he did win a race for Cooper.

@Liquid At a stretch you could add Giancarlo Fisichella to the list of threes (Benetton, Renault, Ferrari) but Benetton were firmly mid-grid when Fisi drove for them; similarly David Coulthard (Williams, McLaren, Red Bull) and Alex Wurz (Benetton, McLaren, Williams). Martin Brundle managed to race for Tyrrell, Brabham, Williams, Benetton and McLaren without being involved with any of those team's glory days. I'm sure there's plenty more who drove for several formerly great teams.
 
Roo
None of the bolded teams were one of the "big three" teams of the time, and I'd argue that Brawn weren't either; they were a small team that won. BAR once managed to finish second in the WCC, an exceptional result for a midfield team. Wolf won some races but were, like BAR, a small team doing well. None of them were big grandee teams with multiseason continued success.

Surtees never won for BRM and only had non-championship victories for his own team, although he did win a race for Cooper.

@Liquid At a stretch you could add Giancarlo Fisichella to the list of threes (Benetton, Renault, Ferrari) but Benetton were firmly mid-grid when Fisi drove for them; similarly David Coulthard (Williams, McLaren, Red Bull) and Alex Wurz (Benetton, McLaren, Williams). Martin Brundle managed to race for Tyrrell, Brabham, Williams, Benetton and McLaren without being involved with any of those team's glory days. I'm sure there's plenty more who drove for several formerly great teams.
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Button started out with Williams before being loaned out to BAR. He didn't win for them but Williams were one of those big teams back in the day.
 
Tired Tyres
Button started out with Williams before being loaned out to BAR. He didn't win for them but Williams were one of those big teams back in the day.
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Back in the day Cooper was a big team, my favorite. They built a lot of cars and won numerous races & championships, all from a one room garage with one light bulb, one pot-belly stove and drew their designs on the floor with chalk.
 
SilkCutXJR
He was so far ahead of what the machines could do at the time... I wonder what he would have done with stuff from Ayrtons era.

When I lived in Belgium I always had a minute of silence driving past Zolder on the motorway.
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To not get to watch Gilles man-handle a Formula 1 from the peak of the turbo era, with a 1400bhp grenade behind him, on one-lap rubber, the World was robbed :(
 
Roo
Benetton were firmly mid-grid when Fisi drove for them; similarly David Coulthard (Williams, McLaren, Red Bull)
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Not sure if you're implying that Williams were "firmly mid-grid" during Coulthard's time... but they were fighting for the WDC in his first year (1994) and it's arguable that without the loss of Senna they might have taken it. As it was Schumacher pipped Hill to the WDC by one point. They of course took the WCC that year.

I might have misunderstood - apologies if I did :)
 
TenEightyOne
Not sure if you're implying that Williams were "firmly mid-grid" during Coulthard's time... but they were fighting for the WDC in his first year (1994) and it's arguable that without the loss of Senna they might have taken it. As it was Schumacher pipped Hill to the WDC by one point. They of course took the WCC that year.

I might have misunderstood - apologies if I did :)
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My bad, I should've been more clear!

I ment that one of the teams each driver raced for were mid-grid at the time; in DC's case, Red Bull, in Wurz's, Williams. I know Williams were one of the top teams during Coulthard's tenure, but reading my post back I can see that wasn't so obvious.
 
What streak lasted between the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix and the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix?

Hint: It has nothing to do with Jordan Grand Prix.
 
Liquid
What streak lasted between the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix and the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix?

Hint: It has nothing to do with Jordan Grand Prix.
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Off the top of my head: Ferrari had both cars retire in both races. So I am going to guess they always had one car going to the finish line in between those two races?
 
ClydeYellow
Off the top of my head: Ferrari had both cars retire in both races. So I am going to guess they always had one car going to the finish line in between those two races?
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That is correct, Ferrari went almost 6 years before suffering their next double retirement.
 
This is one of my favourite F1 anecdotes told numerous times by a pair of legends, sadly only one of them is still with us. Who are they, and can you flesh out the story a little?

Clues are not in any order:

Clues.jpg
 
That's a very specific image of Christian Fittipaldi's Minardi at Monza in 1993... Does that have anything to do with the story or was it the first image you found for a flipped F1 car?
 
-Fred-
That's a very specific image of Christian Fittipaldi's Minardi at Monza in 1993... Does that have anything to do with the story or was it the first image you found for a flipped F1 car?
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I didn't show the actual 1960s car, some people would have realised far too much too quickly. I also wanted to avoid using any old flipped 1960s car in case I inadvertently used a fatal accident pic.
 
I think it's Jackie Stewart's crash at Spa in 1966.

IIRC, He was flipped, and Graham Hill helped get him out of a car while being covered in fuel. Stewart's suit was cut off, so he was put in a barn with a couple of Nuns while naked.
 
Jimlaad43
I think it's Jackie Stewart's crash at Spa in 1966.

IIRC, He was flipped, and Graham Hill helped get him out of a car while being covered in fuel. Stewart's suit was cut off, so he was put in a barn with a couple of Nuns while naked.
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Indeed.

Depending on who's telling the story and how much wine Graham Hill had consumed it becomes more lurid at times. Long and short, Hill crashed in the same spot, saw Stewart lying in a wreck below, got him from the car and was interrupted by nuns as he stripped him naked. In some versions he fixes them with a devilish, moustache-twitching smile that scares them even more than the initial scene :D
 

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