Top 5 of the craziest Grand Prix races since 2014

5: 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix: opportunism as a master quality

It seemed to us that the 2021 edition had a déjà vu feeling… The top two championship leaders struggling, crazy race restarts, a Red Bull that comes out on top… This year’s scenario was very close to the first edition of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix (the 2016 race in Baku bearing the « European Grand Prix »)!

In 2017, everything was set for a relatively quiet race…but not at all!

Hamilton and Bottas’ Mercedes start on the front row ahead of Vettel and Räikkönen’s Ferraris. At turn 3, the two Finns make contact: Bottas gets a puncture and heads back to the pits, while Räikkönen plays the role of the trailblazer, leaving debris behind him but not able to find his way to victory.

Verstappen suffers an engine failure, Daniil Kvyat stops at the exit of the old town: safety car on track until the sixteenth lap, before coming out to clean up debris.

Just before the restart, Hamilton leads Vettel. Things go wrong at the exit of turn 15: Hamilton brakes, Vettel, surprised, hits him! The German’s blood boils: he draws level with Hamilton to hit him with a wheel. The race direction is not happy and Vettel will receive a 10-second stop and go penalty.

After a red flag, Hamilton suffers an unlikely problem: his cockpit protection comes off in the middle of the straight… no choice, he has to stop, abandoning his chances of victory.

But the big winner of all this commotion is Daniel Ricciardo! The Australian, author of a triple overtake, takes advantage of the troubles of the two title contenders to head towards victory, his 5th of his career, with superb opportunism. Behind, Bottas overtakes Stroll on the last straight line for second place! The Finn came out of nowhere, and Stroll, in his Williams, steps onto his first podium. Magnificent!

4. Brazilian Grand Prix 2019: Verstappen and Gasly seeking redemption

A season heavily dominated by Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton, who was already champion before arriving in Brazil. But in Sao Paulo, the race was anything but a smooth sailing.

Max Verstappen starts on pole ahead of Vettel and Lewis Hamilton. Ferrari No. 5 misses its start, and Hamilton doesn’t hesitate to pass.

The first three quarters of the race were rather calm, until the 51st lap: Bottas abandoned the race, his Mercedes V6 engine having overheated. The safety car came out to liven up the race: Verstappen pitted to change tires and rejoined behind Lewis Hamilton, who was slow to pick up the pace.

The Dutchman doesn’t let himself be fooled and overtakes Hamilton on the outside at turn 1! Alex Albon closely follows the action, but his teammate is heading towards victory.

New event, rather embarrassing: Leclerc and Vettel’s two Ferraris are fighting for 4th place… and end up on the canvas at the end of the second straight. A Leclerc in « big defense » mode facing an aggressive Vettel, and the two cars come away empty-handed.

New Safety Car. Lewis Hamilton decides to make one last stop to put on new tires with 3 laps to go. He comes out behind the two Red Bulls and… Pierre Gasly! The leader car introduces a practice that has become common in F1: waiting just before the start/finish line to regroup everyone and deprive his opponents of slipstream!

Hamilton goes after Alex Albon after overtaking Gasly…the world champion sends Red Bull No. 23 spinning, and Gasly moves up to second place!

Verstappen is going for his third win of the season, while Pierre Gasly has an extraordinary sprint with Hamilton, who finishes in 3rd place before being penalized.

Verstappen gets his revenge on 2018, where victory was promised to him before Esteban Ocon sent him out; Pierre Gasly makes people forget his departure from Red Bull by clinching his first podium in Formula 1, for the now-defunct Toro Rosso!

3. British Grand Prix 2020: a winner on 3 wheels!

The Mercedes, sporting a new black livery, are simply untouchable in regular conditions. Lewis Hamilton, at home, outperforms the rest of the grid – and his teammate by over 3 tenths.

Hamilton and Bottas lead a quiet race at the front, ahead of a Verstappen used to the role of best of the rest.

Three laps before the end, the first big scare: Valtteri Bottas’s No. 77 car got a flat tire on the front left in the first sector! This condemns the Finnish driver’s chances of a podium, as he was forced to complete a full lap… and then, Carlos Sainz’s McLaren suffered the same fate shortly before the start of the final lap, approaching Stowe corner.

At Red Bull, no risks were taken: Verstappen, who was in second place, made a pit stop to avoid any inconvenience…

Gross error!! An unthinkable twist occurs: Lewis Hamilton, who is leading by a large margin, also gets a puncture in the last half of the circuit! The Briton has to push a handicapped car to the finish line, with Max Verstappen chasing after him!

This is a first in F1: Lewis Hamilton becomes the first winner on 3 wheels in history, while Max Verstappen fails just five seconds behind! Charles Leclerc, the opportunist, snatches the 3rd step of the podium.

2. Canadian Grand Prix 2014: turmoil at Mercedes

The Canadian leg is always eagerly awaited as it is so iconic.

This first season of the hybrid era marks the beginning of a fierce rivalry between the two drivers of the ruthless Mercedes: Lewis Hamilton facing Nico Rosberg, on pole in Montreal.

No mercy between the Silver Arrows: Rosberg shoves Hamilton at the first corner, allowing Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull to slip in between.

The race has already been neutralized following the crash of Jules Bianchi, who was hit by his teammate Max Chilton at Marussia.

After the restart, Lewis Hamilton launches an attack on his teammate, who is currently leading. Under pressure, Nico Rosberg ends up cutting the chicane twice, without giving up the lead to his garage neighbor.

After the first round of pit stops, Hamilton was back in front of Rosberg, but behind a Felipe Massa who no longer had to stop. The Williams driver was the first non-Mercedes leader of a race that year!

Hamilton misses the hairpin in turn 10, allowing Rosberg to pass again. The car number 44, trying the outside line, sees its brakes fail, forcing it in turn to go straight… the Mercedes cracks, Hamilton eventually abandons.

But nothing was over: Nico Rosberg was also facing very expensive brake problems in terms of performance. Daniel Ricciardo didn’t ask for more! He took on attacking the surviving Mercedes to dash towards victory!

At the beginning of the last lap, the fight for the podium was fierce between Sebastian Vettel, Sergio Pérez, and Felipe Massa… the Mexican, wanting to defend against an attack from the Williams, was hit, and the Brazilian lost control of his car at full speed, resulting in a big impact. Sebastian Vettel was just a few centimeters away from a disaster!

The race concludes under a safety car regime, and Daniel Ricciardo, newly arrived at Red Bull, wins the first victory of his career. And he didn’t steal it!

Italian Grand Prix 2020: Pierre Gasly scores the century’s blow!

« Frankly, MotorsInside, it’s a bit out of chauvinism that you put this race at the top…

Certainly out of chauvinism, but also – and above all – because anyone who bet on the final ranking would treat themselves to a 5-star restaurant the next day!

In 2020, Lewis Hamilton is on his way to clinch the title, with a colossal lead in the championship. Except that for the winning machines at Mercedes, it was written that nothing would go as planned in Monza!

Lewis Hamilton takes advantage of his pole position to start in the lead, while the McLarens of Sainz and Norris each take turns surprising the other black car of Bottas.

This Italian Grand Prix was dangerously starting to look like a procession. But Kevin Magnussen’s Haas decided that it was necessary to come to the rescue of the show: it stops just before the pit lane entry. And there is the safety car!

Too bad, because Pierre Gasly had anticipated his tire change. The big mistake was for Mercedes: the pit lane being closed, they were not allowed to enter… except that Mercedes had not taken this detail into account when bringing in Lewis Hamilton. Antonio Giovinazzi and Alfa Romeo made the same mistake.

The British champion is facing a penalty, a 10-second stop and go.

After two restarts, Charles Leclerc smashes his Ferrari at the exit of the Parabolica. The red flag is out.

Pierre Gasly then holds a very interesting 3rd place…then we learn that the sanction has fallen on Lewis Hamilton. And why not me? must have wondered the Normandy driver of the AlphaTauri.

When the race resumes, with a standing start, Pierre Gasly gets rid of Lance Stroll in 2nd place. Lewis Hamilton chooses to serve his penalty immediately: the French number 10 takes the lead!

We start to stress, because the surprising 3rd and 4th Alfa Romeo cars are being eaten by a hungry orange plane: Carlos Sainz on the McLaren. The Spaniard eventually catches up with Pierre Gasly before starting a legendary final lap!

The Frenchman took example from Simon Pagenaud during his victory at the Indy 500: the dragon move to break Sainz’s draft.

During the final acceleration, Pierre Gasly speeds towards a sensational victory, breaking a 24-year curse for the French after Panis’ success in Monaco! A memory that we, French fans and journalists, are not ready to forget!

To get back to the bet… a Finnish person pocketed 33,000 euros by betting 20 cents on the Gasly-Sainz-Stroll podium… which equates to odds of 166,990! Luck was on their side that day, Pierre Gasly was, not without talent and skill!