Grand Prix Stories

Back in the 1950s, during the first French Grand Prix (held at the Geuex circuit in Reims), the winner was presented with a bottle of champagne. The bottle of champagne was also introduced to many other series including Le Mans.

The first man who sprayed champagne was Graham Hill, on the 22nd of February in 1966 at the XXXI Australian Grand Prix at Lakeside. It was something that nobody had done before, but sadly, the moment didn’t become famous because the event was not shown internationally on television.

The next spray-event came in 1966, when Jo Siffert won the 24 Hours of Le Mans and while sitting out in the sun he accidentally sprayed the crowd with his bottle of champagne. A year later (1967), the American-born Dan Gurney won the same race for the first time (in a Ford GT40, Mark IV) and deliberately copied Jo’s gesture by spraying the crowd with his bottle of champagne (Moët & Chandon) – the podium celebration was screened across the globe. Thankfully, his bottle was kept by Life magazine photographer Flip Schulke (he was on stage during the celebration). Dan gave him the bottle and even signed it after the celebration was over. 

This gesture, came as a surprise for everybody as well as Gurney himself. Recalling Dan Gurney: “I was so stoked that when they handed me the Magnum of MOËT ET CHANDON, I shook the bottle and began spraying at the photographers, drivers, Henry Ford II, Carroll Shelby and their wives. It was a very special moment at the time, I was not aware that I had started a tradition that continues in winner’s circles all over the world to this day”. As Gurney later said: “it was like a fire hose… and they were loving it.” The spray became a habit after Stewart sprayed the champagne after winning the French Grand Prix in 1969 and it finally caught the attention of a wider audience and became a tradition in F1.  

Since then, the champagne-celebration became a trademark in podium finishes, highlighting the driver’s excitement and the end of a race.

Watch Gurney’s interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tU33MtJ9oc

If you are VIP personnel, team sponsor or a McLaren employee, you have the privilege to visit the famous McLaren Boulevard and admire the spectacular trophy collection. The Trophy Cabinet is strategically located opposite one of the many engineering workshops, to remind everyone in the building of the roots of the team. Nearly 2000 people walk past the cabinet 2-3 times a day, on their way to the restaurant, thus the cabinet acts as a motivator and constant reminder of McLaren’s achievements.

McLaren won around 500 trophies, with the most iconic being on display in the Trophy Cabinet. Each trophy carries its own history, such as the first trophy of Bruce McLaren in a hill-climb race or Ayrton Senna’s trophy collection during the dominant era of McLaren Honda in the late 80’s. However, in this spectacular collection there is one legendary trophy which is missing - the unforgettable 1989 Italian Grand Prix winner’s trophy. This particular trophy of McLaren’s cabinet holds the story of one of the most legendary rivalries in F1 history.

The 1989 season was the conclusion of Alain Porst’s successful and dominant 6-year partnership with the Mclaren team. Before the race of the Italian Grand Prix, Prost announced that he would be joining forces with Ferrari. Prost decided to leave McLaren, as he believed that Honda favoured Ayrton by supplying him with faster engines and better engineering support. Ironically, in the 1989 Italian Grand Prix, Senna’s leading McLaren pulled out of the race with less than 9 laps to go, handing the victory to Prost.

During the podium ceremony the Tifosi started cheering for Prost, as he would be driving for Ferrari the next season. In the heat of the moment, the crowd started chanting “Copa, copa!” as a way of asking Prost to throw the winners’ trophy from the podium to the crowd. According to Prost, he felt that throwing his trophy to the Italian crowd was the right thing to do, however, the trophy didn’t survive in one piece. Needless to say that Ron Dennis could not believe what he was seeing. Furiously and disappointed, he dropped the constructors trophy at the Frenchman’s feet. Ron later recalled: “he was giving away something which belonged to McLaren, and I was furious”, underlining the team policy on drivers’ trophies.

That moment was also discussed in an interview given by Prost, published in the book “Senna versus Prost”. Prost explained that once he stepped on the podium and heard the Italian crowd chanting “Copa, copa” he felt part of the Ferrari team, so he let the cup go. Six years later (1995), Prost ordered a replica trophy of his Italian GP win and offered it to Ron as a gesture, at the squad’s Christmas party at the Science Museum.

For sure, no one is going to notice the replica trophy on McLaren’s priceless Trophy Cabinet. The trophy of the 1989 Italian Grand Prix might not be the original one, but is carrying a legendary history.  

 Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72rPeClWTYo

F1 has always been the most desired motorsport category for all professional drivers. All young children in the karting series dreamed of becoming F1 racing drivers and emulate the achievements of their (local) heroes. F1 drivers are the source of inspiration for the majority (even all) youngsters in their early karting years. In the F1 paddock, seats are extraordinary limited, and getting one of them doesn't last forever. Multi-year contracts are given to well established drivers in the field. For rookies and the rest of the grid, contracts are signed for one to two years. This time-limited offer gives an additive to the prestigious position of being a F1 driver. Winning a race/championship adds your name next to the best drivers in the world, something that lasts forever in the history books of motorsport. And who knows, even Hollywood film producers might get interested and turn you into a movie star (see the Rush movie).

In the old days, sponsorship was not the determining factor for getting a driving seat. Especially in the 60's-70's, the experience was a mandatory requirement. Alain Prost expressed how difficult it was driving a car in the 80's. The cars could produce more than 1000hp without having power steering. Drivers had to be be equally trained physically and mentally. After the race, they were physically exhausted and even standing at the podium required a sort of a physical power after a long race.

Nowadays, drivers don't need as much physical exercise. With the use of the aid systems, power steering wheels, KERS and DRS, overtaking and positioning the car on the track doesn't require an enormous physical strength just some solid racing background (everything is done electronically and aerodynamically).

After the long introduction, let’s come back to Max; by all means he has done an impressive job in F1 so far. He is quick, competitive, demonstrating very calculated moves, but this is not enough for holding a seat in F1! Max Verstappen has proved that F1 cars have become so easy to drive, that even a teenager can compete with the very best drivers in the world.

According to Niki Lauda (I totally support his opinion), cars are too easy to drive, they are too progressive and there is too much technical support for the drivers. Anybody can drive the current cars, even a 17-year-old boy. F1 must be for men to drive, not just youngsters who can play with the buttons on the steering wheel. Only drivers with the best driving skills should be in Formula 1. F1 is too artificial, and everybody can handle a F1 car in the new and boring tracks (thanks to Hermann Tilke’s office) with the massive run-off areas (the current tracks are just a batch of nonsense corners, a proper track must have a “flow”…).

However, opinions vary. Some of you might say that Max is an astonishingly young talented driver who has unfolded his extraordinary driving talent at such a young age and made it into F1. This statement might be true but this is just not enough for becoming a F1 driver. There are hundreds of youngsters out there who are as quick as Max, but getting into a F1 should follow a transitional period through lower categories (Formula Renault 2.0, GP3, GP2 etc.). Experience – and maturity - is tremendously essential, especially in the top class series where your existence in the paddock might be limited. Nevertheless, his young age (he didn’t even have a driving licence when he started racing in F1) damaged the reputation of the sport as a top class racing series (as Jacques Villeneuve mentioned at the start of the season). His luck of experience in lower series (this can be observed through his nonsense radio communications during the race) can also underestimate the level of danger behind his moves. No matter how good he is, F1 has been underrated by the public view and its reputation has been severely depreciated.

Expressing my concerns, F1 should retain its status as the most physically, skilfully, mentally demanding series in Europe. It should attract the best of the best from the lower series (i.e. GP2, Formula Renault 3.5) and not just a bunch of wealthy drivers with huge sponsorships. It is a pity that the aggressive F1 of the past has been lost. F1 must adapt its old status of the golden era to its current extremely safe ground. F1 requires experienced and talented drivers (physically and mentally speaking) not a bunch of young boys.

 PS: Sorry Max, it’s not your fault for getting into the sport so early.

 by Marios Constantinou