ATLAS F1 - THE JOURNAL OF FORMULA ONE MOTORSPORT
United States Facts, Stats and Memoirs

By Marcel Schot, Netherlands
Atlas F1 Magazine Writer



Almost 23 years ago to the day, on Friday, October 5th 1979, those few who bothered to go out in the torrential rain of Watkins Glen witnessed one of the most unique sights ever seen in a US Grand Prix or any Grand Prix for that matter.

Gilles Villeneuve performs miracles in rainy Watkins GlennThe rain was so bad that most of the drivers didn't even think about going out. The few that did go out didn't do more than a single timed lap. Vittorio Brambilla, once victorious in similar circumstances in Austria, stepped on it, completing a lap just below 2 minutes and 25 seconds. Ferrari's freshly crowned World Champion Jody Scheckter fullfilled his duty to the fans, rounding the circuit no less than 14 seconds faster than Brambilla.

However, that wasn't as fast as it got. Out came Scheckter's teammate, Canadian Gilles Villeneuve, and at a speed nobody thought possible, he threw his car around the circuit to set a time of 2:01.437 - 10.6 seconds faster than the World Champion, in the same car. Moreover, Villeneuve completed the lap in an average 12kmh faster than anybody. He went on to win the race two days later - his fourth career win, and a third win in North America.

Another remarkable drive on US soil was seen in 1990, when a young and unproven Jean Alesi, in the midfield Tyrrell, managed to keep 1988 World Champion Ayrton Senna, in the overpowering McLaren, behind him for half the race.

After the Indianapolis 500 was scratched from the Formula One calendar, just six drivers have won in both. So far, five have become Formula One World Champions.

                   Years  Wins   F1 WC   I500    I500
                   in F1  in F1  titles  Starts  Wins
Jim Clark            9     25      2       5      1
Emerson Fittipaldi  11     14      2      11      2
Graham Hill         18     14      2       3      1
Mario Andretti      14     12      1      29      1
Jacques Villeneuve   6     11      1       2      1
Juan Pablo Montoya   2      1      0       1      1

Based on this list, Juan Pablo Montoya looks very likely indeed to win the Formula One World Championship sooner or later.

Not much of a record watch this time, since there have been so few races on the Indianapolis circuit. However, there's a record to tie for Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello. If they score a one-two this weekend, they'll have scored 14 for a tie with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. The sworn enemies at McLaren accomplished their feat in 27 races, while Schumacher and Barrichello drive their 50th race together this weekend.


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Volume 8, Issue 39
September 25th 2002

Atlas F1 Exclusive

Interview with Mark Webber
by David Cameron

Articles

50 Years of Ferrari at Indy
by Thomas O'Keefe

Jo Ramirez: a Racing Man
by Jo Ramirez

United States GP Preview

The US GP Preview
by Craig Scarborough

Local History: US Grand Prix
by Doug Nye

US Facts, Stats and Memoirs
by Marcel Schot

Columns

The US GP Quiz
by Marcel Borsboom

Bookworm Critique
by Mark Glendenning

The F1 FAQ
by Marcel Schot

Elsewhere in Racing
by David Wright & Mark Alan Jones

The Grapevine
by Tom Keeble



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