F1Weekly Podcast # 1074
Play Podcast: 12-17-24f1weekly1074.mp3
Nasir and the Host prepare for the Holidays by exchanging gifts and, discussing the 2025 F1 possibilities! Motorsports Mondial the fruit cake that keeps on giving with more F1 History, a homage to Clay Regazzoni!…And this week’s interview…Audi F1 driver Nico Hulkenberg. Happy Holidays!
Nico Hulkenberg…
Nico Hulkenberg returned to the 2023 Formula 1 grid with the Haas F1 Team for his first full season in the sport since 2019.
One of the more ubiquitous drivers on the F1 grid, even with the three-season hiatus from the sport, Hulkenberg is one of the most experienced too, having made his debut way back in 2010.
Spotted from a young age by Willi Weber – who scouted and went on to manage Michael Schumacher – Hulkenberg announced himself to the motorsport world in an unconventional way with a dominant showing in the short lived A1GP World Cup of Motorsport series. Still only 19-years old, Hulkenberg nonetheless trounced more esteemed rivals with nine victories to earn Team Germany the 2016/17 title.
From here, Hulkenberg stepped into the F3 Euroseries for 2017, finishing third in his rookie season with ASM/ART before wrapping up a title victory the following season. Promoted to the GP2 Series for 2019, Hulkenberg surged to the title with ART Grand Prix to earn himself a Williams F1 seat.
In addition to his F1 exploits, Hulkenberg made headlines in 2015 by joining Porsche to drive a third 919 Hybrid LMP1 entry in the Le Mans 24 Hours. An unusual occurrence for drivers to enter the iconic race in the same year as competing in F1, Hulkenberg went on to take a sensational win alongside Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber.
F1 History Class…
SEVEN DEADLY WINS
Over the years and decades of Grand Prix motor racing there have been memorable drives before and since the start of the Formula 1 championship in 1950.
Tazio Nuvolari in his Scuderia Ferrari entered Alfa Romeo at the 1935 German Grand Prix. A relatively unknown French Algerian Guy Moll winning the in Monaco Grand Prix in xxxx. And American in Europe Jimmy Murphy winning the 1921 French Grand Prix at Le Mans driving a Duesenberg, these are all memorable moments in the glorious history of Grand Prix motor racing.
In recent years we have seen epic drives from Max in Brazil, not once but twice. Lewis Hamilton in his rookie season shining in pouring rain at Fuji circuit. Who can forget the Monza magic in 2008 of a young Sebastian Vettel in a Toro Rosso.
Today, we will look at seven deadly wins since the start of the Formula 1 championship.
1957 GERMAN GRAND PRIX. Fangio’s final victory was also his finest. That it happened at the most demanding track in the history of Grand Prix motor racing makes it even more special.
1961 FRENCH GRAND PRIX. Dramatic, last lap run to the chequered flag victory on Formula 1 championship debut for Italian Giancarlo Baghetti. The venue was Reims, in the French champagne country, close to the Belgian border.
The street circuit was basically a triangle with long straights. Perfect for slipstreaming. That’s what Baghetti did in his shark-nose Ferrari 156. He took the bite out of Dan Gurney’s lead in his Porsche, and pulled out of the slipstream just before the chequered flag was waved.
Interestingly, Baghetti had competed in two other non championship Formula 1 races and had won both of them.
His triple play put him in history books. Apart from his compadre Nino Farina, who won the very first world championship race in 1950 at Silverstone, no other driver since then has won a Formula 1 race on debut.
Baghetti never won again in Formula 1 championship racing.
1962 BELGIAN GRAND PRIX.
What a place to win your first grand prix. Back then the eight mile Spa Francorchamps was fast and lethal. Just two years earlier two drivers, Chris Bristow and Alan Stacey, had lost their lives during the Belgian Grand Prix.
Colin Chapman’s young charge from Scotland Jim Clark put on a performance that earmarked him for future greatness.
1968 GERMAN GRAND PRIX. In the rain at the mighty 14.2 mile long Green Hell. Those who were there had to wait for the second place car to appear – and that was at the end of the opening. Such was the dominance of JYS, aka Jackie Stewart.
1977 ITALIAN GRAND PRIX.
This is the story of passion and success driven by desire. The winner was born a few hundred miles from Parco Monza, and as a kid came to watch his hero Alberto Ascari race at the Autodtomo.
Then the family moved to land faraway. In 1977, victory in the Long Beach Grand Prix made him the only American driver to win his home Grand Prix. And in September of the same year, he also won his spiritual home grand prix at Monza in a Lotus.
The photo of Mario Andretti taking the chequered flag and Colin Chapman throwing his cap in the air is as much frissons as the photo of Senna embracing Fangio on the podium after winning the Brazilian Grand Prix.