This Week in Racing: Bittersweet memories in early May over the years

Historically the first week of May has been a devastating time in racing history, the first week in May starts by claiming the life of three-time Formula 1 champion Ayrton Senna on that tragic 1 May 1994 weekend at Imola where Roland Ratzenberger also died, and ends on 8 May, the anniversary of the great Gilles Villeneuve’s tragic accident in Belgium 1983.  

Lotus F1 star Mike Spence also lost his life at Indianapolis on 7 May 1968, scarcely a month after his double world champion teammate Jim Clark died, while Ferrari driver Lorenzo Bandini was mortally injured in a Monaco GP crash in 1967. May 1 was also the day of the first recorded deaths in motor racing, when the Marquis de Montignac and two riding mechanics were killed at a race in Périgueux, France in 1898.

It was not only a terrible week on track – 2 May was a black day in world rallying too. Attilio Bettega died after crashing his Lancia on the fourth stage of the 1985 Tour de Corse, precisely a year before Henri Toivonen and navigator Sergio Cresto both died when their Lancia left the road in 18th stage of the 1986 Tour de Corse.

1 May however has many racing positives too, one of them ironically being when Ayrton Senna was the class of the field as he won the 1988 San Marino Grand Prix at Imola on 1 May 1988. Senna also won the ’89 Monaco Grand Prix in a McLaren-Honda MP4/5.

Senna may have won two races in this week, but Michael Schumacher won four times early in May over the years, including that tragic San Marino race for Benetton Ford in 1994 and again at San Marino in ’99. Michael also won the 2003 Spanish Grand Prix and the 2006 Grand Prix of Europe at Nurburgring, those three races all in Ferraris.

There were also a few remarkable races over the years, like Jackie Stewart’s Matra Ford winning the ’68 Spanish GP by two laps. Then Spain ‘76 kicked of a dramatic series of events that would typify that year’s title race in a result that would take three months to formalise. James Hunt won but was later excluded when his McLaren M23 Cosworth measured too wide, handing the win to archrival Niki Lauda’s Ferrari 312T2. McLaren however appealed, and Hunt was later reinstated as the winner.  

Limited fuel allowances saw to a bizarre 1985 San Marino GP. Ferrari’s Stefan Johansson drove from 15th to lead the way, but ran out of fuel, before first man home Alain Prost’s McLaren MP4/2B TAG-Porsche also ran dry on the slow-down lap, but was later found to be underweight and excluded. So, Elio de Angelis won, but his Lotus 97T Renault was initially disqualified for the same reason, although he was later reinstated!

It was a good week for French drivers in the mid-‘80s – Didier Pironi drove a Ligier JS11/15 Cosworth to his maiden Grand Prix victory at Zolder in Belgium, while Patrick Depailler also took his first F1 win in a Tyrrell-Cosworth 008 Monaco in 1978, Patrick Tambay dedicated his ‘83 San Marino win to his late Ferrari teammate Gilles Villeneuve, who died a year before and Alain Prost drove his McLaren TAG-Porsche to San Marino victory on 6 May 1984.

Other McLaren winners on this day were Mika Hakkinen in Spain 2000 after early leader Michael Schumacher collided with one of his Ferrari mechanics during a pit stop, while Kimi Raikkonen also won in Spain in 2005, both with Mercedes power.

The other grand prix winners this week were all world F1 champions in their time – Denny Hulme’s Brabham-Repco won tragic Monaco in 1967, Lotus-Cosworth men won two Spanish GPs – Emerson Fittipaldi in ‘72 and Mario Andretti 1977 and Nelson Piquet’s Brabham BMW won San Marino 1981. Nigel Mansell took two GP wins for Williams, Imola ’87 and the so called ‘92 Grand Prix of the Olympic Games at Barcelona, while Damon Hill’s Williams Renault dominated Imola ’96, Sebastian Vettel Turkey 2011 and Nico Rosberg Russia ‘15.

In the non-championship Silverstone International Trophy, Reg Parnell drove his Ferrari 375 to win the 1951 race, but three drivers won that race twice in history in this week. Peter Collins won in a Maserati 250F in ’55 and in 1958 in a Ferrari Dino 246, Stirling Moss in ’56 for Vanwall and in 1961 in a Cooper Climax and Jack Brabham in a Cooper Climax in 1959 and a Brabham Climax in ’64, while Graham Hill won the ’71 race in a Brabham Cosworth. (Photo: F1 Archives)