Great Disqualifiactions in History - Part Two
Brian Lawrence
3rd Edition, 1997.
Part Two - The 'Seventies
Year GP Driver Pos Reason
======================================================
1971 HOL Rolf Stommelen Push Start (PS)
Reine Wisell Reversed into pits
GER Mike Beuttler Wrong way into pits
1972 ARG Dave Walker Illegal repairs
1972 CDN Ronnie Peterson Pushed against traffic
Niki Lauda PS
1973 USA Brian Redman PS
1974 HOL Vern Schuppan 13 Started illegally
USA Mario Andretti Illegal start & assistance
Tim Schenken Illegal start
1975 ARG John Watson Illegal repairs
1976 GBR James Hunt 1 Changed car for restart
"Clay" Regazzoni Changed car for restart
Jacques Laffite Changed car for restart
1977 LB John Watson PS
HOL Brian Henton PS
1978 GER Rolf Stommelen 11 Wrong way into pits
James Hunt Wrong way into pits
AUT Derek Daly PS
Carlos Reutemann PS
HOL Vittorio Brambilla PS
1979 LB Didier Pironi PS
Hans Stuck PS
Notes: In the 1976 Spanish GP the winner, James Hunt, was
disqualified because his car was too 1.8cm too wide. Jacques
Laffite, who finished 12th was disqualified because his
rear wing exceeded a new size limit. Both were reinstated
on appeal. In Hunt's case the extra width was deemed to be
due to tyre expansion. In the French GP John Watson was
disqualified for an oversized rear wing, but this was also
overturned on appeal.
--
Brian Lawrence
Wantage, Oxfordshire, UK
Brian_W_...@msn.com
MichaelJP
says...
I wonder why the push start has always been deemed illegal in F1? You can
do it in CART racing, and really by the time the marshalls get to you,
you've lost so much time that surely that's enough of a penalty for the
driver/team anyway?
Plus you'd get more epic struggles to battle up the field.
- Michael
Matthias Flatt
<Brian_W_...@nospam.msn.com> wrote:
>1976 GBR James Hunt 1 Changed car for restart
> "Clay" Regazzoni Changed car for restart
> Jacques Laffite Changed car for restart
AFAIK after the start crash at Brands Hatch. It is said that Hunt was
permitted to take part in the restart with the T-car because the crowd
got angry, and was throwing beer cans on the track.
>Notes: In the 1976 Spanish GP the winner, James Hunt, was
>disqualified because his car was too 1.8cm too wide.
>In Hunt's case the extra width was deemed to be
>due to tyre expansion.
Hunt once said in an interview that after the 1975 season, all cars
were measured, and the width of the widest car (the McLaren M23) was
set as maximum size (to prevent getting even wider cars in the
future). McLaren did not change their car for 1976, but apparently the
(Goodyear?) tyres were wider in 1976. So McLaren had to re-design the
suspension in a hurry.
--
Matthias Flatt
Brian Lawrence
> I wonder why the push start has always been deemed
> illegal in F1? You can do it in CART racing, and
> really by the time the marshalls get to you,
> you've lost so much time that surely that's enough
> of a penalty for the driver/team anyway?
>
> Plus you'd get more epic struggles to battle up the field.
Mostly historical I guess. Originally drivers carried
an on-board mechanic to work on the car - which broke
down with great regularity, then when mechanics were
outlawed rules were introduced to prevent the driver
receiving any outside assistance, although he could
still work on the car - as long as he used tools
carried with him. Safety was also relevant since
spectators tended to help drivers on occasion which
was obviously dangerous - on the other hand there
were no marshalls (at least not as we know them today).
F1 push starts are no longer illegal per se - since
1997? - but need to be seen as removing a car from
a potentially dangerous position.
--
Brian Lawrence
Brian_W_...@msn.com
Wantage, Oxfordshire, UK
David Betts
> AFAIK after the start crash at Brands Hatch. It is said that Hunt
> was permitted to take part in the restart with the T-car
> because the crowd got angry, and was throwing beer cans
> on the track.
Sorry to nip in here with corrections, but the trouble is that the
more often something like this gets repeated, the more likely it is
that it will become established 'fact'. James did not restart the race
in the T-car. He re-started in the original race car, which was
repaired whilst the team pushed the T-car to the grid and then argued
the point. The crowd certainly made their feelings felt, but the vocal
protest was exaggerated into a near riot by media reports. I know
because I was there. If there were beer cans thrown - and I didn't see
them - it was a handful by a tiny minority...like two or three people
at most.
The exclusion on appeal was not for starting in the T-car (then
illegal) because he didn't. It was because, allegedly, his car was not
moving on the track and deemed to have been retired when the first
race was stopped. This was, however, not true, although the car was
limping into retirement at the time. It was, technically, an incorrect
ruling.
He did, however, get his Spanish points back on appeal, which was
probably also
an incorrect ruling - so it all came out even in the end.
--
David Betts (dav...@motorsport.org.uk)
"I've got another man's heart and my son's kidney these days, so I'm
tickled to death to be back at Goodwood" - Carroll Shelby
Photo albums: http://www.photopoint.com/users/U10440.html
Tom Hiett
> Notes: In the 1976 Spanish GP the winner, James Hunt, was
> disqualified because his car was too 1.8cm too wide.
It was too wide because the tires Goodyear provided everyone for that
race had bulged sidewalls instead of straight sidewalls. The cars's
track hadn't changed from the previous season's races or from the
prior season.
Tom
--
Tom Hiett e-mail: thi...@iastate.edu
Designer-Illustrator-Modeler Iowa State University
Check out my vintage race pics at:
www.public.iastate.edu/~thiett
Alan E. Jones
>On Tue, 19 Oct 1999 11:23:02 +0100, "Brian Lawrence"
><Brian_W_...@nospam.msn.com> wrote:
>
>>1976 GBR James Hunt 1 Changed car for restart
>> "Clay" Regazzoni Changed car for restart
>> Jacques Laffite Changed car for restart
>permitted to take part in the restart with the T-car because the crowd
>got angry, and was throwing beer cans on the track.
>
for quite a while. It was suggested that if given long enough, the
McLaren mechanics could fix the original car and we did our bit quite
well, I thought.
.....and this from a Lauda fan!
--
aej
"With Supertec Sport, British American Racing will begin competing in 1999
assured of being powered by a highly competetive engine." - Craig Pollock