With the 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix, the double disqualification of McLaren’s title-challenging pair, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, for extreme skid-block put on brought about an enormous twist within the Method 1 season.
Defending champion Max Verstappen was the massive winner right here, now solely 26 factors behind Norris for the championship lead and tied with Piastri with two rounds left.
Disqualifications from a Grand Prix race are uncommon however not remarkable, with a complete of 46 as of the official outcomes of the Vegas race.
And it has occurred on uncommon events when drivers noticed their probabilities fully crushed by the harshest penalty that race management can impose.
The primary instance? One of many defining moments of the best Method 1 rivalry.
1989 Suzuka: Senna disqualified after Prost crash
One of the dramatic moments in F1 historical past, if not essentially the most? You noticed this one coming if you already know the game comparatively effectively.
Ayrton Senna v Alain Prost. The 2 legendary champions shaped Method 1’s most intense rivalry as they fought for championships within the late 80s and early 90s, with the pair dominating the sphere as McLaren teammates in 1988-89.
That 1989 season was perpetually marked in infamy for the Japanese Grand Prix, the penultimate spherical, because the titanic tussle reached its climax.
With a commanding 16-point benefit for Prost heading into the race, Senna needed to win to push the battle to the finale in Adelaide.
Regardless of the Brazilian scoring pole, it was the Frenchman who took the early lead and set the tempo, preserving Senna at arm’s size and approaching the title with every passing lap.
Because the race entered its closing levels, Senna managed to shut in sufficient to try a lunge into the Casio Triangle chicane, just for the 2 MP4/5 automobiles to collide.
Whereas Prost retired attributable to suspension injury and a stalled engine, Senna restarted the automotive with the marshals’ assist, lower throughout the chicane, and recovered after a pitstop to win the race, preserving his title hopes alive…
…Solely to be disqualified post-race for reducing the chicane after the crash with Prost. A controversial penalty that created a warfare between McLaren and the FISA (now often known as the FIA).
Thus, Prost was topped the 1989 Method 1 World Champion, proper as he departed for Ferrari. A failed attraction from McLaren left the staff in disbelief and Senna hungry for revenge.
And he did get that revenge one 12 months later, however that’s a narrative for an additional day…
1989 Estoril: Mansell insanity wipes out Senna
The 1989 season had one other controversial second earlier than the Suzuka conflict, although this incident was extra about ignoring the disqualification than the precise penalty itself.
With 4 rounds, Prost’s benefit over Senna was 20 factors coming into the Portuguese Grand Prix, nearing a 3rd championship earlier than departing McLaren on the finish of the 12 months. However Senna, ever the racer, was sizzling on his heels.
Enter Ferrari’s Nigel Mansell, the long run 1992 World Champion and a well-recognized face to F1’s legendary title tilts. Solely this time, he messed with a battle he was not a part of.
In a quick however unreliable Ferrari 620, the Brit was far outdoors the title image in opposition to the McLaren. Nonetheless, it took management of the early levels of the race in Estoril forward of teammate Gerhard Berger and Senna.
Mansell got here into the pits however overshot his staff’s field, rapidly reversing again in order that his pitcrew might go to work.
Amazingly, Mansell stored racing regardless of the black flag being waved at him each single lap, ultimately catching Senna for second. The pair diced earlier than colliding, crashing out on the first flip of Lap 49.
Senna and Mansell had been each out, gifting a shock second place for Prost, and a race ban for the next spherical in Belgium for the British driver, attributable to his second of insanity.
Crucially, this price Senna at the very least 6 treasured factors within the championship, which meant that Prost elevated his result in 24 factors, when it might have fallen to 16.
Had Mansell obeyed his penalty, Senna would have gained factors on Prost and stored the title battle going till the finale at Adelaide, even with the Suzuka debacle that adopted.
1991 Estoril: Not once more, Nigel…
As if one disqualification was unhealthy, Mansell suffered once more two years later at the exact same venue. Solely this time, it wasn’t his personal doing.
Now again at Williams, the person with the excellent moustache was chasing Senna for the title on this state of affairs, however was 18 factors down on the Senna-McLaren combo with 4 races left.
Again at Estoril, issues seemed promising as Mansell jumped into the lead early on forward of Williams teammate Riccardo Patrese, and, crucially, forward of Senna.
Then got here the primary pitstop. Sound acquainted?
Fortunately, Mansell discovered his lesson and didn’t overshoot the pit field, permitting the Williams crew to gasoline the automotive and alter his tyres.
Because the quantity 5 automotive was given the OK to go away, catastrophe struck mere seconds later. The correct rear tyre all of a sudden fell off the automotive, leaving Mansell caught in the course of the pit lane.
The Williams mechanics rushed in the direction of the automotive to carry out the emergency tyre change with a spare, breaking a number of guidelines within the course of. Whereas Mansell was in a position to resume his race, he was later disqualified within the midst of his cost again by the sphere.
This fiasco all however ended the title battle, as Senna secured second behind Patrese to increase his result in 24 factors, sealing his third and closing championship within the following race at Japan.
A whole reverse scenario from 1989, the place Senna was then the loser of Mansell’s luck, solely to grow to be the beneficiary in 1991. In a means, one might say life was making it as much as the Brazilian for cruelly damaging his hopes earlier than.
Mansell, who already had suffered loads of unhealthy luck that ruined previous title challenges, would fortunately get his long-awaited title a 12 months later, although 1991 was one other missed likelihood.
2007 Montreal: Massa hits crimson mild bother
The story of 2007 was Kimi Raikkonen snatching the Drivers’ Championship from the clutches of the tumultuous McLaren pair of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso.
Misplaced within the background was the fourth challenger, Felipe Massa, who dropped out of the hunt earlier than the ultimate two races.
The Brazilian was within the dialog for a lot of the season, successful three races, and matching Ferrari teammate Raikkonen for third behind the McLarens. Whereas he couldn’t muster the consistency of the opposite three, a controversial second earlier within the 12 months harmed his probabilities massively.
The chaotic Spherical 6 in Montreal witnessed the primary Grand Prix for a rookie Hamilton, whereas Alonso and Raikkonen had off-colour performances. Massa was the closest title rival to the younger Brit, working in third till the lap 23 Security Automobile.
Massa got here in for his first cease, solely to go away the pitlane whereas the crimson mild on the exit was nonetheless on, because the pitlane was closed attributable to Security Automobile circumstances.
After a prolonged investigation, the Brazilian and Giancarlo Fisichella (seen above) had been black-flagged on Lap 51, costing him a possible podium and worthwhile championship factors.
Whereas these additional factors wouldn’t have helped Massa win the title, they might have impacted his teammate Raikkonen’s hopes within the course of.
The Brazilian and Finnish drivers had been very shut within the factors desk for a lot of the season, till Massa light as Raikkonen hit the height kind that noticed him win 3 out of the final 4 races.
With the extra factors, might Ferrari have opted to prioritise Massa over Raikkonen? It’s a particular chance, as Hamilton seemed uncatchable. It’s extra of a ‘what if’ state of affairs, however one that might have altered Method 1 historical past as we all know it…
