Winning from the back
If keeping opponents at bay from the front isn’t hard enough, John Watson really had his work cut out at the 1983 United States Grand Prix, when issues with his McLaren’s Michelin tyres – which refused to heat up during qualifying – relegated the Brit to 22nd on the grid. Though track temperatures were still stifling on raceday, a much improved setup allowed Watson to climb through the field, catch leader Jacques Laffite at the rate of one-second a lap, and slip past for victory. Remarkably, one year earlier, Watson had performed almost the exact same feat at the Detroit Grand Prix, taking victory after starting 17th.
Heavy rain during qualifying for the 2005 Japanese Grand Prix left McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen languishing 17th on the grid, one and three places behind championship rivals Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher respectively. Doing their best to avoid the midfield carnage (including, in Alonso’s case, overtaking Schumacher’s Ferrari around the outside of Suzuka’s scarily fast 130R), Raikkonen stalked leader Giancarlo Fisichella in the closing stages, snatching the lead into turn one on the very last lap of the race.
Such accolades are not reserved for the front-running teams either. At the 1999 European Grand Prix – having scored just two points all season in the occasionally fast Stewart-Ford – Johnny Herbert read weather conditions perfectly to take the team’s only Grand Prix victory (and his last) at the Nurburgring from 14th on the grid. Rain played similarly into Olivier Panis’ hands at the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix, the Frenchman climbing from 14th on the grid to take victory after the demise of longtime leader Damon Hill’s Williams-Renault.
Honorable mentions: Jenson Button, Honda – 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix. Rubens Barrichello, Ferrari – 2000 German Grand Prix. Michael Schumacher, Benetton – 1995 Belgian Grand Prix. Fernando Alonso, Renault – 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.
– Shots courtesy of f1-history.deviantart and ESPNF1
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