Formula 1’s Most Prestigious Grand Prix Wins in Europe
F1’s Most Spectacular Races in Europe
F1 has grown to become one of the hottest sporting events among fans, with more circuits popping worldwide every year. At a time, F1’s world championship was nothing much outside of Europe, with tracks outside of Europe not hosting major F1 contestants. In America, one of the earliest tracks was at the Indianapolis, and the major racers, the big guys of the Grand Prix avoiding the circuit like the plague.
Soon, the franchise leaders started making concerted efforts to spread the influence of F1 sports to other reputable countries in the world. F1 organizers began to look for places where they can have spectacular race tracks. North America was the first target. Then F1 began to move to South America, Japan, and Australia. These countries and other countries in the Middle-East and Asia would provide some of the iconic tracks known to F1. The majority of these race circuits were due to the massive creative efforts of F1 circuit designer Herman Tilke who, after his designing debut in the 90s, has influenced the facilities present at the modern and old circuits.
The Liberty Group is also keen on creating new sets of circuits that would focus on city centres. These circuits would be street circuits. Liberty aims to increase fan experience on the race circuits.
Now that we have given an overview of race circuits, we should talk briefly about the main sport itself. F1 has provided fans with premium entertainment over the years, and like many other sports, it has its fair share of drama and upsets. This post will discuss the most spectacular and dramatic races in the history of F1 across Europe.
The 1988 F1 Grand Prix
Before the Hamilton and the Better rivalry, the 80s had Ayrton and Alain Prost. These two have a rivalry that lit up racing at the time. The rivalry helped to shape the career of these two, especially that of Ayrton. Going into the race, Ayrton was driven by the idea of destroying (metaphorically, that is) Prost. This goal fueled Ayrton’s motivation to race. The rivalry came to a head in the 1988 Monaco Grand Prix.
In that race, Ayrton was wanting and had a minute advantage over Prost. For Ayrton, that wasn’t enough. He tried to show his superiority completely, and that cost him the race. The Brazilian racer crashed his car and let his rival win the race. Prost claimed the championship points, and it somewhat broke Ayrton as he went into his room without speaking to anyone on his team.
The audience enjoyed the display of speed among the racers and were shocked at how Ayrton let his rivalry cloud his success.
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2017
Now, we will leave the legends of the F1 franchise and come to the new masters of the sport. Vettel and Hamilton. These two have a rivalry that keeps the F1 franchise buzzing. The 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix made the Azerbaijan circuit a fan favourite. This is because that circuit hosted one of the most spectacular and entertaining races of all time. Fans had their hearts in their throat as they witnessed the speed and the drama between racers.
The 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix started with two racers, Bottws and Raikkonen, crashing into each other in the opening lap of the race. Their crash keeps Finn trailing behind while Hamilton and Vettel jetted ahead. Mass Verstappen wouldn’t want to forget this race as he didn’t do much. He had another engine problem with his team, Red Bull Racing. His frequent engine problems then began one of the most controversial moments in the history of F1.
Back to the stars of the show at the race, Vettel and Hamilton. Hamilton was leading Vettel in the race as they were behind the safety car. Suddenly, the silver arrows safety car slowed down, and this cost Vettel the front wing of his Ferrari. In a surge of frustration, Vettel ran into Hamilton and got himself a time penalty. That wasn’t the end of the drama in that race, though. There was a massive crash between the Force India racers, which led to a huge debris pile, leading to a lengthy clean-up.
You would think that was enough drama in a race, but Hamilton also had his headrest coming loose, which caused him to have an unwanted pitstop to fix the headrest properly. At the end of the race, Daniel Riccardo of Red Bull won the race. That win made it the 6th win he would have in F1.
The German Grand Prix 2018
Vengeance is sweet when served wet. Anytime rain falls on an F1 circuit, be sure that you’ll have more drama than you can bargain for. The German Grand Prix 2018 gave fans unforgettable moments. Before the race, Sebastian Vettel had made a meal out of Hamilton on the Brit’s turf, but Hamilton returned the favour with a little bit of help from the heavens.
Vettel’s Ferrari had begun the race well, pounding over the track of his native land. Fans had extended him the victory of that race until an unexpected rain began. The rain made the Hockenheim track slippery, with Vettel’s Ferrari sliding off the track and crashing. Although Hamilton would come to later show positivity, the dash-cam in his car showed how troubled he was as he pounded the steering of his Ferrari before breaking it what sounded like tears.
Fans marveled at the action they saw at the race and would never forget about it.
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About The Author: Jake S. Platt is a 31-year-old master’s degree holder in marketing. Jake loves writing, and he is a skillful content and essay writer. Jake began writing and completed his first story at age 15. Now Jake brings his decades of experience to inspire people to explore the world.
