F1 recently welcomed a new winner into its history books, with Lando Norris claiming a maiden victory at the Miami Grand Prix.
Whilst Lando’s win was a welcome change from the Dutch national anthem, it was a classic victory, perfectly timing a pit stop with the safety car to take the win.
The idea of Lewis Hamilton winning a race is not exactly bizarre, but the nature of his 2020 British Grand Prix victory certainly was.
It had been a classic hybrid era outing, with the two Mercedes’ of Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas romping to a one-two finish at Silverstone.
Shockingly, Bottas’ tyre deflated on lap 50 costing him second, with Hamilton’s also blowing out on the final lap.
With Max Verstappen closing in on the champion, Hamilton was lucky to limp across the line with only three tyres to achieve his seventh British Grand Prix victory.
Interlagos had it all in 2003, with torrential rain resulting in only eight drivers finishing the race, and the winner undecided until two weeks after.
Kimi Raikkonen’s victory was hampered when Mark Webber was involved in a dramatic crash on the main straight, with Fernando Alonso hurtling into his debris blocking the track.
Prior to the incident, Raikkonen had pitted and fell back into second when the red flags came out, signalling the end of the race.
Adding to the drama, Fisichella, who was the race winner, entered the pits where his car overheated and caught fire.
The Jordan garage were barely allowed to celebrate Fisichella’s victory before they were informed that Raikkonen had in fact won.
A timing discrepancy meant Fisichella was incorrectly judged not to have started lap 56.
F1’s sporting regulations state that if a red flag ends the race, the result is based on the order of the two previous laps.
Räikkönen was therefore awarded the win, the stewards reverting back to lap 53, believing Fisichella was still on lap 55.
Jordan and Fisichella appealed this ruling bringing timing evidence to the FIA court in Paris, where on April 11th Fisichella was finally awarded the race victory.
Of course it would not be a list of the most bizarre F1 wins, without including one of the sport’s most controversial moments.
Until lap 53, it was a fairly normal race, with Lewis Hamilton cruising to an eighth world title, fairly anti-climatic following the entertaining F1 season.
Hamilton and Max Verstappen had been locked in an intense title fight, culminating in a series of dramatic incidents, at Silverstone, Monza and Saudi Arabia.
The two drivers entered Abu Dhabi on equal points, in a winner-takes-all showdown at Yas Marina.
However, a crash for Nicholas Latifi brought out the safety car, and a change in fortune for Verstappen.
To maintain his position Hamilton remained out, however Verstappen pitted for fresh soft tyres allowing him to overtake Hamilton for the championship on the final lap.
The radio messages between Red Bull team boss Christian Horner, and race director Michael Masi only heightened the controversy.
Horner asked for ‘one more lap’ of racing, and when the race resumed Masi allowed only some cars to unlap themselves, contradicting Article 48.12 of the sporting regulations.
Whilst the spectre of Abu Dhabi has been put to rest, it still remains one of the most bizarre moments in F1 history.