What Happened On This Day July 9 In F1 History?

What happened on this day, July 9 in Formula 1 history? Find out interesting facts and stories about Formula 1 on this day.

1955

Hotel proprietor and one-time Formula One driver Don Beauman was killed in a Formula 2 accident in Ireland. His only Grand Prix came at the 1954 British Grand Prix at Silverstone, where he finished 11th in a Connaught A-Type, sponsored by wealthy privateer Sir Jeremy Boles. He achieved some success in Formula 2 in 1955 but sustained fatal head injuries when he was thrown from his somersaulting Connaught during a Formula Libre race.

1989

The weekend after Alain Prost announced his departure from McLaren to join Ferrari in 1990, he won the 1989 French Grand Prix. However, the race is often remembered for a huge accident at the start.

Mauricio Gugelmin’s March collided with the back of Thierry Boutsen in a Williams, causing Gugelmin’s car to take off and land in the middle of turn one just as the front runners were exiting the corner. The race was immediately red-flagged. Included in the accident were Nigel Mansell, Martin Donnelly, and Gugelmin, who ran back to the pits to restart the race in their spare cars.

As the race got underway again, Ayrton Senna, who had originally led into the first corner, suffered a transmission failure and retired on the spot. Prost took the lead and maintained it for the rest of the afternoon, finishing ahead of Mansell and Riccardo Patrese.

Post-race, Prost expressed his delight at securing maximum points while his fierce rival and teammate Senna failed to score. “This was a very important victory for me, not only because it was on French soil but also because I’ve now managed the double with pole position and a win two years running. It’s also very good for the championship, for not only do I have an extra nine points but my main rival didn’t score any.”

1989 French Grand Prix Race Results

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/retired	Pts
1	2	Alain Prost	McLaren Honda	80	1:38:29.411	9
2	27	Nigel Mansell	Ferrari	80	+44.017s	6
3	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams Renault	80	+66.921s	4
4	4	Jean Alesi	Tyrrell Ford	80	+73.232s	3
5	36	Stefan Johansson	Onyx Ford	79	+1 lap	2
6	26	Olivier Grouillard	Ligier Ford	79	+1 lap	1
7	10	Eddie  Cheever	Arrows Ford	79	+1 lap	0
8	11	Nelson Piquet	Lotus Judd	78	+2 laps	0
9	20	Emanuele Pirro	Benetton Ford	78	+2 laps	0
10	3	Jonathan  Palmer	Tyrrell Ford	78	+2 laps	0
11	29	Eric Bernard	Lola Lamborghini	77	DNF	0
12	9	Martin Donnelly	Arrows Ford	77	+3 laps	0
13	37	Bertrand Gachot	Onyx Ford	76	+4 laps	0
NC	15	Mauricio Gugelmin	March Judd	71	+9 laps	0
NC	8	Stefano Modena	Brabham Judd	67	DNF	0
NC	5	Thierry Boutsen	Williams Renault	50	DNF	0
NC	12	Satoru Nakajima	Lotus Judd	49	DNF	0
NC	16	Ivan Capelli	March Judd	43	DNF	0
NC	19	Alessandro Nannini	Benetton Ford	40	DNF	0
NC	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi Ford	31	DNF	0
NC	30	Philippe Alliot	Lola Lamborghini	30	DNF	0
NC	40	Gabriele Tarquini	AGS Ford	30	DNF	0
NC	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	29	DNF	0
NC	21	Alex Caffi	Dallara Ford	27	DNF	0
NC	25	Rene Arnoux	Ligier Ford	14	DNF	0

2004

Bernie Ecclestone admitted he was “ashamed” of the 2004 British Grand Prix at Silverstone amidst a long-standing feud with the then-event organizers, Octagon. The previous year, Ecclestone had described the event as “a country fair masquerading as a world event,” and in 2004, he intensified his criticism, warning that he would not hesitate to remove the event from the calendar. “I raced in the first British Grand Prix and I don’t have any sentiment about anything,” he said. “If they don’t match up they should not be on the calendar. I’m ashamed, that’s all, of the British Grand Prix. Simple. It’s beautiful when people come to me and they say we want to go to Silverstone to see what to do and I say ‘well, don’t go to Silverstone, go to Barcelona or Germany or… You see how they are fighting at the moment to get the Olympic games in Britain, and quite right too; so they should. And, other people do the same. But others try to get the Formula One event, which I think is just as important. But the British seem to think it is a right and there’s got to be a British Grand Prix.”

2006

Juan Pablo Montoya turned his back on Formula One by signing a deal to race for Chip Ganassi Racing in NASCAR. He had left McLaren just one week earlier after crashing out of the 2006 US Grand Prix and wasted no time in setting up a new career in the USA. “I am so happy to be entering the fastest growing racing league in the world,” Montoya said. “I’ve thought about this for quite some time, but the opportunity had to be right…I will be a lot happier here.”

2017

The 2017 Austrian Grand Prix took place on July 9 at the Red Bull Ring, the ninth round of the 2017 Formula One World Championship. Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas lined up on pole with a lap time of 1:04.251.

As the lights went out Bottas had an exceptional reaction time, leading to an investigation for a potential jump start; however, stewards concluded his start was within the regulations. He maintained his lead for the majority of the race, only briefly ceding it during pit stops, and ultimately taking the victory. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel finished a close second, just 0.658 seconds behind Bottas, while Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo secured third place, his fifth consecutive podium finish. Lewis Hamilton, starting from eighth due to a grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change, managed to recover to fourth place and recorded the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1:07.411 on lap 69.

The race saw a first-lap collision involving Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat, who braked late into Turn 1, causing a chain reaction that led to Fernando Alonso‘s McLaren colliding with Max Verstappen’s Red Bull. Both Alonso and Verstappen retired due to the damage.

Haas driver Romain Grosjean took his best result of the season, finishing sixth, while the Force India duo of Sergio Pérez and Esteban Ocon secured seventh and eighth places, respectively. Williams drivers Felipe Massa and Lance Stroll, starting from 17th and 18th positions, showed strong performances to finish ninth and tenth, earning valuable points for the team. ​

2017 Austrian Grand Prix Race Results

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/retired	Pts
1	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	71	1:21:48.523	25
2	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	71	+0.658s	18
3	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer	71	+6.012s	15
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	71	+7.430s	12
5	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	71	+20.370s	10
6	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas Ferrari	71	+73.160s	8
7	11	Sergio Perez	Force India Mercedes	70	+1 lap	6
8	31	Esteban Ocon	Force India Mercedes	70	+1 lap	4
9	19	Felipe Massa	Williams Mercedes	70	+1 lap	2
10	18	Lance Stroll	Williams Mercedes	70	+1 lap	1
11	30	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	70	+1 lap	0
12	2	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren Honda	70	+1 lap	0
13	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	70	+1 lap	0
14	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Sauber Ferrari	70	+1 lap	0
15	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber Ferrari	69	+2 laps	0
16	26	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	68	+3 laps	0
NC	55	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso	44	DNF	0
NC	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas Ferrari	29	DNF	0
NC	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren Honda	1	DNF	0
NC	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer	0	DNF	0

2023

The 2023 British Grand Prix, held on July 9 at Silverstone Circuit, was the tenth round of the 2023 Formula One World Championship. Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen had secured pole the day before with a time of 1:26.720.

At the race start, the McLaren of Lando Norris, who lined up second, overtook Verstappen into Turn 1, leading the initial four laps. Verstappen reclaimed the lead on lap five with a DRS-assisted move and maintained it to the finish, securing his first British Grand Prix victory and Red Bull’s first at Silverstone since 2012. Norris finished in second place, McLaren’s first podium since the 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, while Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton finished third, benefiting from a well-timed safety car period.

McLaren’s rookie Oscar Piastri ended the race with his best result of the season, finishing fourth. Mercedes’ George Russell secured fifth place, while Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez recovered from a 15th-place start to finish sixth. A safety car was deployed on lap 33 after Kevin Magnussen’s Haas caught fire, influencing the pit stop strategies. It was also the final Grand Prix start for AlphaTauri driver Nyck de Vries, who was replaced by Daniel Ricciardo in subsequent races.

2023 British Grand Prix Race Results

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/retired	Pts
1	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT	52	1:25:16.938	26
2	4	Lando Norris	McLaren Mercedes	52	+3.798s	18
3	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	52	+6.783s	15
4	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren Mercedes	52	+7.776s	12
5	63	George Russell	Mercedes	52	+11.206s	10
6	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT	52	+12.882s	8
7	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes	52	+17.193s	6
8	23	Alexander Albon	Williams Mercedes	52	+17.878s	4
9	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	52	+18.689s	2
10	55	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	52	+19.448s	1
11	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams Mercedes	52	+23.632s	0
12	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo Ferrari	52	+25.830s	0
13	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas Ferrari	52	+26.663s	0
14	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes	52	+27.483s	0
15	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo Ferrari	52	+29.820s	0
16	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri Honda RBPT	52	+31.225s	0
17	21	Nyck De Vries	AlphaTauri Honda RBPT	52	+33.128s	0
18	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine Renault	46	DNF	0
NC	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas Ferrari	31	DNF	0
NC	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine Renault	9	DNF	0
Note – Verstappen scored an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race. Stroll received a five-second time penalty for causing a collision.

F1 Driver Birthdays 9 July

Births	F1 Driver
9 July 1982	Sakon Yamamoto

F1 Driver Deaths 9 July

Births	F1 Driver
9 July 1955	Don Beuman (b. 1928)
9 July 1998	Andy Furci (b. 1912)
9 July 2000	Joe Sostilio (b. 1915)
9 July 2006	Azdrubal Bayardo (b. 1922)