What Happened On This Day March 23 In F1 History?

What happened on this day, March 23 in Formula 1 history? Find out interesting facts and stories about Formula 1 on this day.

1915

Arthur Owen, a British racing driver, was born on this day in 1915. Competing in only one Grand Prix as a privateer, the 1960 Italian Grand Prix driving a Cooper T45. He spent much of his life as a jeweller in St. Heiler, Jersey, and later died in the Algarve in 2002 at age 87.

1933

British racing driver John Taylor was born in Leicestershire. He drove in five Grand Prix from 1964 to 1966 for Bob Gerard Racing in a privateer Cooper and in a privateer Brabham. Sadly, he passed away following severe burns sustained during an accident at the 1966 German Grand Prix. His Brabham collided with Jacky Ickx‘s F2 Matra on the first lap of the race. He emerged from the wreckage badly burned and died from his injuries four weeks later

1936

American Bruce Kessler, born on this day in Seattle, Washington, attempted to qualify for the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix with Connaught but was unsuccessful. He later became known as a television director, working on shows like Knight Rider, The A Team, and Hart to Hart.

1976

Brazilian Formula One driver Ricardo Zonta was born on this day in 1976. Competing in 36 Grand Prix from 1999 to 2005, he drove for teams such as BAR, Jordan, and Toyota, and served as a test driver for McLaren and Renault.

1981

Known for his motorcycle racing and nicknamed “The Bike”, Mike Hailwood also drove in 50 Championship F1 Grands Prix between 1963 and 1974 with the likes of Surtees, McLaren and privateer team Reg Parnell Racing. His best championship result came at the 1974 South African Grand Prix, where he took third place in a McLaren.

In motorcycling, he achieved nine Grand Prix motorcycle Championships, securing four of these titles in the prestigious 500cc category with MV Agusta. Over ten seasons, he amassed 76 wins. Hailwood was also formidable at the Isle of Man TT, claiming 14 wins.

Tragically, he and his daughter Michelle died on this day in 1981 in a road accident. The accident happened as they returned from picking up a takeaway when a truck hit their car, making an illegal U-turn. Michelle, aged nine, died instantly. Mike succumbed to his injuries two days later in the hospital. His son David survived the crash. The truck driver was fined just £100 for the incident.

1986

The 1986 Brazilian Grand Prix was the 15th time the race had featured on the F1 calendar, taking place at the Jacarepagua Circuit for the seventh time. Local hero Nelson Piquet, driving for Williams, won after starting from second on the grid. He passed fellow Brazilian Ayrton Senna, who had secured pole for Lotus, on the third lap and maintained his lead to finish 34 seconds ahead of Senna. Jacques Laffite completed the podium in third place, driving for the Ligier team.

1986 Brazilian Grand Prix Race Results

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/retired	Pts
1	6	Nelson Piquet	Williams Honda	61	1:39:32.583	9
2	12	Ayrton Senna	Lotus Renault	61	+34.827s	6
3	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier Renault	61	+59.759s	4
4	25	Rene Arnoux	Ligier Renault	61	+88.429s	3
5	3	Martin Brundle	Tyrrell Renault	60	+1 lap	2
6	20	Gerhard Berger	Benetton BMW	59	+2 laps	1
7	4	Philippe Streiff	Tyrrell Renault	59	+2 laps	0
8	8	Elio de Angelis	Brabham BMW	58	+3 laps	0
9	11	Johnny Dumfries	Lotus Renault	58	+3 laps	0
10	19	Teo Fabi	Benetton BMW	56	+5 laps	0
NC	18	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows BMW	37	DNF	0
NC	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	35	DNF	0
NC	1	Alain Prost	McLaren TAG	30	DNF	0
NC	22	Christian Danner	Osella Alfa Romeo	29	DNF	0
NC	28	Stefan Johansson	Ferrari	26	DNF	0
NC	16	Patrick Tambay	Lola Hart	24	DNF	0
NC	7	Riccardo Patrese	Brabham BMW	21	DNF	0
NC	14	Jonathan  Palmer	Zakspeed	20	DNF	0
NC	17	Marc Surer	Arrows BMW	19	DNF	0
NC	24	Alessandro Nannini	Minardi Motori Moderni	18	DNF	0
NC	23	Andrea de Cesaris	Minardi Motori Moderni	16	DNF	0
NC	21	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella Alfa Romeo	16	DNF	0
NC	2	Keke Rosberg	McLaren TAG	6	DNF	0
NC	15	Alan  Jones	Lola Hart	5	DNF	0
NC	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams Honda		DNS	0

1990

Born in Barcelona, Spanish racer Jaime Alguersuari became the youngest Formula One driver at 19 when he raced with Toro Rosso during the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix.

1996

Alexander Albon is a Thai-British F1 driver who was born on this day in 1996 and currently competes for Williams Racing. Albon has previously raced for Toro Rosso and Red Bull Racing after he had became part of the Red Bull Junior Team in 2012, beginning his journey in open-wheel racing during the 2012 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 season. Albon spent three years in the series, finishing third in the 2014 championship.

2003

The 2003 Malaysian Grand Prix was the venue for the season’s second race, where Fernando Alonso captured his first F1 pole position and F1 podium finish in third place with Renault. He also set a new record as the youngest driver to lead a Grand Prix, a record that stood until Sebastian Vettel broke it in 2007. Kimi Raikkonen won the race, driving for McLaren. This was Räikkönen’s first Formula One Grand Prix victory. Rubens Barrichello finished second for Ferrari.

2003 Malaysian Grand Prix Race Results

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/retired	Pts
1	6	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren Mercedes	56	1:32:22.195	10
2	2	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	56	+39.286s	8
3	8	Fernando Alonso	Renault	56	+64.007s	6
4	4	Ralf Schumacher	Williams BMW	56	+88.026s	5
5	7	Jarno Trulli	Renault	55	+1 lap	4
6	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	55	+1 lap	3
7	17	Jenson Button	BAR Honda	55	+1 lap	2
8	9	Nick Heidfeld	Sauber Petronas	55	+1 lap	1
9	10	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Sauber Petronas	55	+1 lap	0
10	12	Ralph Firman	Jordan Ford	55	+1 lap	0
11	21	Cristiano da Matta	Toyota	55	+1 lap	0
12	3	Juan Pablo Montoya	Williams BMW	53	+3 laps	0
13	19	Jos Verstappen	Minardi Cosworth	52	+4 laps	0
NC	15	Antonio Pizzonia	Jaguar Cosworth	42	DNF	0
NC	18	Justin Wilson	Minardi Cosworth	41	DNF	0
NC	14	Mark Webber	Jaguar Cosworth	35	DNF	0
NC	20	Olivier Panis	Toyota	12	DNF	0
NC	5	David Coulthard	McLaren Mercedes	2	DNF	0
NC	11	Giancarlo Fisichella	Jordan Ford	0	DNF	0
NC	16	Jacques Villeneuve	BAR Honda	0	DNF	0

2008

The 2008 Malaysian Grand Prix was won by Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari, who started from second position. Robert Kubica took second place in his BMW Sauber, with Heikki Kovalainen finishing third for McLaren.

The race began with an all-Ferrari front row, as Felipe Massa claimed pole position with Räikkönen beside him. Initially, McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton were set to start just behind on the second row, but both received five-place grid penalties for impeding Nick Heidfeld and Fernando Alonso during qualifying, which pushed them back to eighth and ninth. Despite finishing in fifth, Lewis Hamilton retained his lead in the Drivers’ Championship with 14 points, a championship he would eventually win.

2008 Malaysian Grand Prix Race Results

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/retired	Pts
1	1	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	56	1:31:18.555	10
2	4	Robert Kubica	Sauber BMW	56	+19.570s	8
3	23	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren Mercedes	56	+38.450s	6
4	11	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	56	+45.832s	5
5	22	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren Mercedes	56	+46.548s	4
6	3	Nick Heidfeld	Sauber BMW	56	+49.833s	3
7	10	Mark Webber	Red Bull Renault	56	+68.130s	2
8	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	56	+70.041s	1
9	9	David Coulthard	Red Bull Renault	56	+76.220s	0
10	16	Jenson Button	Honda	56	+86.214s	0
11	6	Nelson Piquet	Renault	56	+92.202s	0
12	21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India Ferrari	55	+1 lap	0
13	17	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	55	+1 lap	0
14	7	Nico Rosberg	Williams Toyota	55	+1 lap	0
15	19	Anthony Davidson	Super Aguri Honda	55	+1 lap	0
16	18	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri Honda	54	+2 laps	0
17	8	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams Toyota	54	+2 laps	0
NC	15	Sebastian Vettel	STR Ferrari	39	DNF	0
NC	2	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	30	DNF	0
NC	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India Ferrari	5	DNF	0
NC	12	Timo Glock	Toyota	1	DNF	0
NC	14	Sebastien Bourdais	STR Ferrari	0	DNF	0

F1 Driver Birthdays 23 March

Birthday	F1 Driver
23 March 1915	Arthur Owen (d. 2002)
23 March 1916	Julio Gonzalez-Pola (d. 1974)
23 March 1933	John Taylor (d. 1966)
23 March 1936	Bruce Kessler
23 March 1976	Ricardo Zonta
23 March 1990	Jaime Alguersuari
23 March 1996	Alexander Albon

F1 Driver Deaths 23 March

Death	F1 Driver
23 March 1981	Mike Hailwood (b. 1940)
23 March 2009	Lloyd Ruby (b. 1928)