What Happened On This Day May 17 In F1 History?

What happened on this day, May 17 in Formula 1 history? Find out interesting facts and stories about Formula 1 on this day.

1936

On May 17, Rudolf Caracciola won the 1936 Tunis Grand Prix driving a Mercedes, capitalising on the misfortunes of the Auto Union team. Achille Varzi, one of Auto Union’s drivers, lost control of his car when a strong gust of wind hit him at around 150mph, causing his car to roll and disintegrate before stopping in a wooded area; remarkably, he emerged unscathed. Meanwhile, Varzi’s teammate, Bernard Rosemeyer, faced a fire in his car, and Hans Stuck’s engine failed, further hindering the team’s performance.

1981

Williams‘ Carlos Reutemann secured his second win of the season at the 1981 Belgian Grand Prix in Zolder, on a weekend that highlighted the dangers of F1’s crowded pit lane. Thirty-six cars entered the weekend, with 31 making qualifying and 24 competing in the race. Tragedy struck during Friday practice when an Osella team mechanic fell off the pit wall and was fatally struck by Reutemann’s Williams. Drivers threatened to strike due to the poor safety conditions, but the race continued regardless. At the start, Riccardo Patrese stalled on the grid, prompting a Lotus mechanic to jump over the pit wall to restart the car. As the field took off, the mechanic remained at the car’s rear. While most drivers avoided the stationary Arrows, Patrese’s teammate Siegfried Stohr, unable to see clearly, collided with it. Fortunately, the mechanic sustained only minor injuries. The drivers, concerned for safety, stopped the race on their next lap. Once underway again, Jacques Laffite followed Reutemann home in second for Ligier, while the Lotus of Nigel Mansell secured the first of his eventual 59 podiums by finishing in third place.

1981 Belgian Grand Prix Race Results

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/retired	Pts
1	2	Carlos Reutemann	Williams Ford	54	1:16:31.610	9
2	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier Matra	54	+36.060s	6
3	12	Nigel Mansell	Lotus Ford	54	+43.690s	4
4	27	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	54	+47.640s	3
5	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus Ford	54	+49.200s	2
6	3	Eddie  Cheever	Tyrrell Ford	54	+52.510s	1
7	7	John Watson	McLaren Ford	54	+61.660s	0
8	28	Didier Pironi	Ferrari	54	+92.040s	0
9	23	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo	54	+95.580s	0
10	22	Mario Andretti	Alfa Romeo	53	+1 lap	0
11	14	Marc Surer	Ensign Ford	52	+2 laps	0
12	4	Michele Alboreto	Tyrrell Ford	52	+2 laps	0
13	31	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella Hart	50	+4 laps	0
NC	6	Hector Rebaque	Brabham Ford	39	DNF	0
NC	25	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Ligier Matra	35	DNF	0
NC	21	Chico Serra	Fittipaldi Ford	29	DNF	0
NC	32	Beppe Gabbiani	Osella Hart	22	DNF	0
NC	1	Alan  Jones	Williams Ford	19	DNF	0
NC	8	Andrea de Cesaris	McLaren Ford	11	DNF	0
NC	5	Nelson Piquet	Brabham Ford	10	DNF	0
NC	20	Keke Rosberg	Fittipaldi Ford	10	DNF	0
NC	15	Alain Prost	Renault	2	DNF	0
NC	30	Siegfried Stohr	Arrows Ford	0	DNF	0
NC	29	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows Ford	0	DNF	0

1987

At the 1987 Belgian Grand Prix, Nigel Mansell and Ayrton Senna got into a pit-lane scuffle at Spa Francorchamps after Mansell attempted a bold overtake around the outside of Senna at the Campus Chicane. The two tangled, leaving Senna out of the race and Mansell retiring a few laps later. Furious, Mansell stormed to the Lotus garage to confront Senna.“I went over to him, grabbed him by the overalls and pushed him up against the wall,” Mansell recalled. “He wore loose overalls in those days and I pulled the zip up beyond his chin to just below his nose. ‘Next time you do that,’ I said, ‘you’re going to have to do a much better job’.” Meanwhile, Alain Prost won the race, with his McLaren teammate Stefan Johansson being the only other driver to finish on the same lap. Andrea de Cesaris finished third for Brabham.

1987 Belgian Grand Prix Race Results

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/retired	Pts
1	1	Alain Prost	McLaren TAG	43	1:27:03.217	9
2	2	Stefan Johansson	McLaren TAG	43	+24.764s	6
3	8	Andrea de Cesaris	Brabham BMW	42	DNF	4
4	18	Eddie  Cheever	Arrows Megatron	42	+1 lap	3
5	11	Satoru Nakajima	Lotus Honda	42	+1 lap	2
6	25	Rene Arnoux	Ligier Megatron	41	+2 laps	1
7	26	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Ligier Megatron	40	DNF	0
8	30	Philippe Alliot	Lola Ford	40	+3 laps	0
9	4	Philippe Streiff	Tyrrell Ford	39	+4 laps	0
10	14	Pascal Fabre	AGS Ford	38	DNF	0
NC	19	Teo Fabi	Benetton Ford	34	DNF	0
NC	9	Martin Brundle	Zakspeed	19	DNF	0
NC	20	Thierry Boutsen	Benetton Ford	18	DNF	0
NC	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams Honda	17	DNF	0
NC	16	Ivan Capelli	March Ford	14	DNF	0
NC	6	Nelson Piquet	Williams Honda	11	DNF	0
NC	21	Alex Caffi	Osella Alfa Romeo	11	DNF	0
NC	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	9	DNF	0
NC	10	Christian Danner	Zakspeed	9	DNF	0
NC	17	Derek Warwick	Arrows Megatron	8	DNF	0
NC	7	Riccardo Patrese	Brabham BMW	5	DNF	0
NC	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	2	DNF	0
NC	24	Alessandro Nannini	Minardi Motori Moderni	1	DNF	0
NC	23	Adrian Campos	Minardi Motori Moderni		DNS	0
NC	3	Jonathan  Palmer	Tyrrell Ford		DNS	0
NC	12	Ayrton Senna	Lotus Honda		DNS	0

1992

In 1992, Nigel Mansell set a new record for consecutive wins at the start of the season by securing his fifth victory at the 1992 San Marino Grand Prix. While it appeared to be an easy win over his Williams teammate Riccardo Patrese, Mansell revealed it was far from straightforward. “It was very tough and I finished the race with cramp and muscle spasms on my right side,” he explained. “It was 32 degrees and I think I must have lost eight pounds in weight. It was not a simple race – we had several ‘alarm calls’ with oil and water, then Gerhard [Berger]’s accident and a marshal out on the track when we were doing 200 mph.” Ayrton Senna finished third for McLaren.

1992 San Marino Grand Prix Race Results

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/retired	Pts
1	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams Renault	60	1:28:40.927	10
2	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams Renault	60	+9.451s	6
3	1	Ayrton Senna	McLaren Honda	60	+48.984s	4
4	20	Martin Brundle	Benetton Ford	60	+53.007s	3
5	9	Michele Alboreto	Footwork Mugen Honda	59	+1 lap	2
6	22	Pierluigi Martini	Dallara Ferrari	59	+1 lap	1
7	33	Mauricio Gugelmin	Jordan Yamaha	58	+2 laps	0
8	3	Olivier Grouillard	Tyrrell Ilmor	58	+2 laps	0
9	26	Erik Comas	Ligier Renault	58	+2 laps	0
10	10	Aguri Suzuki	Footwork Mugen Honda	58	+2 laps	0
11	21	Jyrki Jarvilehto	Dallara Ferrari	57	DNF	0
12	16	Karl Wendlinger	March Ilmor	57	+3 laps	0
13	17	Paul Belmondo	March Ilmor	57	+3 laps	0
14	4	Andrea de Cesaris	Tyrrell Ilmor	55	DNF	0
NC	30	Ukyo Katayama	Venturi Lamborghini	40	DNF	0
NC	27	Jean Alesi	Ferrari	39	DNF	0
NC	2	Gerhard Berger	McLaren Honda	39	DNF	0
NC	29	Bertrand Gachot	Venturi Lamborghini	32	DNF	0
NC	25	Thierry Boutsen	Ligier Renault	29	DNF	0
NC	32	Stefano Modena	Jordan Yamaha	25	DNF	0
NC	24	Gianni Morbidelli	Minardi Lamborghini	24	DNF	0
NC	15	Gabriele Tarquini	Fondmetal Ford	24	DNF	0
NC	19	Michael Schumacher	Benetton Ford	20	DNF	0
NC	28	Ivan Capelli	Ferrari	11	DNF	0
NC	23	Christian Fittipaldi	Minardi Lamborghini	8	DNF	0
NC	12	Johnny Herbert	Lotus Ford	8	DNF	0

2000

In a bizarre outburst in 2000, Ralf Schumacher criticised Rubens Barrichello for attempting to compete with his brother Michael at Ferrari. “Rubens should stop trying to beat my brother and putting pressure on himself,” Ralf said. “[He should] concentrate instead on helping Michael win the championship”. Barrichello put Ralf’s behaviour down to an overtaking manoeuvre he had executed on him in the previous race.

2002

In 2002, in response to Ferrari’s use of team orders at the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix to ensure Michael Schumacher’s victory over Rubens Barrichello, a group of Brazilian hackers altered the headline on Ferrari’s official website. The site temporarily displayed the message: “Sorry Ferrari, but your site has been disordered.” The altered headline was corrected within minutes.

F1 Driver Birthdays 17 May

Birthday	F1 Driver
17 May 1931	Dave Clapham (d. 2005)
17 May 1948	Mikko Kozarowitzky

F1 Driver Deaths 17 May

Death	F1 Driver
17 May 1955	Manuel Ayulo (b. 1921)
17 May 1959	Jerry Unser (b. 1932)
17 May 2019	Neville Lederle (b. 1938)

Death	F1 Mention
17 May 1980	Amaury de Merode (b. 1902) President of the FIA in 1971, taking over from Wilfred Andrews. He was succeeded by Paul Metternich in 1975 after stepping down for reasons of age.