What Happened On This Day May 20 In F1 History?

What happened on this day, May 20 in Formula 1 history? Find out interesting facts and stories about Formula 1 on this day.

1926

Bob Sweikert, born on this day in 1926 in Los Angeles, achieved a remarkable feat in 1955 by winning the Indianapolis 500 when it was a part of the F1 calendar, the National Championship, and the Midwest Sprint car championship, the only driver to do so in a single season. In 1956, he finished sixth at the Indy 500 but tragically died a few weeks later in a sprint car race at Salem Speedway.

1962

Graham Hill won the 1962 European Grand Prix at Zandvoort in a BRM on May 20, leading 69 of the 80 laps, the first of his four wins on the way to securing the 1962 Drivers’ Championship. Trevor Taylor’s Lotus finished second despite limited oil pressure, while Phil Hill‘s Ferrari took third.

1962 European Grand Prix Race Results

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/retired	Pts
1	17	Graham Hill	BRM	80	2:11:02.100	9
2	5	Trevor  Taylor	Lotus Climax	80	+27.200s	6
3	1	Phil Hill	Ferrari	80	+81.100s	4
4	2	Giancarlo Baghetti	Ferrari	79	+1 lap	3
5	7	Tony Maggs	Cooper Climax	78	+2 laps	2
6	14	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche	76	+4 laps	1
7	11	Jo Bonnier	Porsche	75	+5 laps	0
NC	3	Ricardo  Rodriguez	Ferrari	73	DNF	0
NC	18	Richie Ginther	BRM	71	DNF	0
8	21	Jackie  Lewis	Cooper Climax	70	+10 laps	0
9	4	Jim Clark	Lotus Climax	70	+10 laps	0
NC	9	Innes Ireland	Lotus Climax	61	DNF	0
NC	10	Masten Gregory	Lotus Climax	54	DNF	0
NC	16	Wolfgang Seidel	Emeryson Climax	52	+28 laps	0
NC	12	Dan Gurney	Porsche	47	DNF	0
NC	6	Bruce McLaren	Cooper Climax	21	DNF	0
NC	20	Roy Salvadori	Lola Climax	12	DNF	0
NC	19	John Surtees	Lola Climax	8	DNF	0
NC	8	Jack Brabham	Lotus Climax	4	DNF	0
NC	15	Ben  Pon	Porsche	2	DNF	0

1973

Jackie Stewart claimed his 24th victory at the 1973 Belgian Grand Prix on May 20 in a race marked by chaos as the track deteriorated, causing eight cars to skid into crash barriers, fortunately without serious injury. Chris Amon, who placed sixth in a Tecno, suffered severe dehydration as his car’s cockpit overheated, leaving him unable to leave his car unaided. He remained in the paddock, recovering for an hour post-race. Emerson Fittipaldi finished third for Team Lotus, while Stewart’s Tyrrell teammate Francois Cevert finished second.

Future world champion Niki Lauda took his first ever career points, finishing in fifth place in his BRM. This race also saw the end of teams’ numbers changing from race to race – the numbers teams raced with at Zolder lasted until the end of the season. For the 1974 season, the finishing positions in the Constructors’ Championship were used to allocate the numbers, after which teams did not change numbers unless they won the Drivers’ Championship (or signed the current World Champion).

1973 Belgian Grand Prix Race Results

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/retired	Pts
1	5	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell Ford	70	1:42:13.430	9
2	6	Francois  Cevert	Tyrrell Ford	70	+31.840s	6
3	1	Emerson Fittipaldi	Lotus Ford	70	+122.790s	4
4	9	Andrea de Adamich	Brabham Ford	69	+1 lap	3
5	21	Niki Lauda	BRM	69	+1 lap	2
6	22	Chris Amon	Tecno	67	+3 laps	1
7	7	Denny Hulme	McLaren Ford	67	+3 laps	0
8	24	Carlos Pace	Surtees Ford	66	+4 laps	0
9	12	Graham Hill	Shadow Ford	65	+5 laps	0
10	19	Clay Regazzoni	BRM	63	DNF	0
11	15	Mike  Beuttler	March Ford	63	DNF	0
NC	14	Jean-Pierre Jarier	March Ford	60	DNF	0
NC	20	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	BRM	56	DNF	0
NC	11	Wilson Fittipaldi	Brabham Ford	46	DNF	0
NC	2	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus Ford	42	DNF	0
NC	8	Peter  Revson	McLaren Ford	33	DNF	0
NC	25	Howden  Ganley	Iso Marlboro Ford	16	DNF	0
NC	10	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham Ford	14	DNF	0
NC	16	George  Follmer	Shadow Ford	13	DNF	0
NC	17	Jackie Oliver	Shadow Ford	11	DNF	0
NC	26	Nanni  Galli	Iso Marlboro Ford	6	DNF	0
NC	3	Jacky Ickx	Ferrari	6	DNF	0
NC	23	Mike Hailwood	Surtees Ford	4	DNF	0

1975

On May 20, 1975, F1 driver Ralph Firman was born. Raised in England but racing under Irish citizenship due to his mother’s nationality, Firman entered professional racing straight from school. In 1996, during his second year, he won the British Formula Three Championship and by 2003, Firman joined Jordan in F1 alongside Giancarlo Fisichella. However, his first season was disappointing, with his best result being eighth in Spain. Firman also missed two races after a crash during practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix. It was his only year in Formula 1.

1984

McLaren driver Niki Lauda triumphed in the 79-lap 1984 French Grand Prix despite local hero and second-place finisher Patrick Tambay leading for over half the race in his Renault. Nigel Mansell, who had recently lost his mother to cancer, secured third place for Lotus. Mansell had a close call during the race when he crested a hill to find a marshal crossing the track. Reflecting on the incident, Mansell said, “You could say I was unimpressed. In fact, it shook me rigid.”

1984 French Grand Prix Race Results

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/retired	Pts
1	8	Niki Lauda	McLaren TAG	79	1:31:11.951	9
2	15	Patrick Tambay	Renault	79	+7.154s	6
3	12	Nigel Mansell	Lotus Renault	79	+23.969s	4
4	28	Rene Arnoux	Ferrari	79	+43.706s	3
5	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus Renault	79	+66.125s	2
6	6	Keke Rosberg	Williams Honda	78	+1 lap	1
7	7	Alain Prost	McLaren TAG	78	+1 lap	0
8	5	Jacques Laffite	Williams Honda	78	+1 lap	0
9	2	Teo Fabi	Brabham BMW	78	+1 lap	0
10	26	Andrea de Cesaris	Ligier Renault	77	+2 laps	0
11	18	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows BMW	77	+2 laps	0
12	24	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella Alfa Romeo	74	+5 laps	0
13	10	Jonathan  Palmer	RAM Hart	72	+7 laps	0
NC	21	Mauro Baldi	Spirit Hart	61	DNF	0
NC	16	Derek Warwick	Renault	53	DNF	0
NC	17	Marc Surer	Arrows Ford	51	DNF	0
NC	23	Eddie  Cheever	Alfa Romeo	51	DNF	0
NC	19	Ayrton Senna	Toleman Hart	35	DNF	0
NC	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	33	DNF	0
NC	20	Johnny Cecotto	Toleman Hart	22	DNF	0
NC	22	Riccardo Patrese	Alfa Romeo	15	DNF	0
NC	1	Nelson Piquet	Brabham BMW	11	DNF	0
NC	14	Manfred Winkelhock	ATS BMW	5	DNF	0
NC	9	Philippe Alliot	RAM Hart	4	DNF	0

2019

Today marks the death of three-time world champion Niki Lauda. Born into an affluent Austrian family, Lauda defied his parents’ wishes by borrowing money to pursue racing. He quickly established himself, and after racing for Frank Williams and March in Formula 2 in the early 1970s, he progressed to Formula 1. By 1974, he was racing for Ferrari, and by 1975, he had won his first world championship. In 1976, he was poised to win consecutive titles but suffered severe facial burns in a horrific crash at the Nurburgring. Remarkably, he made a comeback the same season, though he narrowly missed the championship to James Hunt. Lauda secured another title in 1977 before initially retiring. He returned in 1982 and clinched another championship in 1984 before permanently retiring in 1985. Post-retirement, he founded his own airline and briefly managed the Jaguar team in the early 2000s. He went on to persuade Lewis Hamilton to join the Mercedes team in 2013, a combo that went on to win eight consecutive Constructors’ titles from 2014 to 2021 together. Lauda passed away on 20 May 2019, aged 70.

F1 Driver Birthdays 20 May

Birthday	F1 Driver
20 May 1921	Aldo Gordini (d. 1995)
20 May 1926	Bob Sweikert (d. 1956)
20 May 1927	Lee Drollinger (d. 2006)
20 May 1975	Ralph Firman

Birthday	F1 Mentions
20 May 1944	Dietrich Mateschitz (d. 2022) Austrian billionaire businessman. He was the co-founder and 49% owner of Red Bull GmbH. His company acquired Jaguar and Minardi to create Red Bull Racing and its sister team, Toro Rosso.
20 May 1998	Jamie Chadwick Won the inaugural W Series season in 2019, before retaining her title in 2021 and 2022. Development driver for the Williams Formula One team and a test driver for the Jaguar Formula E team.

F1 Driver Deaths 20 May

Death	F1 Driver
20 May 1965	Edgar Barth (b. 1917)
20 May 1984	Bill Holland (b. 1907)
20 May 2019	Niki Lauda (b. 1949)