What Happened On This Day May 3 In F1 History?

What happened on this day, May 3 in Formula 1 history? Find out interesting facts and stories about Formula 1 on this day.

1924

Born on this day, 3 May 1924, Ken Tyrrell was a major figure in F1, best known as the founder and manager of the Tyrrell Racing Organisation.

In 1968, Tyrrell entered Formula One with Jackie Stewart as his lead driver, and in 1971, Stewart won the World Championship driving a Tyrrell 003. The team also won the Constructors’ Championship the same year.

Tyrrell Racing became known for its innovative designs, including the unique six-wheeled Tyrrell P34 in 1976. Although the team saw success in the early 1970s, they struggled to maintain competitiveness in the later years due to financial constraints and the increasing dominance of manufacturers with larger budgets. Despite the challenges, Ken Tyrrell remained involved in Formula One until 1998 when he sold his team to British American Tobacco, which rebranded it as British American Racing (BAR).

Ken Tyrrell passed away in 2001, but his legacy as a passionate team owner in the world of F1 endures.

1949

Dutch racer Boy Hayje was born on May 3, 1949, in Amsterdam. He had a brief and unremarkable Formula 1 career, qualifying for only three of the seven Grand Prix races he entered without finishing any. His Formula 1 debut at the 1976 Dutch Grand Prix saw him qualify by a controversial margin, allegedly after his team distracted the officials and tampered with his official timing.

1981

Brabham driver Nelson Piquet clinched victory at the 1981 San Marino Grand Prix, narrowing Carlos Reutemann and his lead in the 1981 Drivers’ Championship to just three points. Reutemann finished second for Williams, with Riccardo Patrese second for Arrows.

The race saw Gilles Villeneuve initially leading until a premature tyre change coincided with rain. Accidents in the race included John Watson crashing into René Arnoux and defending champion Alan Jones, who calmly accepted the collision with teammate Reutemann as part of racing.

1981 San Marino Grand Prix Race Results

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/retired	Pts
1	5	Nelson Piquet	Brabham Ford	60	1:51:23.970	9
2	29	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows Ford	60	+4.580s	6
3	2	Carlos Reutemann	Williams Ford	60	+6.340s	4
4	6	Hector Rebaque	Brabham Ford	60	+22.890s	3
5	28	Didier Pironi	Ferrari	60	+25.870s	2
6	8	Andrea de Cesaris	McLaren Ford	60	+66.610s	1
7	27	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	60	+101.970s	0
8	16	Rene Arnoux	Renault	59	+1 lap	0
9	14	Marc Surer	Ensign Ford	59	+1 lap	0
10	7	John Watson	McLaren Ford	58	+2 laps	0
11	33	Patrick Tambay	Theodore Ford	58	+2 laps	0
12	1	Alan  Jones	Williams Ford	58	+2 laps	0
13	10	Slim Borgudd	ATS Ford	57	+3 laps	0
NC	25	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Ligier Matra	45	+15 laps	0
NC	17	Eliseo Salazar	March Ford	38	DNF	0
NC	4	Michele Alboreto	Tyrrell Ford	31	DNF	0
NC	32	Beppe Gabbiani	Osella Hart	31	DNF	0
NC	23	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo	28	DNF	0
NC	3	Eddie  Cheever	Tyrrell Ford	28	DNF	0
NC	22	Mario Andretti	Alfa Romeo	26	DNF	0
NC	20	Keke Rosberg	Fittipaldi Ford	14	DNF	0
NC	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier Matra	7	DNF	0
NC	15	Alain Prost	Renault	3	DNF	0
NC	31	Miguel Angel Guerra	Osella Hart	0	DNF	0

1987

Nigel Mansell managed mechanical issues with his Williams-Honda to triumph at the 1987 San Marino Grand Prix, finishing thirty seconds ahead of Ayrton Senna, second, in the Lotus. The win showcased Mansell’s skill in eeking every last bit out of the car. His teammate, Nelson Piquet, didn’t race due to a big crash in free practice. Other highlights of the race included a last-minute car switch, due to a technical failure with his Lotus for rookie driver Satoru Nakajima, who managed a commendable sixth-place finish. Michele Alboreto finished third for Ferrari.

1987 San Marino Grand Prix Race Results

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/retired	Pts
1	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams Honda	59	1:31:24.076	9
2	12	Ayrton Senna	Lotus Honda	59	+27.545s	6
3	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	59	+39.144s	4
4	2	Stefan Johansson	McLaren TAG	59	+60.588s	3
5	9	Martin Brundle	Zakspeed	57	+2 laps	2
6	11	Satoru Nakajima	Lotus Honda	57	+2 laps	1
7	10	Christian Danner	Zakspeed	57	+2 laps	0
8	4	Philippe Streiff	Tyrrell Ford	57	+2 laps	0
9	7	Riccardo Patrese	Brabham BMW	57	+2 laps	0
10	30	Philippe Alliot	Lola Ford	56	+3 laps	0
11	17	Derek Warwick	Arrows Megatron	55	DNF	0
12	21	Alex Caffi	Osella Alfa Romeo	54	DNF	0
13	14	Pascal Fabre	AGS Ford	53	+6 laps	0
NC	19	Teo Fabi	Benetton Ford	51	DNF	0
NC	20	Thierry Boutsen	Benetton Ford	48	DNF	0
NC	18	Eddie  Cheever	Arrows Megatron	48	DNF	0
NC	3	Jonathan  Palmer	Tyrrell Ford	48	DNF	0
NC	8	Andrea de Cesaris	Brabham BMW	39	DNF	0
NC	23	Adrian Campos	Minardi Motori Moderni	30	DNF	0
NC	22	Gabriele Tarquini	Osella Alfa Romeo	26	DNF	0
NC	24	Alessandro Nannini	Minardi Motori Moderni	25	DNF	0
NC	16	Ivan Capelli	March Ford	18	DNF	0
NC	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	16	DNF	0
NC	1	Alain Prost	McLaren TAG	14	DNF	0
NC	26	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Ligier Megatron	7	DNF	0

1992

In one of his most impressive performances, Nigel Mansell dominated the 1992 Spanish Grand Prix, leading from start to finish to secure the win for Williams despite variable weather conditions and a heavy downpour towards the race’s end. The victory was his fourth consecutive win early in the ’92 season. Michael Schumacher finished second, 23.9 seconds behind, missing the chance to become the youngest Grand Prix winner in F1 history, at the time. The day’s tension peaked during the post-race press conference when Mansell fiercely responded to questions about his car’s technical superiority, questioning the seriousness of the questions and suggesting the reporter might need psychiatric help for their ignorance. Jean Alesi finished in third place for Ferrari.

1992 Spanish Grand Prix Race Results

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/retired	Pts
1	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams Renault	65	1:56:10.674	10
2	19	Michael Schumacher	Benetton Ford	65	+23.914s	6
3	27	Jean Alesi	Ferrari	65	+26.462s	4
4	2	Gerhard Berger	McLaren Honda	65	+80.647s	3
5	9	Michele Alboreto	Footwork Mugen Honda	64	+1 lap	2
6	22	Pierluigi Martini	Dallara Ferrari	63	+2 laps	1
7	10	Aguri Suzuki	Footwork Mugen Honda	63	+2 laps	0
8	16	Karl Wendlinger	March Ilmor	63	+2 laps	0
9	1	Ayrton Senna	McLaren Honda	62	DNF	0
10	28	Ivan Capelli	Ferrari	62	DNF	0
11	23	Christian Fittipaldi	Minardi Lamborghini	61	+4 laps	0
12	17	Paul Belmondo	March Ilmor	61	+4 laps	0
NC	21	Jyrki Jarvilehto	Dallara Ferrari	56	DNF	0
NC	15	Gabriele Tarquini	Fondmetal Ford	56	DNF	0
NC	11	Mika Hakkinen	Lotus Ford	56	DNF	0
NC	26	Erik Comas	Ligier Renault	55	DNF	0
NC	29	Bertrand Gachot	Venturi Lamborghini	35	DNF	0
NC	3	Olivier Grouillard	Tyrrell Ilmor	30	DNF	0
NC	24	Gianni Morbidelli	Minardi Lamborghini	26	DNF	0
NC	33	Mauricio Gugelmin	Jordan Yamaha	24	DNF	0
NC	14	Andrea Chiesa	Fondmetal Ford	22	DNF	0
NC	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams Renault	19	DNF	0
NC	12	Johnny Herbert	Lotus Ford	13	DNF	0
NC	25	Thierry Boutsen	Ligier Renault	11	DNF	0
NC	20	Martin Brundle	Benetton Ford	4	DNF	0
NC	4	Andrea de Cesaris	Tyrrell Ilmor	2	DNF	0

2020

The 2020 Dutch Grand Prix was originally scheduled to take place at Circuit Zandvoort on May 3, 2020; however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the race was cancelled and failed to return to the calendar that year.

This was supposed to be the return of the Dutch Grand Prix after a 35-year absence, as the last race at Zandvoort had been held in 1985. Despite efforts to reschedule, organisers ultimately decided to postpone the event to 2021 instead of running it without fans.

The Dutch Grand Prix finally returned in 2021, with Max Verstappen winning the race in front of his home crowd.

2022

Known as the ‘Racing Dentist’, Tony Brooks was born on this day in Cheshire and uniquely balanced his Formula One racing career with his dental training. He gained acclaim in 1957 as a driver for Vanwall and teammate to Stirling Moss, who described him as “the greatest unknown racing driver there has ever been.” Together, they won at Aintree, sharing a car and victory. In 1958, Brooks secured three more wins and narrowly finished third in the 1958 Drivers’ Championship behind Mike Hawthorn and Moss. Driving for Ferrari in 1959, except at the British Grand Prix, where he drove a Vanwall, he clinched two victories. In 1960, Brooks returned to Britain to join the Yeoman Credit Cooper team. He scored points on three occasions but increasingly focused on his garage business in Weybridge. The following year, he went back to BRM, but it was another disappointing season, and he retired from the sport at the end of that year.

Brooks passed away on this day 3 May 2022 at the age of 90. Following Stirling Moss’s death in April 2020, Brooks was the last surviving Grand Prix winner from the 1950s. After Brooks’s death, three-time World Champion Jackie Stewart, who began racing in the 1960s, became the oldest living Formula One Grand Prix winner.

F1 Driver Birthdays 3 May

Birthday	F1 Driver
3 May 1949	Boy Hayje

Birthday	F1 Mentions
3 May 1924	Ken Tyrrell (d. 2001)

F1 Driver Deaths 3 May

Death	F1 Driver
3 May 2004	Ken Downing (b. 1917)
3 May 2011	Gunther Bechem (b. 1921)
3 May 2022	Tony Brooks (b. 1932)