What Happened On This Day October 15 In F1 History?

What happened on this day, October 15 in Formula 1 history? Find out interesting facts and stories about Formula 1 on this day.

1921

Canadian advertising man and F1 privateer Al Pease was born in Yorkshire on this day. He entered three Canadian Grand Prix between 1967 and 1969 but failed to finish all of them. In the 1969 event he was running several laps down and became the only F1 driver in history to be black flagged for driving too slowly. He died on 4 May 2014 at his home in Tennessee at the ages of 92.

1927

Malcolm Campbell won the 1927 JCC 200 mile race at Brooklands in a Bugatti 39A. Only four cars finished the gruelling two and a half hour race, while eight of the 13 entrants retired with blown engines.

1964

In an ongoing battle to become the fastest man in the world, Craig Breedlove set a new land speed record of 468mph to beat Art Arfons set just one week before. He attempted the record on the Bonneville salt flats in a jet-powered, three-wheel machine that was compared to an aeroplane minus wings. Indeed, the Beach Boys sang at the time in Spirit of America: “The Bonneville salt flats had seen some strange things, But the strangest thing yet was a jet without wings, Once as a jet it played in the stars, But now on the ground it’s the king of our cars.” One year later, in a completely redesigned car, he broke the 500mph barrier.

1981

A wealthy company director and part-time racing driver, Philip Fotheringham-Parker, was born in Beckley and died on this day in his birthplace aged 74. He raced at Brooklands during the circuit’s golden era and was very nearly killed when he lost control of his Alvis and went over the banking. Remarkably, both he and the car survived to race another day. His single appearance in the Formula One world championship came at the 1951 British Grand Prix when he was driving a Maserati, but he was forced to retire. Later in the year, he won a non-championship Formula One race at Winfield, but his greatest success was second place, again in a Maserati, at Curragh for the 1949 Wakefield Trophy race.

1983

At the 1983 South African Grand Prix, Brabham driver Nelson Piquet won his second World Championship after snatching the title away from Renault driver Alain Prost at the final round of the season. Rene Arnoux was also in the running heading to Kyalami but his chances quite literally went up in smoke when his Ferrari engine blew on lap nine. 26 laps later and Prost’s turbo exploded leaving the road clear for Piquet, who was leading the race comfortably at the time. But to make completely sure of the three points he needed to seal the championship, he backed off and settled for third place behind the Alfa Romeo of Andrea de Cesaris in second and race-winner, and hos teammate, Riccardo Patrese.

Ferrari secured the 1983 Constructors’ Championship despite failing to score any points in the final race for the second year in a row. Meanwhile, John Watson, in what would be his final full Formula One season, was disqualified for overtaking other cars during the parade lap.

F1 Driver Birthdays 15 October

F1 Driver Deaths 15 October

F1 Champion 15 October