7 weird reasons F1 drivers have MISSED races

From accidentally sending a bad email to your boss to being in prison... there have been some strange reasons F1 drivers have missed races.

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[SmileyXY]

The fact that Alonso had to retire from that Indy 500 race because of a broken Honda pu while "fleeing" from his Honda powered McLaren is just hilarious! xD

[sohanchaudhuri]

Juan Manuel Fangio is probably my favorite because he got kidnapped by kidnappers and after the race, he became friends with them. Just amazing man, he was.

[soundscape]

My favourite... definitely Bertrand Gachot. Not only the most reckless of them all but also because of the sporting consequences in allowing future 7 times championship winner Schumacher his racing debut.

[BlackFantasy]

Kimi not too long ago said that the payment issue with Lotus really was a thing.

Fun fact about the Monaco GP where Jenson Button replaced the Indy500 driving Alonso. It caused a next race grid penalty for JB he never actually had a chance to fulfill. It's been years since then, I wonder if he'd ever drive an F1 car again would this penalty still be a thing?!

[matthijsvanthof]

That Indy 500-retirement was soooo painfull for Alonso. Escaping an unreliable Honda F1 engine, retiring with an engine failure at the Indy 500.
Poor Fernando...

[pompiliosouto]

At this point Alonso probably has a nervous twitch whenever he hears "honda" and "engine" in the same sentence.

[wesleydenbrokracing]

Jacques Lafitte missed a race due to he has used visor cleaner for his eyes instead of normal eyedrops. 1975 US GP in Watkins Glen.

[LouisTheSEGANerd]

Montoya admitted in his beyond the grid episode that it was indeed a bike accident that caused him to miss 2 races in 2005 and not a tennis injury

[FIGBVB]

fangio becoming friends with his kidnappers is the most don thing I've ever seen

[maggydasmauschen]

An interesting thing about Fangio. He grew up in a fairly working class family, which is of course unusual for a racer . It is possible he had sympathies for workers movements due to his background however he publicly claimed he had no interest in politics, this was even one of the reasons for targeting him according to the revolutionaries. Several times over the years Fangio returned to Cuba and referred to the Revolutionaries as his "communist friends" and was quoted to say "If what the rebels did was in a good cause, then I, as an Argentine, accept it." The revolutionaries hid him in the homes of wealthy sympathizers while the forces of the Fascist dictator, Batista searched for him in the slums. He was given a radio so he could listen to the race and a tv to watch the news. I know the whole gun point part is a bit over the line, but its clear they intended him no harm and considering the desperation of the Cuban working people at the time, I can't blame them.

Overall its a fascinating story where Sport and the Cold War intersects.

[davyt]

And to add insult to injury for Fernando, Takuma Sato won the 2017 Indy 500, with a Honda engine.

[ro]

In 1965, Jim Clark also missed the Monaco Grand Prix to race in the Indianapolis 500. And he had a much better luck than Alonso (He won it)

[arnav_mish]

Toto seeing the fangio kidnapping for next season : "this gives me an amazing idea"

[NowChess]

I will admit that the INDY 500 in 2017 were the only time I watched it just because of Nando. After his engine failure I couldn't stop thinking about Honda putting the F1 engine in that car 😅

[Burt]

Fifty years from now: "Mr Alonso! Good thing we got you to the hospital on time. Don't worry, your condition is stable and should begin to improve, thanks to this respirator we have you on."
Alonso, looks over and sees "Honda" logo on respirator. *Flatlines*

[youssefsaddouq]

So you're telling me Michael Schumacher entered F1 because some random taxi driver crashed with Bertrand Gagchot. (Actually, he was probably going to race in F1 anyway)

[diogosilva]

There was a story in 1994 with Sauber and Andrea de Cesaris who replaced the injured Karl Wendljnger. At the end of the season at the Japanese GP they wanted to run the recovering Karl Wendljnger but he was not fit enough, they then tried to get de Cesaris to race but he was already on holiday in a Pacific Island … so missed the race because he was on a remote holiday

[justiceleague]

Alonso, Andretti, McLaren is the funniest of all. I'm happy that he retired and came back in 2021.

[gabrielmoralesgonzalez]

2:40
That is so random that Fangio became friends with his kidnappers. I do not know if that is something good or bad...

[derrickymilo]

Man, I was so hoping Alonso could win that Indy 500. The roar of the crowd when he climbed out of the car was amazing.