When F1 Drivers Raced the SAME CARS (And SENNA Won)

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What if all F1 drivers raced in the same car - it’s a question we fantasise about all the time. Finally, we’d have some understanding of who was the best.

And incredibly, this has already happened. Back in 1984 there was a race where all the drivers were in the same car - and most of those drivers were past or present F1 drivers - with nine Formula One World Champions - and two future World Champions.

And one of those future champions was Aryton Senna, who had just started his Formula One career a few months earlier.

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[epicmoon]

I think this should be a thing in every season in f1, everyone gets the same car, same tires no pitstops

[snack]

lauda climbing to 2nd sounds pretty impressive as well

[vinnycordeiro]

One thing that Scott didn't mention but you can read on Senna's biography written by Christopher Hilton: Senna was so committed to win this race that once he discovered what car model would be used, he rented a similar enough Mercedes model and drove it with a friend to a "practice" trip. It is said that it was enough to make Senna understand how the suspension worked, then on the race day he just had to make the adjustments necessary because of the car modifications.

[Richard-Gore]

My friend told me about this funny race a few days ago😂
Prost the young driver was on pole in this "obviously just for fun race", but was soon pushed off the track by a e~ven younger driver. "Race for fun? No, I race for the win." His name is Aryton Senna.

[paulf]

Peak Senna and peak Schumacher in identical machinery would have been amazing, especially having the two rain masters together in a wet race.

[panosvougiou]

Lauda climbing from 14th to 2nd place, without practice, past his prime, sounds way more impressive to me.

[chicobicalho]

That same year, a few months before, I witnessed a bit of "F1 history" for I was standing 2 meters from Senna's Toleman at the pits in the now defunct Jacarepaguá circuit in Rio for the 1984 tyre tests done in January, when he engaged first hear and left the pit for his very first F1 drive in Brazil. Coincidentally Emerson Fittipaldi was also there, for his last F1 drive, in a weird car with a Mickey Mouse livery. I also withessed a bit of history with Fittipaldi, for I saw when he did his very first lap in a F1 car in Brazil on a Lotus 72 in the non championship race at Interlagos in 1972. It was amazing that he was driving the fastest and most advanced F1 of the time in "his" circuit, where only a few years before he had been racing adapted road cars.

[AndyFromBeaverton]

In the 90's and early 00's, the drivers would get together for karting events.

[Itsallfun]

This was an epic event. I wish stuff like this happened now but it would never be allowed

[SaschaPallenberg]

I used to work for Daimler and probably one of the most amazing experiences was to visit our classic collection which includes Ayrton's 190 from this race.... Still have the photos of me sitting in it!

[zanemurcha]

Some back stories from this race.
Alan Jones led the first few laps but his car died and gave Senna the lead.
James Hunt kept cutting the first corners just because he wanted to.
John Surtees liked his car so much he took the race smoothly as he wanted to keep it.
The driver he refers to at 9:39 is Jody Sheckter who set the fastest lap.
Although he did not race Juan Manuel Fangio did still attend this event and even demonstrated his 1955 Mercedes W196.
The reason for the first two laps being missed was due to the President of the region of Germany delivering a prolonged speech.

[Driftuner]

The story with the barrier moving 5mm causing him to crash gave me goosebumps

[ldarm]

I've always considered Lauda's performance during that race to be incredible. Top driver.

[Mart]

I think nowdays Top Gear's "Reasonably priced car" was the only opportunity to see F1 drivers driving the same car.

[ramadhanisme]

Senna obviously star of this race but man lauda is on another whole level, finishing 2nd at his age can't imagine if he got the qualified race and battle senna

[johnkluge]

A 57 year old Phil Hill qualified 10th and finished 12th in that race, ahead of younger drivers like Proust, DeAngeles, and Laffite. John Surtees qualified 9th and finished 11th. He was 50. Surtees and Hill are for my money the two most underrated drivers of all time.

[rreif]

They did several multi-race seasons of the Procar championship in '79 and '80 where they used BMW M1 cars. Lauda won the first season and Nelson Piquet won the second.

[immatureradical]

The organizers were thinking how cool it would be for someone like Lauda to win and for them to put his car to the museum. Imagine the bummer when they saw that the museum car would bear the name of a Brazilian that nobody knew.

[MH-evwr]

This used to happen all the time with the IROC series. You had the best drivers from all series competing in identical cars.

[twitchsheinz]

When top gear asked some F1 drivers who was their #1 driver, a lot of them picked Senna including Schumacher, Alonso, Barrichello, etc... I wonder what kind of insight they had to make that choice.
This video scratches my itch a little, but I think it's just the tip of the iceberg!