worst car ever to win a Grand Prix?

[MichaelH]

Was watching a 2003 F1 season review the other day and especially enjoyed the Brazilian GP, an absolute epic with Giancarlo Fisichella winning for Jordan in the rain. Got me thinking though, that Jordan was terrible that season. Scored what, another 2 or 3 points in the whole of 2003, usually near the back of the grid, remember Ralph Firman really struggling to make any sort of impression in it. Was this the worst/slowest F1 car ever to record a victory?

It even burst into flames after it crossed the line!

[MJones94]

Yes I would of said that one too. Good thread here!

[barnettracing]

Any GP winning March. The 701 wasn't brilliant but Stewart and Amon put their talent to good use in it.

[steve nielsen]

Olivier Panis Monaco 1996

the Ligier Mugen JS43

[maximus]

Nah, I'd say the 2003 Jordan was worse than that.

[GORDON STREETER]

This has all been done before guys ! http://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41867

[Paradise City]

The '96 Ligier was a plagarised Benetton but it wasn't a bad car. They just hadn't the infrastructure, the management stability or the finance to develop it properly.

Other than that '03 Jordan, I don't think a 'bad' car has ever won an F1 [WC] race although a few dogs have occupied podium positions. It's also sometimes hard to judge cars anytime before the early sixties.

If you want to be smart about things you could talk about British F1, pre-war Grand Prix and all those non-championship F1 events.

[bone]

alfa romeo 8C in the hands of Tazio Nuvolari beating the silver arrows in the 1936 hungarian grand prix :P

not a bad car on its own, but it was compared to the silver arrows :lol:

[Thundersports]

Anything post 1997.......

[Redlake27]

The Jordan is a good call, as it was uncompetitive everywhere else. However, it was a random race, as was Panis' Ligier win in Monaco

Villeneuve winning on merit in 126C or Rosberg in a FW09 were two examples of cars that really shouldn't have won, winning

[chillibowl]

i have to go with the 03 Jordan as well. to my knowledge i cant think of another car which won a race but finished with a lower spot on the WCC table.

of the other unusual winners in recent years (STR, BMW) both finished much higher. Ligier (i had to look up) finished 6th in the year that Panis won.

[steve nielsen]

how could we forget this one??

http://www.zie.nl/video/sport/Herber...g/m1ezr8iftdce

[Jimmy Magnusson]

Most modern wild card GP winners aren't exactly what I would define as "bad" cars. Maybe if HRT won. I'm racking my brain over this but the best suggestion I can come up with is the March 751 with Vittorio Brambilla. Certainly one of the most bizarre wins.

[cds_uk]

I dont know why people are so down on March's, the 751 was a fine car, bearing in mind that Brambilla was hardly an ace he got the win, got a pole and qualified in the top half dozen quite a few times. As for the 761 that Ronnie won in, again a really good little car, he could have worked wonders in it if they hadn't been on such a shoestring budget, you don't get wins, poles and fastest laps in a heap of junk.

[ECW Dan Selby]

Originally Posted by steve nielsen

how could we forget this one??

http://www.zie.nl/video/sport/Herber...g/m1ezr8iftdce

See, this was the first one that came to my head (might be part due to the fact I have a picture of it hanging on my wall!), too.

But, I seem to remember the Stewart, particularly in Barrichello's hands, being a pretty good chassis that year. You'd often see Rubens qualify in the top 10.

The Jordan of 2003 has to be the one. It had no right being anywhere near the front (admittedly, it was a bit of a race of attrition).

Selby

[Jimmy Magnusson]

Originally Posted by cds_uk

I dont know why people are so down on March's, the 751 was a fine car, bearing in mind that Brambilla was hardly an ace he got the win, got a pole and qualified in the top half dozen quite a few times. As for the 761 that Ronnie won in, again a really good little car, he could have worked wonders in it if they hadn't been on such a shoestring budget, you don't get wins, poles and fastest laps in a heap of junk.

I'm not that down on it, most F1 cars from the seventies were lovely. But coming up with "bad" GP winning cars is tough, because most bad cars doesn't win. And even if you win through attrition, well, then there were something right with the car. Maybe there's something in the sixties or before, but my knowledge of the time before the three-litre formula is sketchy at best.

[p-matt]

Originally Posted by ECW Dan Selby

The Jordan of 2003 has to be the one. It had no right being anywhere near the front (admittedly, it was a bit of a race of attrition).

Didn't they change the wet tyres rules for that season as well? Something like they could only bring one type of wet tyre per event, and Michelin got caught out in that race?

[barnettracing]

Porsche 804? Driven by Dan Gurney it won the 1962 French Grand Prix at Rouen. Although it took victory by a lap (most of the main players had retired) it was hardly a good car.

[Graz]

The 2003 Jordan can't be topped. It was a total P.O.S. That race and result was a pure freak outcome.

The 1998 Jordan comes to mind too. It was a positively awful car for the first half of the season until the brought out a 'B' version which seemed to transform it.

[Peralta]

I would have to say Villenueve's Win in the 1981 Monaco gp with that pig of a ferrari 126c with it's turbo lag on a street circuit.

[Teretonga]

There are a number of results that were outside what you might have expected, all as freakish as the 2003 Brazilian GP. At least the Jordan looked the part.

Surtees win at Monza 1967 in the Honda 'Hondola' that he developed was outside the box, as was pedro Rodriguez win in 1967 at kyalami in the Cooper Maserati. Both those were in cars you would not have expected to win and were not the best 'model' of the day.

Gurney in the Porsche in 1962 is another example that has already been mentioned but Jim Clarks win in 1966 at Watkins Glen in the H16 engined Lotus 43 is another one. the engine and car had been hopeless in anyone else's hands.

The fact that they are all of a similar era relates that the emergence of the 3 litre formula in 1966 really was a huge technical experiment and leap forward for most engine manufacturers and racecar constructors.

[MichaelH]

That '99 Stewart was a really good chassis wasn't it? Barrichello got a pole or two in it, and should probably have won in Brazil on merit. It all seemed to click for them that year and the only shock about them winning a race was that it was Herbert and not Rubens. Similarly the Jordan was good enough to win that season too, was a bit of an 'underdogs come good' season that one.

Ferrari, 2009? That Ferrari was a dog. Massa almost won the title the previous season but even before his accident they could barely get it on the podium. A track that it suited, KERS and suddenly Kimi was (just) able to win a race at Spa.

Williams 2004 too. That walrus-nosed thing. Seem to remember it being useless all season then winning the season finale.

[zipping]

AlanJones won the 1977 Austrian Grand Prix in a Shadows DN8 that was fairly uncompetitive highest qualifying of 12th and from memory 6 different drivers drove it during the season.

Also Tom Watson in a penske 1976 Austrian Grand Prix

[barnettracing]

Originally Posted by zipping

Also Tom Watson in a penske 1976 Austrian Grand Prix

I think you mean John Watson! Tom Watson is a PGA golfer. Back on topic, the Penske wasn't too bad a car, quite competitive that year.

[wolfhound]

If you look back at the mid seventies there were a number of different teams that won odd races. During that time there was a lot of rule stability and a lot of cars were close on performance but certain cars seemed to suit different tracks better than others giving a lot of one off wins.
Two circuits that regularly produced one off wins were Anderstorp in Sweden and Osterreichring in Austria.
This unpredictability was broken up first by ground effect pioneered by Lotus and Turbocharging begun by Renault.