[Race] The GROAT - Final - 1957 Nürburgring vs 2008 Interlagos

[crmalcolm]

The final is upon us. The bracket to determine the Greatest Race Of All Time in F1 history (so far) sees a final between the 1957 Nürburgring and the 2008 Interlagos GPs.

Two races from very different eras - The era of factory Italian and Mercedes front-engine cars up against the era of 2.4-litre V8 engines.
Two races with very different characters - A single-minded determined pursuit to take a race win up against a battle for the WDC between two drivers amidst high emotion and changing conditions.


Summaries of the races have been provided previously - so for the final I'll present two accounts instead.

[crmalcolm]

Juan Manuel Fangio:
'In my life there have been so many great races, so it's hard to pick one. But a good race is where you don't think you have a chance of winning. So a very spectacular race was the one at the Nürburgring in 1957.

Nürburgring was one of my favourite circuits, because a driver always had a chance. It's a circuit of 23km with 166 turns and ups and downs. If you got there with less, you could always do a lot. It's one of the circuits I liked most to race on.

I was driving the Maserati. It was a good car with lots of stability. It came from a small factory, but the mechanics were excellent; there was a good union between the mechanics and myself. The Ferrari was an excellent car as well - I had won at the Nürburgring with Ferrari in 1956.

In practice the cars were not working well; they were consuming too much rubber. So we decided that during the race I would have to stop to change them. The mechanics knew before the race that there would be a problem, so they practised changing. They got a best time of 30 seconds, and at that time that was very good.

In the race itself, I already had a 30s advantage over second place when I came into the pits. I don't know what happened in the pits, but when I came out to start again I'd lost 30s plus another 48s!

The Ferraris were first and second. It was two Englishmen, Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins - they were two good drivers, so I never thought I could get an advantage over them. I was 51s behind them when I started again, and there were only 10 laps to go.

I always had in my head the possibility of winning a race, and this race was almost lost for me. So I had to risk - that's something I never did before in my life.

So, I started to switch from using fourth gear to fifth. I started to pull stronger using the longer gears. And I thought, maybe once is OK, I can take one turn like this - but it's crazy if I take two...

I made the right decision. If in one turn I was using second gear, then I went into third. When it was third, I used fourth gear. And the car went better into the turns. Then there is much more risk, this is much less safe, but you go faster.

And then in one of the downhills I saw the other two cars; they were one behind the other. There were only two laps to go. And that was the first moment that I really thought I could get them.

I've never been a spectacular racer, but I did things I had never done in my life, driving from one side of the circuit to the other, using the maximum revs. And that's how I caught them and won the race; I won by 3s. I made record laps in the last 10 laps.

But I had a problem; one of the screws in the back of my seat broke on the last lap. I got my leg hurt trying to get the seat straight. I couldn't grab hard on the steering wheel; I had to drive with it, it's not to grab yourself with!

For me, this was the most emotional race. I was named meister; if you win three times at the Nürburgring then you are something special. And this race helped to give me the fifth world championship. When I was waiting for my laurels, I was very emotional. In 1954 a driver I took there to race had died [Onofre Marimon], so this circuit had given me happiness and sadness.

It was my last grand prix win. I took the decision to retire the next year - I was getting old. People think I retired because Luigi Musso was killed at Reims. But I wasn't retiring because of that. I saw the accident - he was right in front of me when he crashed - but I didn't know he was killed.

But while I was driving in that race, I started to think, what am I doing? I came here [to Europe] to race for a year. I never thought I was going to win races, and I have 10 years racing and won five world championships. What am I looking for?'

[crmalcolm]

Despite the disappointment of losing the Drivers' World Championship at the final corner of the race in Brazil, Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo was pleased to reach the milestone of the marque's 16th Constructors' championship, and an eighth in ten years. Speaking following the dramatic race, di Montezemolo focused on the positives of 2008.
“Ferrari's winning its 16th Constructors' World title since its foundation is an important milestone not only because it is the fruit of the work put in by the team and the drivers throughout the entire Championship, but also because we will once again be able to put the World Champion symbol on our Grand Tourers,” began the Italian. “Winning for the eighth time in 10 years - a feat unequalled at world level in any other team sport - proves beyond a shadow of a doubt what an extraordinary group we are.”
Luca paid tribute to the Ferrari team for their efforts over the course of the season, and for securing the constructors' championship, despite numerous changes of the past few seasons. 2008 also marked Stefano Domenicali's first year as Team Principal. “We won thanks to a team that has undergone many profound changes over the last two years, changes that have brought on many young people from inside the Company. There were mistakes and difficult times but we responded to both by remaining united and refusing to give in. For that I thank GES Director Stefano Domenicali and his entire team of collaborators.”
On the drivers' side of things, di Montezemolo was quick to offer his thoughts to Massa, having seen the drivers' championship slide away seconds after crossing the finish line. The Italian also praised his maturity and sportsmanship. “We have two great drivers in Felipe and Kimi also, and they deserve all our compliments for a job well done. Felipe in particular is in my thoughts as he crossed the finish line yesterday as world champion only to see the title slip through his fingers a few seconds later. I can only imagine how painful that moment must have been for him. However, I would like to give him my very special compliments, not only for dominating the running out there on the track in front of his fans, proving he is worthy indeed of the world title, but also for his maturity and sportsmanship off the track. He's a great champion and a great man.”
In conclusion, Di Montezemolo also congratulated F1's newest and youngest world champion, believing that the title was well deserved, however slim the margin of victory. “Lastly, I would like to send my congratulations to Lewis Hamilton, the youngest ever world champion in the history of Formula 1. He was a very powerful rival indeed and his win, close though it was, was well deserved. He'll have the number 1 on his car next season, but he can rest assured of one thing: we'll be doing our very best to put it back on a Ferrari.”
“In all my years in Formula 1, I haven't seen such an incredibly exciting finish to a championship,” said Luca. “I always said that we'd be fighting until the last corner of the last Grand Prix and that's exactly what happened at the end of a brilliantly tense competition.”

[BTCC frog]

Thanks for running this competition, I have voted for Interlagos 2008 in this final round but either would be worthy winners. I wrote a ranking of my own personal ten favourite races here as a result of this bracket: https://f1frogblog.wordpress.com/202...x-of-all-time/

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by BTCC frog

Thanks for running this competition, I have voted for Interlagos 2008 in this final round but either would be worthy winners. I wrote a ranking of my own personal ten favourite races here as a result of this bracket: https://f1frogblog.wordpress.com/202...x-of-all-time/

Another good write up - thanks.

I have quoted part of your blog below, because I think it is relevant here, and serves as a reminder that this is 'just for fun'.


"the greatest race is entirely subjective, and there is no correct answer as to the best race. This will always just come down to personal preference. And recency bias will definitely play a role here"