The GSOH - Round Two - 1966 vs 2002

[crmalcolm]

The next match of the GSOH bracket puts 1966 up against 2002.

Summaries from Wikipedia:

1966 - The season was the first of the '3 litre formula', which saw maximum engine capacity doubled from the previous season. British constructors were forced to look elsewhere after Climax's withdrawal from racing. Ferrari appeared to be as well prepared as in 1961, but John Surtees, after winning the Belgian Grand Prix, left the team after a dispute at Le Mans to join Cooper. Under new regulations, cars completing less than 90% of the race distance were not classified and did not receive points, even if they finished in the top six. Also, the maximum race distance was reduced from 500 km to 400 km.

Jack Brabham took his third and final Drivers' Championship, this time in a car of his own manufacture with an Australian-engineered Repco V8 engine. In winning the championship in his own car, Australian Brabham became the first and (as of 2021) the only driver to ever win the World Championship in a car carrying his own name (the BT19 and BT20 models used were designed by Brabham's business partner Ron Tauranac). It is also the first time in the history of the World Championship dating back to 1950 that a non-European or British car had won the championship. Although both Jack Brabham and his teammate, New Zealander Denny Hulme both retired from the season opening Monaco Grand Prix (won by Jackie Stewart in his BRM), Brabham with their Oldsmobile-based Repco engine caught the rest of the teams on the hop with its speed and reliability. "Black Jack" finished fourth in Belgium, before winning his first race since the 1960 Portuguese Grand Prix by winning the French Grand Prix at Reims (the last time the Reims-Gueux circuit was used in Formula One). He then won the next three Grands Prix in Britain, Holland and Germany to make it four wins in succession and virtually secure his third championship win (only a drivers five best results counted towards the championship). With Hulme finishing fourth in the Drivers' Championship with 18 points with a second in Britain and thirds in France, Italy and Mexico, Brabham won the International Cup for F1 Manufacturers with 42 points, 11 in front of second-placed Ferrari.

Bruce McLaren (Bruce McLaren Motor Racing, later to become the successful McLaren team, the only team from 1966 other than Ferrari who are still in Formula One as of 2021) and Dan Gurney (Anglo American Racers) emulated Brabham by building their own cars, though with little initial success.

BRM and Lotus used 2 litre engines for much of the season, their 3 litre designs not being ready. BRM's new H16 engine was largely unsuccessful, although Jim Clark used one in his Lotus 43 to win at Watkins Glen. 1964 World Champion John Surtees was the only driver other than Jack Brabham who won more than one race in the season. He won the second round at Spa-Francorchamps for Ferrari, before later winning the final round in Mexico City driving a Cooper-Maserati V12. Ferrari's Italian driver Ludovico Scarfiotti gave the Tifosi something to cheer about when he drove his Ferrari 312 to victory in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. Ferrari had a double celebration at Monza as Scarfiotti's teammate Mike Parkes finished 5.8 seconds behind in second place, just holding out third placed Denny Hulme by 0.3 seconds.

In an era of Grand Prix racing where driver safety was only just starting to be a concern, Briton John Taylor died of his injuries after a crash with Jacky Ickx during the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring.

During the Belgian Grand Prix at the 14.120 km (8.770 mi), wet Spa-Francorchamps circuit, future triple World Champion Jackie Stewart crashed his BRM at the high speed Masta Kink. Stewart lay trapped under his car in a pool of leaking fuel for 25 minutes as both Graham Hill and Bob Bondurant (who had both gone off the circuit nearby) borrowed a spectator's toolkit to free the Scotsman. Following his crash Stewart became a strong advocate of improving driver safety in not only Grand Prix but motor racing in general with things like vastly improved on-track medical facilities, of which there were virtually none at Spa at the time of his crash.

Jack Brabham's third Drivers' Championship (following wins in 1959 and 1960) saw him move into a clear second place behind legendary five-time champion Juan Manuel Fangio on the list of Drivers' Champions. The next three-time winner would be Jackie Stewart, who won championships in 1969, 1971 and 1973.


2002 - In the Drivers' Championship, Michael Schumacher finished first or second in every race except for the Malaysian Grand Prix, where he finished third, thus achieving a podium position in every race. He won a then-record 11 Grands Prix, surpassing the previous record of 9 wins, jointly held by himself (1995, 2000 and 2001) and Nigel Mansell (1992). He would also set the record for shortest time in which the World Drivers' Championship had been clinched, securing the title with a win at the French Grand Prix, with 6 races to go in the season. Schumacher took the Drivers' Championship by a then-record 67-point margin over teammate Rubens Barrichello, beating his own previous record for the 2001 season (58 points over David Coulthard) and also gained a new point total record with 144 points, again beating his own previous record of 123 points from the 2001 season. Schumacher and Barrichello helped Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro secure the Constructors' Championship with a points total that equalled the combined sum of points attained by all other constructors collectively. For the 2003 championship, the FIA would change the points system.

[S griffin]

1966 had a great four way fight for the title, which was marred by tragedy at the final round at Monza. Sorry, I was thinking of something completely different then!

1966 may have been a walkover for Brabham and er.. Brabham, but at least they didn't make a farce of it like Schumi and Ferrari did in 2002.