The most boring race ever?

[DNQ]

I absolutaly love F1, but sometimes, us F1 fans have to put up with really boring races. You know, the ones where no one overtakes and nothing happens. So What is the most boring race you have ever seen? I reckon to deserving candidates are Spain 1999 and Hungary 2000. In fact, most races ar Hungary and Spain are boring...

[R]

I agree, Spain seems to be boring every year. This year, both the F1 and the F3000 race were boring there.

Most boring race ever? Hard to say, but I remember an extremely dull race from Barcelona, fairly recent, can't remember the year, but since you've mentioned Spain 99, I suppose that's it. So I'll nominate that one.

[Wrex]

I'm not sure spain this year was boring, It was the first time I was woken up during the last lap

[Raoul Duke]

I'd have to go with Hungery 2000. Mind you I've only been following F1 for 4 years.

[Liz]

Virtually the entire 1999 season. Especially Barcelona.

If you were not a McLaren fan, I guess you'd go with the year they won all but one race. I can't remember that year. It was boring.

[Peter Mallett]

1988

[mtpanorama]

The last 4 years

[mac]

Yeah, there are a few circuits around that breed boredom. Hungary and Spain are probably the worst. Others you could include would be Suzuka, perhaps Indy (there's only been one race there, so we'll let it go at the moment), and dare I say it, Silverstone (unless it rains) and Albert Park.

[TimD]

I'll add to the general consensus about Spain 1999. Definitely soporific.

I don't remember anything to celebrate the short-lived Aida circuit for either. So after the first-corner kerfuffle, I'd nominate Pacific GP 1994 as well.

And then of course there's the notorious 1926 French Grand Prix....

[Ralf's Girl]

I'd have to say the 2000 Hungarian GP - although most races at Hungary are extremely dull. Funnily enough though, the only F1 race I've ever fallen asleep watching was the 1998 San Marino Grand Prix. Maybe I was just tired though.

[garyegrant]

If anyone is old enough.....the most boring race ever has to be - the Dutch Grand Prix in 1961.

No pit stops, no retirements, no overtaking after the start - just 17 cars circulating for lap after lap. And people say old motorsport was better.

[TimD]

Hmm - no overtaking after the start, Gary? Whose writeup have you been reading?

If I might crave your indulgence for a moment, I do have a creased and battered magazine with one of Denis Jenkinson's race reports in it. I apologise for taking this so far off topic, but I would hate to imagine that the '61 Dutch GP should go down in history as being boring.

These from Motor Sport magazine, July 1961...

"As the flag fell... Ginther nearly stalled and in the excitement he arrived at the first corner surrounded by green and silver cars... von Trips and Phil Hill had gone along side by side and squeezed out Moss who was trying to get his Lotus between them.

"...Ginther was having trouble with an engine that was not giving its best, but he managed to scrape past Moss in the Lotus but could not get rid of him...

"...Herrmann and de Beaufort were running in close company, vieing for last place."

"...Ginther's Ferrari, down on power, allowed Moss to get past again, and Brabham caught and passed the red car..."

"On lap 21 Clark was 4.5 seconds behind the leading Ferrari, with Phil Hill's car between them, but on lap 22 the young Scot stirred things up, getting past the American and only 3 seconds covered all three... For a number of laps, Hill and Clark were side by side as they came down the straight, and as they braked for the hairpin, the Lotus would dive by on the inside and lead round the back swerves."

"Meanwhile, Moss got by Graham Hill, and Ginther's engine improved and he shot past Brabham, only to have his seat break so that he flopped around in the cockpit on the corners. After adjusting himself to this new trouble, he caught Hill again and rapidly caught Moss."

"Clark was not giving up the struggle with the faster Ferrari and every time Hill relaxed he would nip by, so that this passing and repassing went on continually..."

"Four laps before the finish, Ginther's task was not made any easier when his throttle broke, so that he had to lift the pedal with his foot each time he braked. As he and Moss approached the hairpin he got into a tail slide and this was what Moss was waiting for... as they approached the finish line, Ginther used the slipstream of the Lotus to gain speed and flashed past. But he misjudged it by a few inches and Moss won 4th place by an official tenth of a second - but it was actually closer than that."

Sorry, Gary, but there was plenty to keep the olds occupied at Zandvoort that afternoon. I just wish I were old enough to have been there. The bald stats show a flag-to-flag victory for Wolfgang von Trips, but the people who were there that day would have seen a complex battle throughout the race, with von Trips' Ferrari team mates desperately trying to keep the quicker Lotuses away from their leader. (Does that sound at all familiar?)

[Faster]

The most boring F1 race ever was Hungary 2000, though Hungary 99 was pretty close...

Now, the most boring race ever was the F3000 spanish GP 2001. At the end I thought that also the drivers would fell asleep as is happened to the whole audience...

[garyegrant]

TimD, maybe I should have read a race report before posting.

I just thought that I recalled hearing that not only were there (infamously) no retirements, there had been no overtaking in the race....obviously not true!

Besides, any race where the sharknoses were competing could hardly be 'boring' I suppose.

BTW, 1926 Franch Grand Prix???

[Bononi]

I follow you Gary.

What happened in the 1926 French Grand Prix ???????????????

[TimD]

Okay, here goes.

The 1926 French GP got off to a bad start when the entry list closed with only six confirmed runners - three Sima-Violets and three Talbots. The organisers then allowed late entries from Delage and Bugatti.

Twelve entrants in total.

On the day itself, the spectators arrived at the Miramas autodrome near Marseilles. It was a vast place, easily wider than most modern GP tracks. And they discovered that all the cars except the three Bugattis had not arrived.

So three Bugattis lined up for the start of the 100 lap race. Jules Goux, Pierre de Vizcaya and Meo Costantini were the three pilots of the cars. In talent, Goux was head and shoulders over the others, but it was Vizcaya who led the field from the start, thanks to a special high-benzene fuel he and Costantini were using. Nevertheless, Goux took Vizcaya's car on lap 5.

This was the only pass for position in the entire race.

On lap 45, Vizcaya ground to a halt. The rocket-fuel mixture had burned out his pistons and the engine was wrecked. Mindful of this, Costantini started to cruise. He too had the special fuel, and he wanted to finish the race.

He wasn't even classified. By the time the flag fell, Goux had lapped Costantini 15 times.

100 laps - 314 miles. That race took more than 4 and a half hours to complete.

Surely the daddy of all boring motor races. There has never been one as bad as that.