Grand Prix: The Epic Races Trivia Quiz

Answer: Mercedes

The 1914 French Grand Prix was an epic battle between the French Peugeots and German Mercedes. 300,000 people watched a lone Frenchman, Georges Boillot who had twice won the French Grand Prix, take on five German Mercedes almost single-handedly. But it was a futile effort.

The Mercedes team had an almost fool-proof plan of forcing all other cars to destruction. Boillot battled valiantly against the Mercedes cars of Christian Lautenschlager, Louis Wagner and others, but with continuous tyres stops and a failing car it was in vain. Lautenschlager would lead home a Mercedes 1-2-3 on French soil as Boillot retired on the penultimate lap, slumped in his seat in tears.

Answer: Jimmy Murphy

Murphy's victory at the 1921 French Grand Prix was rather remarkable. Only a week before the race, he suffered a serious accident that ended with him in a hospital bed. Signing himself out of hospital and covered in bandages, Murphy took to the start line.

His game-plan was simple, flat out for 30 laps with one stop for tyres and fuel. And it worked to perfection, as the French Ballots could not keep pace with the Duesenberg. Murphy won the first race for an American car and driver combination in a Grand Prix.

Answer: Qualifying decided by practice times instead of ballot

For the first time, qualifying dictated starting positions, with Achille Varzi beating local hero Louis Chiron to pole and current European Champion Tazio Nuvolari fourth. The race would be an epic battle between Nuvolari and Varzi. The Bugatti of Varzi and the Alfa Romeo of Nuvolari were almost equal around the tight street circuit. Nuvolari led the majority of the race with Varzi never more than a few lengths back. Both drivers were at 100% and eventually the strain on man and car showed. On the last lap, the Alfa of Nuvolari spluttered to a halt and Varzi passed his fellow Italian to win. Nuvolari would try and push his car to the line to no avail and was later disqualified.

Answer: Manfred von Brauchitsch

The 1935 German Grand Prix, almost 80 years later, is still considered one of the greatest exhibitions of driving skill in motor racing. Nuvolari, 42 years old in 1935, was in a car quoted to be 100 bhp down on his rivals. And he would eventually have to pass numerous cars twice. From the start until lap 10, he would drop down the field at the start but would make his way past clearly faster cars to lead by lap 10.

A disastrous pitstop on lap 11 seemed to have cost him victory. But Nuvolari steamed through the field again and his constant pressure forced the leading car of von Brauchitsch to retire on the final lap. Nuvolari crossed the line to take an epic win.

Answer: Mike Hawthorn

Mike Hawthorn, having impressed Enzo Ferrari with his performances in a Cooper in 1952, was hired by Ferrari for the 1953 season. At the French Grand Prix held at Reims, Hawthorn came to the fore. In a race long battle with Juan Manuel Fangio in a Maserati, the two were never split by more than a second. For lap after lap, the two swapped positions, sometimes even racing side by side. For someone with little experience, Hawthorn showed a mature head by beating Fangio, slipstreaming Fangio perfectly on the run to the line. Newspapers of the day proclaimed the 1953 French Grand Prix, the 'Race of the Century'.

Answer: Maserati 250F

The Maserati 250F is considered one of the most elegant Grand Prix machines of the front-engined era. A mainstay of the Championship since 1954, Fangio won four races with Maserati in 1957. The result was remarkable, as Fangio came from 48 seconds after a botched pitstop to take the lead two laps from home. Fangio had broken the lap time 9 times in 11 laps in his efforts. Fangio would later say, 'I have never driven that quickly before in my life and I don't think I will ever be able to do it again.'

Answer: Rob Walker

Stirling Moss' victory at Monaco in an old Lotus 18 was remarkable considering the power difference between his Coventry-Climax and the new Ferrari 156. Moss was driving for Rob Walker with the factory teams either having a full driver roster or simply being uncompetitive.

He took pole position and on race day removed the side panels on his car to aid cooling, though it did leave him awfully exposed. Despite the power difference, Moss drove superbly and would withstand constant pressure from Ferrari drivers Richie Ginther and Phil Hill to take a superb victory.

Answer: Matra-Ford

While the 1968 German Grand Prix lacked the on-track excitement of previous offerings, the performance of Jackie Stewart alone deserves recognition as one of the greatest wet-weather drives of all times. Stewart was actually hampered by a broken wrist at the time. But in pouring rain, mist and fog, Stewart would eventually win by 4 minutes from Graham Hill.

Answer: Peter Gethin

The 1971 Italian Grand Prix was a slipstreaming classic. It was the last event to be held on the old circuit as chicanes were introduced at two points on the track in 1972 to slow the cars down. For a long time, it looked like Chris Amon would finally end his unlucky streak and win his first Grand Prix.

But after he suffered another problem, this time with a visor, Peter Gethin was left to beat Ronnie Peterson and Francois Cevert to the line to take his one and only Grand Prix win. The 1971 Italian Grand Prix was once the fastest Grand Prix of all time, at an average speed of 150.75mph.

It would take until 2003 for that record to be beaten.

Answer: Jarama

Villeneuve's sixth and final Grand Prix win was a tactical triumph as he hauled his Ferrari to victory at a circuit which he had no right winning. He had already triumphed at the Monaco Grand Prix but nobody would have bet he would repeat the result. Villeneuve would eventually lead from lap 14 to the end of the race as he held off four clearly faster cars.

But the Jarama circuit was difficult to pass on and with more power on the straight, the cars behind Villeneuve could never get by. He would eventually win by only 0.22 from Jacques Laffite. Only 1.24 seconds covered the first five cars. Jarama would not host a World Championship race again.

Answer: Alain Prost

Alain Prost looked like he would win the Monaco Grand Prix until rain started to fall on lap 73 and he would crash along the harbour front. Riccardo Patrese then took the lead, but spun on lap 74. Didier Pironi then took the lead on lap 75 but then ran out of fuel in the tunnel. Andrea de Cesaris should then have led but he also ran out of fuel. Derek Daly should have led, but he retired with gearbox problems. James Hunt was quoted on BBC commentary 'Well we've got this ridiculous situation where we're all sitting by the start-finish line waiting for a winner to come past and we don't seem to be getting one!' Thankfully Patrese managed to bump start his Brabham down a hill and he trundled around to take his first Grand Prix win.

Answer: 22nd

John Watson had made a habit in 1982 of coming forward from poor qualifying positions to take victories and good results. But what he achieved at the 1983 Long Beach Grand Prix verged on the ridiculous, as he came from 22nd on the grid to take the victory.

It must be noted that a lot of the credit was given to the Michelin rubber being used by McLaren. The two drivers had struggled for set-up during qualifying but the hot weather on Sunday suited the tyres and driving styles of the two drivers, but it was still a remarkable driver nonetheless.

Answer: Jacky Ickx

The 1984 Monaco Grand Prix was a race of 'what ifs'. What if Nigel Mansell hadn't hit that white line and hit the barriers? What if Jacky Ickx hadn't thrown out the red flag on lap 32 after Alain Prost drove by twice almost pleading for the race to stop? Would Ayrton Senna have won the race for Toleman? Or would Stefan Bellof have caught both to take his first win for Tyrrell? It was fascinating to watch and the stoppage would actually cost Prost the 1984 World Championship as he was only awarded half points for the win.

Answer: Nelson Piquet

Nigel Mansell's epic drive at Silverstone was almost equivalent to those of Nuvolari and Fangio earlier in this quiz. Being 29 seconds down with 28 laps to go, Mansell would break the lap record 11 times in his efforts to catch his team-mate Nelson Piquet. Unbelievably with only two laps left, Mansell had caught his team-mate. On the Hangar Straight, Mansell sold Piquet the perfect dummy, feinting one way and then the other to get past to the roar of the partisan crowd.

Despite his fuel gauge reading empty, Mansell crossed the line to take the win and he was mobbed by the crowd as his car ground to a halt on the slow down lap.

Answer: 12th

Mansell had struggled terribly in qualifying so focused on race set-up and therefore qualified only 12th. A great start catapulted him up to 8th and slowly but surely he worked his way through the field. By lap 58, he was up behind the leader Ayrton Senna.

In a fantastic opportunistic move, he boxed the Brazilian in behind a slower car and passed the McLaren and would go on to take an unexpected but fantastic victory. His performances in 1989 would lead the Italian tifosi to give him the name, 'Il Leone'.

Answer: Donington Park

The opening lap by Ayrton Senna is regarded as one of the greatest in Formula One history as he passed four cars to go from fifth to first in extremely tricky conditions. His tactics were almost perfect, and with four stops for tyres, he would win by over a minute from Damon Hill. Alain Prost, in a far superior car, would stop seven times and was embarrassingly lapped by the Brazilian driver.

Answer: Jarno Trulli

Four drivers arrived at the Nurburgring with a chance of winning the World Championship. But it was Johnny Herbert driving a Stewart who would take victory. He read the wet and dry conditions perfectly to make his way through the field to take his third and final Formula One win. Jarno Trulli would finish second for Prost Grand Prix with Rubens Barrichello in another Stewart third.

The race is remembered for the number of heartbreaking incidents. Giancarlo Fisichella and Ralf Schumacher lost possible first Grand Prix wins while Luca Badoer broke down in tears beside his Minardi when his car stopped while he was in fourth having never previously scored a point.

Answer: 18th

Rubens Barrichello came all the way from 18th on the grid to take his first Grand Prix win in over 100 attempts after making his debut back in 1993. With a perfect set-up, the right call on strategy and a lunatic invading the track, Barrichello worked his way through the field and a final tactical call near the end of the race when rain started to fall ensured he would finally win his first Grand Prix.

It was one of the most popular wins in Formula One in years and one of the most emotional podiums ever seen as Barrichello broke down in tears as the anthems played.

Answer: Michael Schumacher's first retirement since 2002 German Grand Prix

The 700th World Championship event since 1950, the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix was likely the first decided in the court room. Heavy showers caused havoc and resulted in the wrong driver being awarded the victory. Eventually Giancarlo Fisichella would be awarded his first win and the last for Jordan Grand Prix.

The race was stopped after Mark Webber crashed heavily and Fernando Alonso hit the wreckage, causing the track to be blocked. This led to organisers incorrectly awarding Kimi Raikkonen the win.

Answer: Timo Glock

Felipe Massa, for a few fleeting seconds, was the 2008 World Champion. He had done all that was required at the Brazilian Grand Prix. He had taken pole and won the race. Lewis Hamilton appeared to be cruising but a mistake only two laps from the chequered flag almost cost him the World Championship.

But at the final turn, of the final lap, of the final race of the season, Hamilton passed the Toyota of Timo Glock to take the fifth place he needed to win the World Championship.