(Motorsport-Total.com) – Shortly before the start of the Formula 1 premiere at the new Madring, the TV world feed showed a graphic of previous Grand Prix winners in Madrid: Jacques Laffite, Mario Andretti, and James Hunt. The problem: This graphic was incorrect – and did not show the true race winners for the years 1979 and 1981.
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Because it was not Laffite who won the Spanish Grand Prix in Jarama near Madrid in the mentioned years, but Patrick Depailler (1979) and Gilles Villeneuve (1981). Villeneuve’s victory in particular remained memorable: It was his sixth and last win in Formula 1, and a particularly close one – the top 5 were separated by just 1.24 seconds at the finish! (Look up the Grand Prix in the Formula 1 database!)
However, Villeneuve and Depailler were probably not deliberately omitted here. It was likely just a copy error: Although the graphic was titled “previous winners,” it actually showed the “previous pole sitters” in Madrid. Because those were Laffite (1979 and 1981), Andretti (1977 and 1978), and Hunt (1976).
Fans immediately notice the Formula 1 mistake
The fans did not miss the incorrect information: “Come on, Formula 1, you can do better than that,” wrote one viewer on X. Another commented: “Hard to believe.”
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In fact, Formula 1 itself is responsible for the error: The graphics in the TV world feed are produced directly by the Formula 1 Management (FOM). The respective team mainly works at the series’ production center in Biggin Hill, England. From there, the graphics are fed into the live images of Formula 1.
Famous Formula 1 fails
Incorrect labels sometimes occur in Formula 1: Just this spring, Kimi Antonelli was announced as “Kimi Räikkönen” during the podium ceremony after his first Grand Prix win in China. Also in China, after Red Bull’s first Grand Prix win in 2009 by Sebastian Vettel, the British anthem was mistakenly played instead of the Austrian one.
The biggest Formula 1 fails of all time
Incidents like these are part of a long list of famous “Formula 1 fails”: Football legend Pele, for example, was supposed to wave the winner in Brazil with the checkered flag in 2002, but missed Michael Schumacher and only caught some of the following drivers. Schumacher’s win was still official. (See the photo gallery with more Formula 1 fails!)
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