Video: F1’s five biggest fails

23rd June 2021

Laura Thomson

As you’ll well know, 2020 was a sporting write off on most accounts. Championships were cancelled, the Olympics were postponed and Formula 1 was a fragmented affair.

In what was the 70^th anniversary of the first Formula 1 World Drivers' Championship, just nine events from the original 22-race calendar went ahead, with eight extras squeezed in at the last minute. Teams were whittled down to the bare minimum, spectators were banned and the result was unlike any championship F1 had ever seen before. But perhaps the standout disaster of the season was the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, which – much like the Dakar of 2008 – was very much going ahead until it wasn’t.

Despite the Covid-19 pandemic picking up at an alarming pace in Europe, organisers of the Melbourne event were undeterred, and teams arrived and began to set up. Fast forward to the Thursday morning, just hours before free practice, and Formula 1 pulled the plug on the whole weekend. Doh.

While we wish we could tell you that was the biggest F1 eff-up in recent years, alas, we can’t. So instead, we thought we’d compile our top five, from the washout that was the 2009 Malaysian Grand Prix to the tyre troubles of the 2005 US Grand Prix.

Take ten minutes this morning to tune in, and watch our favourite F1 fails, or read our full list of F1 fails here.