That Was The Week That Was: Anniversaries and Milestones From Motorsport's Past

August 22

1954: The fifth and final Swiss Grand Prix at the Bremgarten circuit was won by the Mercedes of Juan Manuel Fangio. He beat the Ferrari of Jose Froilan Gonzalez by almost a minute.

August 23

1964: Lorenzo Bandini’s only World Championship F1 win came in the only Austrian GP to be held on the Zeltweg airfield circuit. Bandini’s Ferrari headed the BRM of Richie Ginther. Polesitter Graham Hill’s BRM lasted five laps before electrical failure ended his race.

1987: Former Grand Prix winner Didier Pironi was killed in a powerboat crash during the Needles Trophy race off the Isle of Wight. The Frenchman, who won three F1 races – one for Ligier and two for Ferrari – and the 1978 Le Mans 24 Hours for Renault, died along with journalist and rally co-driver Bernard Giroux and Jean-Claude Guenard.

August 24

1986: Sauber took its first World Sportscar Championship race win when Henri Pescarolo and Mike Thackwell took their Kouros-sponsored, 5-litre V8 C8 to victory in the Nürburgring 1,000km on the new circuit. The Porsche 956 GTI of Mauro Baldi and Klaus Niedzwiedz was second.

1997: Italian racing veteran Luigi Villoresi died at the age of 88. A pre-war Maserati racer, he also finished 7^th in the 1946 Indianapolis 500 before appearing for Ferrari in the new FIA Formula 1 World Championship in 1950. He tackled 31 GPs, for Ferrari, Lancia and Maserati, with a best result of second in Argentina and Belgium in 1953.

2003: Fernando Alonso became the first and, to date, only Spanish driver to win in F1 when he took victory for Renault in the Hungarian GP. At 22, he became the youngest winner of a race, taking the record from Bruce McLaren that had stood since 1959.

2015: British IndyCar star Justin Wilson died from injuries sustained after he was struck on the head by debris from another car during the penultimate race of the season at Pocono in Pennsylvania. The 37-year-old had raced for Minardi and Jaguar in F1 in 2003, with a best finish of eighth in the US GP at Indianapolis, and gone on to be a multiple race winner in ChampCar and IndyCar.

August 25

1985: The last GP at Zandvoort in Holland was won by the McLaren-TAG of reigning World Champion Niki Lauda. The Austrian edged team-mate Alain Prost by 0.2 seconds to record his 25^th and final career win in F1.

1985: Victory in his home rally, Finland’s 1,000 Lakes, meant works Peugeot driver Timo Salonen became the first driver in the 12 years of WRC to win four events in a row. Salonen’s Group B 205 T16 had won in Greece, New Zealand and Argentina ahead of round nine in Finland. It would be 20 years before French superstar Sébastien Loeb matched Salonen’s feat.

1991: The Belgian GP at Spa featured a new name on the entry list: Michael Schumacher. The German had replaced Betrand Gachot at Jordan and qualified the 191 a stunning seventh on the grid. An aggressive start had wrecked the car’s clutch, meaning Schuey didn’t complete the opening lap. Thanks to the Schumacher furore, not many remember that team-mate Andrea de Cesaris was running second behind eventual winner Ayrton Senna until engine failure a few laps from home.

2002: Sébastien Loeb took the first of his record 78 WRC wins with victory for Citroën in Germany. Loeb and co-driver Daniel Elena won the inaugural all-asphalt WRC qualifier by 14 seconds from the Peugeot 206 WRC of Richard Burns/Robert Reid. Loeb was unbeaten in Germany for the following seven years!

August 26

1990: Ayrton Senna’s fourth Belgian GP win at Spa-Francorchamps was his 25^th career victory. The Brazilian led all 44 laps in his McLaren-Honda MP4-5B and beat the Ferrari of former team-mate Alain Prost by 3.5s. Third went to the second McLaren of Gerhard Berger.

1990: For the first time in WRC history, Finland’s 1000 Lakes Rally was won by a driver from outside Scandinavia. Spaniard Carlos Sainz took his Toyota Celica GT-4 to a 19-second win over local hero and 1981 winner Ari Vatanen.

August 27

1954: British F1 driver, World Sportscar Champion and Le Mans winner Derek Warwick was born. Warwick raced in 162 GPs for Toleman, Renault, Brabham, Arrows, Lotus and Footwork between 1981 and 1993, taking two second places for Renault in 1984. He won Le Mans for Peugeot in 1992 and secured the final World Sportscar title the same year.

1959: Gerhard Berger was born. The Austrian won 10 GPs for Benetton, Ferrari and McLaren during his 14-year career and twice finished third in the championship.

1967: The inaugural Canadian GP was held at Ontario circuit Mosport Park. The race resulted in a dominant one-two for the Brabham-Repcos of World Champion Jack Brabham and team-mate Denny Hulme, the pair a lap ahead of Dan Gurney’s third-placed Eagle.

1976: Happy 40^th birthday to former Grand Prix winner and reigning World Endurance Champion Mark Webber. The Australian won nine GPs for Red Bull and landed the WEC title for Porsche last season.

August 28

1977: Former Ferrari racer and engineer Mike Parkes was killed in a road accident in Italy, aged 45. Parkes raced in six GPs for the Scuderia, finishing second on his debut in France in 1966 and again at Monza that year, having started from his only pole position. He also won five World Sportscar Championship events, including the 1964 Sebring 12 Hours, for Ferrari.

1994: Rubens Barrichello and Jordan secured their maiden pole positions at Spa-Francorchamps for the Belgian GP. At 22, Brazilian Barrichello was the youngest polesitter in F1 history – a marker only passed by Fernando Alonso in 2003 and bettered further by Sebastian Vettel in 2008.

2008: America’s first F1 World Champion, Phil Hill, died at the age of 81. Hill raced 48 times at the top level, for Maserati, Ferrari, ATS, Lotus and Cooper, winning three races and the 1961 Drivers’ World Championship. He also excelled in sportscar racing, winning 14 World Sportscar Championship events, including three Le Mans 24 Hours and three Sebring 12 Hours.