Nine biggest motorsport heartbreaks

Le Mans 2016 – Toyota

We’ll start with the very biggest. Can there have ever been a more mind-boggling heartbreak than the end of Toyota’s challenge for victory at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2016? Toyota had history at Le Mans, with victory snatched from its grasp in the ‘90s not once, but twice. Then on its return it had looked set for a win in 2014 when a piece of FIA-mandated monitoring equipment failed, melting through a wiring loom. Toyota saw the problem and radioed Kazuki Nakajima to come in for a quick fix, but the Japanese couldn’t hear them as the problem took out his radio and he ground to a halt.

Two years later it seemed the curse was finally over, 23 hours and 55 minutes into the race Nakajima (again) was cruising onto his penultimate lap of the race, with a clear lead over the chasing Porsche 919s. He began to slow, with the immediate assumption being that he was waiting for the second Toyota for a classic Le Mans photo finish. But then he slowed more, and the sister car passed him and sped away. And then he crossed the line to start the final lap and ground to a halt, there and then, in front of his pits. All at the circuit, drained after a 24 hour race, struggled to comprehend what was going on. Toyota execs looked on dumbfounded, Porsche jumped to celebration as they realised what had happened. A connection between intercooler and turbo had failed and the Toyota TS050 was dead stick. Nakajima climbed out into the arms of his devastated team. The final hammer blow was that, due to the rules at Le Mans, the car needed to finish a final lap and cross the line to finish, so it wasn’t even classified.

Rally Monza 2020 – Elfyn Evans

No Welshman has ever won the World Rally Championship. Even though Wales is the spiritual home of rallying in the UK, Britain has only had two champions, one Scottish (Colin McRae) one English (Richard Burns). But then Elfyn Evans, who had never really been considered a championship contender, joined Toyota.

Evans won two rallies in 2020 and was leading the championship by 18 points as the final round started in Monza, Italy. He was still leading at the start of stage 11, and had just set the fastest time on the previously completed test. It was looking positive, the Welshman seemingly managing to find the same feel as his team-mate, Sébastien Ogier. He was up on the others as he crossed the timing beam in stage 11, it looked like all was going well, and then TV footage went on board... Conditions on the stage were deteriorating fast, snow was falling heavily and there was ice forming further up the stage. Eflyn turned into a sharp right hander and discovered that ice, the car pitched sideways and suddenly it was all over. Evans had no real way of saving his championship, with a sudden snap the car was out of control and slid off the side of the road down a bank, it was stuck with no way of getting it out. Evans’s championship was done. Ogier would go on to clinch enough points to take a seventh title, with a re-starting Evans only offered a slim hope of Ogier crashing out and him winning the powerstage as a way to complete the victory. Ogier would later acknowledge that it was only down to Evans that he did finish the rally. The man from Dolgellau hurried up the road after scrambling from his stricken Yaris, to signal the other competitors to slow down due to the ice. Ogier heeded the warning, and while he too slid on the ice, he had slowed enough to keep control.

Le Mans 1952 – Pierre Levegh

The Le Mans 24 Hours needs three drivers to win, right? There are maximum driving times that mean that two is the very minimum for it to even be possible to complete the whole event. But what about doing the whole thing yourself? That is what Frenchman Pierre Levegh tried to do in 1952, and he came within an hour of winning the whole thing!

Levegh had suffered in previous events from team-mate-caused failures, and decided at the start of the race that he was going to do it Ironman-style. When he was four-laps clear of the field as night fell he felt a vibration in his Talbot’s engine, which cemented his decision not to hand over the car to fellow driver Rene Marchand. As the night passed fog arrived, and cars began to fall from the race, the chasing Mercedes W194s were force to open their gullwing doors just to see through the gloom better. But Levegh continued on like a metronome, seeming more and more manic at each pitstop due to the exhaustion, but somehow keeping the Talbot in a commanding lead. Indeed Levegh was several laps clear come the final hour of the race, with the French crowds ecstatic at the idea of seeing a home win. But then Levegh failed to appear across the line. The Mercedes swept past, but there was no sign of the Talbot. In fact Levegh was stranded at Maison Blanche. He missed a shift on one of the tens of thousands of gearchanges he had carried out alone, catastrophically over-revving the engine, and the Talbot was dead. It’s not known if there was an underlying mechanical issue or if it was sheer exhaustion, but a devastated Levegh was out. So far was he ahead that it took 20 minutes before the Mercedes actually overtook the stricken Talbot to take the lead.

Australian Grand Prix 1986 – Nigel Mansell

Four drivers could have won the 1986 Formula 1 championship. You can see a video on that ‘gang of four’ here, but half way through the closing Australian Grand Prix it seemed like it would be Nigel Mansell who would clinch his first title. Sixty three laps into an 82 lap race Mansell was running in a comfortable third in his Williams FW11, rivals Alain Prost and Nelson Piquet were ahead, but Mansell only needed third due to his championship lead. Then it happened, at 180mph on the back straight in Adelaide Mansell’s left rear tyre exploded. And we don’t just mean deflated, it full on blew itself to smithereens. The shock of the moment was perfectly purveyed by Murray Walker exclaiming “AND LOOK AT THAT” as Mansell wrestled what was left of his Williams away from greater disaster. Keeping the FW11 under control, just, he came to a halt in an access road. Trying to get going Mansell might have returned to the pits for a new tyre, but the car had other ideas, the rubber wrapped around its rear axle causing untold damage to the suspension and he was going nowhere. Mansell was out and his championship chances went with it. Williams called in the sister car of Piquet to make sure his tyres would make it to the end, and in doing so handed the title to Prost, who was able to take victory under only sight pressure from a furious Piquet. Piquet would win the title the following year – his last at Williams – but it would not be for another six years before Mansell finally won, in which time he retired from the sport once.

Rally GB 1998 – Carlos Sainz and Luis Moya

The 1998 Rally GB was to be a straight fight between Colin McRae and Richard Burns. The two British idols going head-to-head for victory to show who would carry the hopes of an excited nation for the next few years. But neither Brit was in the title hunt. That was a simple battle between reigning champion Tomi Makkinen and double champion Carlos Sainz Sr. It should have been simple for Makkinen, as he led Sainz and just needed to stay there, but on one of the old RAC rally’s tricky spectator stages he hit a concrete block and ripped the rear wheel from his Mitsubishi Charisma. He tried to carry on to the next service, but, with sparks flying from his now three-wheeled car, he was pulled over by the local police for safety reasons. The title swung to Sainz. Finish fourth or better and he was champion.

On the final stage Sainz was easily running in fourth, ready to clinch the title by a single point. Then, with a few hundred metres to go, disaster struck. The engine on his Toyota Corolla gave out, leaving Sainz and co-driver Carlos Moya stranded. Try as they might they could not coax the Corolla into action and it was all over. The iconic scene that unfolded saw a devastated Moya hurl his helmet through the rear window of the Toyota in anger. So late came the change that Makkinen was not at the rally when he became champion, receiving a phone call mid TV interview that told him he was a triple champ.

Brazillian Grand Prix 2008 – Felipe Massa

For about 30 seconds Felipe Massa was the 2008 World Drivers’ Champion-elect. A nail bighting season had come to a close at Interlagos as a straight fight between Lewis Hamilton at McLaren and Felipe Massa at Ferrari. It was a straightforward race, with Massa leading his home Grand Prix and Hamilton sitting in a position that would win him a championship. Then it rained. The leaders took the safe option and pitted, but some behind stayed out, gambling on making up enough time to be ahead. No problem for Hamilton, he emerged from the pits still in a position to win the championship – just. Then he was passed by Sebastian Vettel’s Toro Rosso and the title swung to Massa. Try as he might Hamilton could not get back close to Vettel as the laps ebbed away. Massa crossed the line to take victory and the championship, cue wild celebrations in the Ferrari garage and a finger in the air from Massa.

But then it happened. Possibly the most iconic moment of Martin Brundle’s commentary career soundtracked a dramatic moment. As Hamiton and Vettel rounded the penultimate corner they came upon a slow Toyota. “IS THAT GLOCK?” shouted Brundle, cutting across James Allen, who had not spotted the German, who was struggling on slick tyres. It was Glock, and as Hamilton swept past the future DTM star he took the championship lead back. Celebrations switched from Ferrari to McLaren and Massa stood, tearful on the top step of the podium as Hamilton and co. celebrated below. It is to Massa’s eternal credit how well he composed himself in the face of unimaginable emotions.

Hungarian Grand Prix 1997 – Damon Hill

Not all heartbreaks are universal and not all heartbreaks have to be for world titles. Sometimes they befall someone who was just at the moment of proving their critics wrong. Such as the end that befell Damon Hill’s hopes of victory at the 1997 Hungarian Grand Prix. Hill was the World Champion, but had been dumped by Williams at the end of his title season. Performances in a lacklustre 1995 season had led Williams to decide to pick Heinz-Harald Frentzen for 1997, even though Hill was seemingly on his way to victory. With nowhere to go Hill ended up pitching up at Arrows, a back-of-the-field team with some big ambitions. But money that was promised never appeared at Arrows, as seemed to be the case with Tom Walkinshaw’s ventures so often, and the team was stuck right at the very tail of the field. In fact Hill never even managed to start the first race of the season, his car giving up on the formation lap. But through the year he began to drag the slow Arrows forward, clinching a first point at his home round at Silverstone – which his home crowd celebrated like a victory.

Then came the Hungarian Grand Prix. Suddenly the Bridgestone rubber that the Arrows team used was the tyre to be on, the faster Goodyear runners struggling with the conditions. Hill qualified third and then launched into the lead passing Michael Schumacher and speeding off into a commanding lead. It would be a thumb in the nose of Hill’s critics and a first win for Arrows... ever. But then, with a handful of laps remaining, and a 35 second lead, Hill slowed. The Arrows had lost speed at the worst moment, and there was nothing Hill could do. He tried to fight Jacques Villeneuve but had nothing as the Canadian’s Williams swept past him on the gravel for the lead. Hill would finish second, but that win had been snatched away from him by a 50p washer in the hydraulic system. A nation, including a nine-year-old me, was devastated.

Indy 500 2011 – J.R. Hildebrand

There was a period when J.R. Hidebrand seemed to be the next big thing in IndyCar circles. He dominated his USF2000 championship and would go on to clinch the Indy Lights title in 2009. In 2010 he made a pair of starts in the main championship with the little-fancied Dreyer & Reinbold team, before signing on to replace Dan Wheldon at the larger Panther Racing effort full time in 2011.

Early season results were unimpressive, but at the Indy 500 he was the top rookie in qualifying. Then on race day he managed to stay on the lead lap for the entire race, making a fuel gamble that saw him lead on final lap. It was set to be an incredible rookie win, one that would set the young Hildebrand up as the golden boy of American open-wheel racing.

He had literally one corner to go until his name was written in Indy history when he slid out of the racing line lapping Charlie Kimball. If he had just slowed and stayed behind Kimball he would have won, but that’s not what an IndyCar rookie does. Losing control he slid into the retaining wall, smashing his car’s front-left wheel. He had enough speed to make it across the finish line, but by that time Wheldon – the man he had replaced in the series – had flown past him to clinch an unexpected victory. Hildebrand trundled across the line second. Rather than setting off a golden career it was the closest he’s come to tasting victory in IndyCar.

Bathurst 2014 – Jamie Whincup

Another type of heartbreak is the one you bring entirely upon yourself. That is the agony that Jamie Whincup tasted in 2014 at Australia’s Great Race. He led the Bathurst 1,000 coming into the final few laps, with rival Chaz Mostert chasing hard in his Ford Falcon. As the laps ebbed away Whincup was in trouble – he had a lead, but he was very short on fuel. The Red Bull Racing Triple 8 team were on the radio begging the multiple champion to slow and save some fuel. They implored him to stop pushing or he would not make the finish. Mostert closed, but if Whincup played it right he might be able to save fuel and still keep the lead.

But he ignored the warnings. Was his radio broken? The speculation in the commentary booth went into overdrive as they tried to understand why such a seasoned professional would just ignore the pleas from his team. Behind him Mostert had been conserving fuel, aware that he was also on the edge of not finishing.

On lap 160 Mostert got the call from his team that he had done enough and he could attack, now just two seconds behind Whincup and with enough fuel to finish Mostart was lapping a full two seconds a lap quicker. As they raced over the mountain one final time Mostart was clearly faster, while Whincup had finally begun to heed his team’s warnings. Mostart probed and Whincup defended, all the time running out of more fuel, his team now issuing dire warnings that he wasn’t just about to surrender the race lead, but not finish at all. Then, on the conrod straight, with just three corners to go, it happened. Whincup’s Holden coughed, spluttered, and died. Mostart was able to just duck from behind to take the lead as Whincup slowed, helpless to avoid the pass. As if to add insult to injury, Whincup would just trundle across the line, but was passed by three more cars, eventually finishing fifth. If he had just saved fuel when his team asked, then another win at Bathurst should have been Whincup’s. We’ll never really know what happened inside that helmet on that day.

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.