For decades, Formula 1 has stopped every winter to prepare for the next season. The traffic light turns green in March and the checkered flag falls in December, closer to the Christmas holidays each year, although During the 1960s, the competition organized different events during the holidays, and even on New Year’s Eve..
The latest race in F1 history
In 1962Formula 1 competed in what, for more than sixty years, has been the race with the least time remaining until New Year’s Eve. The tenth and final test of the campaign took place in South Africaon Prince George Circuit, December 29almost three months after the previous event.
The last event of the year would decide the drivers’ championship, with Graham Hill and Jim Clark as candidates for the title. A victory for Clark would mean his coronation due to the old F1 regulations, which only counted the five best results of each driver to calculate his final score, and everything seemed to be in his favor for the Scot, as he took pole position.
Aboard his legendary Lotus 25, Clark led the race strongly, but with twenty laps remaining, an oil leak forced him to retire. allowing Hill to win his first World Cup. Similarly, BRM took its only constructors’ championship.
When Formula 1 raced on New Year’s
In 1968, the ‘Gran Circo’ held its first GP on January 1again in South Africa, but this time on the legendary Kyalami track. With the second race on the calendar in May, the teams prepared to establish a significant lead in the New Year during the first few months.
Jim Clark, who had just won the last two events in 1967, achieved first position on the starting grid, a place he did not relinquish during the grand prix, obtaining the 25th victory of his career in Formula 1. That victory would be the last for the legendary two-time champion, who He would die a few months later in an F2 race at Hockenheim..
Given the current regulations and conventions of modern competition, It is difficult for F1 to play events again at Christmasso these historic races could retain their record status for a long time.
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