Top 5: the greatest F1 wins from (nearly) the back of the grid
Max Verstappen’s victory in the 2024 São Paulo Grand Prix from 17th on the grid was monumental and places him in the all-time list of greatest wins from the lowest starting position
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- John Watson
22nd, 1983 United States GP West
It’s a record John Watson hopes will stand for ever – and it will unless more than the current 10 teams join the Formula 1 grid. Struggles with Michelin tyres better suited to turbocharged Renaults left the Cosworth DFV-powered McLarens 22nd and 23rd on the grid at Long Beach. But on Michelin’s 05 tyre in the race, Wattie went on his famous charge – on a street circuit too. Team-mate Niki Lauda got him at the start, but the pair began slicing through the pack in tandem, until the Northern Irishman slipped back past the Austrian. Three of the frontrunners – Patrick Tambay, Keke Rosberg and Jean-Pierre Jarier – took themselves out, but Wattie still had to pass leader Jacques Laffite’s Williams to deliver F1’s greatest comeback.
- Rubens Barrichello
18th, 2000 German GP
Forced to qualify his team-mate Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari after his own developed an oil leak, Rubens Barrichello mixed inspiration with a dose of bizarre fortune on race day at the old Hockenheim. By lap six the Brazilian was already fifth, which had become third by lap 17 when he made his first pitstop. Then came the craziness. A track invader with beef against Mercedes-Benz ruined McLaren’s day, Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard losing their massive lead to an inevitable safety car. Localised rain then gave Barrichello his chance, and he took it by sticking it out on dry-weather tyres. The gamble paid off and after 124 GPs Rubens was finally an F1 winner. Cue much blubbing on the podium.
- John Watson
17th, 1982 Detroit GP
Wattie’s second entry here makes him Formula 1’s official pass master. If anything, this one at the first Motown GP in Detroit was more impressive than what would follow at Long Beach. Red-flagged after six laps, this would be an aggregate race. He’d initially lined up seven places down on team-mate Niki Lauda, but taking the restart from 13th Wattie found an irresistible rhythm, his McLaren slicing past a string of cars. Alain Prost lost an easy win to Renault fuel injector bothers, but no one begrudged Wattie – especially as he’d passed Lauda, Eddie Cheever and Didier Pironi on a single lap. He chased down leader Keke Rosberg, whose Williams was struggling with gearbox woes, and overcame the aggregate gap to win.
- Kimi Räikkönen
17th, 2005 Japanese GP
The race that lit a new fire under the tiresome argument for reverse grids. But we have to admit, the wet qualifying sure did shake things up, and it triggered the Iceman’s greatest F1 victory too. Title rivals Fernando Alonso and Kimi Räikkonen were left P16 and P17 on the grid at Suzuka, and after a lengthy safety car they set to work. Räikkonen’s final-lap pass into the first turn on a powerless Giancarlo Fisichella was fabulous, perhaps only topped by Alonso’s thunderous move on Michael Schumacher at 130R. No one seemed to have told him you’re not supposed to be able to do that.
- Max Verstappen
17th, 2024 São Paulo GP
A new entry! The combination of a grid penalty for replacement engine parts and getting caught out by a red flag in a qualifying session was the set-up. Verstappen’s delivery was the gold standard (albeit two cars in grid spots ahead didn’t start the race). That first lap really was up there with Senna at Donington in 1993, and how he found grip where no one else could into Turn 1 was Max at his very best. The red flag was well-timed, but you make your own luck in this game. Esteban Ocon had no answer at the restart, then Verstappen was gone. Just brilliant. DS
