369.5 – this is the number of points scored by Max Verstappen and so far this season. Before the last round of the 2021 season in Abu Dhabi, they are therefore on par and enter the race, the results of which will determine the fate of the championship title.
A fight like Verstappen and Hamilton has only happened once in F1 history. Until 57 years ago!
And this situation, ie a draw in points before the last race in history, took place only once in the history of Formula 1. In 1974, Clay Regazzoni and Emerson Fittipaldi from McLaren entered the competition at Watkins Glen under similar circumstances. Another chance for the title was Jody Schekter, who was seven points behind them, but the fans were paying attention mainly to the duel of the first two.
The favorite was Fittipaldi who did poorly at the start of the season but won the penultimate race in Canada and looked to catch up with Regazzoni. The Swiss, however, was very solid: if he finished, he was always among the top five drivers. The fight back then was completely different from today’s clashes with Lewis Hamilton. They occupy the first row, and Regazzoni and Fittipaldi, although they fought for the world championship, started only from the middle of the field.
Fittipaldi, who was like Hamilton, won. A Regazzoni similar to Verstappen wanted to push him off in the first lap
Fittipaldi was eighth, with Regazzoni right behind him as ninth. – Fittipaldi had a better car, won three races and his rival only one. I think Regazzoni knew the Brazilian was the favorite. On lap one, Clay wanted to push Emerson backwards to give himself a chance. The latter fell onto the grass, lost traction, but in a moment returned to the track and did not let him upset. He started driving away quickly. And Regazzoni’s Ferrari was much slower and began to form a train behind him. Later, the drivers passed him, and Szwacjar fell and realized that it would be fine – says Sport.pl Maurice Hamilton, an experienced journalist dealing with who was on the track as a spectator at the time.
Regazzoni eventually finished eleventh and Fittipaldi was fourth and could start celebrating winning his second after 1972 World Drivers’ Championship. – Clay was a bit like Verstappen. He just wanted to take a chance and try to win the championship, he didn’t care. Attacks on his rival were constantly on his mind. Fittipaldi is Hamilton in this comparison. Focused, goal focused and confident. They were both very popular, so fans didn’t really have a favorite here, describes Hamilton. After a moment he adds: And I remember that Emerson was asked about the maneuver in which Clay was trying to push him down the stakes. He said, “No topic. We’re just racing.” Can you imagine something like this today? No protest, no blame or punishment? And then it was normal.
Fittipaldi’s title overshadowed the great tragedy. The barrier beheaded Koinigg. “I found out the next day”
In 1974, the fight for the title at Watkins Glen, however, overshadowed a great tragedy. On the tenth lap, a promising young Helmuth Koinigg came off the track, who was only driving his second F1 race in his career. He hit the barrier at low speed and it seemed he should be okay, but the accident turned out to be fatal. The Armco barrier was poorly constructed and when Koinigg hit it broke into two parts, and the car fell between them.
To this day, the accident is remembered because the barrier beheaded an Austrian driver. – Communication during races then and today are two different worlds. Today, it would probably be unthinkable to continue driving after something like this. And then few people on the track knew that Koinigg did not make it to the finish line. Mostly those gathered around the corner where he came out. I found out about everything the next day – reports Maurice Hamilton. Thus, Emerson Fittipaldi celebrated unconsciously. He overshadowed the death of a talented driver with his title, but it is hard for that era of Formula 1 to have otherwise. She was already like that. The era of better communication and modernization of the series has not even been born yet.
“Polish” F1 championship titles? Fittipaldi’s mother emigrated from Volhynia to Brazil
Two Fittipaldi championship titles, fans sometimes jokingly call the Pole’s first successes in Formula 1. – In the beginning, they lived in great poverty, because my grandfather had wealth almost only in Russia. Often they had nothing to eat, so in order not to starve, they had to make soup from harvested grass and plants. They decided to return to Poland, where my grandfather’s family had some land and they could live in better conditions. However, they quickly made a decision that they did not want to live like this, but emigrate to America. They left for the port of Hamburg, where they found two lines of emigration: to Canada or Brazil. They chose the latter and in 1928 they found themselves in the port of Santos, wrote Emerson Fittipaldi in his autobiography.
The driver’s entire family was linked to motorsport. Even “Juza” ran, for example on the Interlagos circuit in the 1950s, just like her husband Wilson Fittipaldi Senior. Then Emerson himself and his brother Wilson Junior rode. They both made it to Formula 1. They were followed by Christian Fittipadi, Emerson’s nephew, and last year’s Pietro Fittipaldi, his grandson, son of his daughter Juliana, debuted in the series.
How will the situation of the final race of the season be resolved this time, with both drivers competing for the title having the same number of points ahead? Will Verstappen like Regazzoni win, or Hamilton having something of Fittipaldi? We will find out from 2 p.m. Polish time, when the race is scheduled to start in. Live coverage on Sport.pl and in the Sport.pl LIVE mobile application.
“Sport.pl Live” – The new Sport.pl program starts on Monday!
On Monday, December 13 at At 20:00, a new premium video program will debut – “Sport.pl Live”. It will be available for viewing every week on the main pages of Gazeta.pl and Sport.pl, as well as on YouTube and Twitch Sport.pl. In the first episode, the main theme will be the form of Polish ski jumpers and a revolutionary change in equipment that our rivals are already using. Our guest will be, among others, Apoloniusz Tajner (president of PZN). More information available:
Source: Sport
Tristin is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
