Formula 1's top ten season openers

Shock tyre failures, epic comebacks, impetuous rookies, torrid weather and armed soldiers at the track: just a few of the elements to have distinguished some of Formula 1's most dramatic season openers.

The first race of the season almost inevitably proves to be eventful as new car-driver-team combinations bed down, ring-rusty combatants make seemingly elementary errors, and unproven components either prove to be a decisive advantage or let everyone down.

Edd Straw picks 10 of the best from F1's 61-year history.

10. 1973 Argentinian Grand Prix

There was uncertainty surrounding whether the 1973 curtain raiser would happen at all, given the political situation in Argentina that briefly caused the race to be called off. Fortunately it went ahead as planned and produced drama from the start, as pole position starter Clay Regazzoni's BRM, Francois Cevert's Tyrrell and defending champion Emerson Fittipaldi headed into the first corner disputing the lead.

Cevert led, only for Regazzoni to pass him at the next turn and edge away. But he had pushed too hard and after 28 laps, Cevert re-passed him, followed a few laps later by the canny Jackie Stewart in the other Tyrrell, and then by both Fittipaldi and Ronnie Peterson. Cevert held the lead for much of the race, only for Fittipaldi, who had taken advantage of Lotus team-mate Peterson's engine failure and Stewart's worn tyres to climb to second, to start to close.

The pair disputed the lead fiercely before Fittipaldi squeezed past with 10 laps to go to take an impressive win.

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9. 1958 Argentinian Grand Prix

A paltry 10 cars made the long trip to South America for the first world championship race of the season, with a trio of Ferraris, six Maseratis and a single Cooper T43, for Stirling Moss, entering the race.

Juan Manuel Fangio started from pole, but it was Maserati team-mate Jean Behra who led at the end of the first lap.

Ferrari driver Mike Hawthorn then passed Behra to lead, staying there until Fangio eased past on lap 10.

Moss meanwhile had started seventh, two seconds off the pace in qualifying with his little 1.9-litre Climax engine. He ran fifth early on but soon passed Luigi Musso's Ferrari. As the race went on, so it came to Moss. Fangio dropped back with a misfire and a stop for tyres, while Hawthorn had to pit with an oil pressure problem and Behra spun.

All of this handed the lead to Moss, but Musso was unconcerned, because such was Moss's pace that he would surely be pitting. But Moss and the Rob Walker Racing team had other ideas. Musso realised what was happening and pushed late on, but came up short by less than three seconds. Moss's win was hugely significant because it was the first in the world championship for a rear-engined machine.

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8. 1967 South African Grand Prix

So strong was motorsport in South Africa during this era that the country's world championship round would regularly be bolstered by a number of entries from the domestic F1 series. For the country's first world championship race, 42-year-old John Love - a Rhodesian who raced regularly in South Africa - came within a few laps of what would stand today as the biggest upset in F1 history.

Driving the Cooper T79, Love qualified fifth, only 1.2s off Jack Brabham's pole time. He dropped to 10th at the start, while Hulme took the lead from team-mate Brabham, who lost further ground when he spun on lap four.

Then the frontrunners started to hit trouble. Jackie Stewart's BRM suffered an engine failure early on, while compatriot Jim Clark later fell victim to a similar problem. Graham Hill, in the second Lotus, crashed out, while Jochen Rindt, who starred in the first half of the race, suffered a failure of his Maserati engine on lap 39.

All of this left Love in third behind only the two Brabham-Repcos, having passed Dan Gurney's Eagle, John Surtees in the Honda, and Pedro Rodriguez, who had only third and fifth gear in his BRM. Then Brabham started to struggle with a misfire, and on lap 41 Love took second place, albeit with Hulme way up the road.

Until, that is, lap 61, when Love took the lead after braking problems forced Hulme into a long pit-stop. With 20 laps to go Love was leading by over 20 seconds from Rodriguez. The Mexican pushed hard, but Love had enough pace to stay there, only to have to pit for a splash of fuel with only seven laps to go having never before run so long a race in the car. This let Rodriguez past, although Love still finished second ahead of Surtees.

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7. 1993 South African Grand Prix

How many three-car battles between drivers who won 14 world championships between them can you name? Well, this is exactly what happened during the early laps of the 1993 season opener at Kyalami. F1 returnee Alain Prost bagged pole ahead of old rival Ayrton Senna, who only agreed to race for McLaren at the eleventh hour, but a bad start for the Frenchman handed Senna the lead.

After Williams debutant Damon Hill spun a few corners later, Senna, Michael Schumacher and Prost ran nose-to-tail.

Prost used the power advantage of his Renault engine to edge past Schumacher at the start of the 13th lap and set about hassling Senna. The Brazilian was steadfast in his defence, twice going side by side through the first corner - a brisk right/left 'S' - before Prost finally dispatched him at the third attempt.

Schumacher followed Prost past, only to lose second to Senna again when both pitted for tyres on the same lap. He later attempted to reclaim second entering the first corner, only to be squeezed onto the kerb and spin. He was not impressed with the McLaren driver.

By now, Prost was well on his way to a comeback victory ahead of Senna, but a late-race deluge claimed several victims, leaving only five cars to take the chequered flag after Footwork driver Derek Warwick aquaplaned off on the last lap.

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6. 1989 Brazilian Grand Prix

Nigel Mansell was absolutely certain that his Ferrari 640, with its new semi-automatic paddleshift gearbox, would not last the distance, so he had absolutely nothing to lose on his debut for the Scuderia. This set the stage for a surprise victory for Mansell which instantly endeared him to the demanding tifosi.

But at the start of the race, it was Mansell's Ferrari team-mate Gerhard Berger who grabbed the attention. Ayrton Senna made a slow start from pole position, with Williams driver Riccardo Patrese challenging down the outside. Berger then tried to make it three abreast into the first corner and collided with future team-mate Senna, resulting in both spinning. With Berger soon retired because of an engine problem and Senna lost so much time that he proved unable to climb back into the top 10. The stage was set for Mansell's charge.

Running third early on, he passed Thierry Boutsen on the long back straight on lap three. He then closed the three-second deficit to leader Patrese, passing him on lap 16.

Since Patrese was attempting a one-stop race, Mansell had to catch and pass him again to earn the lead, and after making a second stop (this time to change four wheels and the steering wheel) he then had to chase down and overtake McLaren driver Alain Prost, who was struggling with no clutch, with 14 laps to go.

To everyone's astonishment, not least Mansell's, the fragile Ferrari semi-automatic gearbox held together and he took a famous win by almost eight seconds from Prost, who had to resist pressure from Mauricio Gugelmin in the year-old March in the closing stages.

Behind them, Johnny Herbert finished a remarkable fourth in his debut grand prix despite still suffering badly from the leg injuries he sustained in a monstrous F3000 crash the previous season.

"I can't say for one minute that I expected it to keep going," said Mansell, who lacerated his hands on a very sharp winner's trophy on the post-race podium.

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5. 1961 Monaco Grand Prix

The Monaco Grand Prix was expected to be a Ferrari walkover, with Phil Hill, Wolfgang von Trips and Richie Ginther firm pre-race favourites. Stirling Moss, driving an ageing Lotus 18, was not predicted to be much of a factor on the Principality's streets, so strongly did the new smaller-capacity F1 engine formula favour the Scuderia.

After Moss pipped Ginther (who was always fast at Monaco) to pole by a couple of tenths, normal order was restored as the American took the lead at the start with Moss and BRM driver Jo Bonnier in pursuit. Ginther initially pulled away, but on lap 14 Moss was on his tail and dived past on the entry to Massenet after almost pushing him up the hill.

As Ginther faded Phil Hill climbed to second, but it was Ginther who mounted a late race challenge, re-passing his team-mate and pushing Moss to the limit late on. The pair set a sequence of fastest laps in the closing stages, but Moss had enough in hand to win by just over three seconds to take the first Lotus victory in the world championship - albeit for a privateer car entered by Rob Walker.

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4. 1990 United States Grand Prix

Rain during Saturday qualifying and the single-lap speed of Pirelli tyres added up to an unfamiliar grid, with McLaren debutant Gerhard Berger on pole position ahead of the Minardi of Pierluigi Martini and the Scuderia Italia Dallara of Andrea de Cesaris. But none of the trio led into the first corner, for it was Tyrrell driver Jean Alesi, in only his ninth F1 race and running on Pirelli rubber that the team had only tried for the first time during Friday practice, who dived up the inside of Berger to lead.

Alesi's performance was stunning, not least because Tyrrell had not so much as led a race for almost seven years. He was clearly on the edge because the rear end of his Ford-engined machine was squirming through the corners. At the end of the eighth lap, Alesi held a lead of eight seconds over Ayrton Senna, who had worked his way past de Cesaris and picked up second place when Berger lost the rear of his McLaren and hit the tyre wall.

It was inevitable that Senna would take the lead, but after passing Alesi on the inside of the first corner of lap 34 the Brazilian (along with the watching world) were stunned to see the Tyrrell squeezing back up the inside of the McLaren at the following left-hander. The following lap Senna tried the same move, covered the inside, and although Alesi had a look into the next corner he was relegated to second.

He went on to finish a stunning second in a drive that stands as a tribute to what he could have achieved in F1.

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3. 2003 Australian Grand Prix

After Ferrari's dominance of 2002, winning 15 out of 17 races, the 2003 season opener breathed new life into the sport. The race started in damp conditions, with Kimi Raikkonen, who started 15th after making a big mistake in single-shot qualifying, pitting for dry rubber at the end of the formation lap.

Michael Schumacher led from Rubens Barrichello early on, only for the Brazilian to crash out on lap six after being served with a drive-through penalty for jumping the start.

Schumacher himself soon pitted for dry rubber, leaving Juan Pablo Montoya to lead, still on wets.

He pitted when the safety car was deployed for the second time after Mark Webber's Jaguar ground to a halt, which handed Raikkonen the lead ahead of Schumacher. After both had pitted for a second time, the pair clashed at Turn 1 while disputing the lead, and Schumacher's car suffered minor damage.

Raikkonen was soon handed a drive-through penalty for breaking the pit-lane speed limit, but the time lost by Schumacher - and the fact that he had to make an extra stop - dropped him behind both Montoya, Coulthard and Raikkonen. Montoya had the race in the bag, only to carry too much speed into Turn 1 and spin mid-corner, allowing Coulthard, who had driven an intelligent race, past to take his final F1 win.

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2. 1977 Argentinian Grand Prix

"If you had told me this morning I was going to win this race, I would have said you were mad." Those were the words of Jody Scheckter after taking a shock victory in the 1977 season opener having qualified 11th, two seconds off James Hunt's pole time, driving for the new Wolf Racing team.

Held against the backdrop of revolution, with some 2500 armed soldiers at the track, and in ferociously hot conditions, it was the kind of race that was never going to be predictable.

While Scheckter set about climbing the order, running eighth on the first lap, Hunt slipped to second behind Brabham driver John Watson, who had never so much as tried a practice start with his Alfa Romeo-engined machine. Watson pulled out a lead of four seconds, only for his front-left tyre to blister, which allowed Hunt to catch and pass him.

The reigning world champion pulled away rapidly, only for broken rear suspension to pitch him into the catch-fencing at the chicane on lap 32. This gave Watson back the lead ahead of team-mate Carlos Pace, Mario Andretti's Lotus and Scheckter, who had climbed up to fourth.

Watson, however, was struggling both with a handling imbalance that was caused by loose rear suspension, and with hot air that was being directed to his face off the front of the car. He was forced to let Pace past and retired once the suspension problem became too severe, fortunately before the rear detached itself from his car.

This left Pace in control, but he too was struggling with the hot air and starting to feel faint. He was powerless to hold off Scheckter, who had moved ahead of Andretti, since the American was battling to nurse home a car with a broken rear wheel bearing.

Scheckter took the lead with only five laps to go while Pace, who was saved from losing a place to Carlos Reutemann's Ferrari because the home hero was running out of fuel, struggled home second and collapsed as soon as he got out of the car.

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1. 1982 South African Grand Prix

It's a crying shame that this remarkable race is remembered solely for the infamous drivers' strike, for it featured one of the most spectacular comeback charges seen in F1.

Rene Arnoux led from pole position, while Renault team-mate Alain Prost catapulted from fifth to second off the line. Prost passed his compatriot, who was struggling with a tyre vibration, on the inside of Crowthorne Corner on lap 14 - and that, seemingly, was that. By lap 40, Prost had eased out to a lead of over 11 seconds, only to suffer a left-rear puncture.

By the time he had limped back to the pits and bolted on a new set of boots, he was a lap down and rejoined in eighth. With 37 laps to go and fresh rubber, Prost set about scything his way back through the field. After passing Michele Alboreto's Tyrrell for seventh, he unlapped himself on lap 46. Arnoux was now a massive 72 seconds up the road.

On lap 50, Prost dispatched F1 returnee Niki Lauda's McLaren to take sixth and on lap 54 passed the sister car of John Watson. He was still 45 seconds behind Arnoux, who was struggling with a worsening tyre vibration.

On the next lap Prost passed Keke Rosberg's Williams for fourth, and on lap 61, the other Williams of Carlos Reutemann. On lap 62 he dispatched Dider Pironi's Ferrari, which was suffering from a misfire that would prove terminal.

By then, he was only 18.750s behind Arnoux and it took him only a further six laps to reel in and pass his team-mate. Twenty-seven laps earlier, Prost had been a lap down in eighth place, and here he was with a great victory within his grasp.

He reeled off the remaining laps without trouble, but team-mate Arnoux slipped to third behind Reutemann after a mistake in the Renault pit caused them to mislead their driver into thinking that the Argentinean was a lap down and let him past.

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