Remembering Manfred
On the 25th anniversary of Manfred Winkelhock's death, Adam Cooper talks to some of his contemporaries about their memories of a German whose F1 results never truly reflected his fearless and combative approach to his sport
Twenty five years ago today Manfred Winkelhock died in a Toronto hospital, following a heavy crash in the previous day's Mosport 1000kms FIA World Sportscar Championship race. Just three weeks later his countryman Stefan Bellof was killed at Spa, also at the wheel of a Group C Porsche.
In a sad twist of fate, Germany had lost its two big stars in accidents outside F1.
Bellof is rightly remembered as the great lost talent, the man who could have brought the world championship to Germany long before Michael Schumacher managed the feat. Winkelhock tends to be overlooked, his memory kept alive mainly by a YouTube clip of him flipping his F2 March into the Nurburgring catch-fencing.
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