The top 11 lost F1 victories after the flag

We’ve got a top 11 this week, instead of our usual top 10. Why? Because that’s the number of times the on-the-road winner hasn’t ended up with the grand prix victory on their CV.

We’ve already looked at the top 10 lost Formula 1 wins, most of which occurred late in the race, but these are the victories lost after the chequered flag was waved.

We’ve ranked them based on how strong the driver’s performance was on the day and how harsh (or otherwise) the penalty was that cost them victory.

11. Gerhard Berger, 1990 Canadian GP

Berger did his best to negate the penalty but it wasn't enough to keep the win

Photo by: Sutton Images

Result: 4th
Reason: jumped start
Official winner: Ayrton Senna (McLaren)

The McLaren-Hondas dominated qualifying in Montreal, Ayrton Senna pipping team-mate Gerhard Berger by just 0.066 seconds. Though the MP4/5B cockpit hadn’t fitted him properly in the opening races, Berger arrived for round five as Senna’s closest points rival, with Ferrari and new signing Alain Prost not yet having got into their stride.

Now more comfortable in the revised cockpit, Berger seemed to be Senna’s most likely challenger but blew it all at the start. The cars were held a long time and Berger began to creep, then took off hesitantly before the green light.

Senna still beat Berger to the first corner in the wet conditions and was soon informed of his colleague’s penalty: one minute to be added to his race time.

Berger, who had kept Senna in sight, was the first frontrunner to pit for slick tyres as the track dried. Shortly after Senna pitted, the Brazilian started having a problem with first gear and didn’t fight too hard when Berger came by at the hairpin.

Berger pressed on and ended up winning on the road by 45s, Senna unhappy with his car but also aware of the situation. That meant Berger, who set fastest lap by almost 0.8s, still managed to take fourth after his penalty was applied, behind Senna, Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell.

Verdict: Nailed-on penalty that everyone knew about throughout.

10. Didier Pironi, 1980 Canadian GP

Another jump-start, another at the Canadian GP

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Result: 3rd
Reason: jumped start
Official winner: Alan Jones (Williams)

What is it about Canada in this list? The main storyline of F1’s 1980 visit to Montreal was Alan Jones clinching the title, following a controversial clash with rival Piquet, a restart and then leader Piquet’s spare Brabham suffering an engine blow-up while in the lead.

Didier Pironi’s Ligier lined up behind the Williams-Brabham front row and jumped Piquet at the restart. He’d done so by creeping forward from his grid slot and picked up a one-minute penalty.

Piquet made it by the Ligier on lap two and Pironi was then attacked by the Alfa Romeo of Bruno Giacomelli. The two made contact and both went off, Pironi surviving while Giacomelli retired.

When Piquet retired after 23 of the 70 laps, Pironi moved into second and started closing on Jones. Williams informed the Australian of the jump-start penalty and had his eye on the championship. After holding the Ligier back for a while, Jones lost the on-the-road lead to Pironi on lap 44.

Pironi pressed on, Autosport describing his drive as “relentless”. His fastest lap was 0.8s faster than anyone else’s and just 0.4s slower than his qualifying time. Pironi crossed the line 41s clear of winner Jones and fell less than 4s short of denying Carlos Reutemann second.

Verdict: Not the most egregious jump-start and a fine recovery, but it was a fair cop.

9. Michael Schumacher, 1994 Belgian GP

Benetton tried to put the worn skid plank down to a spin by Schumacher

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Result: disqualified
Reason: worn plank following spin
Official winner: Damon Hill (Williams)

On-track the 1994 Belgian GP looked much like many other races that season. Once he’d overcome surprise poleman Rubens Barrichello’s Jordan on the first lap, Michael Schumacher led throughout, aside from one lap after his second pitstop. He crossed the line 13.7s clear of Damon Hill’s Williams but, almost five hours later, the Benetton was excluded.

The mandatory 10mm wooden plank, one of various measures introduced following the deaths of Senna and Roland Ratzenberger at Imola, was found to be outside the 1mm wear tolerance.

“Benetton suggested the damage to the plank could have been caused by Schumacher spinning on lap 19,” reported Autosport. “But this idea was disregarded because the undersized area, down to a minimum of 7.4mm, was close to the front of the plank and the marks were light and longitudinal – whereas the spin damage was deeper and transverse, and could be found at the back.”

It was just one of many controversies involving Schumacher and Benetton in 1994 and came just before the German’s two-race ban for ignoring black flags at the British GP.

Verdict: 1994 was about far more than skid planks and Spa, but this was clearer cut than some.

8. Sebastian Vettel, 2019 Canadian GP

Vettel made his feelings clear about losing his win with the first and second boards

Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images

Result: 2nd
Reason: rejoining the track in an unsafe manner
Official winner: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

Yes, it was all very amusing Sebastian Vettel swapping the first- and second-placed boards afterwards, but it was his mistake that caused the incident that led to his demotion at the 2019 Canadian GP.

Vettel had beaten rival Lewis Hamilton to pole by 0.2s and led the Mercedes from the off. Vettel stayed ahead before and after the only round of pitstops, but Hamilton started a charge in the second half of the race that brought him onto the leader’s tail in a fine duel.

On lap 48 of 70, the rear of the Ferrari snapped into the Turn 3/4, right-left chicane. Vettel caught it but in doing so had to go across the grass.

As he got back on track, Vettel edged the Mercedes – arriving faster having negotiated the chicane normally – towards the wall, forcing Hamilton to brake. The Ferrari stayed ahead but was then handed a 5s penalty by the stewards. Hamilton comfortably finished within that window to take victory, with Vettel relegated to second.

“This wasn’t the way Hamilton wanted to win and it certainly wasn’t the way the furious Vettel was willing to lose,” said Autosport. “Ideally, this should have gone down as spectacular racing and been allowed to slide. But sadly, once you have the hard-and-fast rules that people keep clamouring for, the hands of the stewards are tied and they don’t have the freedom simply to let it go.”

The penalty split opinion and triggered a debate about the guidelines governing wheel-to-wheel combat. As such it is one of the more controversial entries on this list but it’s fair to say that a penalty was correct under the rules of the day.

Verdict: It was controversial but probably the right decision – and wouldn’t have happened without Vettel’s error.

7. George Russell, 2024 Belgian GP

Unusual circumstances caused Russell's Mercedes to be underweight

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Result: disqualified
Reason: 1.5kg underweight
Official winner: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

Mercedes was more competitive at Spa than it was at many of the circuits in 2024 but early on it looked like Hamilton would be the person to benefit. He lined up third to George Russell’s sixth, grabbed second shortly after the start and then overtook Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari for the lead on lap three.

Then Russell, who’d run fifth in the early going and was probably set for nothing better than fourth, suggested going all the way to the end on the hard tyres he’d changed to on lap 10 of 44. With most others on a two-stop strategy, Russell therefore found himself in the lead by 7.1s after 31 laps.

Hamilton, now on fresher hard tyres, closed that down and was within 1s with four laps to go. But Russell held firm superbly to cross the line half a second ahead of his illustrious team-mate.

Russell was denied what would have been his third GP victory when the W15 was found to be 1.5kg underweight thanks to a Mercedes miscalculation and Hamilton was handed his 105th GP victory. “There’s no excuse,” said team boss Toto Wolff.

Verdict: Harsh for Russell but, ultimately, inevitable.

6. Alain Prost, 1985 San Marino GP

Prost felt he got his fuel management spot on by running out on the cool down lap, but the rules said otherwise

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Result: disqualified
Reason: 2kg underweight
Official winner: Elio de Angelis (Lotus)

Fuel efficiency was a key part of F1’s first turbo era. McLaren and Prost were among the best at managing the allocation but didn’t get things quite right in a San Marino GP that bordered on farce.

It didn’t look that way early on. From sixth, Prost rose up the field at Imola to battle poleman Senna’s Lotus. After a fine tussle and being delayed in traffic, Prost fell back to conserve fuel. When Senna and the impressive Stefan Johansson’s Ferrari both used up the last of their 220 litres in the closing miles, Prost swept by to take what looked like a well-judged victory.

But the MP4/2B then ran out on the slow-down lap and was found to be 2kg underweight. Elio de Angelis, who hadn’t led a lap, was thus declared the winner.

“I pace myself, force myself always to think about fuel, about finishing,” said Prost. “I run out a kilometre after the finish, I think it’s perfect. But now it’s finished.”

Verdict: Universally unpopular and there was nothing Prost could have done but rules are rules.

5. Nelson Piquet, 1982 Brazilian GP

Piquet rated the 1982 Brazilian GP as the race of his life - despite being denied victory amid F1 political fighting

Photo by: Sutton Images

Result: disqualified
Reason: underweight
Official winner: Alain Prost (Renault)

Prost is in the history books as the official winner of the 1982 Brazilian GP but the poleman played a minor role in what was an entertaining race that ultimately proved unsatisfactory.

Piquet started seventh in Rio but worked his way up early on to battle for the lead with the fast-starting Gilles Villeneuve’s Ferrari and the Williams of Keke Rosberg – once the Renault of Rene Arnoux had been overcome.

Just before half-distance and while under pressure from Piquet, Villeneuve went off. With the Ferrari out, Piquet took command, but Rosberg was never far behind.

The combination of the stiff ground-effect cars, with virtually no suspension, and extreme heat pushed drivers to the limit; at one point, Piquet’s Brabham team-mate Riccardo Patrese spun because he blacked out.

Piquet also started to struggle physically and nearly slid off a couple of times, but the state of Rosberg’s rear tyres hampered an attack. The Williams fell 12s short at the end of a gruelling contest and Piquet collapsed afterwards.

“It was so much work right through the whole race, I was destroyed,” said Piquet when picking out the event for Autosport’s Race of My Life series in 1988. “I couldn’t even stand up on the podium, but it was really fantastic.”

But his and Rosberg’s efforts were to go unrewarded. Most of the teams, including Brabham and Williams, were running ‘water-cooled’ brakes. What that really meant was that the water (fluids counted in the minimum weight) was jettisoned early on, allowing the cars to run underweight for most of the race. It helped the Cosworth DFV runners combat the power of the turbocharged teams, and Ferrari and Renault protested the top two.

The protest was initially thrown out but they then appealed to the governing body, the Federation Internationale de Sport Automobile. A month after the race, Piquet and Rosberg were excluded. Prost, who had finished nearly 40s behind Piquet, inherited victory and many of the Formula One Constructors’ Association teams boycotted the San Marino GP.

“Afterwards, they said that Keke and I were disqualified, because of water tanks, but it doesn’t matter now,” added Piquet. “It is a nice memory, fighting with Keke like that.”

Verdict: Piquet and Rosberg were victims of wider political shenanigans as FOCA fought FISA for control of the sport, even if their teams were pushing their luck.

4. Mario Andretti, 1978 Italian GP

Both Villeneuve and Andretti were penalised for jump starts, but it didn't stop the American from sealing the title

Photo by: Sutton Images

Result: 6th
Reason: jumped start
Official winner: Niki Lauda (Brabham)

Given the general nature of starts of the era, this one seems one of the harsher lost wins. Indeed, the first start was shambolic, some cars at the back still rolling into position when the race began. That contributed to a horrible multi-car accident that caused a stoppage and raised questions about F1 safety provisions.

Come the second getaway for a shortened race, front-row man Villeneuve – who had grabbed the lead the first time – and poleman Mario Andretti jumped the start. The pair headed off into a race of their own in a fine Monza duel, once Jean-Pierre Jabouille’s turbocharged Renault had expired.

The Ferrari held off the Lotus until, with just over five of the 40 laps to go, Andretti made it down the inside of Villeneuve into Parabolica. The American went on to win by 2.15s but one-minute penalties dropped the duo to sixth and seventh, handing victory to Niki Lauda’s Brabham. The result was, nevertheless, enough for Andretti to clinch the title.

Autosport’s Nigel Roebuck described the penalties as “ludicrous”, adding: “In Villeneuve’s case, some penalty may have been justified, but not one of 60 seconds.”

This was all overshadowed by Ronnie Peterson dying unexpectedly following the multi-car crash at the first start.

“After the accident, the Italian GP meant nothing,” added Roebuck. “For the world of F1, Sunday was a day of tearful farce.”

Verdict: By current standards, correct. But ‘loose’ starts were hardly unusual then, so this one seems tough.

3. James Hunt, 1976 British GP

James Hunt celebrates victory on the podium. He would late be disqualified from the results.

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Result: disqualified
Reason: illegally taking the restart
Official winner: Niki Lauda (Ferrari)

It’s what his home fans had come to see. After chasing Lauda for 44 of the 76 laps, James Hunt claimed the inside line at Druids to snatch the lead of the British GP from the Ferrari. With Lauda suffering gearbox trouble, Hunt pulled clear to take one of his best wins by 16.2s, with everyone else lapped. But the crucial drama had already happened.

At the first start at Brands Hatch, Clay Regazzoni had managed to clash with team-mate and poleman Lauda heading in to Paddock Hill Bend. That triggered a multi-car pile-up, with an innocent Hunt flicked up onto two wheels.

As the McLaren headed for the pits via the back entrance on Cooper Straight, red flags flew. While arguments raged about who should take the restart and whether spare cars were allowed (they were not, scuppering Regazzoni and Ligier’s Jacques Laffite – but only after they’d taken the restart!), McLaren worked to fix Hunt’s car. At one point it looked as though he would not be allowed to start but, after the crowd made its feelings known, Hunt duly lined up second for the restart.

Autosport claimed the rules were unclear while Ferrari argued mechanics had touched the McLaren before the race had been stopped and that Hunt had not completed the red-flag lap, as required by the regulations. Protests were initially dismissed but Hunt was disqualified two months later following further appeals.

Autosport reckoned the Commission Sportive Internationale (an FIA body) threw Hunt out because it had made the wrong decision about his Spanish GP win, which he’d kept despite his M23 being too wide!

Verdict: Should have lost the Spanish GP win and kept this Brands success.

2. Lewis Hamilton, 2008 Belgian GP

Common sense went missing during the 2008 Belgian GP

Photo by: Sutton Images

Result: 3rd
Reason: cutting track to gain an advantage
Official winner: Felipe Massa (Ferrari)

Sometimes F1 demonstrates a spectacular lack of common sense…

Hamilton qualified on pole but Kimi Raikkonen was the star for much of this Spa race. From fourth on the grid, he rushed to second on the opening lap and, when Hamilton half-spun at La Source on lap two, Raikkonen got a run that took him into the lead.

Hamilton kept the Finn in sight as they both pulled away from Massa’s Ferrari, but Raikkonen seemed in control.

That was until rain arrived late on. The Ferrari’s tyres lost temperature quicker than the McLaren’s; Hamilton closed in. At the end of lap 42 of 44, Hamilton attacked around the outside into the final chicane. Raikkonen appeared to leave insufficient room, so the McLaren dived across the run-off area, though the stewards felt that Hamilton could have backed off and slotted in behind. Instead, Hamilton emerged ahead, lifted to allow the Ferrari back past, then did the job properly down the inside into La Source.

That wasn’t the end of it, though. Hamilton was delayed by the recovering Williams of Nico Rosberg, Raikkonen going ahead as the McLaren took to the grass at Les Fagnes. But the Ferrari spun on the exit of the greasy left-hander and Hamilton went back through in a chaotic climax.

Raikkonen, now with a slow puncture, crashed out for good exiting Blanchimont and Hamilton teetered round the final lap to cross the line 14.5s clear. But the earlier incident at the chicane came back to bite him.

The stewards had the power to hand Hamilton a 10-place grid penalty for the next race, but instead elected to give him a 25s penalty in lieu of a drive-through or 10s stop/go. Massa, never a factor in the fight for victory, thus inherited the win, with Nick Heidfeld also ahead of Hamilton.

That meant that, of the two standouts of the race, one ended the day in the wall and the other in third. It seemed particularly tough because the controversial move wasn’t even the moment that decided things on-track.

Asking “Is F1 fixed?” on Autosport’s cover was a tad over the top (though inside the answer was no), but the 2008 Belgian GP was an own goal for F1. Perhaps 2024 was payback for Hamilton!

Verdict: Utterly ridiculous penalty.

1. Ayrton Senna, 1989 Japanese GP

Prost jumps out of his McLaren, but Senna beckons the stewards to help him get going again

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

Result: disqualified
Reason: missing chicane
Official winner: Alessandro Nannini (Benetton)

Senna arrived at Suzuka needing to win to keep his title chances against McLaren ‘team-mate’ Prost alive. He took pole by a massive 1.7s but, as usual, Prost was a greater threat come the race and grabbed the lead at the start.

The Frenchman, running with less downforce, edged away and looked in control prior to the pitstops. But Senna seemed happier on his second set of tyres and closed back in.

On lap 47 of 53 Senna made his move down the inside at the chicane. It was bold but Prost’s defence was also robust, turning in early, and contact was made. Both cars slithered to a halt on the entry to the escape road but, while Prost climbed out, Senna beckoned the marshals to push him clear.

Eventually they did, Senna drove between the cones to rejoin and, after completing another lap, pitted for a new front wing. He dropped to second, but Senna quickly closed the gap to Nannini’s Benetton and took the lead (at the chicane) with just over two laps to go.

But Senna didn’t get even get to go onto the podium. The stewards deemed that he had avoided the chicane and excluded him.

McLaren immediately appealed the decision and things got messy. McLaren (and Senna) argued he should be reinstated, while FISA suggested Senna should be penalised further – and brought in new ‘evidence’ and incidents beyond the Suzuka one. Despite a strong McLaren argument, the disqualification was upheld, with Senna also being handed a $100,000 fine and a suspended six-month ban.

At the following year’s Japanese GP drivers’ briefing, Piquet pointed out the danger of cars having to turn around and drive against the flow of the traffic coming into the chicane – as implied by the Senna ruling – and the drivers agreed, underlining the folly of the 1989 situation.

Senna’s unfortunate unreliability earlier in the season and his shunt in the appallingly wet Australian GP finale means this didn’t cost the Brazilian the 1989 title. But it showed F1 in a very poor light and made Senna consider his future in the sport – and set the scene for his terrible act at Suzuka the following year.

Verdict: Ludicrous, as demonstrated by the 1990 drivers’ briefing.

The consequences of the 1989 Japanese GP outcome led to what happened a year later at the same track between Senna and Prost

Photo by: Sutton Images