26th April 1998: The Scot Who Held His Nerve

On April 26th, 1998, David Coulthard crossed the finish line at Imola with a 4.5-second lead over Michael Schumacher — and an engine that had been threatening to let go for the final ten laps. It was the fourth win of his career, and one of the most quietly dramatic of his life.

To mark that date, this episode tells four stories connected to April 26th. We begin with Jean-Pierre Beltoise — born on this day in 1937 — a Parisian butcher's delivery boy who became a motorcycle champion, survived a crash that everyone assumed had ended his career, raced in Formula 1 with a permanently damaged arm, and won the 1972 Monaco Grand Prix in the rain for a team that never won again. 

Then we go to Silverstone in 1970, where Chris Amon — widely regarded as the greatest driver never to win a championship Grand Prix — beat reigning World Champion Jackie Stewart in identical machinery on this same date, in a race whose result counted for nothing in the standings. 

After that, Imola 1998: McLaren dominant, a debris-blocked oil cooler, Ron Dennis sprinting between the pit wall and the garage, and Schumacher closing at a second a lap while Coulthard held his nerve. 

And finally, Bahrain 2009: Jenson Button winning for a team that had been built from the ruins of Honda's withdrawal just four months earlier.

Four stories. One date. All of them true.

Music by #Mubert Music Rendering