Chequered Past
Chequered Past is a Formula 1 history podcast that dives deep into iconic races, legendary drivers, and forgotten moments from motorsport’s rich and dramatic past. Each episode revisits Grand Prix events that took place on the same date in history, uncovering fascinating stories, on-track controversies, and the evolution of F1 through the decades. Whether you're a lifelong fan or new to the sport, Chequered Past offers compelling insights and nostalgia-fuelled storytelling from the world’s fastest sport.
Chequered Past
15th May 2016: The Day That Broke the Favourites
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The fifteenth of May keeps appearing in Formula 1 history, and rarely kindly.
This episode traces four events on that date across four decades:
- Keke Rosberg's audacious tyre gamble at the 1983 Monaco Grand Prix,
- Ayrton Senna's devastating retirement from a race he had dominated in 1988,
- Max Verstappen's record-breaking debut victory for Red Bull at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix
- And the death of Elio de Angelis on 15 May 1986, thirty-nine days before his twenty-ninth birthday, in an accident that exposed everything wrong with how Formula 1 treated safety away from race weekends.
Cover Image: By Lala_77 - Verstappen_Spain_2016, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link
Music by #Mubert Music Rendering