In the history of Formula 1, 1057 Grands Prix have official taken place since 1950, but only on sixteen occasions did the race weekend take place on Easter Sunday. There was a time when even Christmas and New Year were not holidays, at least not for the top racing series, as in the case of the inaugural grand prix of the 1968 season which was held on January 1 in the heat of South Africa.
We can clearly see that Formula 1, in parallel with its globalization process, has progressively scheduled many events even on days which are marked with red in the European calendars. By consulting this special list of races held on Easter day, it can be said that the surprise never came out of the egg, in light of the illustrious names of the winners, as explained by Roberto Cecere for funoanalisitecnica.com.
It all began in the 1985 Brazilian Grand Prix which was held on the Jacarepaguà track, in Rio de Janiero, in which Alain Prost (Renault) prevailed ahead of the Italian duo formed by Michele Alboreto (Ferrari) and Elio De Angelis (Lotus).
In 1988, once again in Brazil, F1 raced on the Easter weekend, and the Professor granted an encore even if the grand prix is often remembered for the disqualification of Ayrton Senna during the thirtieth lap. The reason? The team had violated the FIA rule of not being allowed to use the forklift in the race.
The following year, the Brazilian Grand Prix was again held during the holidays, with the victory of Nigel Mansell in the Ferrari 640 which was distinguished by the iconic “duck” nose and for the introduction of the semi-automatic gearbox on the steering wheel through two rockers placed in the rear part.
In 1993 it was the turn of the European Grand Prix, won by Ayrton Senna in the McLaren MP4 / 8 which, under the Donington flood, inflicted humiliating gaps on the opponents, making probably the most impressive lap in the history of formula 1, the first, in which he overtook Schumacher, Wendlingher, Damon Hill and finally his eternal rival Alain Prost in the Melbourne Hairpin corner.
Three years later, in the Argentine Grand Prix, Damon Hill won with Williams, while in 1997, at Interlagos, it was again the British team who won thanks to Jacques Villeneuve, after a disastrous start that had made him fall back to ninth position.
In 1998 it was instead the turn of the Argentine Grand Prix, won by Michael Schumacher, aboard a Ferrari F300. Starting from third place, the German managed to get the better of Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard’s Mclaren MP4 / 13 with whom he came into contact on the fifth lap and then took off towards the first success of the season.
The Easter of 2000 was marked by a McLaren double at the Silverstone home circuit, with David Coulthard in front of teammate Mika Hakkinen and Michael Schumacher in the Ferrari who would win the world title at the end of the season after twenty-one years of waiting.
The Easter races of 2001, 2002 and 2003 took place with the Schumacher brothers as main protagonists.
Ralf won the 2001 San Marino Grand Prix, taking the first of his six Formula 1 victories, ahead of David Coulthard in a McLaren and Rubens Barrichello for Ferrari. Michael Schumacher won the Brazilian Grand Prix in the 2002 Easter weekend and the Imola one in 2003 in which the Schumacher brothers raced despite the loss of their mother on the night between Saturday and Sunday.
F1 returned to accompany the Easter lunches in 2007 when, on the Malaysian circuit of Kuala Lumpur, Fernando Alonso won the race ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton and former Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen, who was able to make up for it the following year by resonating, as is the tradition, the bells of the churches of Maranello.
On 4 April 2010, in Malaysia, the four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel, at the wheel of Red Bull, was the first to cross the finish line ahead of team mate Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg in a Mercedes, marking the German brand’s return to the podium 45 years after the last one (1955 Italian Grand Prix).
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In 2014, at the dawn of the turbo-hybrid era, again in Sepang, it was the turn of Mercedes and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who won in front of the only real rival of that year, that is his teammate Nico Rosberg and reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel for Red Bull.
The last Grand Prix held at Easter was the 2017 Bahrain Grand Prix, won by Sebastian Vettel at the wheel of the SF70H, ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas at the checkered flag.
For Formula 1 fans, this year will be an Easter of waiting in view of the next round of the world championship on the banks of the Santerno for the Imola Grand Prix. Best wishes for a happy Easter!
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