Formula One: A Look Back at Unlikely Hero Markus Winkelhock

Story lines were plentiful on the day of the 2007 European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring. Lewis Hamilton was coming off his ninth straight podium, a record for a rookie, and led the championship. However, a wheel failure and subsequent wreck in Q3 saw him start back in 10th.

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen had rebounded from a tough stretch of hard luck, after podiums in the first three races, to win consecutive races and would start from the pole, flanked by teammate Felipe Massa.

Rumblings began to surface that Fernando Alonso was unhappy with McLaren’s driver policy, which allowed Hamilton to race the two-time champion instead of playing second fiddle to him, as he began to demand status as the team’s No. 1 driver.

At the back of the grid, Spyker had parted ways with driver Christijan Albers, and replaced him with a then unknown test driver named Markus Winkelhock.

On top of all that, rain was in the forecast, and we all know what can happen when rain is hurled into the picture. This race looked to be fun.

As the race drew nearer, those in attendance and those watching on television saw how dark the sky was becoming as the drivers started their warm-up lap. The rain was coming…and fast. However, everyone started on dry weather tires. Everyone, that is, but one bright orange Spyker.

Markus Winkelhock, the son and nephew of former F1 pilots Manfred and Joachim, had been a winner in several junior formulae before moving to the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) series in 2004, driving for Mercedes. It was in 2006 when he first entered Formula One, as a tester for Midland, and then for Spyker F1 after the car maker purchased Midland.

Spyker had named him as a race driver for the European Grand Prix largely because he brought some sponsorship into the team, and would add another German driver to the grid in the German race.

It was a nice, but quick, fix, as the team needed to replace the departed Christijan Albers. However, it seemed unlikely he would be retained afterward, but he was given a chance.

When all other drivers and teams took the grid on dry tires, Winkelhock and the team took a gamble. Not only was rain beckoning…a lot of rain was beckoning. At the last minute before the start, the team called him in and fitted him with wets.

The race had barely started when the bottom fell out of the sky, and the rain poured. Most drivers pitted at the end of lap one, with one big exception being Kimi Raikkonen, who slid off the access road as he tried to enter the pits.

As the other teams went to work, Winkelhock in the bright orange Spyker flashed by, assuming the lead as he passed Raikkonen, who was struggling to stay on the track an extra lap. By the time everyone had pitted, Winkelhock led by 33 seconds.

What’s more, the rain got heavier with every lap, meaning it then became a matter of simply keeping the car on the track; the driver who could do that best would stay out front. Winkelhock was doing just that, while his competitors looked like ice skaters going out on the rink for the first time

Could this be really happening? A driver making his debut, driving the slowest car on the grid, was not only leading the race, but by more than half a minute…and it didn’t seem like anyone would catch him for a while. If he had been fitted with full wets, by the time the other drivers would realize their tires weren’t holding and pitted, Winkelhock would have a lead of well over a minute!

If he was on Intermediates, he was doing better than any other driver and, after they all pitted for full wets, he would likely still hold a lead of half a minute…or maybe even have a bigger lead! No matter what tires he was fitted with, Markus Winkelhock was streaking away from everyone in the slowest car on the grid.

In a year that had seemed so improbable to that point (referring to Hamilton’s unexpected success), we were watching the impossible happen.

The stage was set for the most unlikely victor in the sport’s history. Markus Winkelhock and the Spyker team became instant heroes, as even broadcasters were pulling for them (SPEED F1 analyst Steve Matchett said, as Adrian Sutil spun off the other Spyker, “Please don’t let it be Winkelhock” as he was unsure just who spun at first).

They had taken a gamble, and it was paying off in a manner no one anticipated. What’s more, even if the rain had stopped, the track would remain wet for some time, meaning his car’s weaknesses wouldn’t show up until about halfway through the race. The story of the year was unfolding before us, with nothing appearing to stop it.

Alas, as usually happens in the world of auto racing, a cruel hand was given to Winkelhock and Spyker, as the safety car was deployed and the race eventually stopped. Upon restarting, he dropped through the field, and would eventually succumb to a hydraulics failure. A race that had become so promising so quickly turned up nothing, as Fernando Alonso ended up winning after a late race pass on Felipe Massa.

After everything he and the team did that day, Markus Winkelhock didn’t finish. As anticipated, he was dropped after his lone race, in favor of Japanese driver Sakon Yammamoto. As quickly as he hit the F1 world, he was gone, and back running in DTM.

But, what if that safety car hadn’t come out? What if his car made it to the finish? Would he have won? Well, as I mentioned, his lead was 33 seconds. While my crack research has yet to give me a definitive answer regarding his tire choice (intermediates or full wets), everything looked to be in his favor.

I don’t know the difference in lap times between the Spyker and the Ferrari and Mclaren. However, I would be willing to bet he would have certainly ended on the podium, at the very lowest, a result that may very well have kept him on the grid. But alas, we will never know.

In a Formula One world that is often inhumanely cruel to the minnows, one managed to have his moment of stardom and left a lasting impression on all of us. This year’s German Grand Prix will be the day after my 21st birthday. My first legal drink in the U.S. will be one with you in mind, Mr. Winkelhock, wherever you’re racing today. Cheers to you, mate!