What Happened On This Day August 26 In F1 History?

What happened on this day, August 26 in Formula 1 history? Find out interesting facts and stories about Formula 1 on this day.

1979

Alan Jones secured his fourth consecutive win for Williams at the 1979 Dutch Grand Prix on 26 August. The race was remembered for Ferrari driver, Gilles Villeneuve‘s dramatic tyre failure on lap 51, which sent him into a high-speed spin while passing the pits. He limped back to the pits on two wheels but had to retire the car. Jody Scheckter, who dropped to the back of the field on lap one, after avoiding an accident between Rene Arnoux and Clay Regazzoni. He made a dramatic comeback in the sister Ferrari to claim second, with Frenchman Jacques Laffite coming home in third for the Ligier team.

1979 Dutch Grand Prix Race Results

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/retired	Pts
1	27	Alan  Jones	Williams Ford	75	1:41:19.775	9
2	11	Jody Scheckter	Ferrari	75	+21.783s	6
3	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier Ford	75	+63.253s	4
4	6	Nelson Piquet	Brabham Alfa Romeo	74	+1 lap	3
5	25	Jacky Ickx	Ligier Ford	74	+1 lap	2
6	30	Jochen Mass	Arrows Ford	73	+2 laps	1
7	31	Hector Rebaque	Lotus Ford	73	+2 laps	0
NC	3	Didier Pironi	Tyrrell Ford	51	DNF	0
NC	12	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	49	DNF	0
NC	18	Elio de Angelis	Shadow Ford	40	DNF	0
NC	20	Keke Rosberg	Wolf Ford	33	DNF	0
NC	15	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault	26	DNF	0
NC	7	John Watson	McLaren Ford	22	DNF	0
NC	4	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Tyrrell Ford	20	DNF	0
NC	9	Hans-Joachim Stuck	ATS Ford	19	DNF	0
NC	17	Jan Lammers	Shadow Ford	12	DNF	0
NC	1	Mario Andretti	Lotus Ford	9	DNF	0
NC	29	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows Ford	7	DNF	0
NC	8	Patrick Tambay	McLaren Ford	6	DNF	0
NC	5	Niki Lauda	Brabham Alfa Romeo	4	DNF	0
NC	14	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi Ford	2	DNF	0
NC	2	Carlos Reutemann	Lotus Ford	1	DNF	0
NC	16	Rene Arnoux	Renault	1	DNF	0
NC	28	Clay Regazzoni	Williams Ford	0	DNF	0

1984

Frenchman Alain Prost won the 1985 Dutch Grand Prix, driving a McLaren-TAG, after starting from pole position. Brazilian driver Nelson Piquet led the first ten laps in his Brabham until an oil pressure issue forced him to retire, allowing Prost to take the lead for the rest of the race. Prost’s Austrian teammate Niki Lauda finished in second place, while Nigel Mansell secured third in a Lotus. The 1-2 finish clinched the 1984 Constructors’ Championship for McLaren, their first since 1974.

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1984 Dutch Grand Prix Race Results

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/retired	Pts
1	7	Alain Prost	McLaren TAG	71	1:37:21.468	9
2	8	Niki Lauda	McLaren TAG	71	+10.283s	6
3	12	Nigel Mansell	Lotus Renault	71	+79.544s	4
4	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus Renault	70	+1 lap	3
5	2	Teo Fabi	Brabham BMW	70	+1 lap	2
6	15	Patrick Tambay	Renault	70	+1 lap	1
7	25	Francois Hesnault	Ligier Renault	69	+2 laps	0
8	6	Keke Rosberg	Williams Honda	68	DNF	0
9	10	Jonathan  Palmer	RAM Hart	67	+4 laps	0
10	9	Philippe Alliot	RAM Hart	67	+4 laps	0
11	28	Rene Arnoux	Ferrari	66	DNF	0
12	30	Jo Gartner	Osella Alfa Romeo	66	+5 laps	0
13	23	Eddie  Cheever	Alfa Romeo	65	DNF	0
NC	18	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows BMW	59	DNF	0
NC	21	Huub Rothengatter	Spirit Hart	53	DNF	0
NC	22	Riccardo Patrese	Alfa Romeo	51	DNF	0
NC	26	Andrea de Cesaris	Ligier Renault	31	DNF	0
NC	5	Jacques Laffite	Williams Honda	23	DNF	0
NC	16	Derek Warwick	Renault	23	DNF	0
NC	14	Manfred Winkelhock	ATS BMW	22	DNF	0
NC	19	Ayrton Senna	Toleman Hart	19	DNF	0
NC	17	Marc Surer	Arrows BMW	17	DNF	0
NC	1	Nelson Piquet	Brabham BMW	10	DNF	0
NC	24	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella Alfa Romeo	8	DNF	0
NC	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	7	DNF	0

1990

Ayrton Senna secured his fifth victory of the season at the 1990 Belgian Grand Prix in his McLaren MP4/5B, finishing four seconds ahead of reigning world champion Alain Prost in the Ferrari 641. This win marked Senna’s fourth triumph at the Belgian Grand Prix and his third consecutive victory at the race. Senna’s Austrian teammate, Gerhard Berger, took third place, while Mauricio Gugelmin earned a point for the Leyton House team further down the field.

The race required three starts, with the first two being red-flagged due to collisions. Aguri Suzuki’s Lola was eliminated after the first start, and Paolo Barilla’s Minardi after the second. The Onyx team also withdrew from Formula 1 before the race weekend, citing financial difficulties, after competing for a season and a half.

1990 Belgian Grand Prix Race Results

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/retired	Pts
1	27	Ayrton Senna	McLaren Honda	44	1:26:31.997	9
2	1	Alain Prost	Ferrari	44	+3.550s	6
3	28	Gerhard Berger	McLaren Honda	44	+28.462s	4
4	19	Alessandro Nannini	Benetton Ford	44	+49.337s	3
5	20	Nelson Piquet	Benetton Ford	44	+89.650s	2
6	15	Mauricio Gugelmin	Leyton House Judd	44	+108.851s	1
7	16	Ivan Capelli	Leyton House Judd	43	+1 lap	0
8	4	Jean Alesi	Tyrrell Ford	43	+1 lap	0
9	29	Eric Bernard	Lola Lamborghini	43	+1 lap	0
10	10	Alex Caffi	Arrows Ford	43	+1 lap	0
11	11	Derek Warwick	Lotus Lamborghini	43	+1 lap	0
12	12	Martin Donnelly	Lotus Lamborghini	43	+1 lap	0
13	9	Michele Alboreto	Arrows Ford	43	+1 lap	0
14	25	Nicola Larini	Ligier Ford	42	+2 laps	0
15	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi Ford	42	+2 laps	0
16	14	Olivier Grouillard	Osella Ford	42	+2 laps	0
17	8	Stefano Modena	Brabham Judd	39	DNF	0
NC	7	David Brabham	Brabham Judd	36	DNF	0
NC	22	Andrea de Cesaris	Dallara Ford	27	DNF	0
NC	5	Thierry Boutsen	Williams Renault	21	DNF	0
NC	2	Nigel Mansell	Ferrari	19	DNF	0
NC	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams Renault	18	DNF	0
NC	21	Emanuele Pirro	Dallara Ford	5	DNF	0
NC	3	Satoru Nakajima	Tyrrell Ford	4	DNF	0

2007

Felipe Massa won the 2007 Turkish Grand Prix on 26 August at Istanbul Park, marking the third time a Formula 1 race was held at this circuit. The previous winners were Kimi Raikkonen in 2005 and Massa in 2006, both of whom were competing for Ferrari in the 2007 season. Raikkonen took second place while McLaren driver Fernando Alonso took third. In the post-race press drivers’ conference, Massa commented that “Istanbul Park was the track where he made his career turn-around and finally began winning races.”

2007 Turkish Grand Prix Race Results

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/retired	Pts
1	5	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	58	1:26:42.161	10
2	6	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	58	+2.275s	8
3	1	Fernando Alonso	McLaren Mercedes	58	+26.181s	6
4	9	Nick Heidfeld	Sauber BMW	58	+39.674s	5
5	2	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren Mercedes	58	+45.085s	4
6	4	Heikki Kovalainen	Renault	58	+46.169s	3
7	16	Nico Rosberg	Williams Toyota	58	+55.778s	2
8	10	Robert Kubica	Sauber BMW	58	+56.707s	1
9	3	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault	58	+59.491s	0
10	14	David Coulthard	Red Bull Renault	58	+71.009s	0
11	17	Alexander Wurz	Williams Toyota	58	+79.628s	0
12	11	Ralf Schumacher	Toyota	57	+1 lap	0
13	7	Jenson Button	Honda	57	+1 lap	0
14	23	Anthony Davidson	Super Aguri Honda	57	+1 lap	0
15	18	Vitantonio Liuzzi	STR Ferrari	57	+1 lap	0
16	12	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	57	+1 lap	0
17	8	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	57	+1 lap	0
18	22	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri Honda	57	+1 lap	0
19	19	Sebastian Vettel	STR Ferrari	57	+1 lap	0
20	21	Sakon Yamamoto	Spyker Ferrari	56	+2 laps	0
21	20	Adrian Sutil	Spyker Ferrari	53	DNF	0
NC	15	Mark Webber	Red Bull Renault	9	DNF	0

2018

The 2018 Belgian Grand Prix was held on this day, 26 August, for the 61st time at Spa-Francorchamps, and the 51st time it was part of the World Championship. Sebastian Vettel claimed victory with Ferrari, finishing ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull driver Max Verstappen. The win propelled Vettel past Alain Prost in the all-time Formula 1 wins rankings and would be his last win for over a year until the 2019 Singapore Grand Prix.

The race included a dramatic first-lap crash involving Fernando Alonso, Nico Hulkenberg, and Charles Leclerc. Hulkenberg misjudged his braking and collided with the back of Alonso’s car, causing Alonso to be launched over Leclerc’s car and landing on the halo.

2018 Belgian Grand Prix Race Results

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/retired	Pts
1	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	44	1:23:34.476	25
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	44	+11.061s	18
3	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer	44	+31.372s	15
4	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	44	+68.605s	12
5	11	Sergio Perez	Force India Mercedes	44	+71.023s	10
6	31	Esteban Ocon	Force India Mercedes	44	+79.520s	8
7	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas Ferrari	44	+85.953s	6
8	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas Ferrari	44	+87.639s	4
9	10	Pierre Gasly	Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda	44	+105.892s	2
10	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber Ferrari	43	+1 lap	1
11	55	Carlos Sainz	Renault	43	+1 lap	0
12	35	Sergey Sirotkin	Williams Mercedes	43	+1 lap	0
13	18	Lance Stroll	Williams Mercedes	43	+1 lap	0
14	28	Brendon Hartley	Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda	43	+1 lap	0
15	2	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren Renault	43	+1 lap	0
NC	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer	28	DNF	0
NC	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	8	DNF	0
NC	16	Charles Leclerc	Sauber Ferrari	0	DNF	0
NC	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren Renault	0	DNF	0
NC	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	0	DNF	0
Note – Bottas received a 5-second time penalty for causing a collision with Sirotkin

F1 Driver Birthdays 26 August

Birthday	F1 Driver
26 August 1925	Bobby Ball (d. 1954)

F1 Driver Deaths 26 August

Death	F1 Driver
26 August	None

F1 Champion 26 August

Date	Team/Driver
26 August 1984	McLaren