What happened on this day, June 14 in Formula 1 history? Find out interesting facts and stories about Formula 1 on this day.
1943
Born on this day in London, John Miles, a former Lotus driver in 1969 and 1970, initially joined to replace Graham Hill and served as the second driver to Jochen Rindt. Despite Rindt’s dominance, Miles faced difficulties and after Rindt’s tragic death at Monza, he fell out with team boss Colin Chapman and subsequently left the team. Miles briefly test-drove for BRM in 1971 and participated in a few non-championship races before retiring. Beyond racing, he became a renowned chassis development engineer and also ventured into producing jazz records.
1958
George Fonder, a veteran of four Indianapolis 500 races, three of which were part of the FIA World Championship, tragically died in a crash at a midget sprint event at Hatfield Speedway. Fonder had only returned to racing temporarily as a favour to the event’s promoter, marking a sad end to his sporadic racing career.
1964
The 1964 Belgian Grand Prix ended unexpectedly and dramatically when the race leader, Graham Hill, and his closest challenger, Dan Gurney, both ran out of fuel on the final lap. Bruce McLaren, who had been trailing, managed to overtake them, only for his engine to falter as well. Despite this, he coasted toward the finish line, only to be overtaken by a surprised Jim Clark at the last moment. Recounting the event, McLaren remarked, “Gurney and Hill stopped ahead of me; my engine then died, but I had just enough momentum to coast around the last bend and toward the finish.”
1992
After the 1992 Canadian Grand Prix, Gerhard Berger’s victory hung in the balance for several hours while his McLaren underwent detailed scrutiny by technical officials. The controversy centred on a bolt on the rear wing tail flap that was reportedly one millimetre too long. Team principal Ron Dennis intervened with fervent negotiations to secure the race win. Meanwhile, tensions flared between Nigel Mansell and Ayrton Senna after Mansell claimed Senna forced him off the track, leading to his retirement. Mansell expressed frustration, stating, “I got alongside Senna and he pushed me off.” Contrarily, Senna, supported by several observers, countered, “Nigel knew he wasn’t going to stop, so he tried powering through the sand trap. He returned to the track ahead of me but landed hard, which didn’t work out.”
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