What Happened On This Day September 14 In F1 History?

What happened on this day, September 14 in Formula 1 history? Find out interesting facts and stories about Formula 1 on this day.

1917

Mack Hellings was born on this day in Fort Dodge, Iowa, in 1917. The American driver competed in the Indianapolis 500 in 1950 and 1951, when the race was part of the World Championship, with a career-best finish of 13th. Hellings was killed in a plane crash in November 1951, aged 34.

1918

Georges Berger was born in Brussels in 1918. The Belgian driver only competed in two Grands Prix between 1953 and 1954, with a career-best finish of 20th. Berger died in August 1967 at the age of 48 when he crashed a Porsche 911 at the Nurburgring.

1980

The 1980 Italian Grand Prix was the only one not held at Monza. It took place at Imola in 1980 and witnessed a horrific accident involving Ferrari driver Gilles Villeneuve. Villeneuve’s bravery earned him huge respect among the Italian Tifosi, but on this occasion, his luck ran out. After qualifying the outdated Ferrari in a respectable eighth place, Villeneuve suffered a tyre blowout on lap five and crashed into the Armco barrier at high speed. The car disintegrated on impact, and the main monocoque was thrown back into oncoming cars. Remarkably, Villeneuve emerged with just scratches and bruises, but any hope of a Ferrari podium on home soil (he was running fourth at the time) was gone. Nelson Piquet won the race with Brabham after taking the lead on lap three and maintaining his advantage throughout. Alan Jones finished second for Williams after a charge through the field from sixth on the grid, setting the fastest lap in the process. His teammate Carlos Reutemann finished third.

Jones’ and Reutemann’s podium finishes enabled the Williams team to secure their first-ever Constructors’ Championship with two races remaining.

1980 Italian Grand Prix Race Results

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/retired	Pts
1	5	Nelson Piquet	Brabham Ford	60	1:38:07.520	9
2	27	Alan  Jones	Williams Ford	60	+28.930s	6
3	28	Carlos Reutemann	Williams Ford	60	+73.670s	4
4	12	Elio de Angelis	Lotus Ford	59	+1 lap	3
5	21	Keke Rosberg	Fittipaldi Ford	59	+1 lap	2
6	25	Didier Pironi	Ligier Ford	59	+1 lap	1
7	8	Alain Prost	McLaren Ford	59	+1 lap	0
8	1	Jody Scheckter	Ferrari	59	+1 lap	0
9	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier Ford	59	+1 lap	0
10	16	Rene Arnoux	Renault	58	+2 laps	0
11	50	Rupert Keegan	Williams Ford	58	+2 laps	0
12	31	Eddie  Cheever	Osella Ford	57	+3 laps	0
13	3	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Tyrrell Ford	54	DNF	0
NC	15	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault	53	DNF	0
NC	9	Marc Surer	ATS Ford	45	DNF	0
NC	11	Mario Andretti	Lotus Ford	40	DNF	0
NC	29	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows Ford	38	DNF	0
NC	4	Derek Daly	Tyrrell Ford	33	DNF	0
NC	7	John Watson	McLaren Ford	20	DNF	0
NC	6	Hector Rebaque	Brabham Ford	18	DNF	0
NC	20	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi Ford	17	DNF	0
NC	2	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	5	DNF	0
NC	23	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo	5	DNF	0
NC	22	Vittorio Brambilla	Alfa Romeo	4	DNF	0

2001

In 2001, Mika Hakkinen announced he would be taking a sabbatical year from Formula One, and fellow Finn Kimi Raikkonen would take his McLaren seat. In the end, the double world champion never returned to the sport despite several offers from high-profile teams. It’s often joked he may still return, never officially retiring. After a career spanning four decades, starting in karting in 1974 at the age of five, Hakkinen expressed a desire to spend more time with his wife and son. He ended his F1 journey with 2 Championships, 20 wins, 51 podiums, 420 career points, 26 pole positions and 25 fastest laps.

Consistent and quick, he scored points in over half of his races. In their 11 years as rivals, only Michael Schumacher achieved more, and Schumacher himself said that the opponent he most respected was Hakkinen.

2003

Michael Schumacher, driving for Ferrari, won the 2003 Italian Grand Prix after starting from pole position. Juan Pablo Montoya finished second in a Williams, with Rubens Barrichello securing third in the other Ferrari. Marc Gene, replacing the injured Ralf Schumacher in the sister Williams, achieved his highest-ever Formula One finish and scored his final points in the sport. Until the 2023 race, this event held the record for the shortest-duration fully completed Formula One World Championship race, with the fastest average race speed ever recorded at 247.585 km/h.

2003 Italian Grand Prix Race Results

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/retired	Pts
1	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	53	1:14:19.838	10
2	3	Juan Pablo Montoya	Williams BMW	53	+5.294s	8
3	2	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	53	+11.835s	6
4	6	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren Mercedes	53	+12.834s	5
5	4	Marc Gene	Williams BMW	53	+27.891s	4
6	16	Jacques Villeneuve	BAR Honda	52	+1 lap	3
7	14	Mark Webber	Jaguar Cosworth	52	+1 lap	2
8	8	Fernando Alonso	Renault	52	+1 lap	1
9	9	Nick Heidfeld	Sauber Petronas	52	+1 lap	0
10	11	Giancarlo Fisichella	Jordan Ford	52	+1 lap	0
11	12	Zsolt Baumgartner	Jordan Ford	51	+2 laps	0
12	18	Nicolas Kiesa	Minardi Cosworth	51	+2 laps	0
13	10	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Sauber Petronas	50	DNF	0
NC	5	David Coulthard	McLaren Mercedes	45	DNF	0
NC	20	Olivier Panis	Toyota	35	DNF	0
NC	19	Jos Verstappen	Minardi Cosworth	27	DNF	0
NC	17	Jenson Button	BAR Honda	24	DNF	0
NC	21	Cristiano da Matta	Toyota	3	DNF	0
NC	15	Justin Wilson	Jaguar Cosworth	2	DNF	0
NC	7	Jarno Trulli	Renault	0	DNF	0

2008

Sebastian Vettel became the youngest driver at the time to win a Formula One Grand Prix at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix, aged 21 years and 74 days, driving for Toro Rosso. The day before, Vettel had also become the youngest driver at the time to take pole in Formula One history. He finished 12.5 seconds ahead of McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen in wet weather conditions. The 21-year-old drove with precision in the slippery conditions while running standard-spec low downforce at the 3.6-mile circuit. In the post-race press conference, Vettel recalled the last few laps:

“P1 was still on the board, P1 and a plus, and I was leading by quite a bit, and I thought f***k, you know, if you finish the race you will be winning – I apologise – but you know, it was unbelievable. Then I tried to focus again, the conditions were difficult. In the end it was not so difficult to keep up concentration.”

The result was also a team best for Toro Rosso, being the only podium finish it ever achieved. The 2008 World Champion Lewis Hamilton only managed seventh.

2008 Italian Grand Prix Race Results

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/retired	Pts
1	15	Sebastian Vettel	STR Ferrari	53	1:26:47.494	10
2	23	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren Mercedes	53	+12.512s	8
3	4	Robert Kubica	Sauber BMW	53	+20.471s	6
4	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	53	+23.903s	5
5	3	Nick Heidfeld	Sauber BMW	53	+27.748s	4
6	2	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	53	+28.816s	3
7	22	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren Mercedes	53	+29.912s	2
8	10	Mark Webber	Red Bull Renault	53	+32.048s	1
9	1	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	53	+39.468s	0
10	6	Nelson Piquet	Renault	53	+54.445s	0
11	12	Timo Glock	Toyota	53	+58.888s	0
12	8	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams Toyota	53	+62.015s	0
13	11	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	53	+65.954s	0
14	7	Nico Rosberg	Williams Toyota	53	+68.635s	0
15	16	Jenson Button	Honda	53	+73.370s	0
16	9	David Coulthard	Red Bull Renault	52	+1 lap	0
17	17	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	52	+1 lap	0
18	14	Sebastien Bourdais	STR Ferrari	52	+1 lap	0
19	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India Ferrari	51	+2 laps	0
NC	21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India Ferrari	11	DNF	0

F1 Driver Birthdays 14 September

Birthday	F1 Driver
14 September 1917	Mack Hellings (d. 1951)
14 September 1918	Georges Berger (d. 1967)
14 September 1950	Masami Kuwashima

F1 Driver Deaths 14 September

Death	F1 Driver
14 September 2023	Basil van Rooyen (b. 1939)

F1 Champion 14 September

Date	Team/Driver
14 September 1980	Williams