What Happened On This Day September 27 In F1 History?

What happened on this day, September 27 in Formula 1 history? Find out interesting facts and stories about Formula 1 on this day.

1981

Ligier driver Jacques Laffite‘s victory at the 1981 Canadian Grand Prix set up a thrilling finale to the season three weeks later. Carlos Reutemann, who finished ninth for Williams, led the championship by one point over eventual champion Nelson Piquet, who finished fifth for Brabham. In appalling conditions, the race start was delayed by an hour due to confusion over insurance coverage for the drivers. Despite significant damage to his nose wing, Gilles Villeneuve thrilled his home fans by finishing third, with the wing flying off his Ferrari just four laps from the finish.

Despite a lacklustre performance from Reutemann and teammate Alan Jones retiring on lap 24, mathematically, Williams clinched the 1981 Constructors’ Championship.

1981 Canadian Grand Prix Race Results

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/retired	Pts
1	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier Matra	63	2:01:25.205	9
2	7	John Watson	McLaren Ford	63	+6.233s	6
3	27	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	63	+110.275s	4
4	23	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo	62	+1 lap	3
5	5	Nelson Piquet	Brabham Ford	62	+1 lap	2
6	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus Ford	62	+1 lap	1
7	22	Mario Andretti	Alfa Romeo	62	+1 lap	0
8	17	Derek Daly	March Ford	61	+2 laps	0
9	33	Marc Surer	Theodore Ford	61	+2 laps	0
10	2	Carlos Reutemann	Williams Ford	60	+3 laps	0
11	4	Michele Alboreto	Tyrrell Ford	59	+4 laps	0
12	3	Eddie  Cheever	Tyrrell Ford	56	DNF	0
NC	8	Andrea de Cesaris	McLaren Ford	51	DNF	0
NC	15	Alain Prost	Renault	48	DNF	0
NC	12	Nigel Mansell	Lotus Ford	45	DNF	0
NC	10	Slim Borgudd	ATS Ford	39	DNF	0
NC	6	Hector Rebaque	Brabham Ford	35	DNF	0
NC	32	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Osella Hart	26	DNF	0
NC	1	Alan  Jones	Williams Ford	24	DNF	0
NC	28	Didier Pironi	Ferrari	24	DNF	0
NC	14	Eliseo Salazar	Ensign Ford	8	DNF	0
NC	25	Patrick Tambay	Ligier Matra	6	DNF	0
NC	29	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows Ford	6	DNF	0
NC	16	Rene Arnoux	Renault	0	DNF	0

1987

Williams driver Nigel Mansell delivered a commanding performance at the 1987 Spanish Grand Prix, a win described by team boss Frank Williams as “perfect … an absolutely brilliant performance.” Mansell overtook championship rival and teammate Nelson Piquet on the opening lap and remained unchallenged throughout the race. His day improved further when Piquet spun while battling the McLaren of Alain Prost for second place and eventually finished fourth. Ayrton Senna, who came fifth for Lotus, using a no-stop strategy, was criticised for creating a traffic jam as he defended his position. Prost’s teammate Stefan Johansson finished third.

With Mansell’s 9 points and Piquet’s 3, Williams clinched the 1987 Constructors’ Championship.

1987 Spanish Grand Prix Race Results

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/retired	Pts
1	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams Honda	72	1:49:12.692	9
2	1	Alain Prost	McLaren TAG	72	+22.225s	6
3	2	Stefan Johansson	McLaren TAG	72	+30.818s	4
4	6	Nelson Piquet	Williams Honda	72	+31.450s	3
5	12	Ayrton Senna	Lotus Honda	72	+73.507s	2
6	30	Philippe Alliot	Lola Ford	71	+1 lap	1
7	4	Philippe Streiff	Tyrrell Ford	71	+1 lap	0
8	18	Eddie  Cheever	Arrows Megatron	70	DNF	0
9	11	Satoru Nakajima	Lotus Honda	70	+2 laps	0
10	17	Derek Warwick	Arrows Megatron	70	+2 laps	0
11	9	Martin Brundle	Zakspeed	70	+2 laps	0
12	16	Ivan Capelli	March Ford	70	+2 laps	0
13	7	Riccardo Patrese	Brabham BMW	68	+4 laps	0
14	23	Adrian Campos	Minardi Motori Moderni	68	+4 laps	0
15	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	67	DNF	0
16	20	Thierry Boutsen	Benetton Ford	66	DNF	0
NC	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	62	DNF	0
NC	3	Jonathan  Palmer	Tyrrell Ford	55	DNF	0
NC	25	Rene Arnoux	Ligier Megatron	55	DNF	0
NC	10	Christian Danner	Zakspeed	50	DNF	0
NC	24	Alessandro Nannini	Minardi Motori Moderni	45	DNF	0
NC	19	Teo Fabi	Benetton Ford	40	DNF	0
NC	8	Andrea de Cesaris	Brabham BMW	26	DNF	0
NC	26	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Ligier Megatron	24	DNF	0
NC	14	Pascal Fabre	AGS Ford	10	DNF	0
NC	32	Nicola Larini	Coloni Ford	8	DNF	0

1992

Nigel Mansell, who had secured his only Drivers’ Championship with Williams a month earlier, completed his ninth win of the season at the 1992 Portuguese Grand Prix, breaking Ayrton Senna’s four-year-old record. Starting from pole, Mansell built a 2.4-second lead after the first lap and extended it to 37.5 seconds by the end. His teammate Riccardo Patrese narrowly escaped injury after a terrifying 170mph collision with Gerhard Berger‘s McLaren, which saw Patrese’s car cartwheel and disintegrate before slamming upside down into the pit wall. “I really could have hurt myself … I’m just glad to be here,” Patrese admitted. Berger finished in second place, and teammate Senna finished third.

1992 Portuguese Grand Prix Race Results

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/retired	Pts
1	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams Renault	71	1:34:46.659	10
2	2	Gerhard Berger	McLaren Honda	71	+37.533s	6
3	1	Ayrton Senna	McLaren Honda	70	+1 lap	4
4	20	Martin Brundle	Benetton Ford	70	+1 lap	3
5	11	Mika Hakkinen	Lotus Ford	70	+1 lap	2
6	9	Michele Alboreto	Footwork Mugen Honda	70	+1 lap	1
7	19	Michael Schumacher	Benetton Ford	69	+2 laps	0
8	25	Thierry Boutsen	Ligier Renault	69	+2 laps	0
9	4	Andrea de Cesaris	Tyrrell Ilmor	69	+2 laps	0
10	10	Aguri Suzuki	Footwork Mugen Honda	68	+3 laps	0
11	17	Emanuele Naspetti	March Ilmor	68	+3 laps	0
12	23	Christian Fittipaldi	Minardi Lamborghini	68	+3 laps	0
13	32	Stefano Modena	Jordan Yamaha	68	+3 laps	0
14	24	Gianni Morbidelli	Minardi Lamborghini	68	+3 laps	0
NC	21	Jyrki Jarvilehto	Dallara Ferrari	51	DNF	0
NC	16	Karl Wendlinger	March Ilmor	48	DNF	0
NC	26	Erik Comas	Ligier Renault	47	DNF	0
NC	30	Ukyo Katayama	Venturi Lamborghini	46	DNF	0
NC	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams Renault	43	DNF	0
NC	22	Pierluigi Martini	Dallara Ferrari	43	DNF	0
NC	28	Ivan Capelli	Ferrari	34	DNF	0
NC	3	Olivier Grouillard	Tyrrell Ilmor	27	DNF	0
NC	29	Bertrand Gachot	Venturi Lamborghini	25	DNF	0
NC	33	Mauricio Gugelmin	Jordan Yamaha	19	DNF	0
NC	27	Jean Alesi	Ferrari	12	DNF	0
NC	12	Johnny Herbert	Lotus Ford	2	DNF	0

1998

McLaren driver Mika Hakkinen won the 1998 Luxembourg Grand Prix at the Nurburgring in front of a capacity crowd, giving him a four-point lead in the 1998 Drivers’ Championship with one race remaining. Despite Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine taking the front row of the grid, Hakkinen overtook Irvine on lap 14 and closed in on Schumacher. He ultimately took the lead by staying out five laps longer than Schumacher during the pit stop cycle, securing a crucial victory. Schumacher came home in second, and Hakkinen’s teammate, David Coulthard, in third.

1998 Luxembourg Grand Prix Race Results

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/retired	Pts
1	8	Mika Hakkinen	McLaren Mercedes	67	1:32:14.789	10
2	3	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	67	+2.212s	6
3	7	David Coulthard	McLaren Mercedes	67	+34.164s	4
4	4	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari	67	+58.183s	3
5	2	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Williams Mecachrome	67	+60.248s	2
6	5	Giancarlo Fisichella	Benetton Playlife	67	+61.360s	1
7	6	Alexander Wurz	Benetton Playlife	67	+64.790s	0
8	1	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams Mecachrome	66	+1 lap	0
9	9	Damon Hill	Jordan Mugen Honda	66	+1 lap	0
10	14	Jean Alesi	Sauber Petronas	66	+1 lap	0
11	18	Rubens Barrichello	Stewart Ford	65	+2 laps	0
12	11	Olivier Panis	Prost Peugeot	65	+2 laps	0
13	19	Jos Verstappen	Stewart Ford	65	+2 laps	0
14	17	Mika Salo	Arrows	65	+2 laps	0
15	22	Shinji Nakano	Minardi Ford	65	+2 laps	0
16	21	Toranosuke Takagi	Tyrrell Ford	65	+2 laps	0
NC	23	Esteban Tuero	Minardi Ford	56	DNF	0
NC	10	Ralf Schumacher	Jordan Mugen Honda	53	DNF	0
NC	15	Johnny Herbert	Sauber Petronas	37	DNF	0
NC	20	Ricardo Rosset	Tyrrell Ford	36	DNF	0
NC	12	Jarno Trulli	Prost Peugeot	6	DNF	0
NC	16	Pedro Diniz	Arrows	6	DNF	0

2009

Lewis Hamilton won the 2009 Singapore Grand Prix for McLaren to keep the Drivers’ Championship fight alive, despite Brawn driver Jenson Button finishing fifth and maintaining a 15-point lead. Hamilton, reflecting on his own 2007 experience of losing a 17-point lead with two races to go, advised Button to “continue pressing hard all the way to the finish.” Fernando Alonso finished third, his best result of the season with Renault, and controversially dedicated his performance to his agent Flavio Briatore, who had been banned from the sport by the FIA just six days earlier for his role in the Crashgate scandal. Tim Glock, who was driving for Toyota, finished third.

2009 Singapore Grand Prix Race Results

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/retired	Pts
1	1	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren Mercedes	61	1:56:06.337	10
2	10	Timo Glock	Toyota	61	+9.634s	8
3	7	Fernando Alonso	Renault	61	+16.624s	6
4	15	Sebastian Vettel	RBR Renault	61	+20.261s	5
5	22	Jenson Button	Brawn Mercedes	61	+30.015s	4
6	23	Rubens Barrichello	Brawn Mercedes	61	+31.858s	3
7	2	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren Mercedes	61	+36.157s	2
8	5	Robert Kubica	Sauber BMW	61	+55.054s	1
9	17	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams Toyota	61	+56.054s	0
10	4	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	61	+58.892s	0
11	16	Nico Rosberg	Williams Toyota	61	+59.777s	0
12	9	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	61	+73.009s	0
13	3	Giancarlo Fisichella	Ferrari	61	+79.890s	0
14	21	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India Mercedes	61	+93.502s	0
NC	11	Jaime Alguersuari	STR Ferrari	47	DNF	0
NC	12	Sebastien Buemi	STR Ferrari	47	DNF	0
NC	14	Mark Webber	RBR Renault	45	DNF	0
NC	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India Mercedes	23	DNF	0
NC	6	Nick Heidfeld	Sauber BMW	19	DNF	0
NC	8	Romain Grosjean	Renault	3	DNF	0

2015

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won the 2015 Japanese Grand Prix after overtaking teammate Nico Rosberg at the start, with Rosberg initially dropping to fourth before recovering to finish second. As a result, Rosberg’s gap in the 2015 Drivers’ Championship increased to 48 points. Sebastian Vettel secured third place for Ferrari. Notably, this was the first race since the 2011 European Grand Prix where all cars were classified as finishers, a feat that wouldn’t be repeated until the 2016 Chinese Grand Prix.

2015 Japanese Grand Prix Race Results

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/retired	Pts
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	53	1:28:06.508	25
2	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	53	+18.964s	18
3	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	53	+20.850s	15
4	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	53	+33.768s	12
5	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams Mercedes	53	+36.746s	10
6	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India Mercedes	53	+55.559s	8
7	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus Mercedes	53	+72.298s	6
8	13	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus Mercedes	53	+73.575s	4
9	33	Max Verstappen	STR Renault	53	+95.315s	2
10	55	Carlos Sainz	STR Renault	52	+1 lap	1
11	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren Honda	52	+1 lap	0
12	11	Sergio Perez	Force India Mercedes	52	+1 lap	0
13	26	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull Racing Renault	52	+1 lap	0
14	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber Ferrari	52	+1 lap	0
15	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing Renault	52	+1 lap	0
16	22	Jenson Button	McLaren Honda	52	+1 lap	0
17	19	Felipe Massa	Williams Mercedes	51	+2 laps	0
18	53	Alexander Rossi	Marussia Ferrari	51	+2 laps	0
19	28	Will Stevens	Marussia Ferrari	50	+3 laps	0
20	12	Felipe Nasr	Sauber Ferrari	49	DNF	0

2020

The Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas won the 2020 Russian Grand Prix, with Max Verstappen finishing in second for Red Bull, and Bottas’s teammate Lewis Hamilton completing the podium in third.

The 2020 season was significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to the cancellation or postponement of many originally scheduled races. As a result, the FIA introduced a revised calendar, though the Russian Grand Prix retained its original date. Up to 30,000 fans were allowed to attend the race under social distancing guidelines. Haas driver Romain Grosjean voiced concerns about the management of the pandemic at his hotel during the event.

2020 Russian Grand Prix Race Results

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/retired	Pts
1	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	53	1:34:00.364	26
2	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing Honda	53	+7.729s	18
3	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	53	+22.729s	15
4	11	Sergio Perez	Racing Point BWT Mercedes	53	+30.558s	12
5	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	53	+52.065s	10
6	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	53	+62.186s	8
7	31	Esteban Ocon	Renault	53	+68.006s	6
8	26	Daniil Kvyat	AlphaTauri Honda	53	+68.740s	4
9	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri Honda	53	+89.766s	2
10	23	Alexander Albon	Red Bull Racing Honda	53	+97.860s	1
11	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari	52	+1 lap	0
12	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas Ferrari	52	+1 lap	0
13	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	52	+1 lap	0
14	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari	52	+1 lap	0
15	4	Lando Norris	McLaren Renault	52	+1 lap	0
16	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams Mercedes	52	+1 lap	0
17	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas Ferrari	52	+1 lap	0
18	63	George Russell	Williams Mercedes	52	+1 lap	0
NC	55	Carlos Sainz	McLaren Renault	0	DNF	0
NC	18	Lance Stroll	Racing Point BWT Mercedes	0	DNF	0
Note – Bottas scored an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race. Ricciardo and Albon received 5-second time penalties for rejoining the track incorrectly.

2025

On this day, we remember Vincenzo “Enzo” Osella, who passed away on 27 September 2025, at the age of 86. Born in Volpiano and raised around his family’s garage, Osella learned cars from the ground up, first as a co-driver and club racer, then as an inventive privateer who could tune, fix, and drive with equal conviction. A formative stint with Carlo Abarth sharpened his feel for chassis and engines, and in 1971, he took the plunge, acquiring Abarth’s racing department to build Osella Corse. A decade later, he leapt into the deep end of Formula One. Against giants and with modest means, Osella’s small outfit fought through pre-qualifying, long nights, and longer odds, still reaching 132 Grand Prix race starts and scoring hard-won World Championship points, just five in total, with a fourth (1982 San Marino Grand Prix) and a fifth-place finish (1984 Dallas Grand Prix).

After leaving F1 in 1990, Osella steered his team back to sports cars and hillclimbs, where ingenuity and craft still matter as much as wind tunnels. He remained the archetype of the hands-on Italian racer-builder: sleeves rolled up, eyes on the stopwatch, loyal to the people who turned the spanners beside him.

2025

Max Verstappen continued his run of motorsport dominance with a victory on his GT3 debut at the Nürburgring Nordschleife. Driving a Ferrari 296 GT3 alongside Chris Lulham, the Red Bull F1 driver started third but surged into the lead early, pulling out a commanding gap before Lulham brought the car home to victory in a field of more than 100 cars.

The Dutchman, already a four-time Formula One World Champion, has signalled clear ambitions to expand into endurance racing. He has set his sights on the Nürburgring 24 Hours and Le Mans, though he admits more experience is needed before tackling the full 24-hour classics.

Verstappen returned to F1 duties at the 2025 Singapore Grand Prix while keeping one eye firmly on his endurance racing future.

Formula One History Recommends

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  Max Verstappen Wins on GT3 Debut at the Nurburgring Nordschleife

F1 Driver Birthdays 27 September

Birthday	F1 Driver
27 September	None

F1 Driver Deaths 27 September

Death	F1 Driver
27 September 2003	Jean Lucas World (b. 1917)
27 September 2010	Trevor Taylor (b. 1936)

Death	F1 Mentions
27 September 2025	Enzo Osella (b. 1939) Founder and chairman of Italian auto manufacturer Osella. The team competed in Formula One between 1980 and 1990.

F1 Champion 27 September

Date	Team/Driver
27 September 1981	Williams
27 September 1987	Williams