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In 1973, Beuttler achieved his best-ever finish, seventh in the Spanish Grand Prix. "He made up for it with his determination and every time he climbed out of the car you knew he had been at work - he was sweating and his eyes were bulging." Mike Beuttler raced in 28 Grands Prix during his career "He probably wasn't ready for F1 when he joined, but had a great team of backers," said Phillips. His career was financed by stockbroker friends and in 1972 he raced as a semi-works March driver, with Lauda and Ronnie Peterson as his team-mates at the Canadian Grand Prix. In 1971, Beuttler made his F1 debut at the British Grand Prix in a privately funded March car. "He was quiet compared to Hunt or Mike Hailwood and an incredibly friendly guy, but beneath that was a fierce determination and he took racing immensely seriously," said Phillips.īeuttler got the reputation of being a very rough racer, because he did not like being overtaken and would block anyone who got in his way - and the nickname 'Blocker' was born.
#Driver of the day f1 driver
Phillips met Beuttler in 1970, and got to know the driver well as he competed in Formula 2. His path to the sport began to open up after he had success in the late 1960s in Formula 3 and then moved to Formula 2, most notably winning at Vallelunga in Italy in 1971. As well as Hunt, he faced other world champions in Sir Jackie Stewart and Niki Lauda. "Beuttler did bring a girlfriend and different women to races, perhaps it was a convenient disguise, because it stopped the tongues wagging." Mike Beuttler would often be accompanied by Anne Ries de Loen at races 'Blocker' Beuttler's racing careerīeuttler raced in F1 for three seasons, from 1971 to 1973.
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I don't think the word 'out' really existed when he was racing. "Why would Beuttler be out and proud? He wouldn't. "In the United Kingdom, it was only in 1967 that homosexuality was legalised between two consenting adults in private. Matt Bishop, a Racing Pride ambassador and Aston Martin F1 chief communications officer, said: "In the early 1970s, people didn't talk about being gay. The racing world of the 2020s is a very different place to that of the 1970s. "I knew he was gay, but it didn't matter in my world." "Mike gave it absolutely everything on track - he wasn't a natural talent but he worked hard," former motorsport journalist and friend Ian Phillips told BBC Sport. There were no organisations such as Racing Pride, which launched in 2019 to promote LGBT+ inclusivity in motorsport.
#Driver of the day f1 drivers
James Hunt, the 1976 world champion, famously had the phrase, 'Sex, the breakfast of champions' embroidered on his overalls and many drivers had reputations for being womanisers. He did so at a time when F1 was an especially macho environment. A stellar driver performance this weekend.Then, in late 1988, they learned from his family that he had died in Los Angeles of Aids, aged 48.īeuttler remains the only known gay male driver to have competed at the highest level of motorsport.
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Instead of complaining on the radio, he dealt with it in the best possible way.Īlonso did everything right, it wasn’t the result he wanted, but he gave himself all the possible chances. He intentionally let Sainz past twice, in order to gain DRS and keep pace with the Ferrari to be able to defend from Hamilton behind. That cost Alonso 9 seconds.Īlonso was also dealing with a technical issue costing him top speed on the straights. That did occur, but it was unfortunately ill-timed as Alonso was just past the pit entry when it happened and not in time around the circuit for the next lap to still benefit from VSC. Then the second part of the gamble had to happen: another VSC. But Ocon didn’t do his part defending hard the way Alonso did for him before Hamilton had no trouble getting past at all! They correctly rolled the dice staying out on the first VSC as that was their chance to get a podium: have Ocon hold up Hamilton after Hamilton took the VSC stop, while gambling on another later (V)SC stop with Alonso for a near perfect 1-stop race.
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Outstanding quali and in the race he gave it everything and Alpine even played a very nice strategy that through bad luck didn’t work out. Verstappen just did what was to be expected from him with Leclerc and Perez starting further back.