Nelson Piquet endured physical agony on October 17, 1981, but survived the Caesars Palace Grand Prix to become Formula 1 World Champion for the first time.
Carlos Reutemann arrived in Las Vegas leading the championship for Williams but endured a miserable afternoon. The Argentine lost fourth gear and slipped to eighth, leaving Piquet needing only fifth place to secure the championship.
Piquet somehow delivered despite struggling badly with the physical demands of the unusual anti-clockwise circuit laid out in the Caesars Palace hotel car park. Afterwards, the Brazilian admitted: “When 33 laps to go were signalled, I nearly died. By then my head was going out of the car at the bends… I was almost finished.”
He finished fifth and beat Reutemann to the title by a single point. Alan Jones won the race for Williams ahead of Alain Prost and Bruno Giacomelli. Jones, who had already announced his intention to retire, made no secret of his strained relationship with teammate Reutemann.
Happy Birthday to the other Kimi!
October 17 also produced chaos at the inaugural Malaysian Grand Prix in 1999. Eddie Irvine won ahead of returning Ferrari teammate Michael Schumacher, but both cars were disqualified after post-race inspection found their bargeboards outside the permitted dimensions. Mika Häkkinen was provisionally promoted to victory and appeared to have retained his World Championship.
A week later, however, Ferrari successfully appealed. Irvine’s victory and Schumacher’s second place were reinstated, sending Irvine to Suzuka with a 4-point championship lead. Häkkinen ultimately won the title in Japan.
October 17 is also Kimi Räikkönen’s birthday. Born in Finland in 1979, the “Iceman” became 2007 World Champion with Ferrari and eventually accumulated 349 Grand Prix starts before retiring at the end of 2021.
Few dates combine championship exhaustion, regulatory controversy and one of Formula 1’s most distinctive personalities quite like October 17.