Read Also:<\/p>\n
10. Vittorio Brambilla, 1975 Swedish GP
\n ![\"Anderstorp's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/vittorio-brambilla-march-751-f.jpg\")
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Anderstorp’s unusual circuit characteristics led to unusual results<\/p>\n
Photo by: David Phipps \/ Sutton Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n
March 751<\/p>\n
The unusual\u00a0Anderstorp circuit could throw up some odd results. Tyrrell\u2019s 007 had qualified and finished 1-2 in 1974 and no one was entirely sure why. A year later it was the turn of March\u2019s 751 in the hands of Brambilla to unexpectedly set the pace.<\/p>\n
On a weekend when many teams struggled to find a balance, the 751 was consistently fast and\u00a0Brambilla\u2019s best of 1m24.630s was 0.38 seconds quicker than second-placed Patrick Depailler, who failed to match his 1974 pole time. Brambilla had qualified third at the previous race in Belgium, but the nature of his Swedish domination caused confusion.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust why everybody was so much inferior to\u00a0Brambilla was the subject of much speculation all over the paddock all weekend,\u201d reported Pete Lyons in Autosport.<\/p>\n
\u201cBrambilla was able to hold the 751 at a more or less neutral attitude through all the long bends. The others with their other cars couldn\u2019t. The March was measurably faster through those bends. It seemed quite simple.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Italian barely even bothered going out in the last hour of practice and didn\u2019t do morning warm-up!<\/p>\n
Brambilla duly led the early stages of the race from what would be his only F1 pole but he didn\u2019t run away from the field. That elusive balance left the March, understeer eventually overheating the front-left tyre. Brambilla fell back and then pitted for new rubber before his transmission failed, while Niki Lauda\u2019s Ferrari<\/a> \u2013 which had started fifth \u2013 won.<\/p>\n 9.\u00a0Keke Rosberg, 1983 Brazilian GP Rosberg\u2019s Rio pole was the last for a normally aspirated F1 car before the turbos were banished<\/p>\n Photo by: Motorsport Images<\/p>\n Williams<\/a> FW08C<\/p>\n Having the reigning world champion as a surprise polesitter for the opening round of the following season might seem a bit strange. But, as Autosport pointed out, \u201cthe last thing anybody expected was a Cosworth car to head the front row of the grid\u201d.<\/p>\n Rosberg had taken what would turn out to be the last title for the Cosworth DFV with a single win in 1982. Turbos were getting more and more powerful, particularly in qualifying when they could turn the boost up. And Rio was not regarded as the sort of track that would give the non-turbos a chance.<\/p>\n Rosberg, however, had been planning this surprise since testing the month before, though he thought someone would steal it. He recorded a 1m34.526s in his Williams FW08 and reckoned he could have gone faster. But no one else did, with Renault\u2019s Alain Prost qualifying second on 1m34.672s.<\/p>\n Rosberg\u2019s team-mate Jacques Laffite was 18th, 3.7s down, while the second-quickest Cosworth runner was Lauda in ninth, 1.5s behind Rosberg.<\/p>\n \u201cIt feels really good to have the pole at the first race of the year after all the rubbish you hear over the winter about having no chance with a\u00a0Cosworth this year, being lucky to have won the championship and not going well this year,\u201d said Rosberg.<\/p>\n The FW08 ended up as the eighth-fastest car of 1983 on raw pace and\u00a0Rosberg\u2019s Rio performance would be the last normally aspirated F1 pole before the turbos were banished for 1989.<\/p>\n 8. Rubens Barrichello, 1994 Belgian GP\u00a0 Barrichello sits in the Jordan garage waiting to see if he keeps pole during Saturday qualifying<\/p>\n Photo by: Sutton Images<\/p>\n Jordan 194<\/p>\n Barrichello had been a top-six threat at times early in 1994, though his previous two grid slots arriving at Spa were 11th and 10th. But classic mixed Ardennes weather gave the young Brazilian a chance.<\/p>\n Friday\u2019s session was wet but drying, and\u00a0Barrichello gambled on a switch to slicks in the closing moments. He danced the Jordan 194 around in 2m21.163s to top the times by 0.331s, with championship leader Michael Schumacher<\/a>\u2019s Benetton second.<\/p>\n \u201cThe boys were just about to bolt on more wets when I decided to go for it,\u201d said Barrichello. \u201cThe new chicane and the Bus Stop were really slippery, but slicks were the way to go. Just.\u201d<\/p>\n Saturday\u2019s qualifying was wet and\u00a0Barrichello sat steadfastly in the pits, not wanting to help dry the track. This time Jean Alesi<\/a>\u2019s Ferrari went quickest but conditions didn\u2019t improve enough and his best was nearly 4s away from robbing Barrichello of his and Jordan\u2019s first F1 pole.<\/p>\n Read Also:<\/p>\n Incredibly, it was the first pole by a team other than\u00a0McLaren<\/a>, Williams, Benetton and Ferrari since 1987! Sadly, Barrichello would not finish the race.<\/p>\n Barrichello\u2019s 1999 French GP pole in mixed conditions also deserves an honourable mention. But his Stewart SF3 had already shown flashes of pace and Barrichello\u2019s quality in the wet had been well-established by days such as that at Spa in 1994.<\/p>\n 7. Sebastian\u00a0Vettel, 2008 Italian GP Vettel stunned F1 with Italian GP pole – and did so again one day later with victory<\/p>\n Photo by: Charles Coates \/ Motorsport Images<\/p>\n Toro Rosso STR3<\/p>\n We\u2019ve largely ignored the surprising poles of the 2003-09 era, when cars had to start the race with the fuel load they qualified with and thus some teams gambled on lighter loads to get higher up the grid. But\u00a0Vettel\u2019s first F1 pole was about much more than fuel weight.<\/p>\n Vettel had already impressed during his first full F1 campaign with Toro Rosso, the team previously known as minnow Minardi. But even so, his best qualifying effort in the aerodynamically efficient and Ferrari-engined STR3 prior to round 14 in Italy was sixth.<\/p>\n Read Also:<\/p>\n At Monza, Vettel was third in Q1 and then topped Q2 in a session a McLaren gamble to put Hamilton on intermediate tyres instead of wets backfired and left the Briton knocked out in 15th. The 21-year-old German was consistently brilliant and finished it off with a 1m37.555s Q3 effort, pipping McLaren\u2019s Heikki Kovalainen<\/a> by 0.076s.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t like the car in the rain on Friday, so we made quite a big change in the set-up overnight,\u201d said\u00a0Vettel, who became F1\u2019s youngest polesitter before going on to take a brilliant win on Sunday. \u201cRight from the moment I first tried it in free practice it felt very good in the wet and gave me a lot of confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n Read Also:<\/p>\n 6. Lance Stroll, 2020 Turkish GP Stroll put the ‘pink Mercedes’ on pole in wet, cold and slippery conditions<\/p>\n Photo by: Mark Sutton \/ Motorsport Images<\/p>\n Racing Point RP20<\/p>\n Mercedes<\/a> dominated the 2020 season with the remarkable W11. Before round 14 of the COVID-hit season, only Hamilton and\u00a0Valtteri Bottas<\/a> had taken a pole, while Red Bull\u2019s Max Verstappen<\/a> had been their closest challenger.\u00a0<\/p>\n Racing Point\u2019s RP20, dubbed the \u2018Pink Mercedes\u2019 due to its similarity to the 2019 W10, was a consistent points threat and arguably the season\u2019s third-best car. But it was 1.2% slower than the Mercedes, a margin that covered the top seven teams in 2025. Sergio Perez<\/a> also tended to lead the team \u2013 as he would underline with a fine victory in the\u00a0Sakhir GP \u2013 but it was Stroll who took his chance in Istanbul.<\/p>\n Verstappen looked the favourite to end the Mercedes run of poles, having topped all three practice sessions. He was then quickest in Q1 and Q2 on a wet track as well. The Dutchman looked good on the wet tyres but was less comfortable on the intermediate rubber that he and the Racing Points switched as the clock ticked down.<\/p>\n Perez grabbed provisional pole before Stroll, 12th and fourth in the first two segments of qualifying, managed 1m47.765s \u2013 a full 1.6s faster than his team-mate.\u00a0Verstappen fell 0.3s short, while Hamilton and Bottas struggled to sixth and ninth respectively. \u00a0<\/p>\n Stroll would go on to lead more than half of the GP in similar conditions, but ended up ninth as Hamilton came through to win and secure his seventh world title.\u00a0<\/p>\n One thing that stops this climbing higher is that Stroll had shown flashes of wet-weather ability before, in particular qualifying fourth (and starting second) for Williams at\u00a0Monza in 2017.<\/p>\n 5.\u00a0Nico Hulkenberg, 2010 Brazilian GP\u00a0 Hulkenberg made the rest of the F1 field look average in 2010 Brazilian GP qualifying<\/p>\n Photo by: Glenn Dunbar \/ Motorsport Images<\/p>\n Car: Williams FW32<\/p>\n Hulkenberg won everything on his way to F1 and the Williams FW32 was strong on the sort of green track that rain at Interlagos created, but this was still an outstanding performance from the rookie. The combination\u2019s average grid position over the first 17 rounds of 2010 had been 11.6\u2026<\/p>\n Even in the wetter Q1 and Q2,\u00a0Hulkenberg was merely competitive rather than stunning \u2013 11th in the first part of qualifying, eighth in the second. But as the track dried a little more for Q3, the German found grip others didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n And this was about more than just being out on track at the end of the session when the track was quickest.\u00a0Hulkenberg set two laps (on slicks) good enough for pole, the second \u201cmonster of a lap, super-aggressive\u201d, as he put it, 1.049s quicker than the Red Bull of second-place Vettel.<\/p>\n Hulkenberg was 1.7s faster than team-mate and fellow wet-weather ace Barrichello, who had actually made the call to try slicks first but was using less wing than his colleague.<\/p>\n \u201cHe made us all look pretty average there today,\u201d said Mark Webber<\/a>. \u201cHe found a different race track to the rest of us.\u201d<\/p>\n Read Also:<\/p>\n 4. Carlos Reutemann, 1972 Argentinian GP Reutemann’s maiden F1 pole came out of nowhere<\/p>\n Photo by: Sutton Images<\/p>\n Brabham BT34<\/p>\n The\u00a0Brabham BT34 had not proved particularly potent in 1971. Graham Hill had only scored two points with it all season, though he had won the non-championship BRDC International Trophy at Silverstone in a mixed F1\/F5000 field.<\/p>\n Rookie\u00a0Reutemann had finished as runner-up in the 1971 European F2 championship, but it\u2019s fair to say the combination of the newcomer and the BT34 was not everyone\u2019s tip for pole at the 1972 season opener. Ferrari was quickest in unofficial practice, while McLaren and reigning champion Jackie Stewart also looked in the mix.<\/p>\n But in the final half-hour of practice,\u00a0Reutemann went out \u2013 with Stewart behind \u2013 and edged away from the Tyrrell as they made their final pushes. The result was pole for the new home star, his 1m12.46s being more than a second quicker than anyone had managed the day before and 0.22s ahead of Stewart.<\/p>\n Autosport\u2019s David Phipps also described Reutemann as \u201cthe star of the race\u201d, the Argentinian running second to Stewart before his soft-compound Goodyear tyres started to wilt and he finished seventh. Reutemann wouldn\u2019t qualify better than fifth for the rest of the season and would have to wait nearly three years for his second pole.<\/p>\n 3. Andrea\u00a0de Cesaris, 1982 USA GP West De Cesaris was overcome with emotion after taking pole<\/p>\n Photo by: Sutton Images<\/p>\n Alfa Romeo 182<\/p>\n Lauda, in just his third GP after coming out of retirement, had looked in control at Long Beach. He would go on to win the race, but the McLaren driver was denied pole by a late lap out of the blue from the Alfa Romeo of de Cesaris.<\/p>\n \u201cRarely can a driver have put more into a single lap,\u201d reckoned\u00a0Autosport\u2019s Nigel Roebuck, who also described the Alfa\u2019s pole as \u201ca shock\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cAndrea came in to some kind of hero\u2019s welcome from his crew, but a glance at the young Italian told you the extent of his effort,\u201d continued Roebuck. \u201cHe was in a very emotional state, weeping and shaking in the enormity of the moment. A lot of inspiration went into that pole position lap.\u201d<\/p>\n While the Alfa Romeo 182s of de Cesaris and Bruno Giacomelli had looked competitive around Long Beach, neither had troubled the top six in the car\u2019s first outing in Brazil. And de Cesaris was coming off a 1981 season with McLaren in which he\u2019d had more crashes than finishes, so outqualifying his replacement by 0.12s was rather attention-grabbing.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve popped this here above the other surprise\u00a0Alfa pole, Giacomelli\u2019s effort at Watkins Glen in 1980. The Italian had qualified fourth at the previous two races, but taking his only F1 pole by 0.8s means he deserves a mention.<\/p>\n De Cesaris converted his Long Beach pole into the lead and initially edged away. But Lauda was never too far back, chipped away at the deficit and closed up as the leaders encountered traffic. When de Cesaris was held up by Raul Boesel, the leader shook his fist instead of changing gear and Lauda flashed by. De Cesaris later crashed out, distracted by seeing fire in his mirrors.<\/p>\n 2. Kevin Magnussen, 2022 Brazilian GP Magnussen profited from worsening conditions and a timely red flag to take a maiden F1 pole<\/p>\n Photo by: Sam Bloxham \/ Motorsport Images<\/p>\n Haas VF-22<\/p>\n The Haas VF-22 was, on average, the eighth-fastest car of 2022 and the team had been a point-less last in the standings the year before. Prior to the penultimate round in Brazil,\u00a0Magnussen\u2019s best starting position was fifth and he\u2019d only occasionally been a Q3 contender.<\/p>\n As with several entries on this list, however, weather provided an opportunity.\u00a0Magnussen, who had thought his F1 career was over until global events led to Nikita Mazepin<\/a> losing his drive before the season began, did well to make it into Q3 \u2013 team-mate Mick Schumacher<\/a> fell in Q1. He then led the rush to put in a lap before showers arrived.<\/p>\n Magnussen immediately managed a 1m11.674s lap, quicker than chaser Carlos Sainz<\/a>\u2019s Ferrari, while season dominator Verstappen suffered a lock-up and fell 0.2s short in his Red Bull. When George Russell<\/a> beached his Mercedes and brought out red flags after going third quickest, an upset looked likely.<\/p>\n The session resumed with eight minutes remaining but the conditions were now worse and\u00a0Magnussen secured his one and only F1 pole. \u201cYou\u2019re kidding!\u201d exclaimed the Dane when told he was told over the radio.<\/p>\n 1.\u00a0Giancarlo Fisichella, 2009 Belgian GP\u00a0 The ninth-slowest car of the year taking pole is a deserving topper of this list<\/p>\n Photo by: Sutton Images<\/p>\n Force India VJM02<\/p>\n As one of the great drivers of mediocre machinery,\u00a0Fisichella had two candidates for this list from his four F1 poles, the other being the 1998 Austrian GP. But he\u2019d already hauled that year\u2019s Benetton to fourth on the grid in Spain and Canada, and third in Monaco. The B198 was also the fourth-fastest car of 1998 and double spinner Fisichella was aided by being the last runner on a drying track at the A1 Ring.<\/p>\n The Force India VJM02 was, on average, the slowest car of 2009, albeit in a very tight season during which it received major upgrades.\u00a0Fisichella\u2019s qualifying efforts prior to round 12 at Spa read as: 18-18-20-18-20-13-19-16-18-16-16.<\/p>\n But in what\u00a0Autosport described as \u201cquite the most bizarre dry qualifying anyone could remember\u201d, Fisichella topped Q1, was fourth in Q2 and then took pole by 0.087s from Jarno Trulli<\/a>\u2019s Toyota, which was faster but fuelled heavier.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFisichella probably had as little idea as the rest of the pitlane that he was going to deliver the performance of his life,\u201d opined Autosport. \u201cSomething magical clicked into place.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Fisichella had opted for the softer tyre option for qualifying, while other teams struggled to get the best out of it and opted for the harder medium. The updated VJM02 was also aerodynamically efficient for the relatively low-downforce circuit, which all helped to turn the formbook on its head during a season in which all the cars proved capable of battling for points.\u00a0<\/p>\n Fisichella almost won the race, too, finishing a close second to Kimi Raikkonen<\/a>\u2019s Ferrari.<\/p>\n Read Also:<\/p>\n Pole and second place marked one of the great underdog performances in the modern era<\/p>\n Photo by: Sutton Images<\/p>\n We want to hear from you!<\/p>\n Let us know what you would like to see from us in the future.<\/p>\n
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