Remember when the Brazilian Grand Prix was won by a car on fire and in the pits?

When Max Verstappen crossed the finish line in Mexico City last Sunday it was a clear and emphatic victory – but there have been several occasions in F1 history when at the end of the day, nobody was entirely clear about who had just won the race. The 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix is a case in point, when the ‘wrong’ driver ended up taking the trophy home.

This was the third round of the World Championship and race day saw torrential rain at Interlagos which would cause havoc throughout the afternoon. The start was delayed due to standing water on the track before things eventually got underway behind the safety car. The first fifty laps saw no fewer than ten retirements, eight of which were due to accidents which in turn triggered four safety car periods.

On lap 52, David Coulthard was leading comfortably in his McLaren when he decided to pit. With hindsight he should perhaps have stayed out because shortly afterwards Mark Webber dramatically lost control of his Jaguar at 150mph on the main straight, taking all four corners off the car and leaving the shaken but unhurt Australian sat in what remained of the tub with wreckage strewn across the track.

The safety car was promptly deployed for the fifth time as Giancarlo Fisichella’s Jordan and Kimi Raikkonen’s McLaren picked their way through the debris. Fernando Alonso wasn’t so lucky though as his Renault hit one of Webber’s errant wheels at great speed, triggering a major crash of his own. At this point there was no option but to wave the red flag and with more than 75 per cent of the race distance completed, a result was declared. But here’s where things got messy. The rules stated that under such circumstances, the result should be based on the order two laps prior to the red flag being shown. With the timing screens showing that the race was in its 55th lap, a result was declared at 53 laps, when Raikkonen was leading.

Meanwhile, Fisichella’s Jordan which had run in second place on lap 53, overheated whilst following an impossibly slow safety car and burst into flames upon returning to the pits. Kimi and Giancarlo took the first two steps on the podium, but the third spot was empty as by this point Fernando was in the hospital having his injuries attended to.

Kimi took the winner’s trophy home but five days later Eddie Jordan successfully argued that his man was actually ten seconds into his 56th lap when the red flag came out and therefore the result should be based on the standings after 54 laps, when Fisichella was ahead of Raikkonen by 0.9 of a second. The Jordan driver was therefore eventually awarded the win and though it was gutting for him to miss out on the celebrations for what was his first victory, Raikkonen and Ron Dennis happily handed over the trophy in a ceremony at the San Marino Grand Prix two weeks later. "I’m glad to have won at last, but I still feel annoyed that I was prevented from celebrating on the podium immediately after my success," said Giancarlo at the time.

He went on to win two more Grands Prix and still races a Ferrari in the FIA World Endurance Championship today. This was however the last of Ford’s 176 Grand Prix victories, and also the final win for Jordan as a constructor. That said, after several changes in ownership and by then competing as Racing Point, what was once the Jordan team did win again with Sergio Perez at Sakhir in 2020.

Whatever happens at Interlagos on Sunday, we can only hope that we come away knowing who won the latest encounter in this most exciting of Formula 1 seasons...

Photography: LAT