In motorsport, while talent is extremely important, luck seems to play a significant role. Max Verstappen says: “You just need the luck – that you’re in the right team, at the right place and are dominant for a long time. It doesn’t always happen.”
By Graham Duxbury
Luck is obviously hard to quantify. Legendary South African golfer Gary Player once said the harder he practiced the luckier he got. More pragmatically, three-time world champion Jackie Stewart says there should be a rational explanation for good or bad luck.
Lewis Hamilton is often seen as lucky: Think of the infamous Silverstone coming-together with Verstappen in 2021 where the Red Bull was destroyed and Max hospitalised. Hamilton, in a fundamentally-undamaged Mercedes, was given a 10-second time penalty for causing the crash but came through the pack to win the race.
The “Hamilton luck” also played out at Imola in 2020 when he received a helping hand from a well-timed virtual safety car period during which he was able to pit and steal the race lead from Valtteri Bottas.
Red flags also benefitted Lewis at Silverstone and Sochi in 2019, while the controversial decision to penalise Sebastian Vettel at the ’21 Canadian Grand Prix helped Hamilton to mount the top step of the podium.
However, by the end of the 2021 season, Lady Luck, like a fickle girlfriend, had transferred her affection to Verstappen who benefitted from the now well-documented shambolic last lap of the Abu Dhabi GP to secure his first World Drivers’ Championship title.
If luck is so important, how do drivers go about increasing their serving, or at least minimising bad luck?
Many drivers make use of lucky charms or have unique superstitions that supposedly give them a lucky edge. For example, Alberto Ascari, the double world champion from the 1950s, was particularly fixated on his lucky pale blue crash helmet. Only he was permitted to handle it or touch the helmet’s carrying case.
Sadly, he was killed in a testing accident at Monza after borrowing a white helmet.
Stefano Modena, who in 1992 drove for the Sasol-sponsored Jordan team, would not get into his car if it was parked on the left side of the pit garage. He also used to wear one racing glove turned inside out.
Alex Wurz, once a teammate of Michael Schumacher at Benetton, always wore mismatched racing boots. And Williams driver Nick Heidfeld apparently insisted on wearing two watches while driving.
Verstappen’s current Red Bull teammate, Sergio Perez is said to carry a picture of the late Pope John Paul II after meeting the former pontiff in Italy several years ago. “I have it because he touched my hand back in the 2000s,” explains Perez. “I really felt a big connection to him.”
Today, Sebastian Vettel is believed to carry a one cent coin he found on the street in Indianapolis ahead of his F1 race debut in 2007.
A surprising number of drivers rely on lucky underwear to achieve success. Alan Jones, the 1980 world champion, secured his title at the Canadian GP after a rushed delivery of his lucky red underpants which had been inadvertently left behind in the UK.
Former Williams, McLaren and Red Bull driver David Coulthard seemed to enjoy success only while wearing a pair of increasingly decrepit underwear given to him by his aunt.
Felipe Massa, another of Michael Schumacher’s former teammates, usually wore the same pair of underwear for qualifying and the race – but only if his “quali” went well.
Numbers also play a vital part in drivers’ attempts to woo Lady Luck. Michael Schumacher favoured cars with odd numbers and won all his world titles in odd-numbered cars (five with the number one, and one each with three and five).
When he made his famous comeback, he asked to swap race numbers with Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg. With Nico’s approval, Michael exchanged his number four for Rosberg’s three.
Pastor Maldonado opted for the traditionally unlucky number 13, believing it would achieve the opposite effect for him. It did – but only once in his F1 career.
Popular beverages are apparently related to race results. Lando Norris, being British, has to have a cup of tea before a race while Valtteri Bottas is often spotted with a steaming cup of strong coffee ahead of start-line formalities.