Ten embarrassing moments in F1

With the F1 season still weeks away, most F1 fans (myself included) are still replaying old races in order to ease the symptoms of race withdrawal. But you can only watch youtube clips of Juan Pablo Montoya getting attacked by a cameraman so many times before it starts to get repetitive, and you soon find yourself looking for other things to keep you entertained. Like cleaning the bathroom or wondering whether to do taxes early this year.

So that fellow racefans won't have to suffer from those indignities, I decided to make it easy and have collected some of the most entertaining F1 clips available to man. And by entertaining I mean "embarrassing", because there is something satisfying about seeing talented and well-paid individuals fail like the rest of us. In no particular order:

1) Montoya attacked by cameraman or "You broke my f**king head!"
Nothing else needs to be said about this that hasn't been already said in countless internet forums.


2) Gerhard Berger breaks mirror on Benneton
There are some things on you don't do when you're starting a new job, and breaking the mirror of your new team's racing car is probably somewhere on that list. The look on Berger's face as he realizes what he has just done is priceless.


3) David Coulthard hits a wall during a pit stop while leading the Australian GP
David Coulthard showed a lot of promise and speed in 1995 when he raced with Williams, but mistakes like this made for embarrassing moments (f1rejects.com ranks this as the most embarrassing moment in F1 history).


4) Mika Hakkinen almost takes out half the pit crew
This moment is more embarrassing for the mechanic who let Mika out of the pits before checking that the car was clear of any tools. In any case, Mika's incident most likely didn't make for a very happy Ron Dennis (someone who is a self-admitted control freak).


5) "Wanker!" - an angry Heidfeld insults the wrong driver
Sure, we've all insulted someone we thought had done us wrong and later found out that that it was all a silly misunderstanding. But we are blessed with not having a camera shoved in our face during those moments. Angry about a dicey move Takuma Sato made on him during the 2006 Chinese GP, a confused Nick Heidfeld walks to the Super Aguri Racing pit and starts insulting an even more confused (and innocent) Yamamoto.

To his credit, Heidfeld did apologize to Yamamoto after he was told of his mistake.


6) Michael Schumacher knocks over front jackman
Sure, it didn't happen during race conditions, but the idea that the highest-paid and most successful driver would make such a mistake is too perfect.


7) Mansell's wheel comes off after pitstop
After a pitstop during the Portugese GP, Nigel Mansell finds himself missing one wheel. Unfortunately for him racing cars work better with four wheels instead of three.


8) Kimi and #2
So it's not really an embarrassing moment, but Martin Brundle seems to be embarrassed for Kimi Raikkonen when he responds to Brundle's question.


9)"Monacogate"
I won't even comment on this because this has been talked about ad nauseam.


10) Not F1, but perhaps the most embarrassing moment in open-wheel racing...
Bjorn Wirdheim's embarrassing moment at the F3000 race in Monaco is just mind-boggling. Having controlled the race and certain of winning the prestigious event, Wirdheim slowed down to wave to his pit-crew thinking he had already crossed the finish line. Of course, that's not what happened...


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