On this Day in Formula 1: Goodbye Hakkinen, hello Vettel and lucky Villeneuve

The 1980 Italian Grand Prix was unique. For the only time in World Championship history, the race was held at Imola rather than Monza. Gilles Villeneuve qualified eighth in a difficult Ferrari and was running fourth when a tyre failed on Lap 5.

The Canadian crashed heavily into the Armco barrier, destroying the car and throwing the monocoque back towards oncoming traffic. Remarkably, Villeneuve escaped with only scratches and bruises.

Nelson Piquet won for Brabham after taking the lead on Lap 3. Alan Jones finished second and Carlos Reutemann third, securing Williams its first Constructors’ Championship with two races remaining.

Formula 1’s driver market produced another major moment on September 14, 2001. Mika Häkkinen announced he would take a sabbatical from Formula 1 after the season, with fellow Finn Kimi Räikkönen moving from Sauber to take his McLaren seat.

The double World Champion never returned to Formula 1. Häkkinen finished his career with two Drivers’ Championships, 20 victories and 26 pole positions.

Two years later, Michael Schumacher won the 2003 Italian Grand Prix from pole for Ferrari. Juan Pablo Montoya finished second for Williams, with Rubens Barrichello third. Marc Gené, deputising for the injured Ralf Schumacher, recorded the best finish of his Formula 1 career.

The race was run at an average speed of 247.585km/h, a Formula 1 record for a fully completed Grand Prix until 2023.

Then came the great upset of 2008. Sebastian Vettel, driving for Toro Rosso, had become Formula 1’s youngest pole-sitter at the time during wet qualifying at Monza.

One day later, aged 21 years and 74 days, he became the youngest Grand Prix winner in F1 history at that point. Vettel controlled the wet Italian Grand Prix and finished 12.5 seconds ahead of McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen, announcing himself as one of Formula 1’s defining talents of the next generation.