Friday,

10th of April – Karl Wendlinger scores 5th fastest time in qualifying for the 1993 European Grand Prix at Donningotn with his Sauber C13. His team-mate JJ Lehto had already qualified in 3rd row for the team’s debut at Kyalami but this should remain the team’s best starting position for quite a while. How many attempts will it take until Sauber can place a car on 2nd row of the grid?

10/4/1958, Bob Bell is born in Belfast, Ireland

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Robert Bell could have take many different roads than that of Formula 1. As a trained aerodynamicist, he first turned his hand to aviation but joined McLaren in 1982 after graduating from Queens University in Belfast. Working under John Barnard, Neil Oatley and Steve Nichols, he was right there when the team began collecting its greatest successes in the latter part of the 1980s. With a doctorate in aeronautical engineering, Bob was the right man to head the top secret MAVerick project, McLaren’s Land Speed Record car, and was thus promoted to head of R&D in 1995. But with the F1 team increasingly in trouble, the project was shelved a year later and Bell moved to Benetton as chief aerodynamicist in 1997 and in 1999 to Jordan as head of R&D under Mike Gascoyne, both having worked together before at McLaren. When Gascoyne went to Renault in 2001 Bell followed and became deputy technical director and stayed on when Gascoyne moved on to Toyota in 2003, succeeding Mike as technical director and leading the team to World Championships in 2005 and 2006 and remained in this position till present.

1/1/1911, Carel Godin de Beaufort is born in Maarsbergen, Holland

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Carel Pieter Antoni Jan Hubertus Godin de Beaufort was a Dutch nobleman and probably the last true amateur driver to compete in Grand Prix racing on a regular basis. He made occasional Grand Prix appearances until 1961, when he acquired a Porsche 718/2 from Rob Walker. The car saw extensive service over the next four seasons with his greatest success coming in 1963 with two second places in the Syracuse and Rome Grands Prix and a third in the Austrian GP at Zeltweg which eventually led to Carel becoming Holland’s first F1 World Championship points scorer. In his attempt to qualify for the German Grand Prix Carel crashed at Bergwerk, the car somersaulting twice and throwing Carel out. He was first transported to the hospital in Koblenz and on Sunday Carel was taken to the University Hospital of Cologne by helicopter. There, Carel Godin de Beaufort passed away later in the night due to the severity of his injuries.

Born: 10th of April 1934 in Maarsbergen, Netherlands;
Died: 3rd of August 1964 in Cologne, Germany, aged 30 years.

10/4/1929, Mike Hawthorn is born in Mexborough, UK

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John Michael Hawthorn was as quick as any top driver on his day, but he was also inconsistent. Health issues, like persisting problems with his kidneys, could well have played a role on his varying performance levels. Glory and tragedy seemed often to go hand in hand for the Brit. Hawthorn won the 1955 edition of the 24 hours of Le Mans, but it was also his approach to the pits that triggered the tragic accident that killed Pierre Levegh and dozens of spectators. The following year, on the way to winning the World Championship, he lost his team-mate and close friend Peter Collins at the German Grand Prix and announced his retirement from racing. Even in Casablanca, where Hawthorn would seal his title, tragedy would be close at hand. As the new World Champion celebrated his victory through the night, the Vanwall team flew their grievously burned third driver Stuart Lewis-Evans back to England where he would die some days later. With a promising business career waiting for him away from the tracks, Hawthorn was killed in a road accident on the Guildford bypass early in 1959.

Born: 10th of April 1929 in Mexborough, UK.
Died: 22nd of January 1959 in Guildford, UK, aged 29.

1/1/1911, Paul Russo is born in Kenosha, USA

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Paul Russo was a successful midget and IndyCar racer and remains a confusing part of F1 stats for Some. This is because his results seem to differ from his points score. That’s because his best finish, a 2nd place in the 1955 Indianapolis 500 was achieved as a relief-driver to Tony Bettenhausen. The Indy 500 being a round for the Formula 1 World Championship in those days, he got award half of the points for this result and full points on his sole drive to 4th in 1957. Later Paul Russo worked as an accessory rep at Indianapolis and, while attending the 1976 Daytona 500, died from a heart attack.

Born: 10th of April 1914 in Kenosha, USA.
Died: 13th of February 1976 in Daytona, USA.