What would happen if a Formula 1 team principal got into a fight in the paddock? The answer lies in an incredible story
Fred Vasseur, the 58-year-old director of Scuderia Ferrari, rushes into the paddock at the Zandvoort circuit without showing his entry pass to the security guard and, ignoring him completely, continues on his way with indifference. The guard attempts to stop him, but the Frenchman pointedly ignores him and continues on his way unperturbed. When the guard persists and demands an explanation, the response he receives from the Italian team captain is a punch to the face.
“Vasseur isn’t that kind of guy and would never do something like that,” you might say. And of course you’d be right, since the above incident is a product of my imagination—though inspired by a different era of Formula 1, when things were a bit more physical.
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And I’m not saying this by chance, since that’s exactly what the great Colin Chapman, leader of the legendary Team Lotus, did at the 1965 Dutch Grand Prix, back when playboys and mavericks ruled the Formula 1 paddock.
Chapman’s “crime” was that he had tied his lapel around his belt loop instead of wearing it on his arm. The police officer who was clearing the crowd from the grid so the race could start (yes, that was the police’s job back then!) grabbed the Brit by the arm and tried to force him over the barrier. At that point, the Lotus team leader thought of Muhammad Ali and… all hell broke loose.
Chapman was arrested immediately after the race ended, this time not by a single police officer but by a whole mob of them, with the officers dragging him by his legs, while the Lotus mechanics, clutching their boss tightly by the arms and neck, pulled him in the opposite direction to save him. “Get your filthy hands off me!” Chapman commanded, and his men—who would have walked through fire for him—immediately obeyed the order.
A few centimeters taller—obviously from all the tugging—Chapman was forced to spend the night in his cell, still tasting the champagne of victory on his lips, since the race at Zandvoort had been won by his loyal friend—the great—Jim Clark—had won the race at Zandvoort.
Different times, different people, a Formula 1 that was more carefree, more rebellious, and perhaps a little more beautifully inappropriate by today’s standards…
More in my book *Ode to Speed* – Dimitris Giokkas
Caption for the black-and-white photo in the middle of the text: The great Colin Chapman with the legendary Jim Clark, Formula 1’s unbeatable duo.
