Has there ever been an F1 photo finish?

Merlin5

Merlin5

Merlin5

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Winners in F1 are always clearly in front of the rest by the time they approach the chequered flag and then go over the line. Was just wondering if anyone can recall if there's ever been a race where a 2nd place driver has begun an overtake approaching the finish line on the final lap, comes alongside the first place driver and they've both gone over the line at the same time, causing stewards to study the finish like in horse racing before deciding who won. Probably not though.
 
Wouldn't they use the timing telemetry rather than a photo finish, it's accurate down to some fairly low margin is it not?

But good question, would be good to find out

Just read this

Mansell, determined as ever, refused to give in. Quickly closing that gap too, he and Senna found themselves racing within inches for much of the lap before Mansell got a far superior exit out of the final corner. He waited until the very last second to duck out from the Lotus’s slipstream and to the naked eye the two cars seemed to cross the line simultaneously. It was a photo finish - and to Mansell’s dismay the photo proved Senna had actually got there first - the Brazilian took victory by the slimmest of margins - just 0.014 seconds.
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on here

Edit : Beaten like the beginning of a victoria sponge :( :D
 
Barichello/Schumacher attempted to get a dead heat in Indianapolis 2002 - Rubens won by 0.011seconds. MS was trying to engineer a dead heat to see if it was possible. Impressive to get that close! Or so said a youtube video... looking up timing now..
Yep, was 0.011
 
Hxc said:
Barichello/Schumacher attempted to get a dead heat in Indianapolis 2002 - Rubens won by 0.011seconds. MS was trying to engineer a dead heat to see if it was possible. Impressive to get that close! Or so said a youtube video... looking up timing now..
Yep, was 0.011
Click to expand...

If you believe that, you believe anything lol
 
So I'm now wondering what circuits on this years F1 calendar have start/finish lines wide enough that could potentially create another photo or near photo finish. The next one, Sepang in Malaysia has two wide final stretches, all the way from turn 14 to 15 and then 15 to the finish line, so that's a possibility.
 
I can't imagine anything will beat the 3 way tie at Jerez in 97 qualifying. Although I'm a complete cynic I'm told the telemetry showed they all posted the same time 1:21.072.
 
FrankJH said:
If you believe that, you believe anything lol
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At first i thought that, now I'm thinking it was the race where the mitchelin tires just fell apart and there was only a few cars on track and only the ferraris were even competitive. Caused quite an outrage amongst the American fans.

edit-nope, just a normal race although the Ferarris were massively dominant. I don't see why Michael wouldn't want to try and get a dead heat, he was probably annoyed he didn't win though.
 
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The 1971 Italian GP at Monza had a fairly epic finish - the top 5 covered by only 6 tenths as they crossed the line, and the winner taking it by only a single hundredth of a second...!

 
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