By Charlotte Reid 
Many asked that Markus Winkelhock not be allowed to race after seeing his early lap times. He ended up leading the race in the rain with the worst car on the grid, but then he had a breakdown.
The history of Formula 1 is full of bizarre stories, but very few measure up to this one. The protagonist is Markus Winkelhock, and having raced in only one race, he is an unforgettable name for Formula 1 fans from the early 2000s. His greatest achievement? Taking the lead in his first and only Grand Prix.
Winkelhock was a semi-amateur driver with hardly any track record, but he had to get into the worst car in Formula 1 overnight because Spyker was left without a driver. His times in free practice were so bad that many asked for him not to be allowed to race, but a twist of fate led him to break an unbeatable record in the race.
Markus Winkelhock, the driver who led almost half of the laps he drove in Formula 1
Like many great stories, Winkelhock’s begins with a heated moment. Spyker team boss Colin Kolles lost his temper when his driver, Christijan Albers, left the pits too early during the French Grand Prix and ripped out the fuel hose. It was the Dutchman’s umpteenth mistake, and Kolles fired Albers on the spot.
The problem was that the European Grand Prix at the legendary Nürburgring was just around the corner, and now Spyker had no driver. Kolles searched high and low for a suitable replacement, but could find no one better than Markus Winkelhock. And who was Markus Winkelhock? Well, no one was quite sure.
He was the son of Manfred Winkelhock, a former Formula 1 driver from the 1980s with a modest track record, and the most he had ever done was race in the DTM, where he didn’t even manage to score a single point. But as he had been working as a test driver for Spyker for a few months, they decided to give him a shot while they looked for someone better. So it was decided, Winkelhock would race at the Nürburgring.
Friday’s free practice sessions were devastating. Winkelhock was last, one second per lap behind his teammate Adrian Sutil, who was second to last. Many were already suspicious, but what really set off the alarm bells was Saturday’s qualifying session: Winkelhock was almost three seconds behind the third to last driver and 1.5 seconds behind his teammate.
That was when many drivers expressed their doubts. Some, such as Felipe Massa and Mark Webber, directly asked that Winkelhock not be allowed to race because he was too slow, while others suggested that the German’s presence on the track could be dangerous. But the FIA was adamant: Winkelhock was within 107% and could therefore race.
No one saw what happened on Sunday coming. While everyone was doing the formation lap, Winkelhock had an idea while driving in last position: if those black clouds ended up delivering what they promised, putting on rain tyres before the start could bring him great benefits. And since he didn’t have much to lose, he did just that.
And yes, it happened. Almost as soon as the lights went out, it began to pour with rain at the Nürburgring. While all the drivers who had requested disqualification struggled to keep their cars on the wet track with dry tyres, Winkelhock overtook them at will after starting from the pits on rain tyres.
So, on the third lap, Winkelhock was not only in the lead, but had a lead of more than 30 seconds. But then the FIA made a decision that was unprecedented at the time, and has unfortunately become a recurring theme since then: it was raining so hard that the Safety Car had to be deployed. A tow truck came out onto the track to pull Lewis Hamilton out of the gravel trap, and Winkelhock’s lead vanished.
At the restart, everyone quickly passed Winkelhock, who soon found himself back at the back of the field. Fernando Alonso ended up winning that race. But there was one last twist: the Spyker broke down on lap 13, forcing him to retire. As Winkelhock had led six laps at the start of the race, he set an unbeatable record: Winkelhock is the driver with the highest percentage of laps led in history, more than 46%.
After that race, Spyker found a slightly better driver, Japan’s Sakon Yamamoto, who completed the season. Winkelhock returned to the DTM, where he managed to score points, then raced in touring cars and even put the finishing touch to his career by winning the 24 Hours of Nürburgring. But he will always be remembered for that first and last race in Formula 1.