Kevin Eason has retired from his role as motor racing correspondent after two decades covering Formula One for The Times. Here, he recalls five races that will live long in his memory.
Belgium, 1998
My first Spa-Francorchamps was an epic in the rain. David Coulthard lost control and 13 cars were wiped out. After an hour’s delay, the restart heralded a chaotic race, which featured a memorable clash between Coulthard and Michael Schumacher. Damon Hill won for Jordan, his only victory after Williams. It was gob-smacking, thrilling and daunting, all at the same time.
Brazil, 2003
The journalist’s nightmare. Deadline looming, a frenzied race and, at the finish, no one knew who had won. Interlagos, my favourite track, was drenched and just about everything happened, climaxing when Mark Webber crashed his Jaguar into the pit straight. Fernando Alonso ploughed through the wreckage, bringing out the red flag. McLaren thought Coulthard had won, the stewards thought Kimi Raikkonen, his team-mate, had and put him on the podium. Alonso, categorised third, missed the podium because he was in hospital. It was later decided that Giancarlo Fisichella was actually the winner. He got his trophy at Imola a fortnight later.
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Silverstone, 2006
I had been touting a youngster called Lewis Hamilton as a future star. I knew it was true when I saw the GP2 support race at the British Grand Prix. Hamilton was unbelievable, overtaking for fun — at one time three abreast through Maggotts. That started the ball rolling for Hmailton’s promotion into Formula One. Catch the race on YouTube — it is a star performance.
Canada, 2011
On his day, Jenson Button was among the best in history. This was one of those days — but this was another deadline nightmare with heavy rain causing a two-hour stoppage mid-race. After the restart, Button survived a collision with Alonso, a puncture and a drive-through penalty to come from last place to catch Sebastian Vettel on the final lap. Six corners in, Vettel ran wide and Button pounced for one of best drives of his career. It finished so late that I almost missed the deadline and the first edition report was mainly — and bizarrely for the poor reader — about Hamilton crashing. Second edition rewrites corrected that.
Abu Dhabi, 2016
So much of Formula One is a psychodrama and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was a fitting end to my coverage of almost 290 grands prix as Hamilton desperately tried to wreck Nico Rosberg’s world championship by backing him up in Ferrari’s Vettel and the Red Bull of Max Verstappen. What was truly fascinating was the dynamic all weekend between Hamilton and Rosberg and the German’s relief when he won his maiden title.
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• Read on Thursday: Kevin names his favourite five drivers