F1 debutant sensationally leads as torrential conditions strike after pit-lane start gamble

The 2007 European Grand Prix at the Nürburgring delivered one of the most extraordinary spectacles in F1 history, as Spyker stand-in Markus Winkelhock found himself leading a grand prix on debut after a pit-lane start, before Fernando Alonso navigated the chaos to claim a crucial victory.

Winkelhock had only been drafted in because Christijan Albers ran out of funding mid-season, handing the German a one-off opportunity at his home race. What followed was the stuff of a fairytale.

While the entire field lined up on slick tyres under threatening skies, Spyker called Winkelhock in after the formation lap to bolt on full wet tyres, consigning him to a pit-lane start.

Within seconds of the lights going out, the heavens opened. Cars aquaplaned off the circuit at Turn 1, with Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Nico Rosberg and Winkelhock's Spyker team-mate Adrian Sutil among those to slide into the gravel.

Winkelhock, already on the correct rubber, sailed past the carnage and into a lead of roughly 30 seconds as the rest of the field scrambled into the pits for intermediate tyres. Conditions deteriorated so severely that the race was red-flagged after just three laps, with the Spyker driver officially classified as the race leader.

"At the point they told me 'You're P1', I really didn't understand anything that was going on because this race was really crazy!" Winkelhock later recalled.

No fairytale ending

When the race eventually resumed behind the safety car, the order reflected the standings at the red flag, placing Kimi Räikkönen and Felipe Massa's Ferraris at the sharp end with Alonso close behind.

Winkelhock, now hopelessly outgunned on a drying track with extreme wet tyres strapped to his car, slipped down the order before a hydraulic failure ended his afternoon after 13 laps. It would prove to be his only grand prix start.

As the track dried further, Massa assumed control, but a further rain shower in the closing laps turned the race on its head once more. Alonso closed rapidly on the Brazilian and executed an aggressive, wheel-banging overtake on lap 56, pulling away to win by eight seconds.

Hamilton, who had been craned out of the gravel earlier in the race, could manage only ninth, outside the points. Räikkönen retired with mechanical issues.

The result slashed Hamilton's championship lead over Alonso to just two points, 70 to 68, setting up a ferocious second half of the season between the warring McLaren team-mates.

Mark Webber completed the podium for Red Bull, with Alexander Wurz and David Coulthard rounding out the top five in a race that remains one of the most chaotic and unforgettable in the championship's history.