The 2026 Winter Olympics are about to start out in Milan-Cortina because the sporting calendar continues to fill within the gaps earlier than the start of the Method 1 season.
There are solely two pre-season checks going down between now and the Australian Grand Prix, however in that point, lots of of medals might be gained on the newest version of the Winter Olympics.
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Contemplating how completely different many winter sports activities are to Method 1, it’s exhausting to consider that there’s a lot of a crossover between the 2.
Nonetheless, within the historical past of the Winter Olympics, 4 members have additionally taken half in a Method 1 Grand Prix.
Though none of those drivers are family names, one has a particular place in F1 historical past, whereas one other was fortunate sufficient to race in one in every of Enzo Ferrari’s automobiles.
Alfonso de Portago – Bobsleigh, Ferrari podium finisher
Alfonso de Portago was an eccentric Spanish aristocrat who had a weird sporting profession.
He featured because the ‘gentleman rider’ on the Grand Nationwide and shaped the Spanish bobsleigh crew for the 1956 Winter Olympics on this 12 months’s host venue, Cortina.
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De Portago’s bobsleigh crew completed fourth, and that very same 12 months, he made his F1 debut in a buyer Ferrari.
He completed second on the 1956 British Grand Prix earlier than Juan Manuel Fangio, sharing the automotive with Peter Collins.
The thirteenth Depend of l. a. Mejorada was portrayed by Gabriel Leone within the 2023 movie Ferrari, and he was sadly killed a 12 months after his Olympics and F1 debut in an accident throughout one in every of Italy’s most well-known races, the Mille Miglia.
Divina Galica – Alpine/velocity snowboarding, three Grand Prix entries
British driver Divina Galica is one in every of simply 5 girls to ever compete in Method 1.
Racing for Surtees in 1976 and Hesketh in 1978, she did not qualify for any of the three Grand Prix she entered.
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Nonetheless, she had a distinguished racing profession, coming second in a British Method One race and collaborating in two Shellsport Worldwide Collection campaigns.
Earlier than F1, Galica was an alpine skier, making her debut at Innsbruck 1964 and that includes on the subsequent two Winter Olympics, earlier than returning to participate in a velocity snowboarding occasion in 1992, aged 47.
Picture by Dennis Oulds/Central Press/Getty Photos
Bob Stated – Bobsleigh, one-time Method 1 driver
There’s a stage of nominative determinism about the truth that Bob Stated made his two appearances on the Winter Olympics in a bobsled.
He raced at Grenoble in 1968 and Sapporo 4 years later, though he by no means got here near profitable a medal.
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His F1 profession was even shorter, collaborating within the first official United States Grand Prix in 1959 at Sebring.
It was gained by New Zealander Bruce McLaren, with Stated qualifying thirteenth in his Connaught earlier than retiring on the opening lap following an accident.
Robin Widdows – Bobsleigh, one F1 entry for Cooper
Whereas Stated had made his one and solely look in Method 1 9 years earlier than his Winter Olympics debut, 1968 was an thrilling 12 months within the profession of Robin Widdows.
He raced in opposition to Stated within the bobsleigh for Nice Britain in 1968, however made his debut 4 years earlier at Innsbruck, failing to medal at both occasion.
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Widdows had a profitable Method Three and Method Two profession, and on the 1968 British Grand Prix, Cooper provided him a possibility to participate at Manufacturers Hatch.
He certified 18th out of 20 drivers, a second behind fellow Cooper driver Vic Elford, earlier than retiring after 34 laps with an ignition concern.
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