A $300,000 crash for Jaguar F1 back in 2004 at Monaco GP

It is quite common for drivers to lose their front wings in a Grand Prix. We have seen it before, we've seen it in this ongoing season too. When a driver loses the front wing, a driver pits in for another.

The 2004 Monaco Grand Prix's crash went very costly for Jaguar F1 when their driver, Christian Klien, had a contact with the wall on lap one. No one knew that contact with the wall which seemed 'normal' would cost $300,000. Yes!

The Jaguar team was running with one-off sponsorship from the Ocean's 12 movie and as a part of the deal, the two cars were fitted with diamonds. And just not any other diamonds which you could buy from a jewelry store, they were stunning $300,000 diamonds (each) positioned on the tip of the nosecones. It sounds like a bright idea, right?

Those diamonds were on a loan from Israeli gem firm Steinmetz who surprisingly could not find anyone to insure them presumably because every possible insurance agent who heard the idea quickly collapsed from a laughing-induced heart attack.

So just to be clear, here's the situation: we have two Formula 1 race cars driving around the most challenging track in the sport, reaching triple-digit speeds, racing neck-and-neck alongside other vehicles, with $300,000 diamonds on their nosecones.

Well, when the race started the inevitable happened on the first lap. The car crashed. The safety regulations prohibited the Jaguar team to search the area for the diamond. So by the time Jaguar team reached to search the area, it was gone.

So this 'bright' idea cost Jaguar F1 $300,000. Unfortunately, we cannot see more of such 'bright' ideas nowadays but this 'bright' idea made this crash to be one of the most expensive crashes in the history of Formula One.