Top 5 F1 season-openers in history

#2 - United States 1990

Jean Alesi almost won his first race in F1 at Phoenix in 1990

A year later, this time in Phoenix, F1 produced another classic opener. Saturday qualifying was a literally a washout, so the grid was decided by the times set in Friday practice. This meant we saw Pierluigi Martini’s Minardi on the front row and both a Dallara and Tyrrell on the second row. Riccardo Patrese was down in twelfth and Nigel Mansell, the winner 12 months ago, all the way down in seventeenth!

Going into Turn 1, Jean Alesi dived down pole sitter Gerhard Berger to sensationally take the lead. Even more incredibly, he pulled out a lead over the Austrian. When Berger spun on Lap 9, this opened the door for his McLaren teammate, Ayrton Senna, to start to chase the French-Sicilian for the lead. Senna, the 1988 World Champion, was renowned for skill behind the wheel, especially at street circuits. It took the Brazilian 25 laps to pass Alesi and even then, he couldn’t make it stick as the Tyrrell driver had the audacity to stick his car down the inside of Senna's McLaren into Turn 2 to retake first position. Ultimately, though, it wasn’t to be, as Senna took the lead at the same point on the following lap and didn’t make the same mistake twice, despite excellent driving from Alesi.

Ayrton Senna went on to win the race but Jean Alesi would grab the headlines as his performance that day was truly amazing. Very much a remarkable race on an unremarkable track.