The worst examples of Choking in Motorsports.

[52Paddy]

Sebastien Ogier earlier in the year (Mexico?) when he ran into a ditch on the final stage.

[Mintexmemory]

I think I would be charitable to Brabham at Monaco 70, in that someone like Rindt homing in might be said to have forced the error. The unforced error that year was not putting enough juice in the tank at Brands being passed on the last lap again.

[Ranger]

You were both answered by this post.

I remember it as autosport, but memory can sometimes fail.

Found this exerpt from the ITV-F1 website.

Senna not to blame for Monaco '88
Sunday, 21, May, 2006, 16:00


McLaren chief mechanic Neil Trundle has shed new light on one of the most notorious upsets in Formula 1 history.

In an interview in this month's F1 Racing magazine (on sale next week), Trundle revealed that Ayrton Senna's famous crash in the 1988 Monaco Grand Prix was probably the result of a slow puncture rather than a driver error.

Senna had absolutely dominated the Monaco weekend and was heading for a certain victory when he understeered into the Portier barrier with just 11 laps remaining.

The legendary Brazilian was distraught afterwards, but Trundle reckons he was not actually to blame.

"We still suspect he had a slow puncture in one of the rear tyres," Trundle revealed.

"The car was sliding around, but he stuck with it rather than changing the tyre."

The Monaco accident has been cited as a turning point in Senna's career, and Trundle agrees that it had a profound effect on the thoughtful Brazilian.

"The accident changed him," said Trundle.

"It made him even deeper and more committed."

So like Newey's recent perspective of Imola '94, they don't know exactly what happened but have strong reason to suspect what 'probably' happened. They know more than us anyway.

[journeyman racer]

Webber slamming the title to smithereens at Korea in 10. He may've still had a great chance to win it afterwards, but he lost his mojo after that crash. The best example was putting in his worst qualifying performance in the title showdown at Abu Dhabi. The season opened up for him to win, Vettel crashing often and suffering problems, Alonso was sloppy in the first half and in Spa, Hamilton threatening then taking himself out of contention, driving a far superior car, no reliability problems, it was all there for him. It was like John Terry slipping up just before the penalty kick in the CL final!

Special mention to Helio Castroneves not winning this year's Indycar title, when he was leading late. I don't follow the season closely, but I was aware of his strong position. C'mon man! You've been driving for Penske for 14 years now, and you've never won a title! They don't vote for you to win a title like DWTS! Just poor.

[Tazio]

Lewis Hamilton in 2007. Rookie status aside, what a choke!

As great of a season that "The Boss" had in 2007 the culmination of the season, considering the last two events; beaching himself in the world’s smallest gravel trap in China in combination with the poor race to 7th at Interlagos is an impressive choke when considering all sporting championships, not just auto sport. I know that a lot of people don't like that expression “choke”, and I've become quite fond of The Boss, but those two events in succession are hard to beat when considering how thoroughly he threw that championship away.

[Doc Austin]

Brabham at Monoco might be the choke with the shortest distance to the finish, but it's hard to beat JR Hildebrand crashing in turn four of lap 200 at Indianapolis.

[D28]

From a comment on another forum I posted:

In Jack’s defense, he mentions in his autobiography that with 5 laps to go “I had the most shocking run of slow cars that I have ever encountered. On one lap alone I must have lost 7 or 8 seconds.”
He does acknowledge his mistake, one of the few made in a long and illustrious career; he is just peeved it was beamed into “everybody’s living room in England and America.” He also credits Rindt’s last laps as “simply fabulous driving under any circumstances.”
Rather poor behaviour from back markers and marshals that day.

[Doc Austin]

Believe it or not, I saw it live on ABC, or at least it was delayed and I didn't already know the result. I was watching it with about 50 other guys in a boy's schools dormitory (I was like 12) and everyone was pretty stunned with the quick turn of events. It turned me into a Rindt fan, though I already liked Brabham.

[D28]

Believe it or not, I saw it live on ABC, or at least it was delayed and I didn't already know the result. I was watching it with about 50 other guys in a boy's schools dormitory (I was like 12) and everyone was pretty stunned with the quick turn of events. It turned me into a Rindt fan, though I already liked Brabham.

There is a video up on the net, which makes the last corner look pretty bad for Jack. Still, it doesn't show the previous laps where he had to take to the footpaths to get around one back marker. Today car radios and effective marshaling would clear the track to let the 2 contenders fight it out. In 1970, not so much.

[AAReagles]

With Hildebrand's Indy 500 last corner crash being called by some a case of choking I was wonder what some of you consider the biggest examples of Choking in Motorsports History?

That example you provided, along with Kevin Cogan's 'brainfade' just before the start of the 1982 Indianapolis 500 race, on the front straight, taking out a handful of cars with him, are the major blunders I can recall at the moment.

With F1, from my own observation, it would be Elio(?? spelling) Salazar punting (rear-ending) Piquet's Brabham-BMW entering the first chicane at Hochenheim just moments after Nelson passed him, at the 1982 German GP. Good win for Tambay I must say, along for team Ferrari, considering the circumstances of losing their two top drivers within a span of 3 months.

... then again, the bits of Senna and Prost coming together on a couple of occasions is another example of 'choking' IMHO, if not absolute disrespect for the sport and its fans.