12th March 2000: The Victory That Began Ferrari’s Dominance

On this day in Formula One history, three races capture the sport at very different moments in its evolution.At Brands Hatch Circuit in 1967, the Race of Champions brought together many of the era’s leading drivers for one of the most prestigious non-championship contests on the calendar. Dan Gurney guided his Eagle to victory after a race shaped by clever tactics, mechanical trouble and fierce competition from Ferrari, Brabham and Honda.More than three decades later, the 2000 Australian Grand Prix opened the Formula One season in Melbourne. When Michael Schumacher took victory for Ferrari, it proved to be the first step in ending Ferrari’s 21-year wait for the drivers’ championship and the beginning of one of the most dominant eras in the sport’s history.Six years later, the 2006 Bahrain Grand Prix opened the season that would become Schumacher’s final campaign with Ferrari. His battle with Fernando Alonso that day set the tone for a championship fight that would bring the Schumacher-Ferrari era to its close.From the non-championship races of the 1960s to the Ferrari dominance of the early 2000s, today’s episode explores how three races on the same date helped frame the beginning — and the ending — of a remarkable period in Formula One history.Cover image: By Morio, CC BY-SA 4.0, LinkSend us Fan MailMusic by #Mubert Music Rendering