A quick check of the record books and you’d believe that it was Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello and Juan Pablo Montoya on the podium at Silverstone in 2002, but take a further look and you’ll see it was Karl Power and a couple of his mates who actually made it onto the podium first, in one of their many sporting pranks.
He is most famous for being the guy who got into the Man United team photo as well as getting onto centre court for a game at Wimbledon but many forget about what was arguably his toughest challenge.
During the 2002 British Grand Prix, Power and his two friends planned to get on the Silverstone podium just minutes before the actual winners arrived. The group sat in the campsite for the whole race before sneaking their way into the paddock, then came the tricky bit…
Somehow, dressed in knock-off overalls, they managed to get by the podium gate claiming they were ‘sponsors’, then came the grand finale. Arriving onto the podium they lap up the applause before realising they aren’t F1 drivers at all.
Below is an hour long documentary about Karl Power originally aired on Channel 4. If you want to skip all the non-F1 pranks and the terrible adverts then jump straight to the 50 minute mark. It’s certainly worth a watch!
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