Formula 1 is the pinnacle of motorsport, both in terms of the cars and drivers and the standards it sets for itself. However, there are times when the sport embarrasses itself by becoming embroiled in scandal.
Some of those can’t help, while others are a mess that the series sometimes creates for itself, hurting the reputation of one of the world’s best racing series.
2008 Singapore Grand Prix Crashgate
At the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Renault’s Fernando Alonso had great pace, but qualifying issues saw him start 15th on the grid. But his Renault team, unbeknownst to him, concocted a plan to see teammate Nelson Piquet Jr. deliberately crash and bring out a safety car just after Alonso made a pit stop to put him into the race lead.
That is precisely what happened, and Alonso won the race. There were doubts in the paddock about what had happened, and a year later, Piquet Jr, after being replaced at Renault mid-season, turned whistleblower and revealed all to the FIA. The scandal wasn’t a good look for F1, but it was terrible for Renault, which lost the backing of significant sponsor ING following the scandal.
2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
After the thrilling but tense and sometimes controversial 2021 F1 season, Lewis Hamilton looked set to win his eighth world title over rival Max Verstappen until a crash for Nicolas Latifi late in the race brought out the safety car. Red Bull pitted Verstappen for fresh, soft tires, but Hamilton was left out on his old, worn, hard tires.
What followed changed the course of the title, as FIA F1 race director Michael Massi said lapped cars would not be allowed past the safety car to free up the leaders. Then, he ordered only the ones between Hamilton and Verstappen out of the way, and the safety came in at the end of the same lap. Red Bull played the hand they were dealt to perfection as Verstappen lunged past Hamilton, taking his first world title in a finale still talked about three years after it happened.
2007 Spygate Scandal
As the 2007 season turned toxic for McLaren, thanks to Fernando Alonso’s distrust of the team, it emerged that McLaren mechanic Nigel Stepney and McLaren engineer Mike Coughlan had given McLaren data on Ferrari’s car and design for the 2007 season. Documents from the Ferrari factory were reported found at Stepney’s home, although McLaren denied any Ferrari data had ever gone into the possession of its employees.
An extraordinary investigation followed, during which McLaren was fined $100 million and excluded from that year’s constructors’ championship. McLaren later admitted after the investigation that several of its employees had access to Ferrari’s technical information.
2020 Australian Grand Prix
As 2020 Formula 1 pre-season testing began, the COVID-19 pandemic began to take hold, mostly confined to China. As such, F1 canceled its race in China but planned to continue the rest of the season, including the opening round in Australia. Drivers such as Lewis Hamilton were critical of the decision to race in Australia, and then members of the McLaren F1 team tested positive for the virus.
Chaos and confusion followed, and it looked like the race would continue after McLaren withdrew from the event. Finally, F1 admitted it couldn’t host the race. F1 and the FIA canceled the event before the first practice session should have started. It was a farce in terms of how F1 handled the situation. As it transpired, the season wouldn’t begin until July, with the Austrian Grand Prix becoming the season opener.
1994 Deaths Of Ayrton Senna And Roland Ratzenberger
The deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger at Imola in 1994 highlighted how many within F1 felt about safety at the time. Cars have gotten quicker and quicker over the last few years, and the ban on driver aids for 1994, taken late in 1993, has made cars tricky and sometimes unpredictable. Senna’s Williams FW16 is one of those cars.
Senna himself was beginning to push hard for improved safety in the sport, and his and Ratzenberger’s deaths hurried that push along. A meeting of the Grand Prix Drivers Association (GPDA) in Monaco outlined the drivers’ demands, and changes such as temporary chicanes at circuits and improved safety standards for the 1995 cars were just two things that transpired after Imola 1994.
1982 South African Grand Prix Drivers Strike
The 1982 South African Grand Prix should have been a typical Grand Prix, with Rene Arnoux and Nelson Piquet battling it out for that year’s title. However, the race almost didn’t happen after the drivers, led by the GPDA, went on strike to protest against new superlicense rules imposed by the governing body, FISA.
These rules would have tied drivers to a single team for up to three years, something many did not want. The drivers famously locked themselves into a hotel room in one of the most bizarre situations in the series’ history. Eventually, the race would proceed, with the drivers handing various fines and suspending race bans. However, the FIA Court of Appeal reduced the penalties and criticized how FISA handled the dispute.
Schumacher Vs Villeneuve – Jerez 1997
It was a classic before the final race of the 1997 Formula 1 season. Michael Schumacher and Ferrari took the fight to the Williams of Jaques Villeneuve, and at the final round of the year, the championship was still up for grabs.
Schumacher grabbed the lead at the start and led much of the way before Villeneuve began to close in on the Ferrari after their initial pit stops. As Villeneuve made the move, Schumacher swerved into the Williams and struck the sidepod. However, it backfired on Schumacher as it took him out of the race, with Villeneuve able to limp on, finish in third and win the world title. Schumacher was disqualified from the season by the FIA to show they would not tolerate anything like that happening again.
2006 Monaco Grand Prix Qualifying
Nine years after the incident at Jerez, Schumacher was at it again as he tried to get the upper hand on new title rival Renault’s Fernando Alonso. At the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix, Schumacher had set a lap time good enough for the pole, and to ensure Alonso couldn’t qualify at the front, the German parked his Ferrari at Rascasse.
This brought out the red flags and ruined Alonso’s final lap, and Schumacher said that he had locked up and made a mistake. However, the FIA didn’t take that view, so it demoted the Ferrari driver to the back of the grid. It was a move that arguably cost Schumacher his eighth world title.
2010 German Grand Prix Ferrari Team Orders
The FIA banned team orders after Ferrari ordered Rubens Barichello to move out of the way for Schumacher at the 2001 Austrian Grand Prix. However, they still took place via cryptic messages and pre-race strategy meetings. However, they reared their ugly head again at the 2010 German Grand Prix, as Felipe Massa led teammate Fernando Alonso in a Ferrari 1-2.
However, Alonso was in the championship fight, and Massa was not, so Massa’s race engineer, Rob Smedley, sent Mass the radio message, “Felipe, Fernando is faster than you. Can you confirm that you understood the message?“ Amazingly, the FIA didn’t fall for that, and Ferrari was fined $100,000 for the offense. For the 2011 season, the FIA overturned the ban on team orders, making life simpler for everyone.
Water Cooled Brakes – 1982 Brabham And Williams
While the first turbocharged era saw cars produce bundles of power, those teams that still ran naturally aspirated engines had an advantage thanks to their lightness as teams could build the cars under the weight limit and add ballast to bring it up to that limit.
This rule specified that the cars should be weighed topped up with their fluids, such as coolant, which led to an idea from naturally-aspirated teams Brabham, Williams, and McLaren. The teams added a system that cooled the brakes on their cars during the race, and the tanks could then be topped up ahead of post-race inspection so they didn’t break the rules. However, after Brabham’s Nelson Piquet and Williams’ Keke Rosberg finished first and second in the 1982 Brazilian Grand Prix, the cars were protested and disqualified, ending the practice.
Tyrrell’s Underweight 1984 F1 Car
British team Tyrrell was once a real F1 force in the 1970s, but by the early 1980s, as budgets skyrocketed, the team couldn’t keep up. To keep costs down, the team had to run with the cheaper Cosworth DFY V8 engines, with its rivals mainly using turbocharged engines, but it had a trick up its sleeve with its 1984 car. The Tyrrell 012 was designed to run underweight, but after the saga around topping up cars with water, Tyrrell would have to increase the car’s weight in the race.
Tyrrell used their final pitstops in a race to fill the car up with a mix of water and lead, which still allowed them plenty of running time with an underweight car. Teams then spotted spilled lead shots around the Tyrrell pit box, and eventually, they were caught out and excluded from the 1984 season.
Secret BAR Fuel Tank – 2005
After an excellent 2004 season, the BAR team came into 2005 struggling with its new BAR-Honda 007. Still, the team achieved a superb double-point finish at Imola, with Jenson Button in third and teammate Takuma Sato in fifth. But after the race, the FIA disqualified Button with his car found 5kg underweight. Initially, after the stewards found a secondary fuel tank in the car and drained it, BAR said it was the minimum amount of fuel necessary to run the vehicle, and the result stood.
However, the FIA contested that and appealed the decision, and the International Court of Appeal agreed with the FIA. Not convinced that the BARs were at the right weight throughout the race, the FIA banned BARs from the next two races in Spain and Monaco, and the team moved to put the controversy behind them.
