Controversial race director decisions, intentional accidents, team strategy and more: Formula One has seen its fair share of scandals in its long history
“For two hours every fortnight, Formula One is a sport, and in between it’s a tough business.” Former team principal Frank Williams is said to have described it this way or something similar. But that’s only half the story. Because Formula One is also something else: controversial, at least from time to time.
The list is correspondingly long and includes, for example, banal fraud attempts such as that by British American Racing (BAR) in the 2005 season: the team wanted to gain a technical advantage by adding an extra tank to the car. However, the matter came to light during the follow-up inspection in Imola. This was followed by disqualification and a ban for the following two Grands Prix.
Michael Schumacher is also very familiar with disqualifications and suspensions. (Among other things) this earned him the nickname “Schummi the Cheater”. Twice he allowed himself to be carried away into dubious actions against his direct title rivals in the World Cup final: His collision with Damon Hill in Adelaide in 1994 led to Schumacher’s first World Cup victory, but in 1997 in Jerez against Jacques Villeneuve he lost everything – and was subsequently excluded.
World Cup accidents: Schumacher didn’t invent that…
But there had been prominent examples of such scenes: Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna had each crashed into each other’s cars at the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka in 1989 and 1990, thereby deciding the World Championship, sometimes with announcements. These accidents are also among the biggest Formula 1 scandals.
Some of them were fought out in court by those involved. Long-time Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, for example, was in the dock in a bribery scandal in 2014 – and was released without further prosecution after paying 100 million US dollars.
McLaren also had to fork out $100 million in 2007 because it was exposed in the so-called Spygate case: employees had illegally obtained Ferrari information and incorporated it into the McLaren project. The consequence was the aforementioned fine and exclusion from the entire racing season, just as Schumacher had been ten years earlier.
When the Formula 1 drivers go on strike
Drivers or teams have also gone on strike to get their point across. This happened several times in the 1970s and 1980s, when the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) and the Formula One Constructors’ Association (FOCA) were fighting for dominance in Formula One. Sometimes the drivers barricaded themselves in a hotel near the track, sometimes the FIA retrospectively withdrew race world championship status.
In 2005, Formula One lost the support of many fans for safety reasons at the US Grand Prix in Indianapolis: tire supplier Michelin was unable to guarantee the stability of its tires on the Indy steep turns, which is why the Michelin teams did not even enter the race. Only the six cars of the Bridgestone racing teams Ferrari, Jordan and Minardi competed. And many beverage cans flew from the grandstands onto the track…
And then, of course, there is perhaps the most prominent incident in recent Formula One history: Abu Dhabi 2021. The season finale with Michael Masi’s controversial decision to restart the race, which led to the World Championship showdown on the last lap of the race – and to Max Verstappen’s first World Championship title.