The most SHOCKING moments to rock F1!

Two years after his second world title with Renault and one year on from his infamously shortlived stint at McLaren, Fernando Alonso’s high profile return to the French manufacturer for the 2008 season hadn’t gone as expected as he made the best of modestly competitive machinery. However, things looked to take a turn for the better for Alonso at the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix when a fortuitous safety car just after he had made an early pit-stop saw him shake out into a lead he would hold to the end for an unlikely victory. Trouble is, that safety car was prompted by his team-mate Nelson Piquet Jr feebly spinning out at the conveniently perfect moment, which the Brazilian revealed a year later – after being dropped by the team - was a done on instruction by Renault management. The scandal engulfed the sport and spelled the end of team principal Flavio Briatore’s time in F1, while Pat Symonds was also banned for his part in the ploy (though this was overturned) and massive fines were levied on the team. Ironically, Alonso – who has maintained he knew nothing of the plot - kept his tarnished win and happened to win again just a week later in Fuji anyway (without assistance).

Michael Schumacher is undeniably a legend of the sport… yet he remains one of its most divisive figures based on a tendency to involve himself in some F1’s most controversial moments. Having already been vilified for his collision with Damon Hill at the concluding 1994 Australian Grand Prix, which ensured he won the title, a similar incident whilst desperately attempting to defend from Jacques Villeneuve at the 1997 finale in Jerez would not yield the same result. With Schumacher rather blatantly turning in to hamper his opponent, it was the German that instead pinged off into the gravel trap, while Villeneuve remained on course to snatch the title. This wasn’t the end of the matter though and the FIA was unimpressed with Schumacher’s unsportsmanlike conduct, choosing to exclude him from the entire championship altogether in one of the boldest and strictest judgements in sporting history.

Complex, intriguing and at times unfathomable, the multi-layered ‘Spygate’ debacle that shook F1 in 2007 was an espionage tale that just kept on giving. Originating with allegations from Ferrari that (soon to be former) employee Nigel Stepney has shared confidential data with a McLaren employee (Mike Coghlan), the entire case was only uncovered when a photocopying shop employee (who happened to be a big Ferrari fan) alerted Maranello of the documents that had been dropped off by Coghlan’s wife. Kick-starting a chain of events in which Stepney would be subject to criminal investigations, Coghlan claimed several McLaren employees knew of the illegally acquired data but McLaren management strictly denied this. Initially, the World Motor Sport Council finds McLaren in breach of the sporting code but the team controversially escapes punishment… until new evidence comes to light amidst Fernando Alonso’s brewing feud with Ron Dennis after the Spaniard threatens to reveal email exchanges about the Ferrari data that prove incriminating towards McLaren and at odds with the WMSC outcome. In light of this, the International Court of Appeal convenes, with the second investigation revealing that in fact several McLaren employees – including Alonso and test driver Pedro de la Rosa – HAD come into contact with confidential information originating from Ferrari. Upon the hearing, McLaren is handed a huge $100 million fine and it has its constructors’ points cancelled.

Was the 2005 United States Grand Prix the strangest F1 race of all-time? It was certainly one of the most boring as only six Bridgestone-shod cars took to the start-line when the remaining 14 withdrew over concerns about strength of their Michelin tyres. Following tyre failures in the high-speed banked turn 11, a red-faced Michelin declared it wasn’t confident its product could last a race distance without a change in the configuration of the circuit, which the FIA denied. Worried about criminal liability if there were crashes at the high-speed section in the race, the 14 drivers were ordered to complete the parade lap before withdrawing to the pit lane. Leaving just 6 cars (2 Ferraris, 2 Jordans and 2 Minardis) to start and finish, Michael Schumacher claimed a largely uncontested victory. Arguably the nadir of F1 in the modern era, it took several years for F1’s image in the US at least to recover.

F1 history has been peppered over the years by numerous threats to boycott the championship over matters of safety and politics (remember the proposed breakaway series?), though some have been more convincing than others. However, boycott threats didn’t come more visibly rebellious than on the eve of the 1982 World Championship at Kyalami when drivers reacted against FISA’s plans to introduce mandatory ‘Superlicences’ that would tie drivers to teams for three years and disclose personal earnings, as well as install a ‘gagging order’ that would essentially limit any public criticism of governing body. With drivers irked by the stringent measures, Didier Pironi led a crusade against the measures only to find FISA president Jean-Marie Balestre digging his heels in and instead threaten bans for any driver who failed to agree to the contracts. This simply served to rally the opposition, with Pironi and Niki Lauda urging drivers to join a boycott that would see them go as far as barricade themselves into a hotel in Johannesburg the night before FP1 was due to start. Eventually Balestre backed down and verbally promised there would be no sanctions against drivers if they went on to race… However, though the race indeed went ahead, Balestre sneakily levied huge fines on the drivers in a devious act of defiance. Mercifully, the penalties were reduced by the FIA, with FISA criticised for its handling of the matter.

For some, the mark of a good driver is to not only know how to fight for position but to also know when you’re beaten… but this can apply to teams too, as McLaren found out to its cost in the 2009 Australian Grand Prix when its failure to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth landed it in unnecessarily hot water. The origins of the kerfuffle began with Lewis Hamilton passing Jarno Trulli as the safety car came out late in the race, only for Hamilton to slow up again on the apparent direction of the team to allow the Toyota driver back past. However, stewards instead ruled that Trulli had illegally passed under the safety car, handing over a 25secs penalty that lifted Hamilton up to third position on the results sheet. With Toyota left incensed by what it felt was a deliberate deception by McLaren, the team protested but both McLaren and Hamilton maintained there was never an instruction to allow Trulli through. However, when new evidence came to light that incriminated McLaren as doing exactly that, Hamilton was disqualified from the results, McLaren docked constructors’ points and a three race suspended ban put in place for 12 months, while sporting director Dave Ryan was subsequently sacked by McLaren.

In hindsight, the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix was an incident that never needed to happen. Coming at the height of Ferrari’s F1 dominance, Michael Schumacher already had a sizeable lead over the competition before the fifth round of the season at the A1 Ring, whereas team-mate Rubens Barrichello had endured a trying start to his campaign. However, it was the Brazilian that would emerge as the driver to beat on that day in Austria and he looked on course for a controlled, well deserved win over his team-mate… until Ferrari intervened and ordered him to move over for Schumacher so as to further bolster his already strong title aspirations. A dejected Barrichello adhered on the run to the line, Schumacher nipping ahead just metres before the chequered flag in a clumsy display of micro-managed racing. Neither driver looked comfortable with the outcome as fans booed in the grandstands, while the press decried Ferrari had brought the sport into disrepute… as a result of the debacle, team orders were (temporarily) banned.

One of sport’s most epic and bad tempered rivalries, the toxic blood between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost defined F1 in the late 80s/early 90s, whether it was their off track spats, on track scuffles or rumblings in the stewards rooms. For many though, the peak (or nadir…) of their rivalry came with their coming together in 1989 Japanese Grand Prix – the penultimate round of the season – as their fierce title tussle reached a critical moment. With Prost declaring he wouldn’t be bullied by Senna’s boisterous driving style, it was perhaps inevitable that the Frenchman would staunchly defend his position as the Brazilian attempted to pass at the final corner chicane. With the pair making contact and sliding off track together, Prost calmly got out of the car, while Senna continued with the aid of marshals push-starting him and continued on to win thus giving him a shot of the title at the final round. In the end, he was controversially disqualified for failing to re-join the circuit in the correct manner – handing Prost the title – in what many felt was a thinly veiled attempt by the (French) governing body to favour his team-mate and foe. Prost won the 1989 title before moving to Ferrari, only for the pair to come together again the following the season in Suzuka after Senna rear-ended Frenchman at turn one. Ironically, though Senna would later admit it was intentional had Prost led into the first corner amidst anger the ‘clean’ side of the grid was swapped to favour his rival, no action was taken and Senna would clinch the title.

One of the more curious creations to be borne out of the mind of F1’s incredible – if occasionally leftfield – engineering minds, the Brabham BT46B ‘Fan Car’ was certainly an extraordinary machine, albeit one that existed all too briefly. Dubbed the ‘Fan Car’, the BT46B featured just that – a large fan - at the back of the car that through a series of clutches developed more suction the faster it got to improve downforce. A response to Lotus’ ground-breaking 78/79, the BT46B was quick too… so fast that it won on its debut in the 1978 Swedish Grand Prix in the hands of Niki Lauda. However, success brought cries of foul play and rivals demanded a change in the regulations, citing the car was illegal. In the end, rivals got what they wanted and the car was removed from competition (but not technically banned) after winning its one and only race, though it’s worth noting that had owner – a one Bernie Ecclestone – not at the time been touting for support from said teams in pursuit of presidency for FOCA at the time, he might had fought harder for this potentially game changing creation…

As far as tabloid sex scandals go, the controversy that embroiled Max Mosley – who was president of the FIA at the time – remains one of the most salacious in recent memory, albeit one that has left a legacy. In 2008, the News of the World claimed it had video footage that it said not only showed Mosley engaging in sexual acts with five women, but did so with Nazi role-playing overtones. Though Mosley admitted ‘the embarrassment of the revelations caused’, he has always maintained there were no ‘Nazi overtones’, but while he succeeded in seeing off a vote of no confidence to maintain his presidency, Mosley elected against standing for a fifth term. He did however continue to go after News of the World though and was successful in receiving damages and has maintained a crusade for the right to privacy against the wider press.

As one of F1’s pluckiest underdogs, it’s difficult not to root for the privateer Sauber team. However, it was hard to know who to side with when Sauber found itself in an unfortunate legal situation on the eve of the opening race in 2015 when it became apparent that it had three contracted drivers for just two races seats. Quite how the bizarre contractual debacle came to be was never made clear, but Giedo van der Garde arrived in Melbourne adamant he had a deal in place to race with Sauber in 2015 despite Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr being publicly announced months earlier. The Dutchman – Sauber’s reserve driver in 2015 – took management to local court just as the team was setting up for the opening race a few miles away and even appeared in the paddock in Sauber overalls as the legal battle escalated, much to the bemusement of the other team members. After lengthy discussions in and out of court, a behind the scenes agreement was eventually reached that would see van der Garde withdraw his claim in favour of a settlement, leaving Nasr and Ericsson to complete the season with no more distractions. van der Garde hasn't been seen in the paddock since...

It takes an extraordinary set of circumstances to throw an entire team out of a world championship, not least one with the title-winning kudos of Tyrrell, but the British team’s attempts to cleverly (but illegally) circumnavigate the technical regulations in 1984 ultimately cost it very dearly. In the era of an almost wholesale shift towards turbo-engined cars in F1, Tyrrell stood its ground in 1984 by maintaining its normally-aspirated Cosworth engine, one that left it under the minimum weight stipulation which thus required it to be ‘topped up’ by other means. After the controversial ‘water-cooled’ brake debacle two years earlier (which allowed Brabham and Williams to run underweight in the races), Tyrrell got around this measure by introducing a water-cooled injection system to cool the cylinders, which was then topped up with two gallons of water after the race. Additionally though, it also contained lead shot which only became apparent when it began escaping in the pit lane, piquing the curiosity amongst rivals. Further investigation revealed Tyrrell were running a blended water that contained ‘aromatics’, which constituted an additional (illegal) fuel source. In an unprecedented move, Tyrrell was stripped of its 1984 results. Looking back, many have speculated though that the disqualification was to ensure F1 became a turbo-only championship and warned other teams off not considering the – expensive – shift.