FIA: Ferrari Ist Again

8 examples of Ferrari bias in Formula One


• 1998 – Brakegate
During the 1997 season McLaren develop a ‘third pedal’ system which allows the driver to apply braking independently to the rear wheels, assisting direction change. No challenge is made until the 1998 season when McLaren are dominating. Ferrari protest and the FIA swiftly ban the technology.


• 1999 – Bargegate
Schumacher and Irvine storm to a 1-2 finish in Malaysia. During post race scrutineering stewards find the Ferrari’s barge boards are too large, and both drivers are excluded from the results, handing the title to McLaren’s Mika Hakkinen. Ferrari appeal the decision, based on interpretation of wording of the rules, and tolerances in measuring the part. Curiously the FIA reverses the decision, citing the fact that the rule had been “inadequately written”, setting up a very convenient last race showdown at the following Suzuka race. Ferrari subsequently change their barge boards. Hakkinen wins the race and championship.


• 2003 – Tyregate
Ferrari and McLaren are locked in battle again for the title. Bridgestone, Ferrari’s tyre supplier, learn that rival Michelin’s tyres become wider at race speed. Regulations state that tyres need only to be measured before the race. Bridgestone had been using the exact same tyre since 2001, with no protest. Ferrari petition the FIA to investigate, and lo and behold the tyres are deemed to be illegal with the FIA changing the way they measure tyres half way through the season. Ferrari even threaten to protest all the Michelin shod team’s past race victories. Decision upheld, Schumacher wins title.


• 2006 – Blockgate
Qualifying at Monza, and Alonso is pushing hard to cross the start finish line to start his final lap before the clock runs down. Several hundred metres behind is Massa’s Ferrari on a hot lap. Massa runs wide at the Parabolica and complains that Alonso had impeded him. Astoundingly the stewards agree and strip the Spaniard of his best three qualifying times, though they did say in mitigation that “such action may not have been deliberate”! Blocking penalties normally involve a distance of a couple of car lengths, not ten or more.


• 2006 – Dampergate
Renault’s Fernando Alonso is storming the 2006 season, winning six of the first eleven grands prix. Ferrari protest Renault’s mass damper system mid-season, which is promptly found to be illegal. This despite Renault consulting with the FIA pre-season to ensure that it is fully legal, and the same system being passed legal at the previous years Brazilian grand prix. Despite their worst efforts, the Scuderia fail to prevent Alonso taking his second title.


• 2008 - Passgate
In a typically rain lashed Belgian grand prix, the closing laps see a titanic battle between McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen. While attempting to pass an out of control Raikkonen, Hamilton is forced to take avoiding action and cuts the final chicane. Hamilton emerges ahead of the Finn and, as the rules dictate, promptly hands the place back. He retakes the lead at the next corner, and goes on to score a famous and exciting victory. Ferrari protest the move after the race, and stewards amazingly agree and hand out a retrospective 25 second penalty which relegates Hamilton to third and Ferrari’s Massa to first. Several similar incidents during the same race go unpunished.


• 2010 – Teamgate
“OK, Fernando... is faster... than you. Can you confirm you understood that message?”  So radios Massa’s race engineer Rob Smedley, just before his driver slows to allow Alonso to pass and take the win. “Very, very magnanimous. “Sorry.” Smedley adds on the following lap. Commentators Martin Brundle and Jonathan Legard, rival teams and several hundred million watching fans cry ‘Team Orders!’, which are banned under Article 39.1 of the sporting code. After the race Massa claims the decision had been entirely his and the Ferrari team as a whole flatly deny the use of team orders. Despite the FIA upholding the team orders charge, and Ferrari breaching Article 151c ‘bringing the sport into disrepute’, the team suffer the relatively innocuous penalty of a $100,000 fine. Team and drivers retain their race points.


• The £80 million back-hander and ‘V-Power’
By 1998 Ferrari had gone 15 years without winning a championship. By 2008 they had won 14 out of 20. What wasn’t known until that year was that Max Mosley and the FIA, along with Bernie Ecclestone, had agreed a secret deal in 1998 with the Scuderia to keep them in the sport until 2012. The deal to this day gives Ferrari an estimated £80 million per season over and above other teams, as well as granting them veto over technical regulations. Now read those dubious decisions again. Long-time corporate partner Shell use Ferrari to promote their V-Power high octane fuel. I wonder if that is shorthand for Veto-Power?