2010: Controversies In The Paddock

Ferrari's team orders

Rob Smedley, Massa's race engineer, says on team radio during the 2010 German Grand Prix: 'Alonso is faster than you. Can you confirm you understand that message?'

Need I say any more?

Ferrari / Red Bull Flexi-Wing Dispute

Flexible wings both front and rear have fallen foul of the FIA's rule books on more than one occasion, but the basic principle behind them has always been the same.

Aerodynamic wings only generate down force above a certain speed. Once that speed is exceeded the wings generate both down force (which pushes the tyres into the ground, improving grip) and drag (which slows the car).

Ideally designers would build movable wings that can have a deep profile when the car needs cornering grip and a shallow profile when the car is flat-out down a straight and needs minimum drag. But according to the rules, wings are not allowed to move relative to the sprung part of the car.

Flexi-wings are an attempt to get around that rule by letting the wings change shape (i.e. flex) of their own accord by using less stiff materials in certain places.

So with Vettel's curious failure at Silverstone, it was brought to question. Sebastian Vettel’s RB6 suffered a rather odd front wing failure during the Saturday morning practice. Usually when a front wing suffers some sort of structural failure it breaks away from the car at the supports. Interestingly, Vettel’s wing took the whole nosecone with it, and did so without any direct impact or nasty ride over the kerbs.

Immediately, like vultures, the other teams started to wag fingers.  So the FIA had nothing to do but test the front wings. The front wing must be no lower than 75mm above the reference plane, which is the lowest point of the car without the plank.  To check compliance with this rule, prior to this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix, in scrutineering a load of 50kg was applied to the endplates, with a permitted flex of up to 10mm. After rival teams voiced suspicions that the front wings of Red Bull and Ferrari were flexing more than this at speed, the FIA has doubled the load applied in the test to 100kg, now measured in the middle of the wing's side section,  with a permitted flex of 20mm. Both Red Bull and Ferrari cleared scrutineering at Spa.

Monaco Grand Prix Safety Car Incident

The pass itself

May 16, 2010 we finally saw the Michael Schumacher that we have come to know, re-emerge. Lap 78 of the Monaco Grand Prix, safety car come in at the end of the lap.  Drama at the finish. Schumacher gets in on the inside of Alonso coming out of La Rascasse and takes him at Anthony Noghes for sixth place. 

Looking through his history, Michael Schumacher would have known what the FIA's Sporting Regulation's meant but it is the way that he interprets the rules that seems almost child like.  He will look at the rules and regulations and take them at face value.  Seems like a good tactic to me. Playing simple.

Green Light

Section 40.7 of the FIA's Sporting Regulation Code. "With the following exceptions, no car may overtake until it has passed the first safety car line for the first time when the safety car is returning to the pits."  What was 'mistaken' is when your car it's self has passed the first line, not the  Safety Car.

Michael Schumacher was handed a 20 second penalty for overtaking Fenando Alonso at “Anthony Noghes” on the final lap as the safety car headed into the pits of the 2010 Monaco Grand Prix.

The punishment may have been a little harsh on the German and people have criticised Damon Hill, Schumacher’s arch rival since his early days in Formula One, who was one of the stewards for the race at Monte Carlo. However, he was just a representative for the drivers and there were three other stewards involved in the decision as well. And yet, had it been any other driver, there would not have been such a severe punishment many people and fans believe.

Barrichellos 300th Grand Prix

With a racing career and a personality as large as Barrichello's how can we hold a failed to re-start and mechanical issues against him.  300 races is a big thing, and I feel that with qualifying, it would be considered race start.  Yes, some people will disagree using 2005 United States Grand Prix, where out of the 20 driver's on the grid, 14 withdrew in protest.

August 29, 2010, Rubens Barricello celebrated his 300 Race start with Williams F1.  The team that he stated, during a guest appearance on the long running BBC hit show 'Top Gear', he had dreamed of driving for since he was young.