These F1 Drivers Avoided a Penalty for Breaking the Rules

• Race: 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix

I don’t think anyone would be surprised to find out that ol’ Fernando Alonso has been the subject of not one but two avoided penalties throughout his time in F1.

Let’s start with the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix. Mark Webber had crashed near the end of the race, and Alonso ignored the yellow flags that had been displayed; as a result, he claimed he plowed into debris from Weber’s crash at “close to full speed.” The race was red-flagged.

Failing to observe a yellow flag should have resulted in a penalty for Alonso, but after a few days of deliberation, the FIA had allowed Alonso to keep his third-place finish, perhaps because they bought into Alonso’s claims that he believed the yellow flags were for a crash behind him.

And then, of course, there was Alonso’s role in the chaotic 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. Allegedly, Renault asked Alonso’s teammate Nelson Piquet Jr. to intentionally crash, bringing out a safety car in order to aid Alonso, who had been forced into an early pit stop. Dubbed “Crashgate,” the incident saw Renault fined; according to the rules, Alonso’s victory should have also been revoked, but the FIA allowed him to keep it.

• Race: 1999 Malaysian Grand Prix

At the 1999 Malaysian Grand Prix, the FIA initially disqualified the Ferrari team (which had finished 1-2) because its cars were sporting oversized bargeboards. Ferrari appealed the penalty, saying the bargeboards fell within the five millimeter tolerance allowed by the FIA rulebook; the FIA relented, and Ferrari’s finishing positions for Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine were reinstated.

• Race: 1999 Malaysian Grand Prix

Eddie Irvine suffered the same overturned penalty as Schumacher listed above, and his finishing position was reinstated for the same reason.

• Race: 1990 Japanese Grand Prix
  

The Ayrton Senna/Alain Prost duel provided some of the spiciest moments in Grand Prix history, including the first corner crash between the two drivers at the 1990 Japanese event.

There was a lot of context that went into Senna’s seemingly intentional crash. First, he was displeased that pole position would be lining up on the “dirty” side of the track, while second place would be starting from the preferred position; Senna’s pole, therefore, would have come as a detriment. Second, he was mad that, the year prior, Prost had crashed into him and denied Senna a Championship. The two drivers had generated a lot of title animosity at the Japanese circuit. Senna should have been penalized for the seemingly intentional move, but he was allowed to secure the Championship through the move.

• Race: 1986 German Grand Prix

Leaving the cockpit of your vehicle and pushing your car across the finish line was made illegal in Formula 1 decades earlier, but that didn’t stop Alain Prost from trying that very move at the 1986 German Grand Prix, when his car ran out of fuel with just 100 meters remaining to the finish line. As a result, Prost should have been penalized, but the FIA could be very lax about the enforcement and punishments regarding the pushing rule.

• Race: 1985 San Marino Grand Prix

Another lax pushing rule came into play at the 1985 San Marino Grand Prix. Thierry Boutsen was one of several drivers to run out of fuel at the very end of the race, and he responded by getting out of his car and pushing it across the line at the end of the race. The FIA opted against punishing him, and Boutsen got to keep his second-place finish.

• Race: 1984 Dallas Grand Prix

As mentioned above, pushing your car was a most definite no-go for the FIA by 1984, but the sanctioning body yet again turned a blind eye in the case of Nigel Mansell pushing his car across the finish line at the 1984 Dallas Grand Prix. Presumably, the series decided he’d suffered enough, having passed out from heat exhaustion.

• Race: 1976 German Grand Prix

While there’s a good chance you remember the 1976 German Grand Prix most for Niki Lauda’s near-fatal accident, it was also the location of a penalty that went unpunished. Rolf Stommelen set his best practice time behind the wheel of a Brabham BT44B-Cosworth, but when he lined up for the race, he was behind the wheel of a BT45-Alfa Romeo. That change of cars should have caused him to start from the back of the grid, but he was allowed to keep his original starting position. He ended up sixth in the race.

• Race: 1976 Spanish Grand Prix

The 1976 Spanish Grand Prix became a pivotal moment in that year’s title fight between Lauda and James Hunt. After the race, officials measured Hunt’s McLaren and found it to be wider than the legal limit, resulting in Hunt’s disqualification and the loss of his win. A long appeals process followed, where McLaren claimed that measuring the car after the race, when the tires were still warm and therefore wider and more inflated than they would be under cooler conditions, was inappropriate. The FIA ultimately conceded that McLaren had a point; two months later, Hunt was controversially reinstated as a winner, but McLaren still had to pay a $3,000 fine

• Race: 1975 Swedish Grand Prix

This is one of the most fun stories on the list. Vittorio Brambilla in a March started from a stunning pole position at the 1975 Swedish Grand Prix... but it turns out he earned it illegally. See, March’s chief designer, Robin Herd, later admitted to swinging a pit board signal in front of the timing beam well before the car actually crossed the line, which shaved enough time off Brambilla’s lap that he was awarded pole position. Patrick Depailler of Tyrrell would have started from pole had the schtick been found out, but Herd managed to get away with it.

• Race: 1970 British Grand Prix

The 1970s F1 season brought with it a lot of experimentation with aerodynamics in the form of wings, which forms the context for Jochen Rindt’s disqualification from — and then reinstatement in — that year’s British Grand Prix. Officials decided that Rindt should be disqualified because of the struts holding the rear wing in place. See, the struts were bent; if they’d been fully extended, the wing would have exceeded the legal height allowed for the event. The thought was that someone at Lotus had bent the struts just before scrutineering but after Rindt had won. After straightening the struts and refitting them to the car, the FIA ultimately decided to allow Rindt to keep his win — even though there was a good chance the wing had been illegal during the race.

• Race: 1960 Monaco Grand Prix

Drama ensued at the 1960 Monaco Grand Prix when Tony Brooks started from the front row of the grid instead of his teammate Chris Bristow. Bristow had set the third-fastest time in qualifying, which would have earned him a place on the front of the three-car-per-row starting grid.

Brooks, though, set an equal time — but having done so later meant he would start behind Bristow. However, team boss Ken Gregory convinced officials that they’d actually been mistaken: Brooks was the one who was supposed to start on the first row, and Bristow should start in the second. Basically, Gregory’s goal was to get his more experienced driver up at the front. The deception should have resulted in a penalty for Brooks.

• Race: 1959 United States Grand Prix

This is one of my favorite stories. At the 1959 U.S. Grand Prix, Franco-American driver Harry Schell took a shortcut on the track that allowed him to set a qualifying time good enough for third place on the starting grid. Organizers weren’t convinced that they’d even properly timed the lap, so they just gave it to him despite Ferrari’s protests and the ultimate discovery that Schell had most definitely intentionally cut the track. He should have been penalized, but he wasn’t.

• Race: 1958 Portuguese Grand Prix

The 1958 Formula 1 season was a spicy one that featured a close battle between Stirling Moss and eventual victor Mike Hawthorn — a battle that may have been decided by this very race.

Hawthorn had car issues and had to restart his car, briefly driving in the wrong direction. When Moss heard about the drama, he popped into the stewards’ office to claim he hadn’t seen Hawthorn breaching any regulations. As a result, no action was taken against Hawthorn, who stood to lose six points for a potential disqualification.

Unfortunately for Moss, those six points were the deciding factor in a Championship that Hawthorn ultimately won by a single point.

• Race: 1957 Monaco Grand Prix

We’ve got another team member causing chaos to help a driver at the 1957 Monaco Grand Prix. Rob Walker, team principal of Jack Brabham’s Cooper team, informed a marshal that practice needed to be stopped due to oil on track. There wasn’t any oil; it was just a ploy by Walker to make sure Brabham would qualify for an event that had limitations placed on the number of cars that could start.

But that wasn’t all. In the race itself, crew members helped Brabham push start his Cooper, which was also firmly against the rules. However, the team invented a clever excuse to explain away their behavior: they weren’t push-starting the car, they were simply shoving it away from some spilled fuel!

Both deceptions should have resulted in some sort of punishment for Brabham, but he ultimately finished sixth

• Race: 1956 Italian Grand Prix

The 1956 Italian Grand Prix was the final round of the season, and it was one in which Stirling Moss found a loophole. When his Maserati 250F ran out of fuel, he convinced a privately-entered Maserati driver, Luigi Piotti, to use his Maserati to push Moss’ Maserati into the pits to refuel. He’d been losing fuel thanks to a leaky fuel tank.

A driver was barred from receiving outside help to get his car into the pits, but the rules specifically stated that the crew wasn’t able to help the driver. So, Piotto’s push meant Moss got to keep racing, ultimately winning the race.

• Race: 1951 Italian Grand Prix

In the 1951 Italian Grand Prix, Maurice Trintignant of the Simca-Gordini team had fallen ill, so the team owner devised a clever ploy. He allegedly asked Behra to start the race wearing Trintignant’s helmet, pretending to be the Frenchman so the team would be able to collect starting money.