Is F1 becoming less controversial?

[Picci]

I was reflecting the other day about Mercedes having changed their wheel rims before the Texas race to avoid a protest and how it's been a few years since we've had a high profile case where cars got removed from pole or disqualified after victories. I think Magnussen's exclusion a couple of races ago is probably a recent rare occurrence. Remember how we used to go on the news and find out that the race result has changed?

Think about a few controversial stewarding decisions which had a potential impact on the championship. I'm excluding driver contact here and focusing more on decisions taken on race circumstances or other technical reasons:

- Schumacher's 10-second penalty in Britain - 1998
- Kimi incorrectly announced winner in Brazil - 2003
- BARs excluded from Imola (fuel irregularities) - 2004
- Alonso penalised for 'blocking' Massa in Monza qualifying - 2006
- Spygate / McLaren excluded from Constructors - 2008
- F-Duct controversy - 2011
- 2012-today: ??

Do you think it's a matter of stewards taking it easier, regulations being more watertight or is there any other underlying reason behind it?

[caneparo]

At sky italy they said that it’s not true that mercedes covered the holes in the rims in austin. They kept on using it because they ware sanctioned as ok
Imo the biggest controversial decision i remember is the lenalty to senna in japan gp of 1989. On the regulation side i think it was in 2003 when it surfaced that michelin reams were using irregular tyres in the middle of the season.

[erwin greven]

Last years oil burning controversy. Mercedes could use the engine for several races even when they were not complying the rules.

[kals]

- Schumacher's 10-second penalty in Britain - 1998
- Kimi incorrectly announced winner in Brazil - 2003
- BARs excluded from Imola (fuel irregularities) - 2004
- Alonso penalised for 'blocking' Massa in Monza qualifying - 2006
- Spygate / McLaren excluded from Constructors - 2008
- F-Duct controversy - 2011
- 2012-today: ??

BARs exclusion and ban from subsequent races happened in 2005, Spygate was 2007.

2003 - Michelin tyre debacle following complaints by Ferrari and Michelin after the Hungarian GP
2005 - Indianapolis GP
2006 - Schumacher’s parking in Monaco
2008 - Hamilton’s exclusion at Spa along with a long list of driving errors and penalties by himself and Massa throughout the year
2009 - Double decker diffusers and McLaren encouraging Hamilton to lie to the stewards at Melbourne
2010 - “Fernando is faster than you”, Vettel at Turkey and his numerous penalties and driving incidents during the season
2011 - Hamilton and Massa
2012 - Grosjean getting banned
2013 - Pirelli tyre explosions because teams where using them wrong, Mercedes tyre testing at Barcelona
2014 - Jules Bianchi
2016 - Rosberg and Hamilton’s multiple incidents plus Red Bull’s handling of Kvyat
2017 - Vettel’s behavior at Baku and his start at Singapore and Mexico

Pretty sure there were many more controversial incidents.

[Picci]

Thanks for that Kals!

So do you think the officiating is becoming a bit more objective recently? Or is there still room for improvement?

[erwin greven]

One team of officials. Not every race a different group. Then you never get consistency in penalties.

[erwin greven]

This afternoon i remembered this case:



It this the same case you mentioned? @kals

2009 - Double decker diffusers and McLaren encouraging Hamilton to lie to the stewards at Melbourne

[kals]

Yes