Ferrari created a huge controversy over the weekend when it decided that Formula One was, in fact, a team sport.
Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello was clearly in the lead and headed toward a win in the Austrian Grand Prix. But Barrichello is not the current points leader for the Formula One championship — Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher holds that position.
So, Ferrari ordered Barrichello to slow down so that Schumacher could win the race and increase his points lead in his quest to win the championship.
Neither race fans nor the International Automobile Federation were pleased. Fans booed Schumacher and the FIA has ordered Ferrari to explain itself at a June 26 hearing.
This is not the first time such shenanigans have taken place at a Formula One race. At the 1998 Australian Grand Prix, McClaren team officials also ordered a driver who was in the lead to slow down and allow another McClaren driver to win the race.
After that race the FIA said that such actions were permissible as long as a championship were at stake. “It is perfectly legitimate for a team to decide that one of its drivers is its Championship contender and that the other will support him,” the FIA said at the time.
Source:
Ferrari summoned by FIA. The BBC, May 13, 2002.