Welcome to the last part of our “Looking back at the past decade in motoring” segment. This segment will move away from the realm of the road car and into motorsports, Formula 1 to be specific. There will also be a short conclusion on the whole series.
Formula 1
The last decade in Formula 1 was chaotic, full of controversy and drama but exciting as well. So many things happened here it’s hard not to miss important events.
Only one name springs to mind when you say racing between 00′ and 09′ : Michael Schumacher and Ferrari. The man turned into an absolute Formula 1 legend, a man who broke almost all records in existence in the pinnacle of motorsport. Most number of World Driver’s Championships (7), most consecutive titles (5), most F1 victories (91), most pole positions (68) and the list goes on and on and on. As a result he is now, statistically, the best driver in Formula 1 to date. He won all the titles from 2000 to 2004 only to “retire” in 2006. His records may never be broken but, just as a precaution, the German is now coming back to Formula 1 with Mercedes GP. His goal for the 2010 season is the world championship. Ferrari also dominated the championship, winning 6 championships in the previous decade.
Michael however, was overshadowed by scandals which ruined Formula 1′s image over the last few years. During the 2007 season, McLaren was excluded out of the championship as they stole secret Ferrari plans. The “spygate” scandal left the British team with no points in the manufacturer’s championship and with a $100 million fine. Ron Dennis, a man who had been with the team for over 20 years has left the F1 one team to concentrate on McLaren road cars. Another scandal was Max Mosley’s “sex tape” who showed the FIA president having a bit of “fun” with some girls dressed in Nazi uniforms. Mosley upset the F1 teams until they said they are all to leave F1 and form a separate series. This thing caused Mosley to ultimately retire as FIA president, having left F1 hated by almost all teams. Renault were the stars of another monster scandal in 2009. After they fired Nelson Piquet as a driver, the Spaniard had revealed the so-called “crashgate” race fix-up. It was proven that he was told by Renault F1 boss Flavio Briatore to crash on purpose at the Singapore GP in 2008 so the safety car can come out, therefore permitting Fernando Alonso to win the race. Briatore and Pat Symonds (another key character in this set up) received a lifetime ban and a 5 year ban from the sport respectively. However, Briatore has won a trial against the FIA, lifting his ban, but the FIA has already made an appeal.
Conclusion
What a decade. There were bad moments, for sure, but in the end, the good seemed to outweigh it. We only fit some of the more memorable events in our series of articles, there was plenty more important things to discuss. Hopefully this decade will bring even better things. We hope you enjoyed our series.
Photo credit:
Ferrari F1 car: Trends Update
Grid crash: F1 Wallpapers