2009 list of controversies

This is a list of controversies surrounding F1 since the start of the season 2009:

• February, row over driver license fees starts to pick up in the media. Drivers are unhappy but pays their fees. FIA later lowers the fees
• March 17-24, FIA changes the points system two times in a week, just days before the first gp of the season
• March 23, FIA publishes starting list for 2009, changing Force Indias numbers to 18 and 19. Force India not happy due to promotional material and merchandise already manufactured using numbers 20 and 21
• March 24, Ecclestone reveals that teams threatened to boycott season premiere due to money row
• March 26, FIA revises starting list, giving back the old numbers for Force India
• March 24, Diffuser row takes off, teams protest the diffusers of Toyota, Brawn and Williams
  BMW lodges protest but is rejected due to a formality error, Ferrari, Red Bull and Renault lodges protest, stewards clears controversial diffusers
• March 28, FIA recieves appeal from Ferrari, Renault and Red Bull with regards to diffusers. April 14th set as date of hearing.
• March 28, Williams protest the legality of Ferrari and Red Bull's cars
• March 28, Williams withdraw protest in the interest of the sport
• March 28, Toyota disqualified from qualification in Australia due to flexing wings
• March 29, Lie-gate takes off. Lewis Hamilton promoted to third place at the Australian GP after Jarno Trulli was penalised.
• March 29, Vettel handed grid penalty for Malaysia after on track incident with Kubica
• April 1, FIA re-open Hamilton/Trulli inquiry. Hearing to be held before Malaysia GP
• April 2, Hamilton thrown out of Australian GP, Trulli reinstated as third, thus giving the public its third result table in a week since the finish of the Australian GP
• April 4, BMW lodges protest against "illegal" diffusers
• April 5, Malaysian GP red flagged due to rain. Restart not possible because of lighting conditions. Ecclestone not accepting any criticism despite plenty of warnings way ahead of race
• April 7, McLaren summoned to appear before the FIA's World Motor Sport Council on April 29 to answer charges that it has brought Formula 1 into disrepute over the controversy surrounding Lewis Hamilton's Australian Grand Prix disqualification
• April 9, FIA source reveals that Hamilton and Ryan stuck to lie despite evidence to the contrary was presented to them. Bernie Ecclestone tells media that McLaren might face ban after hearing
• April 13, FIA requests copies of interviews with Whitmarsh after Australian GP
• April 14, Diffuser row set to be decided by ICA

Have I forgotten anything? Two races into the season and this is what we have... Can it possibly get any worse?

I'm thinking about updating this list as the season goes on.

It will get much worse, no doubt, but this thread should be made a "sticky".

Let's just admit F1 is a soap opera.

Originally posted by peroa
It will get much worse, no doubt, but this thread should be made a "sticky".

The rate of new controversies will keep this thread on top for the rest of the year, anyways. No sticky required

I am getting the same feelings now that I had in 1995 (Indy).

I meant it should be just 1 post that is being edited as times fly by.
Otherwise it will be a mess.

I wouldn't classify the Force India start number issue as a 'controversy'.

The Malaysia red flag probably wouldn't make my list either... :

Originally posted by peroa
I meant it should be just 1 post that is being edited as times fly by.
Otherwise it will be a mess.

What do you expect? F1 is a mess, for gawds sake ;)

I'll update the first post as the season goes on. I guess the sticky tags are for admins threads only.

Originally posted by Frogman
I wouldn't classify the Force India start number issue as a 'controversy'.

The Malaysia red flag probably wouldn't make my list either... :

Maybe the list should have been called "screw ups" instead. I think both cases are qualified as such. In any case, they were not good news for F1.

Originally posted by Motormedia


What do you expect? F1 is a mess, for gawds sake ;)

Originally posted by Owen
Let's just admit F1 is a soap opera.

That is the whole point. Look at the headlines and media attention it creates so you can tell potential sponsors about how much TV coverage F1 racing gets.

One only has to observe the rise of big brother type tv shows or government statements to note this phenomena.

No news is bad news seems to be the basics.

Originally posted by JtP1


That is the whole point. Look at the headlines and media attention it creates so you can tell potential sponsors about how much TV coverage F1 racing gets.

One only has to observe the rise of big brother type tv shows or government statements to note this phenomena.

No news is bad news seems to be the basics.

I'm not sure it's good publicity though.

I'm actually waiting the start of the Moto GP season more than next F1 GP, and it a lot from die hard F1 guy. I'm missing a series that is about racing not politics...

Originally posted by Motormedia
This is a list of controversies surrounding F1 since the start of the season 2009:

• March 17-24, FIA changes the points system two times in a week, just days before the first gp of the season
• March 23, FIA publishes starting list for 2009, changing Force Indias numbers to 18 and 19. Force India not happy due to promotional material and merchandise already manufactured using numbers 20 and 21
• March 24, Ecclestone reveals that teams threatened to boycott season premiere due to money row
• March 26, FIA revises starting list, giving back the old numbers for Force India
• March 24, Diffuser row takes off, teams protest the diffusers of Toyota, Brawn and Williams
  BMW lodges protest but is rejected due to a formality error, Ferrari, Red Bull and Renault lodges protest, stewards clears controversial diffusers
• March 28, FIA recieves appeal from Ferrari, Renault and Red Bull with regards to diffusers. April 14th set as date of hearing.
• March 28, Williams protest the legality of Ferrari and Red Bull's cars
• March 28, Williams withdraw protest in the interest of the sport
• March 28, Toyota disqualified from qualification in Australia due to flexing wings
• March 29, Lie-gate takes off. Lewis Hamilton promoted to third place at the Australian GP after Jarno Trulli was penalised.
• April 1, FIA re-open Hamilton/Trulli inquiry. Hearing to be held before Malaysia GP
• April 2, Hamilton thrown out of Australian GP, Trulli reinstated as third, thus giving the public its third result table in a week since the finish of the Australian GP
• April 4, BMW lodges protest against "illegal" diffusers
• April 5, Malaysian GP red flagged due to rain. Restart not possible because of lighting conditions. Ecclestone not accepting any criticism despite plenty of warnings way ahead of race
• April 7, McLaren summoned to appear before the FIA's World Motor Sport Council on April 29 to answer charges that it has brought Formula 1 into disrepute over the controversy surrounding Lewis Hamilton's Australian Grand Prix disqualification

Have I forgotten anything? Two races into the season and this is what we have... Can it possibly get any worse?

I'm thinking about updating this list as the season goes on.

For me, Save for Lie-gate and Diffuser issue, the rest are news items really, not controversies.

Originally posted by Motormedia
Have I forgotten anything? Two races into the season and this is what we have... Can it possibly get any worse?

I'm thinking about updating this list as the season goes on.

WMSC rules that Brawn is a new entry, on account of its name change, thus giving Bernie opportunity to try and screw them out of past Honda prize money.

(no idea if that one's been resolved or not yet - seem to recall suggestions that Bernie's accepted Brawn are still entitled to the Honda cash)

Has there been any racing?

Originally posted by peroa
It will get much worse, no doubt, but this thread should be made a "sticky".

Seconded. If someone could figure out a points system we could have a world championship of rule breakers (about the only thing McLaren has a realistic hope of winning this season).

I would add the penalty for the Vettel/Kubica incident.

Originally posted by Gareth

WMSC rules that Brawn is a new entry, on account of its name change, thus giving Bernie opportunity to try and screw them out of past Honda prize money.

Good one. Also, we have the fledgeling arguments about Brawns Exhausts in Australia being illegal, and the Ferrari ones prior to the season start.

Originally posted by Buttoneer

Good one. Also, we have the fledgeling arguments about Brawns Exhausts in Australia being illegal, and the Ferrari ones prior to the season start.

No FIA involvement in those though.

WMSC is not FIA?

Originally posted by peroa
WMSC is not FIA?

They have not been involved in anything to do with the exhausts.

Ah, sorry, was reading the Brawn thing.

Originally posted by Owen
Let's just admit F1 is a soap opera.

Yeah, just a better one as the characters are not fictional.

Good list. But I think the Super License row should be there as well. Is there any team that have a third driver that can afford to pay their license?

Does this qualify? TWG to clear up Williams complaint .

So the protest is withdrawn, but the complaint is "cleared up".

HAHAHA what a total joke/sham/mockery i'm willing to bet that more than all the controversies in some years, maybe even decades...

I prefered F1 when it was all about racing.

Originally posted by Clatter


No FIA involvement in those though.

No in "Ecclestone reveals that teams threatened to boycott season premiere due to money row"

It's just controversies, not FIA controversies.

You could probably add to the list the unhappiness about the race times so far.

Originally posted by Buttoneer
No in "Ecclestone reveals that teams threatened to boycott season premiere due to money row"

It's just controversies, not FIA controversies.

You could probably add to the list the unhappiness about the race times so far.

Fair enough, although I still don't the exhausts as controversial.

Driver's super license fee?

Let's keep the list updated.
It should really show what a mess this all is.

Originally posted by Clatter
I would add the penalty for the Vettel/Kubica incident.

A tricky one. Including the incident in the list would most likely mean every decision from the stewards, with regards to on track actions, would have to be included. The Spa incident last year should definetly have qualified but this incident... If I'm too generous the list will show a lot of incidents which in themselves are not that controversial to cause harm to the sport and it kind of defeats the purpose of the list. In this case I'll put the incident up provisionally. If any protests are lodged there will be a hearing in the near future.

Originally posted by MattPete
I prefered F1 when it was all about racing.

i think everyone did (apart from the lawyers)

Originally posted by Buttoneer
No in "Ecclestone reveals that teams threatened to boycott season premiere due to money row"

It's just controversies, not FIA controversies.

You could probably add to the list the unhappiness about the race times so far.

You are right. The list is about controversies in general, and in particular controversies that grabs the headlines to the detriment of the sport. I don't have confidence in any of the big movers in the sport to look after any other interests than their own. FIA is not the only culprit in this mess.

Originally posted by Buttoneer

Good one. Also, we have the fledgeling arguments about Brawns Exhausts in Australia being illegal, and the Ferrari ones prior to the season start.

I'm on the case. I believe this kind of technical issues to be completely unnecessary as there must be a way to sort them out before hand.

Originally posted by Gareth

WMSC rules that Brawn is a new entry, on account of its name change, thus giving Bernie opportunity to try and screw them out of past Honda prize money.

(no idea if that one's been resolved or not yet - seem to recall suggestions that Bernie's accepted Brawn are still entitled to the Honda cash)

Might qualify on the list. It's been flying low on the radar though.

Kimi eating ice scream?

Originally posted by Owen
Let's just admit F1 is a soap opera.

It's more like a really boring TV series about lawyers and old rich men.

Originally posted by Frogman
The Malaysia red flag probably wouldn't make my list either... :

You don't think the Sepang start time was controversial. Where have you been hiding away?

Originally posted by Newskiller


You don't think the Sepang start time was controversial. Where have you been hiding away?

That's semantics, sort of.
The red flag was only a consequence of the poor timing of the race start. So having the race start so late is would should figure in the list as reason of controverse and embarassment.

Originally posted by Motormedia


A tricky one. Including the incident in the list would most likely mean every decision from the stewards, with regards to on track actions, would have to be included. The Spa incident last year should definetly have qualified but this incident... If I'm too generous the list will show a lot of incidents which in themselves are not that controversial to cause harm to the sport and it kind of defeats the purpose of the list. In this case I'll put the incident up provisionally. If any protests are lodged there will be a hearing in the near future.

The Vettel-Kubica incident should be included.
I would include any decision where 75% of the fans don't agree.
(as per survey on this board)

Originally posted by Motormedia


Have I forgotten anything? Two races into the season and this is what we have... Can it possibly get any worse?

I'm thinking about updating this list as the season goes on.

Please do. It'll be a long list but these facts say more then any choice opinionated words can do to describe the situation.

Only one that's not mentioned that I think also looks bad is the politics between Bernie vs FOTA. But I can understand why it's not on there.

Originally posted by paranoik0


It's more like a really boring TV series about lawyers and old rich men.

and F1 is run by whom?

I've had this idea for awhile now that there should be a controversy index. This would be a a numerical indication of the controversies at that time in the F1 world. Perhaps this number could be on the front page of the Autosport website. This would be good for the casual fan that pops in once a week or so. They see the index number and decide to read into some of the stories a little more and maybe venture into this BB. Or, perhaps they see the index number and it scares them away!

So then I was thinking how would the index be maintained? There could be polls taken on the BB, or perhaps one of the BB moderators could take on this task. Controversies would have to be weighed and given a value ..... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc. That number would be added to the running total that would make up the index number. As controversies die out or are resolved through action/decisions, then that number would be subtracted from the running total and the index would then be lower.

You would probably have a base number that the index would probably never go below given that:

Bernie Ecclestone is a money grubbing maniacal troll that we all have to put up with: +2.0 on the index

Max Mosley is an egotistical sexual deviate with a strange Nazi kink whose only aspiration in life seems to be running the sport deep into the ground: +2.5 on the index

I put the current index at 9.5.

Any opinions/suggestions?

List updated.