5 replies to this topic

[aportinga]

Hey can anyone refresh my old and moldy memory and tell me whether the alligations by Senna towards the Benetton team regarding LC or TC?

[Frans]

(France 1994) The way ms could outdrag senna starting from the wrong, dusty side of the track, without wheelspin was suspicious.

Quote from M.Lawrence:

"...In 1994 Benetton had traction control on its computer program, yet traction control had been outlawed. There is no question about this, it was discovered by the FIA and admitted by the team. Benetton claimed it was only used in testing. Of course, Flavio, of course, teams regularly waste time, and bins full of cash, testing outlawed systems they do not use in races. “

When Ayrton Senna retired from the 1994 Pacific Grand Prix at Aida, he stood with his car for about 15 minutes and went back to his pits and reported that Benetton was running different cars. Senna knew that Schumacher was using traction control. ...In his eyes it was a British team that was cheating and Michael went along with it.

To activate the traction control, or 'launch control' as Benetton claimed it was, the driver had to go through a specific and complicated procedure on the parade lap, the driver activated the system so there is no way that Schumacher was an innocent..."

In short:

1. "The FIA cast a further shadow over Schumacher's aspirations when it announced that Benetton was found to have a computer system capable of breaching the regulations"

2. "...Charlie Whiting indicated his belief that the Benetton team had the facility to run an illegal launch (automatic start) control..."

3. " Senna, for one, was extremely suspicious about the Benetton's performance out of slow and medium speed corners. On several occasions, in private, he voiced the view that there was something about the Benetton which worried him....he suspected that the B194 might have some sort of illegal traction control system."

4. "Whiting's Imola report which confirmed the presence of 'launch control' - an automatic start system - in Schumacher's Imola black box."

5. "Launch control could in fact be switched on using a lap-top...Benetton indicated that the availability of this feature came as a surprise to them...The menu was so arranged that after ten items, nothing further appeared. If, however, the operator scrolled beyond the tenth listed option, to option 13, launch control can be enabled, even though this is not visible on the screen. No satisfactory explanation was offered for this attempt to conceal the feature."

6. "...it was pointed out that the driver had to work through a particular sequence of gearshift paddle positions, in order to activate the system."




Brazil 1994

The 1st year of the drivers-aid ban, Aryton Senna who drove with the system and officially is the LAST winner of a driver who used a traction controlled car [in Adelaide 1993], while Senna strongly started to suspect the Benetton from Schumacher, because the traction of that car was huge. Keep in mind they’re team tacitcs were very flexible because of the removal of the fuel ring, what gained several seconds (!!!) in the pits, winning loads of place and time on track. (This they had untill the German GP in the 1994 season.)

Pacific GP 1994

This GP he was sure about his suspicion, he was quoted: "I’m sure of it, I have to fight against an illegal car, therefore I need to go over the limit." He only talked with friends of him about this, but Senna who knows how the system works and how a car acts when such system is in use, surely is not a person who would joke about these kind of things. His accusations never have been proven, a couple of weeks later we all know what happened.

France 1994

At the French Grand Prix in late June, Schumacher beat Hill with a strart so flawless that it hardened the suspicions lurking in many minds. This was the kind of get away that had been seen many times in the previous two seasons when the teams had enjoyed the benefit of the now proscribed traction control systems and fully automatic gearboxes.

Announcing it's ban on most kinds of computer controlled devices, the FIA had been loud in it's insistence that the new regulations would be regularly and strictly policed. In July, shortly after the British Grand prix, the FIA"s technical commision produced the findings from a software analysis company, LDRA of Liverpool which it had hired to conduct it's spot checks into computer progremas being used by Ferrari, Benetton and McLaren.

To enable these checks to be made, the teams had to first agree to surrender the source codes: the means of access to their computer programs. Ferrari, spooked by the unpunished discovery of their use of a variation of traction control at Aida, readily complied; their cars were found to be clean. McLaren and Benetton however refused to produce the source codes, claiming that to do so would first compromise the commercial confidentiality and second infringe the intellectual copyright of their software suppliers. When it was pointed out to them that LDRA is often enlisted by the British government to look into military soiftware whose confidentiality is covered by the Official Secrets Act and carries weightier consequences than a silver cup and a few bottles of chjampagne and the further inflation of over inflated egos, they gave in.

Both teams were fined $100 000.00 for attempting to obstruct the course of justice. And when the findings emerged, both appeared to have something to hide. In McLarens case, it was a gearbox program permitting automatic shifts. After much deliberating, and to the surprise of many, the FIA eventually decided that it was not illegal. But Benetton had something far more exciting up their sleves...

When LDRA's people finally got into the B194s computer software, they discoverd a hidden program, and it was dynamite: something which allowed Schumacher to make perfect starts merely by flooring the throttle and holding it there, the computer taking over to determine the correct matching of gear-changes to engine speed, ensuring that the car reached the first corner in the least possible time, with no wheel spin or side slip, all it's energy concentrated forward. Before the winter, this combination of traction control and gearbox automation would have been legal. Now, although it was strictly outlawed by the regulations, it was still there. If you knew how to find it. Because it was invisible.

It took LDRA's people a while. What you had to do was call up the softwares menu of programs, scroll down to the bottom line, put the cursor on an apparently blank line, press a particular key (no clues to that, either) and - hey presto - without anything showing on the screen, the specila program was there.

They called it "launch control" and LDRA's computer detectives also discovered the means by which the driver could activate it on the way to the starting grid. It involved a sequence of commands using the throttlle and clutch pedals and the gear shift paddles under the steering wheel. Benetton couldn't deny it's existence, but they did claim that it had not been usde since it had been banned. So why was it still there and had it's existence been so carefully disguised?

It had remained in the software, they said, because to remove it would have been too difficult. The danger was that in the purging of the program, others might become corrupted. Best leave it be. But, so that the driver couldn't accidentally engage it, and thereby unintentionally brealk the new rules, "launch control" had been hidden carefully away behind a sereis of masking procedures.

"That's enough to make me think they were cheating", and experienced software programmer with another F1 team told me. "Look, we purged our own software of all illegal systems during the winter. I did it myself. OK, our car isn't quite as sophisticated as the Benetton, but it only took me 2 days. Perfectly strightforward. And the fact that they disguised it is suspicious"

It goes on to speculate that Benetton could even have had further systems which self purged when the car was turned off at the end of the race, but that is pure (if learned) speculation -




Aaaaaaah, there you go.... happy?

[Frans]

oops, found more:

1994, Benneton
The details:

A) It begins with the French GP's start. Michael Schumacher made a rarely-seen perfect start. Rumours were already circulating that the Benetton might be using illegal traction control system and this start only instigated more rumours.

B) Then came the British Grand Prix were Schumacher was given the Black Flag but none the less was told by the team to remain on track or rather, was NOT told he should retire from the race. For that, the stewards at Silverstone issued the following statement: "I am surprised by the lack of controversy over Charlie Whiting's decision to declare the Ferrari throttle control system legal. It seems a fairly open-and-shut case - it's traction control, as banned by the rules. Can someone explain to me why it is legal? Of course, if it were deemed illegal, Ferrari and Schumacher would be disqualified and removed from the Championship, and that wouldn't do much for TV ratings, would it? "

quote:
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The Stewards of the meeting have decided to formally reprimand the competitor Mild Seven Benetton Ford for a lack of a complete understanding of F1 rules and of the need for this to be corrected and for their meticulous application in the future. Michael Schumacher and competitor Mild Seven Benetton Ford were fined US $25,000 for breach of the applicable regulations."
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C) In the week following that, the FIA launched an investigation into the events of Silverstone. After the hearing, Schumacher lost his 6 points from Silverstone and was given a two-race ban. Benetton appealed. (As a side note, it's interesting to point out that the reason Benetton did not call Schumacher in was because his offence occured at 14:00 and the penalty was served to the team and driver (black flag with #5 board raised) at 14:27 - over the 15 or 20 minutes allowed to the stewards to serve the penalty. This is interesting because, if you recall, at Silverstone last year, the stewards ****ed up in the very same way and because they did, the FIA were lenient to strike off Schumacher's penalty for overtaking under yellow. This, many said last year, what proof that the FIA in 1994 were mainly keen on "removing" Schumacher from the field for a couple or so races, so the HUGE gap in the points will be closed down - remember, Schumacher before Silverstone was leading Hill 66 to 29 points!)

D) To describe what happens next, here's a quote from a book about Benetton and Schumacher's 1994 season:

quote:
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Benetton were fined $500,000 for their failure to obey the Stewards' orders at Silverstone and a further $100,000 for being tardy in producing 'source codes' for their electronic systems, which the FIA had been demanding since the San Marino Grand Prix. Benetton were found to have a system which could be in breach of the regulations. In essence, the regulations prevented computers controlling the cars; but the FIA found no evidence that the system had been used. (This did not preven fevered speculation on Schumacher's astonishing start in the French Grand Prix, where he;s blitzed the start.) Benetton reacted firmly. 'Both Michael Schumacher and the Benetton Formula team feel that the penalties inflicted on them were very severe. Together both parties have agreed to appeal in front of the International Court of Appeal on the FIA, and therefore Michael Schumacher will take part in the upcoming 1994 German Grand Prix. This decision has been reached following the concern from both Michael Schumacher and the Benetton Formula team that Michael's absence from his home Grand Prix would unfairly penalise and disappoint all the German fans who have long awaited this event. Michael Schumacher and the Benetton Formula hope that this appeal will result in a decreased penalty."
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E) Comes the German Grand Prix, and Benetton seem to go from bad to worse. On lap 15, comes Schumacher's teammate Jos Verstappen for a pitstop. As the fuel nozzle is being pulled off the rig of the car, fuel sprays off freely and a huge fire bursts, catching several mechanics and Vertappen himself in it. Luckily, only one crew member was burned mildly and Verstappen suffered minor burns only. After an investigation, the FIA released a statement saying that the incident was caused by the removal of a filter, which meant the fuel flow was about 12.5% faster - resulting in faster pitstops. Benetton in turn released a statement saying the FIA's scrutiny team actually approved this removal of the filter before the German Grand Prix - ie, the filter was removed with the knowledge and permission of the FIA's Technical Delegate, Charlie Whiting. (As a side note- you might remember that this is not the only recent time where dear Charlie Whiting approves a technical change only later to be found that this change is declared illegal... Such was the case with McLaren's brakes system last year, which were approved by Whiting only to be declared illegal in Brazil).

F) A couple of races later and the circus arrives at Spa. Did we mention bad to worse? Did we mention the FIA were a bit... after Benetton, right or wrong? So there is Spa and Schumacher, on lap 19, has a spin, riding the kerb but corrects himself well enough to not lose his lead and eventual win. This incident would not have been meaningful, had it not been for what happened right after the race. The Stewards of the meeting checked Schumacher's Benetton to annoubce that the plank under the Benetton had not conformed to the regualtions and was measured in some places to be 7.4mm thick (the regulations state it should be 10mm with no more and no less than 10% of that, ie - no less than 9mm thick). Schumacher's 10 points were striken off. (Again bear in mind the points position - Schumacher, without the Silverstone 6 points, had 86 points to Hill's 51. Now that he was disqualified from the Belgian GP too, he still had a healthy lead of 76 points to Hill's 51.) Ross Brawn argued that it may well have been worn thin when Schumacher rode the kerb and Benetton lodged an appeal... another one.

G) The World Council adjurns to hear the appeals of Benetton and Michael Schumacher over the 2-race ban from Silverstone. It was rejected. Of the five races remaining to the season, Schumacher was set to miss 2 races (Italy and Portugal), having already been disqualified from previous two (Silverstone and Belgium). Then the World Council heard the appeal over Spa. It was rejected too. Then the hearing over the Hockenheim fire and fuel rig. They decided to take "no further action against the team" for there was "insufficient evidence." Michael Schumacher returned after his two race ban with now only one point lead over Hill. He won at Jerez and then Hill won at Suzuka. They arrived at the last race in Adelaide with that meager one point separating them. Schumacher, in the lead of the race and Hill a close second, made a mistake and spun off, damaging his car. Hill did not see the spin itself, he only saw Schumacher going wide and went for the gap to overtake Schumacher. Schumacher closed the door, crashing into Hill. They were both out of the race. Schumacher became World Champion. Some would say the WC was his rightly, some would say not. Thos are the facts.

even happier?

I'm sorry but this is more than just the Senna alligations.... hope it helps ya.

[AgRacer]

That's a nice bunch of writing, but how about a link to a credible source (NO, you're home page does not count).

[aportinga]

Thanks Frans! I recalled it was LC ;)

[KinetiK]

Good one Frans, almost had me fooled there! No, not really.