| Troubled Teammates (skysports.com photo) |
There are notable precedents to the current teammate tensions at Red Bull Racing, where Sebastian Vettel defied team orders and overtook Mark Webber to win in Malaysia. Past examples suggest the negative repercussions could be long-lasting, for one or both of the drivers, for the team and possibly for the sport...
Reutemann vs Jones
Carlos Reutemann was contracted by Williams to play second fiddle to team leader Alan Jones. When they were running one-two in the 1981 Brazilian Grand Prix Reutemann was asked (via pit signals) to move over and let Jones win. After a short argument with himself Reutemann refused to give way and won the race, saying later that had he passed up this opportunity to win he would not have been a racing driver. Thereafter the Aussie tough guy Jones hated the taciturn Argentinian with a vengeance.
Villeneuve vs Pironi
Gilles Villeneuve was leading the 1982 San Marino Grand Prix when Didier Pironi unexpectedly overtook him in the final laps and won.Given the long-standing Ferrari tradition that teammates should hold position if they were controlling the late stages of a race, Villeneuve was enraged at what he perceived as Pironi's treachery. Two weeks later, with his fury unabated and his judgement impaired, Villeneuve crashed fatally during qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix. Pironi, who suffered career-ending injuries later in 1982, was killed in a powerboat race in 1987.
Prost vs Arnoux
When local heroes Alain Prost and Rene Arnoux were teammates at Renault, the French national team, the potential for conflict was high. Matters came to a head in the French Grand Prix at the Paul Ricard circuit in 1982. The turbocharged Renaults finished one-two in the team's home race but not, according to second-placed Prost, in the order that had been pre-arranged. Prost insisted they had agreed that since he was better-placed in the championship Arnoux would support him. Arnoux, who won from pole position, insisted they were free to race. Their feud caused inner turmoil in their team. Arnoux moved to Ferrari. Prost was fired at the end of 1983 and signed with McLaren.
Piquet vs Mansell
In 1986 Williams had the best car but their drivers despised each other and engaged in a war of words. Nelson Piquet called Nigel Mansell "an uneducated blockhead" and made negative comments about the Englishman's wife. Mansell said "Piquet is just a vile man." Their verbal jousting was just a preliminary to fierce on-track fighting where their only goal was to beat each other. Preoccupied with their personal battle the distracted teammates ignored McLaren's Alain Prost, who cruised unopposed to the 1986 driving title.
Senna vs Prost
The most infamous feud began when Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost were McLaren teammates. Their animosity brought out both the best and the worst in the two great drivers. In their championship showdown at Suzuka in 1989 Prost deliberately collided with Senna to win the title. A year later at Suzuka, with Prost having moved to Ferrari to get away from Senna, the Brazilian deliberately crashed into the Frenchman to win the championship. They eventually made peace and in 1994 Prost was a pallbearer at Senna's funeral.
Coulthard vs Hakkinen
As McLaren teammates David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen didn't feud, though Coulthard was never content with his secondary role and accepted the fact that Ron Dennis was emotionally closer to Hakkinen, following the Finn's nearly fatal accident in 1994. In 1997 at Jerez Coulthard was asked by McLaren to move over and let Hakkinen win his first GP. In 1998 at Melbourne Coulthard honoured their pre-race agreement to let Hakkinen win. These victories helped transform Hakkinen into a serial winner who won two driving titles and out-scored the loyal McLaren team player Coulthard 20 victories to 12.
Barrichello vs Schumacher
From 2000 to 2005 Rubens Barrichello had the dubious honour of playing a supporting role to Michael Schumacher at Ferrari, a team then totally dedicated to serving the needs of the German superstar. The Brazilian mostly only ever won when Schumacher couldn't win. (As team mates the score was Barrichello 9 wins, Schumacher 49). During his time as Schumacher's servant he seldom revealed his feelings, but after he left Barrichello admitted his Ferrari years were a bittersweet experience.
Alonso vs Hamilton
The most recent feud of note involved Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton at McLaren, though nowadays they have mutual respect. Alonso came to McLaren in 2007 as a two-time champion and expected if not preferential then at least equal treatment with Hamilton, but became convinced this was not the case and took revenge. After establishing a pole-setting time at Hungary in 2007 Alonso was penalised for parking his car in front of Hamilton's to prevent his teammate from going out for another qualifying lap. On race day Alonso threatened to inform the FIA that McLaren was in possession of secret Ferrari designs. (The governing body fined McLaren $100 million and excluded the team from the 2007 constructors' championship.) Alonso's three-year McLaren contract was terminated and he moved to Ferrari,
That's a great article, Thanks a lot for informing us of the f1 history.
ReplyDeleteAlonso vs Hamilton ? No, Alonso expected Number 1 treatment, but instead got equal treatment, he then got beaten fair and square by Hamilton in his rookie year and ran off crying to a midfield team rather than be exposed again.
ReplyDeletesurely the Coulthard and Barrichello cases were of No. 2 drivers who knew their places and acted accordingly?
ReplyDeleteIf they'd involved any special animosity then fair enough, include them under this heading, but these cases look out of place under this heading.
Alonso vs Hamilton is too recent! It is not known if Alonso wanted equal treatment (what he said) or number 1 treatment (what McLaren said). To be fair with Alonso, the Hungary incident was triggered by Hamilton not following team instructions and breaking the qualifying plan for Alonso. As Vettel, Hamilton did it because he knew that the team would finally support him. Alonso retaliated by parking in the pit, then with cold tires and in the time limit for doing the last timed lap he went and made the fastest lap (no matter what, you have to admire the driver). But, of course, he was very wrong in parking in the pit and he paid for it (you can even argue that he paid a World Championship and for sure the respect of many fans).
ReplyDeleteFinally, we don't really know what Alonso said to Dennis or what Dennis told the FIA. But, at that point there had been already a FIA and McLaren internal investigation on the matter of McLaren getting information from Ferrari, so if Dennis didn't know anything about the matter he was not doing a very good job as team principal. And second, no matter what they discussed, that didn't trigger a further research on the matter by the FIA. Let's don't forget that the final investigation that lead to the $100 million fine was triggered by a photocopy shop in England calling Ferrari and telling them if it was ok to photocopy a document with hundreds of pages and signs of "intellectual property of Ferrari" all around.
An interesting point is that this story has somehow a happy ending, both Hamilton and Alonso now have great respect for each other as drivers and persons. This doesn't happen without recognizing to yourself that you have done things wrong too.
Rene arnous vs Alain Prost at Renault in 1982. WIkipedia says: "Arnoux's situation [at Renault] was complicated in 1981 by the arrival of Alain Prost... . Inevitably their rivalry on track flared up off the track and relations between the two men deteriorated... The conflict reached its peak at the 1982 French Grand Prix at the Circuit Paul Ricard. The drivers took the first one-two in Renault's history in Formula One, Arnoux finishing ahead of Prost. Prost was furious, considering that his teammate had not kept to the team orders agreed before the race, according to which he should have ceded the win to Prost, who was better placed in the championship. Arnoux replied that no orders had been given before the race and that he was free to drive his own race."
ReplyDeleteHowever, what that article omits is that Arnoux, leading, was given repeated pit boards reading "Prost, Arnoux", waved increasingly furiously by the team, and later said blandly that he hadn't seen them.