Road Rage

Outbursts of red-faced road rage featuring curse-strewn name-calling, as well as occasional physical altercations between drivers, have long been a feature of the sport.

A fairly comprehensive but seldom seen bustup occurred in Montreal in 1982 between Chico Serra and Raul Boesel whose argument over the same piece of road in qualifying spilled over into the pits. The conflict can be seen on a Youtube clip which also puts their unseemly spat into harsh perspective since it contains a brief glimpse of a smiling Riccardo Paletti who was sadly destined to be killed at the start of the race.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mx4681a9DVI

In the 1982 German Grand Prix Nelson Piquet’s overtaking move on Eliseo Salazar resulted in a race-ending collision, after which a berserk Piquet dementedly punched and kicked poor Salazar. Both drivers still had their helmets on so their comments were not heard, though their brief but balletic ‘handbags at dawn’ duel is a Youtube favourite. Murray Walker and James Hunt describe the proceedings for BBC TV...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fG6ZGWA_xiA

The 1993 Japanese Grand Prix featured a notorious post-race confrontation between race winner Ayrton Senna and F1 debutant Eddie Irvine, who had the temerity to try and unlap himself by overtaking Senna late in the race. In his defense Irvine said: “But I’m a racing driver!” Senna, while being forcibly restrained by mechanics from punching out Irvine, screamed: “You’re not a racing driver, you’re a f*****g idiot!”  

Variations on the theme of ‘f*****g’ and ‘idiot’ were favourite terms of abuse deployed against Irvine, who had a history of aggravating his opponents. At Adelaide in 1997 he crashed into Jacques Villeneuve, who described it as “a stupid, idiotic move!” Later that year at Jerez Villeneuve accused Irvine of deliberately blocking him in qualifying. Villeneuve: “Irvine is a f*****g idiot!” 

At the 2001 Canadian Grand Prix the outspoken Villeneuve engaged in a dangerous war of words with a belligerent Juan Pablo Montoya. Villeneuve accused Montoya of blocking him in qualifying. Montoya accused Villeneuve of brake testing him. Montoya: “You do that again and I’ll put you in the f*****g wall!” Villeneuve: “I’ll put you in the f*****g trees!”. Montoya (referring to Villeneuve’s accident earlier that year in Australia in which a marshal died): “You’ve already killed someone this season!”

In these kinder, gentler, more politically correct times many drivers don’t have obscenities in their vocabulary, or they modify their remarks for public consumption. However, as was demonstrated at the 2016 Mexican Grand Prix incidents of road rage are never far away.