Translated material
Formula 1: rules of deception
At the Monaco Grand Prix, the first two places were taken by McLaren pilots - Spaniard Fernando Alonso, the main racing star today after the departure of Michael Schumacher, and Briton Lewis Hamilton, who made a great start to his first season in the “big prizes”. At the same time, it might have seemed to people watching the race on the circuit and on TV that Hamilton was deliberately not catching up with Alonso, although he seemed obliged to at least try to do so. The International Motor Sports Federation (FIA) has launched an investigation. His goal was to prove whether the McLaren stable used “team tactics” prohibited by regulations, when both pilots help each other.
The progress of the investigation and statements made by key figures in Formula 1 raise doubts that cheating in these races is punishable in principle. Formula owner and commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone apparently warned McLaren about possible sanctions if the stable was found guilty. But how did he do it: “I don’t know what everyone understands by “team tactics”, but one thing is certain - if one of the riders is ordered to attack a teammate or, on the contrary, to hold a position, this does not correspond to the provisions "We once fined Ferrari for similar actions, but McLaren has enough funds, and a more effective punishment would be deprivation of points or disqualification." So, the terrible word “disqualification” was heard in relation to the strongest team of the current races. But then Ecclestone said a completely ridiculous thing: “In any case, we are talking about punishing the team, not the drivers - they are not guilty of anything. What can you do if the team prohibits overtaking the leader? Those who give such things should be punished orders."
The question is, how can you disqualify a team and not disqualify the riders? There is only one way - to rush them into contracts with other teams, which is almost impossible during the season.
But in fact, no one was going to punish McLaren. An official representative of the International Motor Sports Federation initially told reporters that a decision in the McLaren case would be made before June 10, while the commission was studying the recording of the race and negotiations between the drivers and the team. Then there were references to some experts who believe that one detail does not allow us to interpret what happened in Monaco as a command tactic. It turns out that similar cases in the past (which means they did happen, and not just that one case five years ago when Ferrari was deprived of some points for this) ended in a change of position after an order from the pits, but this time the drivers retained their positions . So the request to Hamilton “not to attack” Alonso could have a thousand formal reasons, in particular technical ones known only to engineers - from overheating of the car to any malfunctions recorded by telemetric equipment.
As a result, the investigation into the use of command tactics in Monaco was completed almost immediately. The FIA issued an official statement: "Having studied the radio communications between the team and the McLaren drivers, the data provided by observers and technical services, we have come to the conclusion that there are no violations in the actions of McLaren and there is no point in continuing the investigation."
There really was no point in continuing the investigation. But not at all because McLaren did not violate the regulations. Depriving the team of points for one specific stage in Monaco, of course, would aggravate the fight, but not fundamentally - for McLaren it would be a reparable loss, because there are still many races ahead. And disqualification would not only weaken the racing, worsening the purely sporting quality of the spectacle, but would also set a precedent. The stables use team tactics so often and so clearly that each race could end with a protest from some teams against others. Therefore, apparently, it was decided to agree to such deception as the lesser of two evils.