Formula 1’s most experienced driver, and living legend, Fernando Alonso confirmed the old and well-worn axiom in motorsport: “everyone cheats, some get caught.”
Even in today’s modern era, F1 teams cheat or bend the rules into those ‘grey areas’ of the rules that engineers are paid handsomely to find, explore and exploit.
Case in point is that Red Bull Racing breached the $145-million F1 cost cap as discovered and announced by the FIA, but F1 stews in wait for the sentence to be meted out to Max Verstappen’s team; as it stands, ludicrously, we are not sure he is actually the F1 World Champion of 2021 or if it is his arch-rival Lewis Hamilton.
Will the FIA impose a monetary fine on Red Bull? How much? If so it would destroy the objectives of allowing smaller teams to compete on a similar level, as once again big bucks will pay the fines for overspending and’s all back to square one.
In the worst-case scenario, it’s a points deduction for their driver Max who will be stripped of the 2021 F1 world championship and would have the inconceivable task to hand the Big Trophy back to Lewis.
Nevertheless to 41-year-old Alonso, who on Sunday will line up for the 2022 United States Grand Prix his 352nd F1 start, breaking rules by F1 teams is nothing new.
Fernando: In the end, I trust in the people who have power. I’m just a driver
Speaking to media at Circuit of the Americas, ahead of the race weekend in Austin, Alonso said: “The F1 cost cap is new, but there have always been things you could explore – grey areas. People who have won championships have always done so by exploiting a grey area.
“Then other teams copy it and get to that level, or that thing that was allowed for a couple of races gets banned. It is the nature of F1. I can’t remember a champion team that hasn’t exploited some element that has surprised the other teams. Brawn, Red Bull in 2012, the dominance of Mercedes.
“Ferrari won two races in 2019 with something that everyone knew was not legal, and nothing happened. Those two victories stayed. Imagine if they had won the world championship with that engine,” Alonso pointed out.
Cheating in F1 happens contrary to the naive opinions of many – including some of the most respected ‘journos’ in the sport – who believe teams, and the motorsport are squeaky clean.
Not too long ago, Aston Martin formerly Racing Point have not been afraid to cheat in the past and were busted doing so, while the Ferrari bust (mentioned by Fernando above) and secret sentence set the great Italian back to the point that only this year have they recovered to be top of the pecking order, legitimately this time one expects. And before that, and before then… the list goes on and on and on.