Dirty driving is unacceptable in F1 - Sir Stirling Moss
The former Formula 1 driver Stirling Moss stated that he is quite aware of the fact that Formula 1 has changed a lot since his racing days. However, dirty driving he believed will never be acceptable in any era. The British driver was shocked when Michael Schumacher nearly drover Rubens Barrichello into the pit wall at the Hungaroring and later reports and pictures showed that Rubens was just inches away from a major accident.
Michael was punished with a 10-place grid penalty at Spa but for Stirling, this only proved that the FIA did not have the guts to take serious action against dirty drivers. The German should have been banned for a year or maybe more according to Moss because if someone came out of the pits during that incident, it could have resulted in an enormous accident. Moss opined that risking the safety of Formula One drivers is inexcusable.
Former drivers believe that safety improvements in Formula 1 racing had developed a wreck less attitude amongst some drivers. Moreover, it seemed that Michael was willing to push the Brazilian into the wall at 180 mph. The former racing king opined that people have forgotten that concrete wall's could kill at such high speeds.
“I experienced dirty driving when I was racing, for example Nino Farina was very aggressive. He put me in a very compromising position in 1951 at Bari but I just backed off and it backfired on him; he ended up over steering wide and lost more time than I did,” he said. Moss remembered that Juan Manuel Fangio passed both drivers and he was grinning as he went by because Farina’s move was silly and it did not pay off. That is the reason why these moves should be considered as a serious offense as they seldom work and are not worth the risk.
In the 1950’s if cars touched wheels with another car, the drivers were likely to be killed. The drivers now take more risks and that “safety attitude” has gone out of the window as cars have become safe and secure. Drivers now take bigger risks. Ayrton Senna’s move on Alain Prost in 1990 at the Japanese Grand Prix is one easy example. That move would have been out of the question if it was performed 30 years earlier. With a number of safety improvements in Formula 1 racing, dirty driving has increased.
Many drivers believe that if discipline was taught, then F1 was trying to discourage them from overtaking. However, this is not a good reason not to punish them if they commit stupid mistakes, by putting other people’s lives in danger. “In my mind you're either a dirty driver or you're not, and the difference is quite obvious to anyone who understands the sport. What's more, I don't remember any dirty drivers who tidied up their act later in their career”, said the 80-year-old.
Another problem is that the teams now have a win-at-all-cost mentality due to the immense amount of money being spent. When the drivers are paid millions of dollars, the pressure increases making the drivers drive just to win that particular race. “When I was driving the money was incidental by comparison, obviously you would look at the prize money when entering certain races and that might affect which races you took part in, but it didn't affect the way you drove at those races”, he added. He believes that it is quite understandable that the drivers want to put on a good show but the sporting side of it went out of the window a long time ago.
Monza is the perfect example of a circuit that has become safer over the years and the Italian Grand Prix will be held at the venue on this weekend. Stirling said that he is not surprised to see the drivers take a few liberties after thinking how dangerous the circuit used to be back then. After thinking about all the safety precautions taken at the moment, drivers push themselves to take greater risks as they know that they can exceed the limits as compared to how things used to be.
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