FIA steward scandal that handed Ferrari controversial British GP win amid McLaren fury

McLaren and Ferrari are once again the battle in F1 and their rivalry is only set to build and build heading into a new era.

What we do know is it will never die. It can go dormant thanks to total mis-management (looking at you McLaren-Honda 2.0 era), but the scandals and on-track battles always seem ready to surface.

Right now, it's heavily weighted in McLaren's favour as not even Lewis Hamilton joining Ferrari for this season has vaulted them up the grid.

The former McLaren driver placed only fourth for Ferrari at last weekend's British Grand Prix, while McLaren through the wet and drying conditions almost effortlessly strolled to another one-two finish courtesy of a home victory for Lando Norris, with Oscar Piastri in second.

It's a stark contrast from 1998 when at Silverstone it was McLaren with more to grumble after Ferrari picked up a victory and a double podium at a British Grand Prix which was so badly directed it made Abu Dhabi 2021 look like a Michael Masi masterclass to managing a race.

How Ferrari won British GP in the PIT LANE

In what was otherwise an entertaining grand prix with momentum shifting between Ferrari's Michael Schumacher and McLaren's Mika Hakkinen - the chief title challengers - the prologue for what would become a major talking point occurred on lap 43 when the then two-time champion Schumacher overtook Benetton's Alexander Wurz under yellow flag conditions - placing him under investigation, although this was unknown at the time.

During this period and two laps from the end - lap 58 - Schumacher had taken the lead of the race from Hakkinen and was set for a dominant third victory in a row with a 23 second lead over his rival with Ferrari's Eddie Irvine in third. However, Ferrari were then handed a hand-written note informing them that Schumacher's move 15 laps earlier would be punished with a 10-second penalty - which in this era had to be served within three laps.

A stunned Ferrari team were left confused as to whether this meant a time-penalty or whether the German driver had to serve a stop/go 10-second penalty (race punishments were really brutal back then!). Typically, radio communication with Schumacher was proving troublesome so on the last lap of the race he decided to serve his punishment by coming into the pits. This meant he would win the race in the pit lane.

It caused a huge storm for a number of reasons. At first it was because Ferrari had clearly gamed the rules by pitting Schumacher within the three laps required, with the German having crossed the finish line before even reaching his pit-box to serve his penalty.

McLaren appeal Silverstone result

McLaren were furious with this, and also the fact they were unaware of the penalty, and appealed the race result to the FIA, which was swiftly rejected. The FIA though were being hit from all angles - including Ferrari. The team argued that Schumacher's penalty was illegally handed out. They team claimed that the penalty should have been dealt 25 minutes after the incident maximum. In this case it was 31 minutes. They were also unsure of the nature of the penalty in it being a time-penalty to be added to Schumacher's race time or a stop/go penalty.

Crucially the official ruling was a time penalty, and this turned the situation into an even more messy one given time penalties were only be given if the infraction happened in the final 12 laps. Not the case with the Schumacher/Wurz incident.

Both the timing of the penalty and the nature of it were confirmed during McLaren's protest hearing and at the International Court of Appeal as evidence of the stewards making a series of mistakes. To top it all off, the stewards involved had by Sunday evening cancelled the penalty altogether and later resigned as race stewards by handing in their licence. Ferrari's win stood and Schumacher closed the gap to Hakkinen in the world championship to just two points.

If you think the stewarding levels are poor now, just be grateful if you were not around in the late 1990s!

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