BUTTON BUSTED! The Story of British American Racing's Two Race Ban (2005) 

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Michael made a mistake in Q2 in Imola, which is why his Q2 time is 4 seconds off the pace. He was fuelled heavily, but should still have been in the top 5.

This whole controversy only came out after a former mechanic at BAR left the team after the 2004 season, and then acted as a whistleblower, telling the FIA that they had found ways of running underweight. Of course, they couldn't prove that it had taken place, and San Marino was the first time that a BAR had finished - and so was the first real opportunity to go for a full scrutineering post-race. I seem to remember that they used gravity to empty the fuel tank (rather than a pump), and it was one of the Truck drivers who said that the car was empty. The principle that the car was weighed after removal of fuel came after 1984, and one of the arguments that BAR made was that the TD (not a regulation) was issued well before BAR ever entered the championship, and so they weren't aware of it. That doesn't really butter any parsnips.

Speaking of the 2005 San Marino Grand Prix... Anybody else remember ITV thinking it was a grand idea to go to an ad break 3 laps before the end, as the lead battle was reaching it's climax?

3:16 From memory, Schumacher locked up and ran wide at a corner (possibly Rivazza?) in the Sunday qualifying session putting him well down the grid. He was heavier fuelled but would likely have qualified in the top 5 without the mistake.

As a Schumacher fan 2005 is a legitimate farce season, it took stupid qualifying and dangerous race rules to make him do badly

If i recall correctly, Schumacher was down in 14th at Imola 2005 because he messed up his qualifying run

The 2005 tyre rule where cars were only allowed to use 1 set of tyres in the race has to be one of the daftest ideas in the history of F1 sporting regulations

The story of Jenson wanting to leave BAR for Williams, and then soon after wanting to stay at BAR after already signing for Williams is a good one too.

Just on the teams receiving a ban/hot water, Renault received a race ban during the 2009 season as a result of Alonso's wheel coming off in Hungary, but this was later reduced to a suspended ban.

If DRS was in play at Imola in 2005, there would not have been that brilliant demonstration of defensive driving by 'Nando on The Michael. Gotta say, I miss that aspect of racing.

The Crashgate penalty was, similarly, Renault given a suspended-for-two-years permanent ban from F1.

I've seen teams commit worse offences and get more lenient punishments. Benetton in 94, Ferrari at 99 Malaysia, Ferrari's 2019 engine, Merc's 2013 secret test... and then there's Michelin being forced to change their tyres in 03 despite tyres only being measured pre-race needing to pass scruntineering thanks to the boys in red struggling.

10:43 awesome trick I read about a while ago for anyone doing anything with video editing: if you make a mistake reading your script, clap in your hands so you can recognize the blip on your audio track when you start editing. Alternatively, you can shout really loud to get your frustration out about the horrible process that is video editing.

have you done a video on Karl Wendlinger before? i think it would make for a good what if or career overview video

Aidan Michael Schumacher started 14th at Imola because he made a mistake by running wide in Q2 .

This might be a record for the number of times anyone has mentioned a 2005 European Grand Prix without bringing up Kimi Räikkönen’s suspension blowing up.

I’d forgotten all about the dumb tyre rules. I do remember though Martin Brundle painfully apologising to viewers as ITV hadn’t fulfilled their ad break quote by the time the charge was on with Schumi chasing down Alonso and so they had to keep cutting away from the epic battle to make way for another Pizza Hut promo.

I don't understand why Bellof's drive is still remembered as something legendary, as is Senna's, but Brundle's at Detroit, where he actually came close to winning, is forgotten. Those other two finished many seconds off Prost even at half distance (at least one of whom likely wouldn't have finished at all), whereas Brundle was right on Piquet's tail at the end of a full race distance.

I remember that. It was a big deal at the time of the ban. But it should have been a bigger deal but (true for you) for the way BAR served the punishment and got on with it and other dramas that year. Fun useless facts: I watched that year's Monaco Grand Prix in a hotel by the beach in Mombasa, Kenya. It was a South African sports channel covering the race with ITV commentary and no commercial breaks during the race. I think the commentary went silent when itv must have taken a commercial break, had minimal commentary during for the purpose of replays of incidents and silence again before the welcome back.

Schumacher made a mistake in the 2nd Qualifying session, which is why he started so far down. He would have been Top 10 otherwise.

Funnily enough L’equipe broke the Lance Armstrong story a couple years before he got truly caught. They recently broke a story about Welsh Rugby possibly doing the Dope. Interesting.

Adrian, you are a real talent. Your format is smplistic but unique and you have a great voice. Great stories and a marriana trench depth of knowledge.

You didnt even mention that this scandal led to the Honda takeover of BAR.

BAR was of course born out of the Tyrrell team. In fact even now in it's Mercedes guise it does have the same company number.

Had already clicked on the little X to close the browser tab, but opened it again just to say congrats for "Stafan Bell on" 😄

I think the most recent time I can remember an F1 team being threatened with a race ban is Caterham for Abu Dhabi 2014 because they missed more than the allowed number of races in a row.

Thanks Aidan. "Stefan Bellon" had me chuckling!

Do a video about the Honda front differential in the mid-2000's..

What? Sato wrecked someone? Mr. “no attack, no chance.”

this makes me really want to know how ferarri cheated with that whole fuel flow shenanigans now. and how they heck they got away with it all being super hush hush

For me this was one of that list of bonkers things about '05, rather than overshadowed by the others, because it's a team ban, not a driver, which most of us had or have never seen. But then I could also say it would be huge to me, because it was as my knowledge and fandom of F1 was still growing and I was still a teenager at the time. I grew up through this period, so I remember it, if that makes sense. Martin Brundle getting deleted from resuts, meh, no great loss. Bellof, though, that hurts.

You mean to tell me that the tour is filmed from a motorcycle, I thought it was 2 guys on a tandem! 😂

Ferrari International Assistance and also French International Assistance with the rubber. Don't get me started!

Now we need a vid going through doping cases in motorsport. Tomas Enge, the puff to pass guy himself, is the one that instantly leaps to mind. I had no clue Nitro Nori Haga got done for ephedra either, and I still to this day think there was something very fishy about the NHRA and the Dodge Boys with Alderman's enforced absence realy...then again that whole team could be a mini series on its own with all the allegations, rumors, and plain weird shit that happened, and that's even before you get to the rabbit hole that is the break in and everything around that... EDIT: Okay no, Nitro Nori didn't get done for that. Somehow got he an Leeds footballers mixed up, whoopsfor

Did you just do Häkkinen impression with The Michael?👍

Been watching videos here for year, waited until now to subscribe to get you to 100K Go Go Go!

Michael would have sent it, but he thought, that Kimi would be his championship rival that year, so he rather took the points for P2 instead of risking it all.

A tad harsh on cycling there... Professional cycling is often used as the scapegoat for other sports where doping is concerned, because (a) it is one of hardest endurance sports on the body, (b) they do actually have rigourous anti-doping protocols, and (c) there isn't much money in it, meaning it's still susceptible to corruption, but isn't higher than the law like, say, football is. Cases in point: Operation Puerto, who ONLY cyclists were named and the remaining evidence (including the blood of many football and tennis players) was ordered destroyed (as it would likely bring much of Spain's late 00's sporting achievements into disrepute); Arsene Wenger's comments on purchased players medical results indicating past doping, and Gary Neville stating injections (of unknown substance) were widespread in the England camp at France 98. At the highest level of sport, it is safest to assume that EVERYONE is cheating one way or another. Take the results with a pinch of salt and enjoy the theatre.

I'll never be able to prove it but I remain convinced that teams have been caught explicitly breaching the rules, but to avoid the spectre of race bans or even disqualification they've been ordered to sandbag for a while.

The fact the BAR was illegal but way slower than Schumacher's Ferrari at Imola is embarrassing .

Was there launch control operated from the pit wall in 2003 and if so can you please do a video about it?

And lest we not forget when the rule makers help you circumvent the rules...DAS.... James Allison's interview saying how DAS was originally button operated and the FIA told them no...only if it's done X way, in a belief they couldn't achieve it. We all know they did.

The closest would be that Ferrari engine that wasn’t allowed to race again, after its ability to “predict” the cycle of the FIA’s fuel flow checking mechanism was designated “unsporting”. You know that agreement never made public & what you talking about guv? No race ban as such, but Ferrari went from challenging Mercedes to 5th, instantly because “our aero engineers had relied too much on this engine configuration” or car go slower when you give it less fuel per second 😹

I did not know sato got disqualified for the 2005 Japan race and i kinda wonder how racing penalties have evolved over the years (especially since penalties that involve a crash or contact hasnt been done or i/many forget it due to track limits ) It also begs the question (for me formula 1 2 and 3 fan and follows indycat) how harsh stupid or just weird f1 is or not as an outlier

Thank you!

100% BAR tried to pull one over the FIA and the stewards. . a couple of topics you can talk about. rubens barrichello being allowed to race withou the HANS device for the first few races of... 04? forgot now. or torro rosso running with V10 engines in 2006. mike gascoyne turning jordan into a race winning team from 1998.

to be fair there is no high level endurance sports without doping thre are things they used 20 years ago that arent even on the list today and im sure there are plenty more things that you can use today without getting caught. the believe that doping is a thing of the past is just wishful thinking. sry for my rant it just makes me sad ppl cant see the truth back to f1 cars ^^

Stefen Bell-On in the end 😂😂

I have a question, and that is about Sauber since 1994 but has been quite well "Mid" except when BMW was running the team and almost joined the top and what the Audi will bring?

But beans on toast DONT mix

So in the Background I see A Tele, possibly a Strat (although cant see head stock properly) , Blackstar 2x12, and I am guessing a Marshall 4x12, and I'm guessing a Blackstar Head (an only see the bottom right corner) What music do you play? and was I right about your gear?

6k to go!

I still think that BAR Lucky Strike had the best looking race suit.

Will u EVER bring back the Senna video?

Who was the nascar team owner who said "if you ain't cheating you aint racing"?

they dont it again tyrrell 1984 dq for fuel

Wait... how the hell do beans go with toast?

How do you drive with your wheel that close to the wall??

There are two kinds of countries…those that use the metric system…and those that have landed on the moon.

I ask this because I’m fascinated by English dialects. You very often append a “the” to days of the week and named months where it’s already very clear which day or month you are referencing, e.g. “the Sunday” (in this video) or “the February.” Is this something common to your dialect? I know Englishmen won’t say “I’m going to the THE hospital” rather you all say “I’m going to hospital.” So I guess I’m wondering if my question above identifies another common difference between American and the King’s English.

McLaren's reliability in 2005 was just terrible.

Seems a bit strange We're disqualifying you because we think but cannot prove that you have done X, and because you never asked if you could do X even though it is not actually against any rules, that means you must be guilty of doing it. Plus, if my understanding of this right, it only "helped" them (assuming they did X) in one qualifying session of the weekend, correct?

Not America, just the United States. The other 40 countries in the Americas use metric

Cyclings greatest winners are the chemists

Black Country flag is awesome.

And who drove the Andrea Moda - you know who hehe - FGS - 6k to go

The dirty ferrai Fairies were doing the same thing as B.A.R. The fia hate british driver's.

Znmd vs 🆚 milkha space bar 🍻 singh vs the great khali.. U people have tried chappan bhog? What is so special about lee roy?

Thats whats great about f1 for me... cheating is almsot part of the game... a perfect example of it doesnt say i cant so i will.

Can we make f1 cars 4 wheel drive yet?

"cheating and sports combine like beans on toast", as in, only the Brits do it? but Aidan, cheating in sports happens everywhere else too!

eat at richard's, pom. I'll use kilo's when you start driving on the CORRECT side of the road. You know. Like the rest of the world.

2005 all race tyre rule was rubbish. Little wonder why the tyre fracas happened.

Evolution of tyrell's cheating scandal: 1984: additional lead shots 2005: additional fuel tank 2020: dual axis steering

They all cheat, some get caught, the difference is some get punished and some don't, ie Ferrari eng vapor fuel, red bull overspending .

In 2009, Renault was supposed to be banned from the European GP after Alonso lost a wheel during the Hungarian GP a day after Massa's accident. But that got overturned but they were very very close to a ban.

Lance Armstrong cheating on the Tour de France was just greed in the end. Considering the guy had just come back from his cancer recovery, just FINISHING the race would have been enough for most people, including me. But no he had to cheat his way to seven consecutive wins

I've always believed Ferrari were doing something similar, but they weren't caught. If you remember back to the Ferrari "light fuel" with Shell because the cars would have a lower starting weight, yet go on to only pit at the same time as others. Their last stop was always very long. The commentators would say that the mechanics were just being careful, but I think they had to load up the ballast. If I recall correctly, I think Renault figured out what Ferrari was doing because they also came up with "light fuel" at some stage. I would think that BAR had realised what Ferrari were doing and either didn't implement it as well as the others or were unlucky to be caught.

The only problem is, although the FIA scrutineers had always proceeded on the basis that the cars have to comply with the weight limit after all the fuel has been drained out, that's not actually what the regulations at the time said. They just said "The car must weigh at least 600KG at all times during the event". So I thought BAR had a good argument to say that, after you've drained the tanks, any fuel lines or reservoirs that can only function when they're full of fuel under pressure, should not be drained for scrutineering. Because without that fuel, the car can't run. So it's a bit like the scrutineers taking off a wheel and saying "aha!". It was a poorly written rule. It's not actually clear why wheels were not removed for scrutineering, since there would have been times during the event when the car did not have any wheels fitted (i.e. during the pitstops), so on a strict interpretation, that is a breach. Every car could have been thrown out of every race for that one. More or less every other category (e.g. F3000, F3, DTM) had a regulation that the cars had to comply with the weight limit and that fuel didn't count.

The dumbest part of the 1 set of tyres for the race rule was that somehow there were still a billion mechanics around the car during the pitstop, instead of just the lollipop guy and two for the fuel hose

6k left until the magic 100 keep pushing Aidan 👍

Only 6K to go until Roberto Moreno!

Absolutely correct, because beans on toast is DISGUSTING :)

I think Ali Daei cheating Graeme Souness and Southampton Football club into believing that he was George Weah's cousin and, well could actually play top level football in England, was one of the funniest examples of cheating in sport!! Hilarious!!

I think the reason they are very reluctant to ban a team is there is a lot more ramifications from that than banning a driver. Firstly the obvious is that you are penalising drivers for the actions of teams (which obviously you touched on with Belof and Brundle). While yes the team may be doing shady shit, the drivers would not necessarily know this. Secondly, banning a team runs the risk of serious financial losses to the team with them no longer able to fulfill sponsor obligations. We have seen before the ramifications of team/sponsor fallout when obligations are not met. So while yes the team took that risk, you have to think about all the employees who are probably innocent in all of this and could potentially find themselves out of a job if the team folds due to financial losses. And then there is of course the big one, the fans. If you ban a popular team you risk losing viewing figures because their favourite team and/or drivers are not on the grid for the rest of the season and potentially beyond. Banning a driver is so much easier. Yes there will be upset fans, and maybe a bit of sponsor unrest, but as long as a team can stick another driver in the seat at least the car is running to fulfill sponsor obligations and keep team fans happy (well as happy as F1 fans get). Back in the day of the Tyrrell banning they did not have social media and TV time was so much less, so they could get away with it. Today, it's just too much risk.

At least if Sunday taught us anything it's that those proclaiming "endless Quali laps" is the way forward have seen a glimpse of their tedious future. Zero strategy F1 is miserable.

Using kilos & litres? ::: Lobbing Budweiserz & cheeseburgers in your general direction:::

Due to this disqualification of Button, Alex Wurz got 3rd place on his one-off stand-in gig after not racing for 5 years. That guy is also now co-head of GPDA.

Aidan, I love these types of stories. you could do a whole hour each on Ray Evernham and Chad Knaus clever ideas in Nascar. And if you haven't watched Ray video of "racing around the rules" I highly suggest it. It's a fascinating 20 minutes of clever text ideas that eventually got banned.

I do find interesting when you talk about cheating though. Like Dale Earnhardt says it's not cheating it's being innovative

Remember me? Saw your videos when you were at 500 subscribers! Also, you made a slight audio production error.

Cycling has always been a dope-riddled sport, and when you read into the history of cycling, it comes as no surprise. The bicycle gave doctors a reliable tool for testing the limits of human endurance and performance, so inevitably people started trying to find ways to...enhance that performance.

For some reason, F1 has the best names for the cheating scandals. Honestly, these just scream "Prime Suspense and Drama perfect for Netflix": "Option 13" "Spygate" "Crashgate" There's likely more I don't immediately remember, but tell those aren't begging for a TC drama series or at the least a novel...that then becomes a Netflix series. Also, rather ironic that the BAR team (which was the Tyrrell team that had said BAN) was the one that incurred that last banning of a team from a season or race.

Road cycling isnt any better. Its still as dirty as a mr universe podium.

Now explain the Keating Ford advantage of a coke can of fuel at Le Mans. Nothing but ballast fuel.

What's wrong with your wrist?

awesome video. Remeber this well. weird to think it's nearly 20 years ago now

BAR-red from racing eh eh

Stefan *Bellon* - Nice one Aidan