Benetton's Side of 1994: The Black Flag

The Enstone team's point of view on the most bizarre race of the season.

From a sporting perspective, the mid-point of the 1994 season was fantastic for Benetton. Their star driver, Michael Schumacher, won six out of seven races and comfortably held the top position in the standings. The team was leading the Constructors' Championship and enjoying highiest of highs. But only temporarily.

In July, they changed direction by 180 degrees. One controversy after another erupted in Benetton’s face, sending shockwaves through the paddock. The troubles snowballed, and the pressure on the team intensified. Benetton went from enjoying success to defending themselves against a barrage of continuously emerging allegations.

It all began on the 10th day of the month, the day of the British Grand Prix.

Formula One Decade

There once was a great show with this title, produced by Speed Channel. It aired 2003-2005. It had three seasons, each telling the story of the championship that had happened 10 years prior. In 2004 the show took a look at the tragic and tumultuous 1994. It had 16 episodes. Each one presented the highlights and context of each race, provided by Bob Varsha, David Hobbs and Steve Matchett.

The last of the gentlemen had worked in Formula 1. He had been a mechanic at Benetton. You can actually see him in action during pit stops in the 1990s. Just focus on the rear jack man.

In the show Matchett gave insights, brought up some anecdotes and presented Benetton’s side of the story. This post is mostly based on his comments made in the episode covering the British Grand Prix.

Just like in the post about the driving aids controversy, my goal is to present the Enstone team’s interpretations of the events and provide some additional information. But before I do that, I think it’s important to establish the facts.

The Chronology

1. On the formation lap of the 1994 British Grand Prix Schumacher, starting from second, overtakes the pole sitter, Damon Hill.

2. David Coulthard stalls on the grid. The cars do an additional formation lap. Schumacher repeats the offence.

3. Around 25 minutes after the incident the stewards verbally and later electronically, notify Benetton about a penalty.

4. The team informs Schumacher he has been given a penalty and instructs him to push.

5. The German boxes on lap 17 and leapfrogs Hill, who pitted two laps earlier.

6. On laps 21, 22 and 23 the blag flag is shown to Schumacher, meaning he has been disqualified from the race. He continues regardless.

7. Tom Walkinshaw, the Engineering Director at Benetton talks to the Race Director, Roland Bruynseraede.

8. The black flag is withdrawn.

9. Schumacher pits and serves a 5 second stop and go penalty on lap 27.

10. He finishes runner-up to Hill.

11. After the race the stewards fine Benetton $25,000.

12. On July 26, three days before the start of the German Grand Prix weekend, the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council strips Schumacher from his 2nd place at Silverstone, imposes a two-race ban on the German, and increases the fine to $500,000.

13. After some deliberation, Benetton appeals the penalty otherwise Schumacher wouldn’t be able to participate in his home race.

14. The date of the hearing before the International Court of Appeal is set for August 30.

15. The ICA upholds the disqualification and the two-race ban. Schumacher sits out the Italian and Portuguese Grand Prix.

The Basis of the Penalty

By reading the document released by the ICA, one can learn that Schumacher breached Article 118 e) of the Sporting Regulations. Not Article 120, like the team suggested. The latter stated that an unable to maintain order on the formation lap car, has to start the race from behind. We still have it in Formula 1. Probably in a different wording but it serves the same purpose: it applies every time someone stalls on the grid.

The one Schumacher breached read as follows:

118. The approach of the start will be announced by signalling boards shown ten minutes, five minutes, three minutes, one minute and thirty seconds before the start. These boards will be accompanied by an audible warning and will have the following meanings:

e) Thirty second board: 30 seconds after this board a green flag will be shown at the front of the grid whereupon the cars will begin a formation lap, maintaining their starting order with the pole position driver leading. During this lap practice starts are forbidden and the formation must be kept as tight as possible. Passing is allowed only in order to maintain formation.

A Wording Matter

Schumacher liked to play mind games and he had done a similar thing earlier that year. He overtook Ayrton Senna on the formation lap in the opening race of the season at Interlagos. No one even noticed.

At Silverstone he didn’t get away with it.

The stewards informed the Benetton team about a penalty. According to Matchett, they said it was a 5 second penalty for an infringement on the parade lap.

Now go back to Article 118 e) and try to find the word “parade.” You won’t. It’s not there. Although sometimes parade and formation were used interchangeably in spoken language, “parade” was not part of the rule book. Parade lap also meant the pre-race drivers’ parade. That’s how the Benetton team understood the message. And that’s basically the crux of the affair.

The team thought that Schumacher had done something wrong during the drivers’ parade and 5 seconds will be added to his race time. That’s why they instructed him to push.

They were mistaken. According to Article 164 e) of the Sporting Regulations adding a time penalty to the elapsed time of concerned driver could be done only if the offence occurred during the last 12 laps before the finish.

Meanwhile, the stewards expected Schumacher to serve a 5 second stop and go penalty within 3 laps after notifying the team, as Article 164 c) mandated. He obviously didn’t. And that triggered Article 164 e) which stated, that if a penalized driver does not serve a penalty within 3 laps, he will be stopped. Hence the black flag.

Misunderstanding vs. Iron Hand

Benetton were stunned and confused when their driver was disqualified. Especially since they had no idea why. To find out Tom Walkinshaw talked to Roland Bruynseraede. They had a brief conversation and agreed to discuss the matter further, behind the closed door. They cleared up the misunderstanding.

Before that, the team told Schumacher to continue, because they would try to sort out the situation. The German later testified before the ICA that he had not seen the black flag.

After clarifying the misunderstanding and eliminating any doubt that the stewards intended a 5 second stop and go, Schumacher served the penalty, and the race continued.

The FIA did not like it, according to Matchett. Benetton should have known the rules, Schumacher should have respected the black flag and the conversation between the team representative and the Race Director, who ultimately lost his job in the aftermath of the race, shouldn’t have occurred. This is essentially how the former Benetton mechanic summarized the governing body's perspective.

Time Is of the Essence

Matchett only briefly mentioned one more important thing: that the team hadn’t been notified within the time limit. What he referred to was Article 164 a).

164. Should the stewards decide to impose a time penalty, the following procedure shall apply:

a) The stewards shall, no later than fifteen minutes after the occurrence of the Incident, notify the relevant competitor of the time penalty which has been imposed.

Of course the team brought it as an argument during the hearing before the ICA. And it’s easy to understand the logic behind it.

According to Article 164 a) Benetton were informed about the penalty too late, therefore it should have been voided in the first place. Schumacher shouldn’t have had to serve it and he shouldn’t have been black flagged.

This his how the ICA answered to the breach of the time limit:

WHEREAS the prescription of paragraph a of Article 164 of the Sporting Regulations of the Formula One World Championship states that the notification of the penalty must be carried out no later than 15-minute time limit was obviously exceeded in the case in point,

WHEREAS this prescription is purely formal and does not efface the infringement itself which still remained, as the notification had merely been given belatedly,

Time Is of the Essence Take 2

It’s worth mentioning that the time limit rule was also a subject of another hearing before the ICA nearly four years later. Ironically, it involved the same venue, the same driver, and two of the four judges who had ruled in Benetton’s case: Vassilis Koussis and J.W.G. van Rosmalen.

Schumacher, who was with Ferrari at the time, won the 1998 British Grand Prix by crossing the finish line in the pits. He boxed on the last lap to serve a 10 second stop and go penalty for overtaking, or more precisely, for lapping Alexander Wurz under yellow flags.

Mika Hakkinen, driving for McLaren, finished 2nd. Unsurprisingly, his team contested the race results, arguing that Schumacher had not properly served his penalty. The team from Woking presented their case before the ICA.

In the aforementioned race, the stewards also failed to notify Ferrari within the time limit, which was 25 minutes in 1998. This is how the ICA addressed the matter:

WHEREAS first of all it must be borne in mind that the crux of the matter was the time at which the Stewards' decision was notified, and that at 15:46 more than 25 minutes had passed since the incident and, therefore, in accordance with Article 57 of the Sporting Regulations, the penalty was unenforceable,

The Two Opposing Views

In short, from Benetton's perspective, the entire affair was a misunderstanding that escalated unnecessarily. If the stewards had correctly informed the team, they would have properly served the penalty. They wouldn’t have had to second guess the meaning of “parade” and “5 second.” They wouldn’t have had to ask why their driver had been black flagged.

The team made a mistake, but so did the stewards. Given the circumstances, they don’t deserve such a severe penalty.

The FIA's response was that it is a competitor's duty to know and adhere to the rules, rather than to assess whether they are applied correctly. The penalty and the black flag had not been respected or followed; therefore, the disqualification and the two-race ban were justifiable and and set an example.

The ICA sided with the sport’s governing body. Rightly? Wrongly? That’s up to you to decide.

But it’s up to me to finish this post. And I’ll do it by quoting Bob Varsha’s tongue in cheek remark about the 1994 British Grand Prix: “If you ever go to officials school, you wanna study this race.”