Formula 1: Top 5 Scandals and Controversies 

#4 ‘Water-Gate’ - 1982

Keke Rosberg driving a Williams FW08C.

In 1982, turbo engines were yet to be adopted by all teams. Teams running the turbo engines did have a pace advantage, albeit at the cost of carrying more weight due to their increased fuel consumption.

The likes of Lotus, Williams, and Brabham feared they stood no chance against the turbo powered teams in a straight fight and so decided to play around with the minimum weight rules in an attempt to regain lost ground.

Lotus driver Colin Chapman came up with the idea of using a reserve water tank, which teams would later claim was for the sole purpose of cooling brakes, to bring the weight of the car up to the minimum weight limit during the pre-race weigh in.

They would then dump the water during the race which would make their cars lighter helping them massively, before re-filling the tanks once the race was over. The first race this tactic was employed in led to Nelson Piquet (Brabham) and Keke Rosberg (Williams) coming home in first and second. However, when their tactics were discovered, they were disqualified.

This caused a major uproar considering the fact that while the cars did not follow the spirit of the rules, they were most definitely legal. The disqualification of these two allowed French driver Alain Prost to claim the race win and rumors were floated, given the shared nationality of Prost and then FIA president, Jean-Marie Balestre.

Moreover, John Watson’s Mclaren who was moved up to second had employed the same tactics but somehow went unpunished. British teams went up in arms because of this decision, but ultimately gave in and made the switch to turbo engines at the end of the year.