The biggest bastards in motorsport

The competitive spirit does not always reflect the best that is in human nature. Even the legendary Ayrton Senna was often accused of unsportsmanlike behavior, to which he calmly replied that one who does not strive to win at any cost cannot be called a "racer". Based on this principle, the respected publication Road & Track tried to select six "biggest bastards" in motorsport - outstanding personalities, however, who, however, too often went beyond the accepted morality in the name of victory.

The biggest bastards in motorsport:

Bernie Ecclestone

Born October 28, 1930 in Bungee, England, this fishing captain's son first got rich in the used car business before he bought the Brabham Formula One team in 1971. Soon after, he founded FOCA and waged a war against everyone. remedies against F1 leadership. Gradually, he managed to take possession of all sports, turn it into a money machine and sell it in 1. In the same year, his son-in-law publicly called him "an evil dwarf" (Bernie's height is 2017 cm), and his daughter gave an interview in which he insisted. it is very convincing that her father was still "capable of human feelings."

Bernie Ecclestone

WAR FISA-FOCA. In the late 1970s, Ecclestone went up against Formula One's then governing body, FISA, and the battle quickly became personal and rather messy. Bernie wanted team owners to have more control and more revenue. The head of FISA, Jean-Marie Balestre, who until then had run the championship as the Sun King, wanted to maintain the status quo. Bernie used the classic methods of coups - blockades, boycotts, extortion of individual FISA employees. In Spain, he once managed to get the police to expel Balester's people with their weapons confiscated. The Frenchman called him "crazy". Years later, speaking to a reporter, Bernie admitted that he considered Adolf Hitler a man who "knew how to do things."

Bernie Ecclestone

WAR ON TELEVISION. Once Bernie secured the rights to television, he began to relentlessly transform the sport. Initially, if television in one country wanted to broadcast a local competition, Ecclestone obligated it to broadcast everyone else on the calendar—almost for free. In the meantime, he set about modifying the competition to make it suitable for TV broadcast, although the purely sporting aspect suffered from this. When the audience increased at times, he began to revise the conditions with televisions. He asked them for money, with almost no chance of making a profit. But no one refused because Bernie had already garnered one of the largest TV audiences in the world.

Bernie Ecclestone

YOU PAY AND EVERYTHING IS OK. In 2006, the Formula 1 stake was put up for sale. Bernie couldn’t buy it himself, but he wanted to be in the hands of a company with which he was on good terms and which would not challenge his leadership. So he paid a bribe of $ 44 million to a German banker to make the deal. The scheme worked, but the banker was found, tried, and jailed. Bernie got off with a $ 100 million fine. When Jeremy Clarkson asked him if he liked getting into trouble, Bernie said, “I was just putting out fires. And if there are no fires left, I light new ones. So I can put them out. "

Bernie Ecclestone

END JUSTIFIES THE MEANS. When Ecclestone finally left F1 in January 2017, he became rich beyond his wildest dreams. In May of this year, Forbes estimated his fortune at $ 3,2 billion. Not bad for a poor fishing boat captain's boy.

Mikhail Schumacher

The most successful driver in Formula 1 history was born on January 3, 1969 in Hurth, near Cologne, West Germany. As R&T points out, you don't have to look behind the scenes for his dirty tricks because Shumi didn't bother to do them in front of everyone. Even when his excellence in craftsmanship and machine was such that they were not needed.

Mikhail Schumacher

F3 IN MACAU 1993. A very young Schumacher was leading the race, but Mika Hakkinen pushed him out on the last lap. Michael shamelessly blocked it, Hakinen hit the back of the car, then the wall. Schumacher won.

Mikhail Schumacher

AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX, 1994. Schumacher with Benetton was in the lead in the standings, but only one point ahead of Damon Hill (Williams), who played in a strong series. Schumacher had a good start and was leading, but on the 35th lap he made a mistake, took off and barely returned to the track. Hill took the opportunity to overtake him, but Michael didn't hesitate and just hit him purposefully. Both dropped out, and Schumacher became world champion.

Mikhail Schumacher

SPANISH GRAND PRIX, 1997. Everyone experienced déjà vu when, in the last race of the season, Schumacher entered with a point ahead of Williams' Jacques Villeneuve. Before the race, Villeneuve kept talking about how Schumacher would not have dared to do the same as with Hill, because he would already cause too much discontent. Schumacher, of course, did the same. But this time he did not succeed - his car got stuck in the gravel, and Villeneuve managed to take his "Williams" to the final and won the title.

Mikhail Schumacher

MONACO GRAND PRIX, 2006. Keke Rosberg called it "the dirtiest I've ever seen in Formula 1". Shumi's ploy at the very end of the qualifiers still looks shocking. Having passed the time that gave him his gender position at this stage, Michael simply parked his Ferrari in the narrowest part of the track. The qualifiers were suspended and Schumacher did take first place. At least until the incident was investigated by the inspectors and the German was sent to the start from the last row as a fine.

By the way, it is curious that two years earlier, after the devastating tsunami in Indonesia, Schumacher was one of the first to come to the rescue with a check for 10 million dollars. And they donated secretly - the gesture was accidentally discovered only a year later.

Tony Stewart

Born in 1971 in Columbus, Indiana, Anthony Wayne Stewart is a three-time NASCAR champion, but we'll remember him less for his wins than for his dirty tricks and habit of jumping out of his car and chasing whoever he thinks he is. provoked by waving his fists. His first NASCAR casualty was Kenny Irvin - he slowed down, obviously intending to apologize, but Stewart didn't give him a chance - he slipped right through the window's security net to hit him with a hook. He called his competitors in front of the cameras "stupid", "freaks", "idiots", "little freaks". He even insulted his sponsor Goodyear - "can't they make a tire that is more expensive than crap?", and his own fans - "morons".

Tony Stewart

But all the bullshit came to an end after a race in Canandaigua in 2014, where Stewart pushed a young Kevin Ward. Ward, 20, did what Tony usually does - he jumped out of the car and ran to the track to deal with him, trying to stop him on the next lap. Stewart's car veered slightly to the right, and his huge rear tire literally ran over Ward, throwing him nearly eight feet and killing him. He was accused of deliberately approaching the young man to intimidate him, and he simply did not appreciate the distance. Stewart himself claimed to have been "devastated" by the incident.

He retired from NASCAR after 2016 and now owns the team - and continues to take every opportunity.

Kimi Raikkonen

You don't have to do dirty tricks to be considered a vile bastard. Born in Espuu, Finland on October 17, 1979, Kimi earned the nickname "Ice Man", but his Scandinavian self-control gradually melted away. While he was champion, his notorious narrow-mindedness and brevity in interviews had its own charm. 

But many were stunned by the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix, such as when his McLaren broke down in the middle of a race. Kimi was scheduled to appear at the team's post-race briefing, at press conferences and at events with sponsors and fans. Instead, he just got out of the car in the middle of the track, jumped over the fences and went on his yacht to get drunk with friends.

Kimi Raikkonen

BRAZIL GRAND PRIX 2006. This will be the last race of the retiring Michael Schumacher, and the organizers held a special ceremony in front of him. The only pilot absent was Kimi. Later, in front of the cameras, he was asked why he was not there, and he answered without hesitation: because I am aka. Legend Martin Brundle recovered first and replied, "So you have the perfect car at the start."

Kimi Raikkonen

BEFORE SEASON 2011 Raikkonen was the highest paid driver on the planet in 2009. But only a year later, he single-handedly terminated his contract with Ferrari, complaining that he was forced to learn the local language. I am learning Italian, so I came to Ferrari). His conversations with other teams didn't go much better. He was eventually contacted by Renault, but to the surprise of the French, Raikkonen publicly accused them of doing a cheap advertisement with his name. And instead he left Formula 1.

Kimi Raikkonen

NASCAR. Rejected by F1, Kimi went overseas to try his hand at NASCAR's Top Gear 300 series of pickup trucks. The radio told the entire team, “We are such shit, this is incredible,” and just a minute later it hit the wall, finishing 27th. Raikkonen's season in America ended with no wins, no podiums and no interest from other teams, so he returned to Europe.

Hi Jay Voight

In Europe, only connoisseurs have heard this name, but abroad it is a legend - and not because of the achievements of the track. Born in Houston in 1935, Anthony Joseph Voight Jr. was the only person to win all three endurance gold races: the Indianapolis 500 (four times), the Dayton 500 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. But history will remember him mainly for the title given by Onedirt.com as "the dirtiest pilot of all time."

Hi Jay Voight

DAYTONA 500, 1976. Voight drove one lap at an average speed of 300,57 km / h and took first place. But when the inspectors checked his car, they smelled something suspicious. It turned out that the scammer AJ installed an illegal nitrous oxide booster. Naturally, they took his first position.

Hi Jay Voight

TALADEGA 500, 1988 Voith, then 53, was shown the black flag three times for being too aggressive. But he refuses to slow down, then enters the box at full speed and almost runs into the assembled marshals, then goes to the fans for a few smoky "turns".

Hi Jay Voight

TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY, 1997. Already as the owner of the team Voight holds the trophy when it turns out that a calculation error was made and Ari Leyendijk became the winner. This is how Voight recalls the incident: “Ari came up and waved like a freak, I wanted to hit him on a pumpkin. This is what I did. I just took it off. Some guy from my security jumped on my back, so I took him off. " Voight refused to return the trophy and to this day keeps it in his office.

Hi Jay Voight

HIGHWAY IN TEXAS, 2005. Voight drives his Ford GT at over 260 km/h with a 115 limit. A police patrol catches up to him and drags him away. "Who do you think you were, AJ Voight?" the angry cop asks. AJ shrugs and hands over his papers. The policeman let him go. AJ Voight is afraid even of highway patrols.

And AJ himself is not afraid of anything. He suffered fatal accidents three times, once set himself on fire on the runway, and was even pronounced dead by marshals once in 1965.

Max Verstappen

Verstappen was born on September 30, 1997 in Hasselt, Belgium. He hates his moniker in Formula 1. Which, of course, is called "Mad Max". He deserves it not only with his fearless driving, but also with the unique chaos that he is able to create on the track.

Of course, it's in his blood - his father is Jos Verstappen, who was doused with gasoline by his own mechanics and set on fire in a box in the 90s. Today, Max holds the record for being the youngest driver to start in Formula 1, the youngest driver to score a point and the youngest driver to stand on the podium. But his inexperience and unwillingness to bow to circumstances earned him a controversial reputation.

Max Verstappen

BRAZIL GRAND PRIX, 2018. This is where Max's character comes into play. The collision with Esteban Ocon cost him the victory. Verstappen first showed Okon his middle finger, then called him “fucking idiot” on the radio and finally found him in the pit lane after the finals and physically attacked him. The Frenchman endured. Then Verstappen even refused to apologize, insisting that Okon should apologize to him. The FIA ​​punished him with two days of community service.

Max Verstappen

2019 MEXICO GRAND PRIX. Here Verstappen met Lewis Hamilton on the first lap. The Briton survived on the track and won, but at the press conference he has not yet passed: “When you get close to Max, you have to give him extra space, otherwise you are likely to hit. That's why we give him most of the time," Hamilton said. Vettel, sitting next to him, nodded: "That's right, the truth itself." But Max was not impressed. “For me, it just shows that I'm in their heads. I think it's for the best," Verstappen chuckled.