Outside their cockpits, Formula 1 drivers can be thick as thieves. Once they’ve got their helmets on, though, the only thing they focus on is beating everyone else on track, come what may. While trying to get the upper hand on their rivals, the “come what may” mindset can go a little too far, and that happened at the peak of Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher’s rivalry at the 2006 Monaco GP. 

If there’s one thing F1 drivers universally agree upon, it’s that qualifying in Monaco is the most important qualifying of the season. In a track notorious for almost no overtaking possibilities, starting as high up the grid is every driver’s aim. Given the nature of the track, one mistake can ruin not just the driver’s but everyone else’s laps behind them, and that’s exactly what happened with Michael Schumacher in 2006, although calling it a mistake might not be accurate.

Fernando Alonso doesn’t think Schumacher’s actions were a chance of happening

Rewind to the 2006 season. 37-year-old Schumacher in a Ferrari and 25-year-old Alonso in a Renault were two of the most dominant drivers that year, fighting each other for the championship. In the top-10 shootout during qualifying in Monaco, Schumacher was on provisional pole with Alonso right behind him after the first runs. In the final flying laps, though, Schumacher “accidentally” parked his car at Turn 17 (La Rascasse), ensuring none of the drivers behind him could improve their times, including Alonso. 

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In F1 journalist James Allen’s book, Michael Schumacher: The Edge of Greatness, Allen described how Schumacher went to Alonso and said he couldn’t believe his Ferrari was on pole. Allen then explained how a car ride with Schumacher and Alonso played out. From Mark Webber’s perspective, Allen wrote, “We got in the car, Michael, Fernando, and I. Fernando was totally p**sed off, Michael was happy, putting on this face. The atmosphere was frosty. No one said anything. When we arrived, as Michael sprang out of the car and ran up the stairs, Fernando said to me, ‘He stopped on the track deliberately, you know?’”

Well, it wasn’t just Alonso who thought Schumacher parked his car on purpose. The FIA thought so, too, and demoted the seven-time champion to the back of the grid for Sunday’s race. Alonso started on pole and won his first-ever Monaco GP. Situations like this have started happening quite often these past few years, and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri might’ve come up with a solution.

Fernando Alonso Reflects on Blunder After Triumphing Against Michael Schumacher to Issue an Alarming Warning to Max Verstappen

Oscar Piastri knows how the Alonso-Schumacher situation could’ve been avoided

At the 2021 Monaco GP, Charles Leclerc was on provisional pole after his first flying lap. But in the dying stages of Q3, he crashed into the wall, bringing out the Red Flag, which ended the session. Despite crashing, he got pole position. Even though he couldn’t start the race, other drivers couldn’t improve their times during qualifying, which put them at a disadvantage for the race. 

In P1 With Matt and Tommy’s recent video, Oscar Piastri was asked what rule he’d change in F1. He said, “I think a lot of other series have the ‘if you cause a red flag in qualifying, you get your lap deleted’ rule. I think that would be good. I’ve been in series where that’s been the case, and I think it just gets rid of a lot of ambiguity on ‘Was it accidentally or on purpose?’ It also just punishes you a bit for making a mistake, so I think that could be a good rule.” 

Do you think Michael Schumacher knowingly stopped his car on track to jeopardize Fernando Alonso, or was it really an accident?

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