Does F1 still need number two drivers?
The role of the number two driver has changed dramatically since the early days of the Formula 1 World Championship. Edd Straw analyses whether forcing one driver to play second fiddle to another still has a place in the modern era
The 2002 Austrian Grand Prix changed everything. When Rubens Barrichello eased off exiting the last corner having - pitstops aside - led from start to finish, to gift victory to his Ferrari team-mate Michael Schumacher, team orders would never be the same again.
This egregious bait and switch, in which the watching world believed it was witnessing a great victory for the Brazilian, only for Schumacher to be handed his fifth win in six races, prompted global fury.
Share Or Save This Story
Archive: When the French GP almost produced F1's greatest shock
Autosport 70: How Scheckter instigated Silverstone's most famous F1 incident
Autosport 70: The lost F1 team that launched Newey
Why Haas's shocking 2019 should have F1 worried
How Kubica found the answer to his own incredible F1 challenge
The real step that ended McLaren's F1 nightmare
2019's Albon, Norris and Russell are 2001's Montoya, Raikkonen and Alonso
How Toro Rosso gave Renault a major scare
Bottas: Permanent fix for Sauber F1 pitstop woes "by Imola"
Quartararo: Marquez's Honda MotoGP exit "woke a lot of people up" at Yamaha
How national entries in the first month of the season stack up
COTA: F1 and MotoGP double-header possible but not probable
Why F1 2026 worst case fears could be key to new rules success
How the F1 driver market situation sits for each team with 2025 openings
What's been going wrong for Leclerc in F1's tiny margins qualifying game
What the Chinese GP's highlights reveal about its first F1 race for five years
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
