When F1 wasn't afraid of controversy

During the 2000 Formula 1 season, one of the big names of the year gave the man destined to be world champion the finger while battling for the lead of a grand prix, a past world champion publicly stated he had no respect for his team-mate, a title contender dismissed the prospect of his team-mate being able to be better than him, and one manufacturer driver spent much of the season dismissing multiple rivals and famed F1 team personnel.

And these were just a few of the headline-grabbing wars of words that cropped up during the season. It was only 16 years ago, but seems a world away from today's more sanitised F1 world.

Browsing through the pages of Autosport in 2000, it's remarkable just how many times drivers are willing to be very frank about their opponents, and sometimes even their own performances.

Famously, during the French Grand Prix, David Coulthard presented his middle finger to Michael Schumacher at the Adelaide hairpin on the 39th lap of the race after being forced wide while attempting to take the lead.

He subsequently made the pass stick, but made his displeasure clear by presenting his middle digit.

"I have to apologise for my hand gesture, which is not at all in keeping with the sport," said Coulthard.

"But my emotions were running high. I felt I had a clean run on Michael on the outside and equally I felt he drove me wide.

"You could say he has the right to do that because of track position but I think a deliberate gesture of driving someone wide is not his normal line.

"It made me very angry, which is why I gave him the sporting gesture. But I was embarrassed within five minutes of it".

But it was one of the most memorable moments of the season, part of the story of a great victory by Coulthard.

One of the big challenges for motorsport is that it's difficult to convey the emotion of a driver cocooned in a machine, and that incident - and the subsequent arguments, which continued to rumble through the season - were all part of the narrative in 2000.

Certainly, nobody could be left in any doubt as to how much Coulthard cared. His gesture made it more compelling to watch, imbuing the act of one car attempting to pass another with an emotion it would otherwise lack.

So when Coulthard finally made the move stick, and ran Schumacher to the edge of the track, the pair briefly kissing tyres, it was an enthralling moment no matter what your allegiances were.

Hand gestures aren't a big thing in F1 these days. Of course, it's increasingly difficult to get your hand out of the cockpit while driving quickly (although that didn't stop Fernando Alonso's seemingly sarcastic celebration of ninth place for Ferrari in Bahrain in 2014).

But, as the recent debate over radio communications tells us, with some arguing that it gave viewers an insight into the personalities and goings on inside the cockpit, it's increasingly difficult for fans to form emotional bonds with drivers.

With drivers ever-more cocooned (for good reasons) in the cockpits, the main chance for people to engage with the characters involved is out of the car. That's when a bit of fighting talk is not a bad thing.

The reason most often given for drivers being more anodyne in what they say to the press is that corporate pressures demand it. There's some truth to that, and all drivers will be given PR briefings ahead of a grand prix so they know what their position on certain issues should be.

But while we still occasionally get drivers being very frank in their opinions, for the most part they are very cautious. Arguably, the more powerful factor in this is the evolution of the digital age.

In 2000 Mika Hakkinen could suggest that even if team-mate Coulthard was driving at his best, it wouldn't make him any faster than he was, and the story would, at worst, appear a day later. Today the war of words would be played out in near-real time, with the baying masses on Twitter magnifying the argument to overwhelming proportions.

The exchange below was reported in Autosport on May 25, after the European Grand Prix.

"David is at the limit with his speed, and with that he is behind me," said Hakkinen. "End of discussion.

"Even if he wins a few races, he would become a better, but not a quicker, driver."

Later in the same story was Coulthard's retort.

"He's entitled to his opinion," said Coulthard. "Naturally, it is not one I share.

"I am very disappointed. After everything I have done for him, I can't believe he would say something like that."

Imagine if you replaced Hakkinen and Coulthard with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg - just think of the reaction!

Then look at Jacques Villeneuve, whose relationship with BAR team-mate Ricardo Zonta was never the most productive. He seized upon Zonta hitting him at Hockenheim to lay into the Brazilian.

"Since the start of the season I haven't told the media that I have very little respect for Zonta," said Villeneuve. "Now I can say it. I have no respect for him at all.

"Since the beginning of the year, he has gone off in every other race because he drives over the limit. As long as Zonta stays behind me, as is the case most of the time, it doesn't bother me. Today, he wanted to be a hero by overtaking me.

"He's a nice guy, but he's the one looking for a drive next year and he's digging a hole for himself."

You even had Michael Schumacher offering up his verdict on new team-mate Rubens Barrichello at a point where the Brazilian was flirting with getting involved in the title fight.

"Although Rubens is the fastest team-mate I have ever had, I'm faster," said Schumacher. To the point, and impossible to argue with.

We even had the two top teams - Ferrari and McLaren - at war. Ferrari lobbied for McLaren to be disqualified from the Austrian Grand Prix over a missing seal on an electronic control box.

"Winning is important," said Ron Dennis. "But far more important is how you win. It was a blatant attempt to lobby the stewards."

On the other side of the fence was Ferrari technical boss Ross Brawn.

"Ferrari has done nothing strange or underhand," said Brawn. "It's no different to Ron Dennis walking around the parc ferme in Malaysia, which was a clear contravention of protocol."

McLaren wasn't disqualified, a verdict Brawn was happy to accept on the basis that the FIA was certain the team had not interfered with the ECU software. But McLaren did lose 10 constructors' points.

Eddie Irvine was also great value for money during the season, disputing the merits of all and sundry.

He questioned Brawn's impact on Ferrari's success, instead attributing it all to Schumacher, and also criticised his successor as the German's team-mate, Barrichello, as not up to the task of fighting for the title.

Then there was the ever-popular Flavio Briatore, who returned to run Benetton in 2000. Just one example of his sharp tongue came after the United States GP, when he criticised Giancarlo Fisichella's work rate.

"The result highlights the difference between our drivers," said Briatore.

"Alex [Wurz] applied his mind to this race and studied everything carefully before arriving at Indianapolis.

"Giancarlo tried to rely on his talent, which is no substitute for hard work."

Oh, and for good measure, various top drivers jumped on and off a merry-go-round of startline criticism. Early in the season, Irvine criticised Schumacher's start at Imola as "damn dangerous", followed by Coulthard slamming Schumacher's start at Barcelona.

But it wasn't all directed at Schumacher - he criticised Hakkinen's start at the Nurburgring! All good knockabout stuff.

Drivers today are willing to criticise - take the recent complaints about Max Verstappen's antics in braking areas. But it isn't with the same intensity and often just comes across as low-level whining.

It's understandable in many ways. Not only are there the pressures of sponsors and teams and the social media backlash, but also the fact that drivers have to talk so much.

Watch a big-name driver after the race, say Jenson Button, work his way round the TV interview pen answering the same question time after time after time and it's impossible not to have sympathy for him. There's only so many ways you can say "the McLaren-Honda wasn't great and we did what we could" and make it interesting.

So what can we learn from this? The main thing is that there's a desire among fans for authenticity and real emotion. Some of that can come across over the radio, but the best response is to make clear, honest, frank statements.

If you want to call out a rival, call them out rather than taking oblique potshots and then backing away.

Inevitably, the world changes along with expectations and behaviour has to be moderated. But, as we are constantly reminded, F1 is a form of entertainment. Allowing a little personality and genuine animosity to make it into the public domain (and there's plenty of it under the surface) is an area where grand prix racing can make big gains.

That doesn't mean it should be out of control, but a little honesty here and there would liven things up a good deal - as 2000 shows us.