Michael Schumacher disqualification makes F1 history to set up 30-year interval - On This Day

On this day, 28 August, 32 years ago, Michael Schumacher became the first driver in Formula 1 history to be disqualified from a race for excessive wear on the wooden skid block, a regulation that had been introduced only weeks earlier.

The 1994 Belgian Grand Prix, held at Spa-Francorchamps, saw Schumacher cross the line first in his Benetton. Post-race scrutineering, however, told a different story.

Officials found his plank had worn down to as little as 7.4 mm, well beyond the permitted 10% tolerance on the original 10 mm thickness.

The excessive wear extended over roughly a third of the plank's length, and stewards were unmoved by Benetton's argument that a spin at Fagnes on lap 19 had caused the damage.

In their ruling, the stewards stated that "not one of the defences offered is acceptable," and Schumacher was excluded from the results.

A title fight blown wide open - and a three-decade wait

Damon Hill, who had finished second on the road in his Williams-Renault, was promoted to victory, his third of the season.

Mika Häkkinen inherited second for McLaren-Peugeot, while Jos Verstappen completed the podium for Benetton. It had already been a landmark weekend for Jordan, with Rubens Barrichello securing the team's maiden pole position.

In championship terms, the disqualification swung 14 points in Hill's favour, slashing Schumacher's lead from a would-be commanding 35 points to 21 with five races remaining.

That proved decisive in a title battle that went to the final round in Adelaide, where Schumacher prevailed by a single point in controversial fashion.

The plank rule, introduced as part of the FIA's emergency safety measures following the tragedies at Imola that season, became a fixture of the regulations for decades.

Yet remarkably, it took 30 years before another driver suffered a similar fate. In 2024, George Russell was disqualified from victory at the same venue after his Mercedes was found to be 1.5 kg below the minimum weight, with Lewis Hamilton promoted to the top step.

It was the first time since Schumacher's exclusion that a race winner had been stripped of a grand prix victory, three decades later.