5. Water tanks scandals
In 1982, turbocharged engines were the latest rage in Formula One, leaving the teams that didn’t use them in a distinct disadvantage. In order to cope with the situation, Williams and Brabham came up with a plan to take an advantage of their lighter cars by ditching the mandatory ballast all non-turbo cars used to be brought up to weight. Instead, they used a water tank, claiming the extra water was needed for cooling the brakes.
The water was dumped during the race, making their cars that much lighter and faster. This led to Nelson Piquet and Keke Rosberg finishing 1st and 2nd in the Brazilian GP, but the results were tossed out, once the mystery of an empty “water tank” was discovered.
