Schumacher's Ferrari in the '98 Argentinian GP

[Nicholas]

I read an archived article on GTF1 about Schumacher's Ferrari in the '98 Argentinian GP, which said that TGF's car had sparks coming out of the back for the duration of the race. It could have been the car bottoming out, but he wasn't disqualified (was he?)for excessive wear of the plank underneath the car.

Does anyone know what was wrong?

[Dino IV]

Yep I recall that race and read that article once. It concludes iirc that it was intentionally too low and left unpunished although it's hard to believe that skidding the plank for a whole race was resulting in a legitimate plankwear. Weird stuff.

[GTF1]

I actually wrote that article.. First thing that has to be said is that the car was definitely within the rules. The inferences in the article were just a bit of sensationalism on my part.

I'm not sure of the exact details, but it seems that the sparks were caused by the plank fasteners rubbing on the ground. Allegedly Ferrari fastened the plank to the car in such a way that it was the metal (titanium?) fasteners that wore, not the plank.