The Ferrari team orders scandal in Austria that embarrassed Formula One

Barrichello became Formula One's most famous No.2 driver in what was Ferrari's most dominant period in the sport, with Schumacher winning five consecutive titles between 2000 and 2004. During the 2002 season, nobody could touch Schumacher who won 11 out of the 17 races.

By the time of the Austrian GP that season, the German had won four out of the opening five races and had a 21 point lead over the Williams of Juan Pablo Montoya in the standings. However, Austria was one of the rare weekends where Barichello managed to get the better of Schumacher.

He claimed pole position and was unchallenged throughout the race. While many felt the Brazilian deserved the victory, it was still early in the season and Ferrari did not want to risk anything hindering Schumacher from winning a fifth drivers' championship.

Ferrari had told Barrichello to surrender the lead to Schumacher during the closing stages. Recalling the race in 2012, as per Motorsport Magazine, the Brazilian said: “It was eight laps of war. It’s very rare that I lose my temper, but I was screaming on the radio. I kept going right to the end, saying I would not let him pass.

Barichello began to gradually slow down, but did not want to let Schumacher through in a way that Ferrari would come out of it unscathed. So he waited until the final corner of the last lap before slowing down with 100 yards until the finish line, allowing Schumacher to pass for the victory.

Ferrari and Schumacher felt the wrath of the fans in attendance who jeered the German as soon as his helmet came off and made their feelings known again during the podium ceremony. An embarrassed Schumacher allowed Barrichello to go onto the top step of the podium.

With Formula One left in shame, the FIA came to a decision for 2003 that team orders would be banned. However, that ban proved difficult to police because teams simply used coded radio messages. One of the most famous examples came at the 2010 German Grand Prix when Ferrari told Felipe Massa: "Fernando is faster than you."

Speaking on the incident, Jean Todt, then Ferrari team principal, told the High Performance Podcast earlier this year that Barrichello was told that he must let Schumacher through if he was in front before the last pit stop.

He added: "It was agreed wrongly or rightly, but it was agreed before, and it was accepted, because Michael was leading the world championship, and we did not want the chance to lose at the last race, probably wrongly. But it’s easy to say at the end of the season. But it could not have been wrongly [at that time].

The team orders ultimately were meaningless in the drivers' championship, as Schumacher went on to cruise to the title and was 94 point ahead of Montoya, the first of the non-Ferrari drivers in the standings.

With Lewis Hamilton 40 points above Charles Leclerc in the standings, 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve believes Ferrari should already prioritise the Brit as number one in the title fight.

He said: "Internally at Ferrari, they just re-signed Leclerc two races ago for the best contract ever, lifetime contract. But who’s actually getting the points, who’s going to the front? Lewis. That will create a little bit of an issue internally as well. Lewis is in the hunt for the championship, Leclerc isn’t, so will they need to start making decisions at some point? They will need to put everything in their bag if they want to fight for the championship.”