Cocaine in F1?

Recently, Benigno Bartoletti, a former doctor with Ferrari, had alleged of rampant cocaine usage among Formula 1 drivers. He claimed that as many as a third of the drivers took the drug before races to speed up their reaction time. When asked for comment, Sid Watkins, FIA medical delegate, laughed and said “Look, we’ve tested the drivers so often – and there’s no way they could know when we were testing them. And we’ve seen no trace of anything in F1 – ever. Apart from the chaps who’d taken the wrong cough drops.”

The second part is in reference to a 1995 episode where Rubens Barrichello and Max Papis inadvertently took a cough medicine containing the banned substance ephedrine. However becuase both drivers informed the doctor prior to testing and the substance was not deemed to be a performance enhancer, they were allowed to drive.