Overslept dramatically this morning. I was vaguely aware at six o’clock when some of the Fleet Street got up and set off for the airport. Their only really early morning of the weekend… Then I dozed off again and before I knew it, the mobile phone/camera/alarm clock/address book/music centre/photo album etc said 10.15 and I thought: “Hmmm… breakfast would be good”. Last night, after finishing GP+ and all the other stuff at about half past nine, I zipped through the rain to Malmedy and slipped into the pizzeria there before they closed and felt a lot better as I then blasted through the empty countryside to the hotel, and woke up the poor hotel owner for the fourth night running…
I am looking out of the window now with rain and wind and a sign that promises the unusual combination of “Tropical Garden” and friture (which for the non-linguists means “place where one buy fries with everything”, a concept with which the Belgians are very comfortable. I am no vegetarian, but after four days of their “chunk of dead animal and fries” diet, I must say that I was beginning to crave a bit of cauliflower. I was pondering to write over my rather delayed breakfast and concluded that I should really look at the happenings on the race track: the satisfied Mr Hamilton, the solid Mr Webber, a weekend involving more than one mistake for Mr Kubica. And what else? Oh dear, all the apologists for Messrs Schumacher and Alonso are going to be writing in when I mention that both were rather less than perfect in this race. And, oh dear, oh dear, what can the blinkered (or one-eyed) fans of Mr Vettel make of his schoolboy like performance… Small wonder this is his nickname in the Press Office. Well, I have heard some others this year, by The Schoolboy dates back a year or two to when he almost was a schoolboy in racing overalls. I have heard one or two folk refer to him as Princess Petal, but I think this is really too harsh. Like all racing drivers, he just wants things done his own way…
The great Schu horned his way into his team-mates affections, by carving him up and giving Nico (who also has some fascinating nicknames in F1 circles) a slightly clipped front wing. Later in the race Rosberg returned the favour (without damaging Michael’s car), making the old warhorse kowtow to him, and then heading off, leaving Michael to eat his spray. Alonso was a little unfortunate when Rubens Barrichello’s 300th GP ended with a hefty shunt as he lost control at the end of the first lap and smashed into the Ferrari. Fernando then tried to claw his way back, juggling tyres to meet conditions and it went wrong, which meant that he had lost the benefit that he might have gained from the softer Bridgestones. In the end he spun his car into the wall on the run down to Rivage on lap 38.
Vettel’s race was really a shocker. In the early laps things were okay. He was behind Jenson Button, but then seemed to get frustrated and tried to overtake. This resulted in him losing control and smashing into the McLaren.
“I have no idea what he was doing,” said Jenson, after seeing the footage of the incident. “This is a massive blow to my World Championship hopes.” McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh was rather more harsh on the subject.
“Vettel’s young and has a lot to learn,” he said. “It looked like he went for the inside line which wasn’t there, but I‘d rather he did that with his own team-mate… It is not what I expect to see in F1. It was more reminiscent of junior formulae. I thought the drive-through was light punishment.”
So did I. Later on Vettel ruined Tonio Liuzzi’s race by running over the Italian’s nose, which was more of a racing incident.
“I think Sebastian was a little bit out of control this afternoon,” said a resigned Tonio.
Kubica landed up on the podium, but should really have been second, ahead of Webber. He lost the position by missing his brake point in the pits, which lost him time and frightened some of his mechanics.
Elsewhere there were positive things to say about Kamui Kobayashi, who seems to have become “Cowboyashi” up in the Media Centre. His messed up qualifying was forgotten after he took his Sauber from a lowly grid position to eighth, while Vitaly Petrov also did a super job in the second Renault, coming from the back of the grid to ninth. Liuzzi ended up with 10th after Jaime Alguersuari was penalised 20 seconds for gaining the position in an unfair manner by cutting the corner and not giving the place back.
It was a most entertaining Grand Prix, and evidence as if we needed it, that Formula 1 should turn its back on Tilke creations and worry a little less about the money that a great track generates./ Imagine if we have 20 Spa-like circuits on the F1 calendar… Okay, the fat cats in their suits would not be grabbing as much money as they are from the sport, but the TV figures would improve dramatically.
Hello Joe,
I would be really interested to hear some of those nicknames you and your colleagues give to the drivers
I only heard Britney for Rosberg and Finger Boy for Vettel. Princess Petal – priceless!
Thank you and keep up the good work!
T
Joe,
There’s definitely an article to be written listing all the drivers’ nicknames, with explanations where necessary??
James
JamesF1,
Maybe there is, but some are none too complimentary, some are actionable, and some are just unacceptable in polite society…
Great summary of the race Joe!
Totally agree with the last paragraph. Spa has everything an F1 circuit should – gradient (apparently if it were designed today Eau Rouge would not meet FIA gradient requirements…), medium-fast corners, stunning scenery, overtaking spots, history, and a location that encourages inclement weather. Basically everything that the likes of Bahrain and Abu Dhabi don’t have. A couple of Tilke circuits are OK, for variety’s sake, but half a calendar of them does become a bit samey – in the old days you could look at any photo from the season and instantly recognise the circuit. Not so anymore.
Just a little niggle – I am by no means a Schumacher apologist, but his drive from 21st to 7th was quite impressive, especially the way he (and Nico) looked after the tyres for much of the race. OK his move on Nico wasn’t the cleanest ever, but if Petrov gets plaudits for his drive from the back then I think Michael should be given some kudos too in my opinion.
Kristian,
I had not looked at it that way. I guess that someone should count the overtaking manoeuvres to see who really did well.
Kristian: I agree. I thought Schumacher had a great race today – 21st to 7th with no bad behaviour. Getting that close to Nico despite their different grid positions is an encouraging sign.
Agreed about the circuits Joe.
F1 should be about the racing, first and foremost this is why people watch F1. The fastest cars, the best drivers and action that defys physics.
What we don’t give a crap about is where the grandstands are, what the corporate functions are catered with, or how many helicopter pads are around.
F1 is a business, but it can still be a good business. They can follow the time honoured model of giving the people what they want, or they can follow the model (which Bernie seems to have taken a shining to) where they make the maximum return now and worry about the next ten years in eight years time (BP anyone?)
We need the unpredictable circuits, they test the driver and the machine. We need the overtaking options, the insanely quick corners, the cars bouncing off the limiter on the straights…
We don’t need more watered down crap.
Having said all that, the circuit plan for Korea looks OK to me, so I hope that it’s finished in time, and that we get a decent race.
Oh, and for “Princess Petal” either Red Bull are extremely good at hiding their team orders by making us all think that Webber and Seb don’t get along, or Seb has the overtaking ability of a sight impaired pensioner wearing a hat driving an M1 Abrahms main battle tank.
If it’s the former, kudos to RBR for mounting the most successful misinformation campaign ever. Marko, Horner, Seb, Mark all must have been in on it, with the plan being that Mark wins races, and Seb runs in to everyone in the top 5. He may have taken this too literally in Turkey, but he is German, so that can happen.
Great result for Webber though. If he can get some decent points in Italy, the last few races should be Red Bull 1-2′s, provided Seb doesn’t decide to get up close and personal with anyone else.
Seems he and Sutil have swapped careers since last year.
The best word to describe Sebastian Vettel on his current form is Callow. Here is the dictionary explanation of this word:
–adjective1.immature or inexperienced: a callow youth.2.(of a young bird) featherless; unfledged.
–noun3.a recently hatched worker ant.
-Synonyms 1.untried, green, raw; naive, puerile, jejune.
Says it all really….
Totally agree with your post Kristian, both on Spa v. Tilke and on Schumacher’s drive being underpraised if Petrov and Kobayashi are getting plaudits.
Can I have fries with that too?
Priceless Pedal perhaps, after this weekend, as he seems unable to distinguish the different ones he has …
For the nicknames, how about one of those sites where you have to certify you’re over 18 before you enter ?
Kristian : there are “FIA gradient requirements” ? No wonder so many circuits are useless !
With 20 Spa’s in a year medicals would be needed by the fans to ensure no heart attacks.
I have to support the comments on “more Spa-like circuits, and less Tilke-dromes” … absolutely right.
We need circuits that have variable-radius corners that challenge the drivers, straights that stress the engines, memorable chicanes like the sadly now lost bus-stop at Spa, and tracks that really make use of gradient.
Spa Francorchamps is far and away the greatest circuit we still have in F1. Show me a Tilke-drome that even comes close.
I’m really impressed by Kobayashi and Petrov this year. Both have come in for criticism – remarkable how Martin Brundle has changed his tune on Kobayashi. Sure, they both messed up qualifying, but fast and wild is generally more entertaining. Petrov’s move around the outside of Britney at Les Coombs was epic.
Did the “Britney” tag overshadow Rosberg’s time at Williams or was it lack of motivation against a slow team mate from 2007? He’s been much more impressive this year, even according to Patrick Head.
“Princess Petal” is a great name – the cheeky chappy days of quoting “Monty Python” and “Little Britain” seem long ago, though I never did see the attraction (reminded me too much of sense-of-humour-by-proxy) – kind of like when all the drivers listed Phil Collins as their favorite in the ’80′s.
A particular nickname that popped up in some Hungarian bulletin boards over the weekend was “German Sato”.
Zoltan,
We always used to call him Darcy, after a fictional character in a 1960 Hancock’s Half Hour (before I was born…). The reference you need is as follows:
“When Hancock finally gets Lady Don’t Fall Backwards by Darcy Sarto from the public library, he is mortified to find the last page torn out… He and Sid try solve the book’s murder mystery, presumably revealed on the missing page. Tracking down people who had borrowed the book before and even a visit to the house of the author…
character in Tony Hancock, who was a whodunnit writer in a show called The Missing Page
In The Missing Page, first shown around March 1960, Tony Hancock is reading Lady don’t fall backwards, a whodunnit written by Darcy Sarto. ..
It’s quite amusing that some of the most evocative corners in F1 are in fact named after nondescript little villages in the middle of nowhere – Blanchimont, Pouhon, Stowe, Turn Eight… Hmm ok.
Vettel was lucky he didn’t crash into Button quite violently enough to end his own race. I suspect that if he’d retired on the spot like Jenson, he’d be facing a grid penalty at Monza. I’m sure Martin Whitmarsh will be able to remind us of that a few dozen times anyway.
Joe:
That looks like that nice little place in Coo not far from the water park where you can be guaranteed of a pleasant race weekend stay far from the more self-obsessed F1 folk.
I’ve always said Spa in the rain is better than anywhere else in the dry…
+1 on your last paragraph, Joe. I propose the following solution: hold all F1 races at either Silverstone or Spa, and green-screen into the background a bunch of camels, palm trees, and mega-yachts, using virtual graphics.
On most race weekends, GP+ is the only interesting thing to be found. Fortunately, this weekend the race was equally as entertaining as the e-mag.
JBUSA,
What about Suzuka?
Great piece Joe, and would loved to have been in the Ardennes this past weekend to see a real motor race. One thing I think is worth adding here is that Princess Petal (or whatever – spoiled brat methinks is fitting) claims Jenson braked earlier than usual and caught him out completely – a claim supported by Christian Horner. Jenson however has said that he braked at the same spot as on previous laps. This would be interesting to investigate as one of the two is obviously not being straightforward… and I think Mr Vettel is a little too used to making excuses for his impetuous driving and not accepting responsibility for his actions (Turkey onwards). Until he recognizes the mistakes he alone is making, he will not learn from them and realize his true potential. Maybe that is his flaw and maybe he will never be a great driver because of it.
Anyhow, perhaps you could do some digging around this and see where the truth lies?
Also congrats to Mark Weber – I know you will be pleased with his continued good fortune and great driving.
Thanks for GP+ – another great issue and highly recommend it to all your blog readers.
Martin says:
“Vettel’s young and has a lot to learn,” he said. “It looked like he went for the inside line which wasn’t there, but I‘d rather he did that with his own team-mate… It is not what I expect to see in F1. It was more reminiscent of junior formulae.”
And Joe Agrees.
Could be worse. He could have run into the rear end of a stopped car in the pitlane, like Hamilton did.
I don’t recall anyone at McLaren saying anything about that incident being reminiscent of junior formula. Probably because it was too amateurish for even the Jrs.
If Rubens’ crash was a racing incident, then Vettels was too. Same thing, same place.
For someone who has
at times been appreciative of Vettel’s performances, the Ardennes proved a bumpy viewing experience and something of a cold shower, experienced in all sympathy for those involved. Predictably adjectives like “immature” and “overappreciated” re:Vettel soon surfaced (if not in those exact terms) from various corners but then again the underlying motivation may be anything but constructive.
It seems to me that at times there’s something of a disconnect in communicating intentions when Seb is trying to overtake. Crashes, of course, seem the consequence of foolhardiness but as confused as his opponents seem after these situations I wonder if he – in a way – isn’t too timid to get the un/predictability balance right within the established F1 racing culture? A F1 car is a light piece of kit but imagined as a function of time and kinetic energy, a (say) second “long” F1 car bearing down on you is a hulking, intimidating behemoth to have in the rear view mirrors. There’s an inevitability about it, the recognition of which (obviously and famously) varies between drivers and Vettel’s current mentality in establishing “presence” might be a little bit on the shorter margins on this.
There’s also the RB6 itself; I get the impression that it’s “designed to lead” i.e. there’s a disconcerting flutter in the front wing when drafting closely, perhaps making the vehicle a slightly blunter object than it needs be. If it’s so I’m sure there’s a degree of intentionality to it which surely is not lost on anyone within the team. RB6 hasn’t seemed all that superb in traffic all season and lest we forget, Mark also managed to get in an almost similarly “incomprehensible” tangle with Kovy earlier on in a none too dissimilar way.
Seb’s actions do not need to be excused by me. All I’m saying is that no matter the preference and affiliation I think we’re better off seeing everyone squaring off at their best, rather than at their worst. It’s remarkable how much more acceptable and good natured things become like that, all around.
A cracking race – isn’t it nice to have a circuit where F1 cars have to work, Joe not sure you’ll have seen the backwards camera on JB’s car during practice, but it was nice to actually see how all those aero bits work with the spray deflecting nicely around the sidepod (no wonder RBR moved their backwards cameras!) Shame they weren’r able to give shots showing the effect of the F-ducts on the spray. It’s nice to go to a circuit where we don’t here “the only potential overtaking spot…” Instead there’s 3 good overtaking spots, and around 18 if the weather plays ball! Bernie always talks about example circuits, well, he’s got a bob or two, s why no set the example Mr E, buy Spa and show the world how a grand prix circuit should be! A few quid on terracing some of the grass banks (fit in more spectators), grandstands at Pouhon and Stavelot (on top of the paddock trucks to hide them from view) a couple of widened routes into the track and don’t touch the circuit! (well, ok, put some proper grass in outside the kerbs to punish those who can’t keep between the white lines!)
As for the race itself, you have to wonder what they make Ferraris out of – Rubens gave Alonso’s car a hell of a whack and didn’t appear to do any damage! (although Fernando managed that himself later on – perhaps he just wanted to beat you to the pizza place!) It’s nice to have a race where you look back and think “how did so-and-so get past thingy” as the TV people couldn’t show all the action, a case for extra highlight packages Mr E perhaps? Schumy did alright, indeed he only made up one place less than ’95! (he did seem more relaxed, dare I say it, almost fun in his interviews) We soemtimes forget how young Vettel is (remember how long it took Massa to get the hang of finishing races?) Maybe the team should be trying to calm him down and encouraging him to think of picking up points, rather than trophies and fastest laps.
The Belgian GP muust be an F1 journo’s dream, what to leave out the report is better than trying to find something to put in!
Perhaps you could tell us how a Fridge magnet gave Lauda his name, I think the incident happened in Belgium at Zolder?
Couldn’t agree more with your last paragraph. Spa is *my* Monaco, probably because I’m more interested in motor racing than canapes.
Spa seems perpetually under threat while we’re having more Tilke tosh like India foisted upon us. There is something fundamentally wrong with that.
I’m not a huge MS fan, but I actually thought his move on Rosberg was pretty nice, and Rosberg’s own fault for losing his wing endplate for not slowing up once it was clear Michael was by. Definitely a great comeback for Rosberg to get the position back, but a good drive by both of them. I think it was the same for Luizzi with Vettel’s move, Tonio’s own fault there.
How many times do guys need to see a spin-out off the exit of Malmedy when you put a tire up on the curb, especially in the wet. It’s a foregone conclusion and Alonso should know better. I gotta assume he had his hands full with a poorly handling car, probably courtesy of Rueben’s t-bone job.
Absolutely need more Spa’s, yes!
Watching the qualifying over at my brother’s house on Saturday I decided it was time to give his 5 year old son his first taste of F1, so I sat him down beside me and tried my best to explain what was going on.
As you can imagine some of the intricacies of a 3 part qualifying session were lost on him, so I changed tack to telling him what the drivers names were. As the 3rd session was about to get underway the cameras switched to Nico Rosberg back in the pits, by now out of his car and no longer wearing his helmet
“What’s her name?” my young nephew asked
I had to chuckle.
“Imagine if we have 20 Spa-like circuits on the F1 calendar… Okay, the fat cats in their suits would not be grabbing as much money as they are from the sport, but the TV figures would improve dramatically.”
Indeed…
I’m also no Schumacher apologist, but I thought his move on Rosberg was fine. And vice-versa. Rosberg was off track, and Schumacher left more than a car’s width. If he hadn’t taken him we’d all be saying how he’s lost it…
I side with Kristian. Schumi did his best job of the year so far, despite the chop on Rosberg. His first lap was quite impressive. And (as you know) I am definitely not a fan.
Hello Joe,
Is it true that Rob Smedley calls Webber “Rambo” ?
I think it’s just hilarious and typical Smedley.
Regards.
Armitraj,
I have not heard that one
Nice notes from Spa, wish I could be there of all the tracks in the calendar, thanks.
Also, is it me or Vettel hits someone in every race? On Sunday, Button and Tonio felt the wrath so, I have a request: can you look back into the season (as you are a seasoned expert and have all this information at hand) and review if there is a trend or is Vettel just crashing into team mates and friends in the last couple of races.
PS. Next summer do not take so much time fishing, need my daily fix!!
Thanks for your article, they way you command the language takes few words to explain lots of things. Still, I need to ask you something: Teflonso won two titles on Briatore’s guidance, then he left for McLaren where instead of validating his titles he complained about feeling like an orphan while leaving Renault in shambles, when he went back to Renault he had no car nor huge funds but still managed a victory (I won’t mention Fraudapore as one).
Now the first question: Is Alonso worth something without a paternalistic and strategic wise boss? My answer is no, and Cordero dM and Domenicalli aren’t the kind of boss Alonso needs. Cordero dM is looking somewhere else and Domenically has as much strategic vision as I have moon landing with a surfboard expertise.
Second question: Alonso lost a huge chance refusing to drive for Brawn when Ross offered “the” seat, today Mercedes would be a leading team.
Best regards,
Alejandro Fernández
(Following F1 since 1971 and still going strong)
Joe,
It seems as if Mr. Vettel’s maturity is inversely proportional to the level of adversity he faces each week. Next I expect him to throw toys out of the pram.
I’m usually unwilling to encourage the conspiracy theorists, but look again at the replay of the Button incident, particularly at Vettel’s front wing from about 50s onwards:
As he moves to the right of Button, and the right side of his front wing comes out of the slipstream, the right side turns down, and the left side up. A huge amount of flex.
Did this cause him to lose control ?
Was a great race all in all and impressive to think Hamilton led every lap given the tricky conditions.
I’m always pleased to see Kobayashi doing well after an article I read at the end of last season. Something about how much Toyota had helped him and if the Sauber drive didn’t happen he’d be working in his family’s restaurant in Tokyo as he hasn’t got the money to continue racing… he sure has the talent though.
Joe Princess Petal must really be throwing his toys out of the pram now that he is so far behind Webber on points
Maybe it’s just me, but when watching the replays of Vettel cutting back across the track to enter the pits, it seem that he’s not even checked to see what’s coming?.
Nowhere on any replay can I see him in a position to see traffic from his right hand side. I’m not one-hundred percent sure, but if correct, should that not be classified as dangerous driving, and a penalty dished out?.
Hi Joe,
Agree with you about Petrov’s drive – I would even nominate his move on Rosberg as one of the best of the season.
Fantastic stuff.
Spa is so much fun to watch (at least on TV). Highly entertaining race….
Hi Joe,
Can you list 20 circuits of Spa-like quality? Or even 10? 5?
Cheers,
Leo.
You would have to build them, but if you are going to spend money on silly little circuits, one might as well build a Spa…
re: MS/NR pass – Nico was off the track and rejoining…I’m not sure how MS can be at fault there
anyway, good race from 21st on the grid – with his teammate only just finishing in front of him… but you can’t please those that will never see good in anyone.
Good race by Lewham – lucky not to get caught in the gravel on his off, but deserved the win
Vettel – what a disaster this race…terrible
Vettel seemed a desperate man to me. When he crashed into Button I was shocked but also thought ‘not again’.
The later contact with Luizzi also made Vettel look like he was just on a crazed rampage.
Rosberg is a so-so driver to me but I do like it when he beats Schumacher.
It’s almost strange to hear no Alonso complaints or see any angry hand waving from him. I’m sure he was frustrated but the other cars were not teammates so saying this is ridiculous would not have led to much.
I love Spa + it was a pretty exciting race. I am curious about the Korean GP though.
Hi Joe,
I found it pretty disappointing that the stewards gave Vettel a drive through penalty.
Trying to overtake Button he went to the inside of the Bus Stop chicane but Button closed the door. Then he clearly wanted to move to the outside whilst braking hard and late on a slippery track. He lost traction and spun, school boy error – a bit of a bad move that happened to take Button with it, a great shame blah blah blah.
Vettel recovers to the pits and resumes out of the top ten, it’s wrecked his race. So why did they penalise him for not pulling off a perfect overtake on a slippery track? Had he been permanently damaged would they have given him a grid penalty for the next race?
It just seems silly that the stewards penalise him for not overtaking perfectly on a clearly unpredictable damp track. Maybe the collision was ‘unavoidable’ but he clearly didn’t want to collide, it just ended up that way.
More and more over the past 3-5 seasons it just seems as though the stewards feel compelled to punish a driver if they want to or if a rival team moans enough. How can we expect more overtaking if, when things don’t go to plan, the driver loses position and is then compounded by a ‘mistake tax’ from the stewards.
They’re progressively orchestrating the race result.
Yeah it would be interesting to see the overtaking stats for that race – annoyingly Autosport don’t put lap charts in their race reports anymore so its hard to find out.
Joe. I also don’t understand at all your comment about Michael Schumacher. What could he have done better? He finished in 7th place after starting 21st on the grid, made an excellent start and passed his team-mate when Vitaly Petrov made his move. He also adopted the right tyre strategy (for Mercedes) staying out on slicks for a long stint in changing conditions and making one stop. Looking over the weekend, he beat Rosberg in both practice sessions and in qualifying.
I dont understand why you think Schumacher carved Rosberg up… it was **Rosberg who made a mistake** and went off circuit under pressure from Petrov. When he came back on the circuit, Michael was in front and he caught his end-plate on the car. As you mention, Rosberg returned the favour, but he put Schumacher on the grass. Sorry, just cannot agree with your analysis here in an otherwise excellent report. Its a pity you have already pre-empted any discussions by labelling all people who are likely to disagree with you as “apologists”.
Hi Joe,
I got back yesterday evening – have been to Spa for a minor formulae race before but the GP was awesome. As well as the on track action, I thought the cosmopolitan crowd contributed hugely to the atmosphere and made it a\superb event.
I think that Sutil also had a very good race. I have always thought that Liuzzi has been undervalued as a driver, (particularly after his treatment in the past by other teams), but Sutil is really making him look ordinary this season.
On a different note; no evening with Joe at Monza? As an expat living in Italy who has to rely on the internet in order to have a discussion about F1 that does not center on a certain red team, I was hoping that you would hold one. If in fact you are doing one and we have somehow missed the announcement, please let us know.
Adam.
Nice write-up as ever Joe, enjoy your drive home!
Somewhat in Vettels defence, there is some interesting video evidence about (that has since been taken down from YouTube due to FOM anti-publicity, head-in-the-sand about the web, policy) that shows a dramatic downward flex on Vettels front wing just as he starts the overtake manoevre.
Another great race at everyones favourite circuit. I thought it interesting that the top 3 all made mistakes Kubica’s botched stop, Webbers poor start and Hamilton bouncing through the gravel and skimming the tyre barrier. I suppose speed will out in the end.
Do you think Red Bull and Maclaren will start concentrating on their lead drivers now? Webbers increased lead puts them in an awkward situation doesn’t it? The rumours of favouritism towards Vettel makes me think they won’t untill absoloutely necassary I just wonder if the placings were reversed if they would decide that now is the time to back Vettel.
I see that Jenson is saying that Vettel makes too many mistakes to challenge for the title and I believe he is spot on. I just wonder what will stop the young German making them. The team allways rush to his defence and say it wasn’t his fault, so why would he change anything?
nice article as always Joe, but i dont agree with whole season of spa. Id be more than happy to have races in Melbourne, Montreal, Interlagos, Spa and Hockenheim. 4x for every track and we would have hell of a season
Also, i saw Schu’s overtake as a quite good example of taking advantage, yea he did clip Rosberg but that was an overtake he had to make, and he did it, thats something Vettel needs to learn yet. IMO Rosberg’s pass was more dangerous than Schu’s was, but at the end they both behaved well.
Joe
You say you “blasted through the countryside”, which sounds interesting – so what’s your motor if you refer to it as “blasting”? My guess is either an AMG Merc or an Aston Martin.
Are you prepared to reveal all?
Grody,
One can blast with a Toyota Prius.
I’m no Schumacher fan but I thought he had a pretty good race. His move on Rosberg was great – not as good as Petrov’s on Rosberg, mind you. However, I did enjoy Rosberg taking the place back from Schumacher later in the race. But most drivers made mistakes (including Hamilton and Webber); some some were unforced, some due to the changing conditions.
But a terrific race. More of that, please.
It is amazing to hear Whitmarsh say that someone else got off lightly. One could say the same thing about his driver passing the Safety Car and deliberately turning his car off and pushing his car back to pit lane this year.
As far as nicknames I think it is childish. I am sure some Journalists have some nicknames about each other as well.
Massa wasvery lucky to get away with this…
Joe: I omitted fantastic Suzuka from my proposal in deference to the fact that Joe Saward can’t drive to it from his house in France. But if you insist….
Neal,
you can still see the footage of the Vettel accident in the second video clip on Jake Humphrey’s blog (around 55sec in):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/jakehumphrey/2010/08/humphrey.html
It happens very quickly, so you have to use the pause button a bit to catch it, but the way the front wing moves as Vettel moves to the right out of Button’s slipstream, and then back across, is rather disconcerting.
Dear me, Vettel makes a mistake and gets roundly pilloried. So he’s young, he has a lot to learn, and he is going through a bad patch – what do you people want him to do? Would you rather he settled for the position he’s in at the end of lap one and didn’t bother trying? What is this modern fad for penalising drivers who make mistakes (well, some of them) anyway? What did giving him a driver through achieve? Did it help Button? No. Did it deter Vettel from trying to overtake other cars? No, thank God. Did it do anthing at all for the race itself? No. So what was the point? He made a mistake, screwed his race, and may have ruined his title hopes – is that not punishment enough? This motor racing – drivers are people, they make mistakes. It’s always been that way, and it always will be. Why can’t we drop this penalty fad – one brought about not by safety, necessity or any actual gain for the sport but by a need for a show of strength by the former Headmaster – and let these guys race? So some will make mistakes, and occasionally others will suffer – wow, that’s new, isn’t it! racing, by its very nature, involves risk; risks don’t always pay off. Tough. Let’s give the rule book to those who enjoy racing and strip away all the ludicrous rules about ‘avoidable accidents’ (an absurd description if ever there was one), havign to keep so many unmeasurable lengths behind the safety car, team orders bans, bringing the sport into disrepute, etc, etc, etc, and lets come up with a slimmer, leaner version of the tome that simply concentrates on the racing. Young fans these days have become so accustomed to penalties I’m sure they think there is a requirement for at least one each race. It’s ridiculous.
As for nicknames, what about the journo’s? let’s start with yours, Joe!
Regards
Steve
Some folks call me Giuseppe, usually I am referred to as “Oi, you”…
Don’t worry Joe….there are more Tilke circuits on the way!!! They might as well call it Formula Tilke! However, the races on these circuits are so boring and horrible they should definitely rename it Formula Bilked.
Hello Joe,
I think it was during Hungary on one of the radio transmissions that Smedley referred to Webber as Rambo.