To busy working for a Respectable Financial Institution to do much of anything here anymore I'm afra...
To busy working for a Respectable Financial Institution to do much of anything here anymore I'm afraid.
Member since:16.07.2000
Reviews:292
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Usual deal with my F1 opinions. The results, the race, the heroes, the villains and any other random stuff I see fit to include at the end.
* The Results – No One Hits Champions Wall *
A fairly interesting and incident filled race produced the following results.
1st – Ralf Schumacher (Williams) - Qualified 2nd 2nd – Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) – Qualified 1st 3rd – Mika Hakkinen (McLaren) – Qualified 8th 4th – Kimi Raikkonen (Sauber) – Qualified 7th 5th – Jean Alesi (Prost) – Qualified 16th 6th – Pedro de la Rosa (Jaguar) – Qualified 14th
In a nice change everyone’s launch control software worked (Or at the very least was turned off) and ontop of that everyone got around the first corner without incident. So after a ‘dull’ start to the race were we in for a dull race? Well, no – not really. We had a few suspected sightings of the lesser spotted Overtake, although the FIA has promised to come down hard on one found to be involved in a confirmed sighting.
Ralf Schumacher threatened to create the first confirmed sighting by going ahead of his brother but was unable to stay ahead on the outside line as Michael exited the corner in first. Mean while Ruby and Zonta were heading through the pack as a result of a nice firm button press on their launch control buttons, or perhaps with Zonta being a Jordan maybe some skill was involved?
OK, hands up who I lost with the Zonta reference. Right, OK - a brief explanation for those who don’t know. Those who do may want to skip a paragraph. Remember Frentzen’s crash in the tunnel at Monaco? Well he banged his head down the barriers on his way to his final resting point and still hasn’t recovered, suffering from dizziness, headaches etc. After a stab at practice on Friday he pulled out the race, so Martin Brundle’s headache wisecrack was a bit out of order in my opinion.
Anyway, back to the race. At the start of the race David Coulthard was seen to throw something out of his cockpit although at this time I don’t know what and perhaps as a result was struggling for pace (Maybe he threw the accelerator out?). Rubens Barrichello quickly passed David and set about Ralf Schumacher who was in turn trying to set about his brother, however he wouldn’t stay there for long. Somewhat inexplicably Ruby lost control of the Ferrari under acceleration and looped the car round. Not only is it a fairly elementary mistake to make but in theory shouldn’t be possible with the new traction control systems. Perhaps Ruby’s was misbehaving?
Rubens little dance put him down to the double figure end of the pack and he was forced into doing a come back drive, one that was progressing quite well until he caught Montoya, who was busy trying to make passes on Hakkinen, although there were no confirmed sightings of an Overtake. Coming round a corner Montoya got the back end out which caused him to miss the corner entirely and connect with the wall. Ruby, no doubt upset at seeing everyone’s favourite driver go out of the race had a sympathy crash as again (Or at least so it seemed) he looped the rear of the Ferrari round under acceleration coupled with taking Montoya avoiding action and crashed into the opposite wall. With two carsstranded on opposite sides of a narrow part of the track the safety car was brought out to allow the track marshals to safely clear the cars away.
The safety car allowed the pedal-less Coulthard to close in on the lead siblings but as soon as the car peeled off he started dropping back, as did Ralf initially but he soon recaught his brother, setting a few fastest laps in the process. However, Ralf never seemed keen to actually overtake his brother going all the way to pulling completely alongside before giving up. Eventually Michael pitted and Ralf surged off and set several fastest laps before his pitstop which allowed him to remain in the lead until the end of the race.
As Coulthard was approaching his pitstop he was being harried by Jarno Trulli although by the time both the combatants had pitted Coulthard had regained quite a lead. However, the battle was to be in vain for both of them as Coulthards engine expired on the main straight and Trulli’s brakes began failing (Which incidentally prevented Raikkonen getting a Hero this race, as I thought his pass on Trulli at the final corner was amazing until I realised Trulli was touring). Trulli pulled his car into the pits unlike the similarly troubled Verstappen who kept going until the inevitable happened and his car threw itself off the road.
* Random Facts *
Montoya is not the most popular man in the paddock at the moment. He and Villeneuve almost came to fisty cuffs while Irvine has being doing his second favourite thing in the world and mouthing off about him. Although he said pretty much exactly the same thing about Villeneuve when he joined F1.
* Heroes and Villains *
* Heroes *
Jean Alesi: “Prost in the points, although I put this more down to Jean’s skill rather than a huge upturn in Prosts performance.” Or at least that’s what I said in Monaco, and certainly the high number of retirements helped Jean but maybe Prost have turned the corner? Even if they haven’t Alesi deserves a Hero for his end of race behaviour. Doing Donuts in the corner leading onto the main straight, giving his helmet away as well has hugging/shaking hands with just about everyone possible – was very nice to see someone get that excited for 5th place.
Ralf Schumacher: A great drive and a deserved win, but I do feel that he held back a bit on overtaking his brother. If it had been Rubens in that Ferrari would Ralf have waited till the pitstop?
* Villains *
Eddie Irvine: For pulling such a dumb attempt at an overtaking manoeuvre on Nick Heidfeld. At least he vaguely admitted it was his fault though.
David Coulthard: Not for his behaviour in this race, but for his comments after Monaco. David has always been a spokesman for fair driving and I agree with him on that but I think he’s taking it a bit to far and wants to remove racing from races. While I wasn’t watching Bernoldi all the time he didn’t seem to do anything unfair.
Mika Hakkinen: For not overtaking! Whilst David had the excuse of Monaco for not passing Bernoldi I’m a bit lost as to what was preventing Mika passing when he was obviously faster, as he proved after the cars in front pitted. Obligatory apology to Mika Mad Girl Elizabeth.
* Rubens Barrichello Award for Dumbest Moment of the Race *
And the award goes to… Juan Pablo Montoya and the man himself Ruby for their symmetrical wall tickling move. Although Rubens possible technical difficulties may have assisted in his part.
* Murkey Talker *
Murray’s memory is going bless him, he kept calling Bracelet Pit Lane Warrior Princess, Louise Goodman, Louise Allen (Presumably mixing her up with James ‘Hey Guys’ Allen – now that’s a scary thought).
And about Verstappen’s pitstop “It’s a slow one… I tell a lie, it’s a good one!”
More in two weeks.
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FTC: Thanks for the compliment, it would be boring if everyone agreed with me all the time. Now to your points.
1) I can blame Ralf :) More from my perspective than his. In my house we've just watched Murrays Magic Moments and there was overtaking by the shed load. I'll agree that Ralf almost overtaking is better than just following but if the plan was to win on pitstops why bother at all? I'm sure all F1 fans would agree that we'd rather see races decided by racing rather than tactics. Yes, tactics should play a part but IMO it's a bit over the top at the moment.
2) That's fair enough that Rubens had a technical problem, but bear in mind that I write the ops almost immediately after the race so don't have a chance to read the 'excuses' etc. Also a fair point about Montoya, his technical problem would have been a large contributory factor.
3) I have to disagree with you here I'm afraid. If I was a driver high up in the championship table that's when I wouldn't be taking risks. Risking 6 points for a chance at 10 with a risky overtaking manoever for example. However if I was further down then you don't have to worry so much about the championship and can go for broke.
I guess I'm just bemoaning the amount of overtaking in F1 at the moment though.
Anyway, thanks again for the comment but be warned that the Nürburgring op may be erraticly timmed. I'm moving back home that weekend and may even be moving carpet at the same time! I'll do my best though!
lucydog 12.06.2001 09:52
Great op, theres no need to watch the race with your brilliant in depth reviews. charlotte :-)
From_The_Continent 12.06.2001 08:51
As usual a fantastic F1 review of yours. And also as usual, I slightly disagree on a few points, without putting the great overall quality of this op to question. 1) Ralf: You can't balme him for not overtaking, indeed he was widely commended for his thoughtful driving. He knew he had enough petrol to wait for Michael's pitstop and showed patience in not throwing away a sure win with a risky maneuvre that could have seen him in the grass or in the wall. 2) Rubens: The last guy I like to defend against your verdict, but his fall out was 100% Montoya's fault. Rubens was so close behind that he couldn't but make a drastic maneuvre when Montoya crashed into the wall, and with his ASC out of order, his car (and not his lack of talent) send him into the grass. 3) Mika: Same here as with Ralf. Patience and thoughtfulness. When you are far behind in the league table with only two points, you don't take chances but wait and secure every single point. If I remember correctly, he was in fifth when he was held up, knowing that he two points were his if he finished, and with hope for some more points if others dropped out or lost time at the pitstop. Fully agree with your special mention of Jean, great driver and nice guy. As always, a stunning read. Look forward to your Nürburgring op. Cheers, Hans
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Advantages: Always one of the best races of the year with some unpredictable results Disadvantages: Has seen some bad crashes - Panis in 1997 ring any bells?
Jun 11th, 2001
very helpful by (100%):
