2014 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix.

[321Go]

Luca di Montezemolo's actions and comments the last few days justifies why I have a dislike for the Ferrari team. He was out of order to say the things he did about F1 2014. God I hope this race shuts him up. But I don't think it will. As long as his team is on the back foot, things will always be "not right" with the series. He left the track shaking his head when the final safety car was on the track for the Maldonado & Gutierrez incident. So he missed a great end to the "Taxi race".

And you can add Vettel to that list too. A four time world champion should not use language like that. He was totally out of order as well.

I just hope when Alonso joins McLaren next year, Vettel moves to Ferrari. A perfect match as far as I'm concerned. Vettel was bought up with the Ferrari mentality. He will fit in well there.

[mikuni]

I actually thought Sutil's was worse than Maldonado's. Need to watch it again.

[Tucky]

I think the two Sutil-Bianchi incidents were just racing accidents. In the first one Sutil pushed Bianchi off the track, but it was no different IMO to Hamilton pushing Rosberg off. The second seemed as if they just gave each other just enough room but Bianchi lost the back end for a moment causing the two cars to collide. Nothing malicious or dangerous, just an honest mistake.

[bella]

Originally Posted by Tucky

I think the two Sutil-Bianchi incidents were just racing accidents. In the first one Sutil pushed Bianchi off the track, but it was no different IMO to Hamilton pushing Rosberg off. The second seemed as if they just gave each other just enough room but Bianchi lost the back end for a moment causing the two cars to collide. Nothing malicious or dangerous, just an honest mistake.

and i thought similar about the magnussen/raikkonen thing (or whoever it was moaning that they'd been hit by kevin again). how could hamilton be doing some amazing racing when magnussen had done exactly the same thing and been whined about by kimi?

sutil was almost literally 6 of one, half a dozen of the other. sutil was lucky bianchi got out of the way, and bianchi was unfortunate that sutil didn't.

[steve_r]

I do wonder where Bianchi would have finished if it were not for the incident. Was he genuinely fast enough to put one over the Saubers and maybe the Lotus'?

[Born Racer]

By and large, I concur with TrapezeArtist. The question for me is what the rules are regarding rejoining the track after a pitstop.

A Pandora's Box of questions opens up:

Should Gutierrez have looked to the inside in case there was any car leaving the pits?

Should any car always look at the pitlane exit when approaching Turn 1?

Should Gutierrez's team have informed him of Maldonado's presence?

Would Maldonado have expected a certain responsibility to be on Sauber's shoulders to inform their driver of his presence?

Should Maldonado have taken into account that Gutierrez may well not have seen him and not gone for the move?

It's the latter question that ultimately makes me find Pastor slightly more responsible, but it's a bit of a six of one and half a dozen of the other case, with the important exclusion of my original question, which you may know the answer to. Is there a regulation stating that a driver leaving the pitlane should have less priority in an overtaking move than in any other situation?

Besides this, when Gutierrez comes down the straight, you can already see Maldonado exiting, so Gutierrez could conceivably have seen him. Should Gutierrez taken into account Maldonado's opinion in this situation?

It may be more of an open-and-shut case than I realise because perhaps in F1 Maldonado is obliged to play it more carefully than were it a normal overtake, but until someone can tell me this is a Formula 1 agreement, I think it's an unfortunate collision.

I also wonder if the spectacle of the manner in which Gutierrez crashed provoked more of a penalty response? By and large, I loved the 'hands-off, let them sort it out by themselves' stewarding in Bahrain and would like to take this opportunity to commend the stewards for that.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by steve_r

Maldonado was trying a cheap overtake, but it went badly wrong. I think he deserved some kind of penalty, but it was not one of his terrible "red mist" moments thankfully.

Really? I thought it was utterly crass myself. But hey, we just expect that of Pastor, don't we? What a guy!

Originally Posted by Malfunction Junction

I'm amazed he was allowed to complete the event. It's been a long time since a black flag was issued during a race, but that particular piece of boneheaded buffoonery was worthy.

I wholeheartedly agree (as I was shouting that at the TV at the time.......).

[S griffin]

Is it just me that gets annoyed with the over use of the word 'issue'? It annoys me when the BBC team, in particular DC use it. For goodness sake DC, there is a difference between an issue and a problem. Why can't you just say problem?

[Greem]

Basic management 101, I believe! Engineers solve problems; managers hold meetings to discuss "issues" then ask engineers to look at them. The engineers redefine them as problems and ask for money to fix 'em. There's no money, so they become issues again

[Knowlesy]

And then it is onto a bit of blue sky thinking outside the box.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Is it just me that gets annoyed with the over use of the word 'issue'? It annoys me when the BBC team, in particular DC use it. For goodness sake DC, there is a difference between an issue and a problem. Why can't you just say problem?

He must have an issue with saying problem,

[wnut]

Originally Posted by JamesH

Re: Maldonado.

Looking at his line in to the corner, he was on a racing line from the Pit exit. However, that simply isn't the same as the racing line you would take normally. They cross just after the apex. The problem is, Maldonado was sighted, Gutierrez wasn't and Maldonado should have known that the two lines were 'incompatible' and not gone for a gap that simply wasn't there.

The fact he hit the other car at about 90degs' in the sidepod, means he deserved everything he got.

Agreed!

[Peter Mallett]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

And then it is onto a bit of blue sky thinking outside the box.

Ooh, now you're pushing the envelope!

[Bononi]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

Really? I thought it was utterly crass myself. But hey, we just expect that of Pastor, don't we? What a guy!



I wholeheartedly agree (as I was shouting that at the TV at the time.......).

Agreed.

[Knowlesy]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

Ooh, now you're pushing the envelope!

We're a little off radar here Peter, so we better touch base offline going forward.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by TrapezeArtist

I'm surprised at both the penalty and the vitriol for Maldonado. I have previously described him as an animal, and no-one will ever accuse me of being a fan, but I thought he was innocent. He drove in a straight line from the pit exit to the corner, and at the point of impact he was following a sensible line around the corner. There was no sign of him slithering straight on.

Gutierrez clearly didn't see Maldonado (carp F1 mirrors) but the team should have told him there was a car there. You can't just drive straight at the apex and expect the car inside to evaporate.

I saw it completely differently. It might have been a sensible line if there hadn't been another car there. The only safe track for Maldonado to drive on is an empty one.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

We're a little off radar here Peter, so we better touch base offline going forward.

Very much the 'go to' 'blue sky' message I feel.

The thing that irks me most about Maldonado's bone headedness is he really was on for a great result for Enstone considering the aggro they're trying to work out of their systems at present. Priceless in more ways than one.

[JeremySmith]

Originally Posted by Born Racer

By and large, I concur with TrapezeArtist. The question for me is what the rules are regarding rejoining the track after a pitstop.

A Pandora's Box of questions opens up:

Should Gutierrez have looked to the inside in case there was any car leaving the pits?

Should any car always look at the pitlane exit when approaching Turn 1?

Should Gutierrez's team have informed him of Maldonado's presence?

Would Maldonado have expected a certain responsibility to be on Sauber's shoulders to inform their driver of his presence?

Should Maldonado have taken into account that Gutierrez may well not have seen him and not gone for the move?

It's the latter question that ultimately makes me find Pastor slightly more responsible, but it's a bit of a six of one and half a dozen of the other case, with the important exclusion of my original question, which you may know the answer to. Is there a regulation stating that a driver leaving the pitlane should have less priority in an overtaking move than in any other situation?

Besides this, when Gutierrez comes down the straight, you can already see Maldonado exiting, so Gutierrez could conceivably have seen him. Should Gutierrez taken into account Maldonado's opinion in this situation?

It may be more of an open-and-shut case than I realise because perhaps in F1 Maldonado is obliged to play it more carefully than were it a normal overtake, but until someone can tell me this is a Formula 1 agreement, I think it's an unfortunate collision.

I also wonder if the spectacle of the manner in which Gutierrez crashed provoked more of a penalty response? By and large, I loved the 'hands-off, let them sort it out by themselves' stewarding in Bahrain and would like to take this opportunity to commend the stewards for that.

I think it's the responsibility of the driver leaving the pit lane to merge with traffic ...

[bella]

yeah, exactly - that's why they get shown the blue flag when they leave the pitlane...