Appalling driving standards from GP2

[Sheila M]

I watched the sprint race earlier today and I was horrified to see the appalling driving standards from the GP2 racers.

Perhaps they should all be downgraded to Formula Ford and told to re-learn their race craft? Or at the very least reminded that motorsport is a non-contact sport. If I'd been their race director at least half the licences would have ended up in the shredder. A complete disgrace.

[ensign14]

Yes. Garcia was banned from today's race - but to be fair most of the rubbish comes from field filling ******s. Today's at the front was all hard but fair (except for a rash Nelsinho move on Rosberg that did no long term damage).

[Sheila M]

Pizzonia's front end said it all - a race winner should never have that amount of front end damage. If I'd been the race director I would have thrown him out for hitting three cars at the same corner. There was absolutely no need for that amount of contact.

Piquet's driving was abysmal - car control (or lack of) was horrendous. Young Rosberg however did manage to keep it reasonably clean.

I'm sorry but these children need to go back to race school. Failing that, send them to 750 MC stock hatch racing - they'd feel more at home there with the amount of contact.

[Kicking-back]

Viso's been docked ten places on the grid for the next race as a punishment.

[Sheila M]

Originally Posted by Kicking-back

Viso's been docked ten places on the grid for the next race as a punishment.

And Piccione? He should be shot for his misdemeanours

[Sheila M]

GP2 today made the BTCC look like the Institute of Advanced Motorists

[bleiben]

Don't be funny. You could well tell the same of some of the great F1 drivers.
I'd say it's Nurburgring, it's turn one, it's always the same......

[flexible-flyer]

i think clivio kept it within standards. the 2 biggest poofs of the weekend have been punished. lopez, rosberg, kovalainen and premat havent got enough punishment in my view for their weekends antics. lopez has seemingly got away scot free.

but really turn 1 is always a problem. f1 has a crash there jsut about every year since it was introduced and f1 drivers dont have the excuse of being ina junior forumula- exactly the excuse all these drivers have. they are young drivers in the school of motor racing. what do you expect, proccessions? these races, however infuriating have been classics. race 2 was probably the best motor race i have watched.

its not like piccione put someone in the wall and in danger such as aj foyt the baby in the 500. its called racing. the likes of garcia and viso and lopez made silly errors but like i said, its a combination of young drivers on a very long drag into a hairpin which is notorious for incident even with the best of drivers. ive seen guys winning f1 races with very beaten cars so whats the big deal if piccione wins with a slightly dented tip of a nose cone? i was delighted for the guy. i think he is the most under rated driver in the gp2 grid and he raced hard, fast and fair and won.

piquet obviously has a history of touching other cars but thats just him. rosberg looked decent for a 19 year old. and adam carroll went from 21st to 2nd place without touching anyone. and that wasnt all down benefiting from peoples mess. he left the highly experienced pantano out to dry and thats just one car out of about 4 or 5 he overtook in a fair fight. and many other drivers the legth of the grid drove fine clean races.

slightly touching other cars is part and parcel of racing. footballer players make mistimes tackles all the time....its just part of the game. if you dont like it, dont play it.

its when touching becomes spearing and ramming when it becomes dangeous and unruly. and so far were have seena couple of punishments dished out.

[runshaw]

Pizzonia's front end said it all - a race winner should never have that amount of front end damage

if you are going to critisize a driver, you may as well say his name right and not get him confused with williams f1 test driver! Anyway, at least the races were frantic with lots of action which is what i want to see. i agree totally with flexible-flyer...its called racing

[Zurich]

I guess you'd say the same of Mark Webber now then?

[Jackman]

Originally Posted by flexible-flyer

and adam carroll went from 21st to 2nd place without touching anyone.

You clearly didn't see his front wing and nose after the race then. Nonetheless, rubbing is racing.

[Kicking-back]

Welcome to the forum, Jackman.

Good to have you on board.

[Sheila M]

Originally Posted by runshaw

if you are going to critisize a driver, you may as well say his name right and not get him confused with williams f1 test driver! Anyway, at least the races were frantic with lots of action which is what i want to see. i agree totally with flexible-flyer...its called racing

With apologies for getting the names mixed up!

Action makes for great racing, yes I agree, but what these young people must learn to realise is that motorsport is a non-contact sport. Most of those incidents were avoidable. Some of the maneouvres I saw were wild and decidedly ill advised.

Regrettably they all have a long way to go before they can be referred to as racing drivers. Some of them even lack the simple basic car control.

[runshaw]

In my opinion the GP2 line-up has a very talented bunch of junior drivers, even if they do make a lot of contact, but that happens in all the other single-seater series around the world. I think it is a bit of a generalisation to say that none of them can be referred to as racing drivers yet! Im pretty sure people like adam carroll, giorgio pantano, gimmi bruni etc are bloody good drivers!

[Sheila M]

Originally Posted by runshaw

In my opinion the GP2 line-up has a very talented bunch of junior drivers, even if they do make a lot of contact, but that happens in all the other single-seater series around the world. I think it is a bit of a generalisation to say that none of them can be referred to as racing drivers yet! Im pretty sure people like adam carroll, giorgio pantano, gimmi bruni etc are bloody good drivers!

As I said before runshaw, motor sport is a non-contact sport. Don't you think that these people should be setting some kind of example to those in the "junior" series?

Oh and by the way, I agree with you - Adam Carroll is a bloody good driver

[Kicking-back]

Sheila - if you want to see appalling driving - get a tape of the Champ Car race from Monterrey, Mexico, last weekend.

[Sheila M]

Originally Posted by Kicking-back

Sheila - if you want to see appalling driving - get a tape of the Champ Car race from Monterrey, Mexico, last weekend.

We've seen the "highlights" - was the rest of it really bad?

[runshaw]

Well yes they should be setting an example to drivers in the lower formulas, but the truth of the matter is, is that these guys are racing so hard that contact is inevitable, just as in any other series. Yes motor sport is a no-contact sport, but wheel banging and taps from behind are only deemed illegal when the stewards think it is dangerous and avoidable, therefore they impose penalties. And if the racing was so 'formula ford' like, why were there not more penalties? Answer= no need in my opinion! It was just hard fought racing.

[Sheila M]

Originally Posted by runshaw

Well yes they should be setting an example to drivers in the lower formulas, but the truth of the matter is, is that these guys are racing so hard that contact is inevitable, just as in any other series. Yes motor sport is a no-contact sport, but wheel banging and taps from behind are only deemed illegal when the stewards think it is dangerous and avoidable, therefore they impose penalties. And if the racing was so 'formula ford' like, why were there not more penalties? Answer= no need in my opinion! It was just hard fought racing.

Ah runshaw, contact is not inevitable, it's avoidable. And it's not the stewards who decide what is dangerous and what is not. It's down to the Clerk of the Course or race director, upon Observers or Driving Standards Observers reports. The stewards only get involved when there is a protest.

[runshaw]

Ah runshaw, contact is not inevitable, it's avoidable. And it's not the stewards who decide what is dangerous and what is not. It's down to the Clerk of the Course or race director, upon Observers or Driving Standards Observers reports. The stewards only get involved when there is a protest.

Well yes your right, but what i meant was that contact will always happen when drivers are battling for positions, but as you say it is avoidable. And yes, the race director/clerk of the course does decide what is dangerous (i just thought stewards were involved in that as well, so thanks for correcting me). But still, the driving can't have been that appalling to the race directors, considering there wasn't many penalties.

[Sheila M]

Originally Posted by runshaw

Well yes your right, but what i meant was that contact will always happen when drivers are battling for positions, but as you say it is avoidable. And yes, the race director/clerk of the course does decide what is dangerous (i just thought stewards were involved in that as well, so thanks for correcting me). But still, the driving can't have been that appalling to the race directors, considering there wasn't many penalties.

That depends on whether the race director actually got any reports from the observers on the ground. I was fortunate in that I had the benefit of several action replays. In reality of course, that doesn't always happen.

[ensign14]

Maybe if they'd punished F1 drivers that repeatedly ram opponents who are about to become World Champion, or braketest people behind the safety car, or who dive out of the pits straight onto someone's line, or push people onto the grass at Silverstone, or dozens of others, there'd be less problem.

[Sheila M]

Originally Posted by ensign14

Maybe if they'd punished F1 drivers that repeatedly ram opponents who are about to become World Champion, or braketest people behind the safety car, or who dive out of the pits straight onto someone's line, or push people onto the grass at Silverstone, or dozens of others, there'd be less problem.

Good point! Make an example of bad driving at the top of the tree and work downwards.

[runshaw]

Well in my opinion, the racing was ACE! Just look in the GP2 nurburgring thread- everyone loved the racing becuase of all the action.

[strider]

Originally Posted by Sheila M

And it's not the stewards who decide what is dangerous and what is not. It's down to the Clerk of the Course or race director, upon Observers or Driving Standards Observers reports. The stewards only get involved when there is a protest.

That's how it works in the UK, to MSA rules, but I imagine GP2 is an FIA series, in which case it is the Stewards who make the decisions. The Race Director does just that, directs the race, although he may make recommendations to the Stewards. Similar to F1, in fact.