Sato's late re-entry to the race

[Mike_P]

Sato re-joined the race after some very lengthy repairs following his first lap incident with JV, fairly unusual in F1. At the time I thought they just sent him out to gather data for next week's GP. However, I just came across this commentary on racing-live.com

Button's team-mate Takuma Sato had his race ruined by Jacques Villeneuve, who hit the rear of his car early on and forced him to pit for repairs, with the team changing the whole rear end of the car during the race. Because results for this weekend's race affect the order of qualifying running for next weekend's event at Indianapolis the team put Sato back out late in the race but he crashed out with brake failure late on.

Sato ended up finishing in 16th, so by returning to the race he improved his position in the qualifying order of the next race by four spots. I wonder if we'll see more of this strategy through the rest of the season?

[mabs_nsx]

The running order for the US GP Qualifying is as follows:
1st=Narain Karthikeyan
2nd=Giancarlo Fisichella
3rd=Fernando Alonso
4th=Patrick Friesacher
5th=Takuma Sato ( But better than starting 1st)
6th=Nick Heidfeld
7th=Jenson Button
8th=Juan Pablo Montoya
9th=Jarno Trulli
10th=Christijan Albers
11th=Tiago Monteiro
12th=Jacques Villeneuve
13th=Christian Klien
14th=David Coulthard
15th=Ralf Schumacher
16th=Mark Webber
17th=Felipe Massa
18th=Rubens Barrichello
19th=Michael Schumacher
20th=Kimi Räikkönen

[emjaya]

With Juan Pablo Montoya having been DSQ,will he be first in the running order for qualifying in the USGP?

[hamsmith]

I wondered that myself, surely, if he has been punished for breaking a rule which was in place for saftey, he cannot be allowed to keep any advantages.

Also when cars are dsq post race, they have all positions removed.

[Logrence]

Yes, Juan-Pablo Montoya will be out first for qualifying next saturday.

[Menelaos]

So, here we go back to this unbelievably stupid (imo) rule: it couldn't be much better for McLaren, but both Renaults going out in the the first 5? This sucks (ok, it helps us, but it SUCKS). This rule must change now, the qualies must get back to their old style, it's completely unfair. They made a little mistake/had a mechanical unfortune and not only they lose 18 points, they also have to start from the back? Unnacceptable rule. Same for BAR, of course.

AND: that's insane, we'll see a Minardi opening the third 5-car period

[WebberForWDC]

If this rule helps F1 teams bother to rejoin the race that's a good thing.

Retiring with a tyre-puncture (eg. Ferrari) and F1's over eagerness to give up is just not on, so what you are not going to get points, fix it and finish the race!

Sure points aren't awarded for all positions unlike nascar, but 5 laps down, 10 laps down, 20 laps down whatever... all F1 teams should attempt to finish the race!

[bigjon]

Originally Posted by WebberForWDC

Sure points aren't awarded for all positions unlike nascar, but 5 laps down, 10 laps down, 20 laps down whatever... all F1 teams should attempt to finish the race!

Unless you complete 89% of the race distance you are not classified, and even if there's only a few finishers ahead of you will (I believe) still not recieve points.

Therefore, before this qualifyig situation arose, there was no incentive to rejoin a race, unless it was quickly and there were few runners. Remember Coulthard doing that in the very wet Spa race after Schumacher hit him from behind. As I recall the team fitted a new rear wing and sent him back out, in the hope of points on a day of attrition (initially there was the massive pile up)

[Menelaos]

Still, I think it's very unfair for the drivers, and it doesn't help the sport either. If someone is good enough to win, he has an extra bonus for the next race. But the thing is, in all sports you say "ok, it was a bad day, we lost the game, but next weekend is another story, now we'll concentrate on that and leave this one behind us". With these regulations you can't do this in F1.

[Nicholosophy]

Originally Posted by WebberForWDC

Retiring with a tyre-puncture (eg. Ferrari) and F1's over eagerness to give up is just not on, so what you are not going to get points, fix it and finish the race!

In this case with Ferarri, they probably damaged the suspention...

[djinvicta]

Good too for Sponsors to have the car going round the track. No good in a shut garage to them.

[mabs_nsx]

1st=Juan Pablo Montoya
2nd=Narain Karthikeyan
3rd=Giancarlo Fisichella
4th=Fernando Alonso
5th=Patrick Friesacher
6th=Takuma Sato
7th=Nick Heidfeld
8th=Jenson Button

[mabs_nsx]

It is good they sent Sato out again.

[Sodemo]

Yeah, clever thinking from BAR, not sure about what would / should happen if he had caused an incident though?
Remember DC @ Spa 1998?

[Don K]

Originally Posted by Menelaos

So, here we go back to this unbelievably stupid (imo) rule: it couldn't be much better for McLaren, but both Renaults going out in the the first 5? This sucks (ok, it helps us, but it SUCKS). This rule must change now, the qualies must get back to their old style, it's completely unfair. They made a little mistake/had a mechanical unfortune and not only they lose 18 points, they also have to start from the back?

No.

They don't have to start from the back.
They have to qualify earlier during the session than some other cars.

[N I Tram]

Sending JPM out first is ridiculous - hasn't he been punished enough for the team's carelessness? He legitimately completed 50-odd laps in a legal car before the infringement happened, so those laps should be credited.

And I agree that the system is unfair - using reversed practice times (ie the fastest driver from combining the practice sessions goes last) makes a lot more sense.

Sato's decision to rejoin was a smart move - I'm surprised nobody else had done it up until now.

[andy_b]

Well, I see the point, particuarly with the limited testing, but what if he had then got between the leaders and affected the outcome of the race? What that have been good? Would we have a different thread on their hands?

I'm 50-50 on this one

(Sending JPM out first is part of the rules, sorry. They cant go changing rule now to suit McLaren and JPM. It doesnt matter either who made the error as this is a team sport.)

[N I Tram]

UEFA changed their rules to suit TV money, why shouldn't the FIA?

[gttouring]

so how mcuh did sato benefit?
he did afterall blow the car- unless that is part of the regs.
the team has to legitamately retire. they can not pull out early and fit a fresh engine for the next race- what is the rule again?
so he may have gone out for hopes of testing utter rev and power limits and tried to blow it up, only to have the brakes kiss the pooch

[andy_b]

I think the team believed it was worth the risk to get him out for some mileage, thinking positively he could have done another 24 (IIRC) test laps had the car lasted

As it happened, yes, they did mess up, but hindsight is a clever thing

[BootsOntheSide]

They changed the gearbox though, not the engine. They only did it so as to complete more laps and thus move up the qualifying starting order for the next race. It wasn't the engine that ultimately failed anyway.

It was a smart idea, and I'm sure other teams will do the same thing. Keeping out of the way of the leaders would not have been an issue for him.

[Silk Cut Jaguar]

They should send their mechanics off to Le Mans, that was some speedy work considering F1 cars aren't really designed to be serviced mid-race.