To be frank...TGF IS A MORON!

[Ralf's Girl]

What the HELL was he doing???

There appears to have been no mention yet on this forum of TGF's disgraceful tactics that led to the retirement of Jenson Button. The way he slowed up the field was a disgrace. We had already seen one major pile-up in the GP. Did he think we needed another???

[Liz]

That was a perfectly legal and in fact a very usual move. Because of the colder tires from the long run behind the safety car, he needed to drop back to get plenty of space between himself and the safety car to burn his tires on the restart.

Jacques said the same thing, and he is no TGF fan: "Michael was only doing what you're meant to do in that situation. The guys behind should calm down."

[Minardi fan]

TGF was doing what anyone else would have.

Just a sign of Jenson's inexperience.

[Tristan]

JV's right on that one. Perfectly normal. Jenson: another lesson learned, my friend.

On one topic it think Liz is bang out of order, the next I agree with her whole heartedly!! Sorry for flaming at you there!! Shouldn't have gotten wound up. Chums???

[Ralf's Girl]

I have NEVER seen a driver back off at such a rate. He was practically stomping on his brake pedal to close them up. Sure, the move is legal, but to that extent? It shouldn't be.

Button wasn't actually that close to Fisichella when he went off. It was the fact that Fisichella braked to avoid hitting ralf, who was moving to avoid hitting Villeneuve, who was trying not to hit Hakkinen who had moved to avoid...oh yeah - TGF. I think Button was perfectly correct to blame TGF. Anyone agree with me?

[Mr.S]

Damn I love this place!

[Liz]

No prob, Tristan.

Seeing people get killed makes me queasy. I was at Fontana last year when Greg was killed and it still comes back to haunt me sometimes.

Feel free to call me to order when necessary.

[Tristan]

Errr... nope!

[Mr.S]

I doubt he ment to bunch up the feild that much. But it was unusual, I dont blame Schumacher, I did when it happend, but after looking it over. I was kinda ****ed, because I think he could have finnished in the points.

One thing about Jenson was that he blamed someone ells, which shows that he doesn't believe he did anything wrong, which in turn shows he has self-confidence and doesn't doubt him self, all good qualities.

Three podiums in the first year, two straight, what a first year for BMW. Still a dark day though.

[Bononi]

It is so usual that our commentator was explaining what TGF was about to do, just when the lights of the safety car went off ! If it was unexpectable that should happen another huge crash... I think Button was not concentrated on the track.

[Gerryl]

Lets face it jenson has only himself to blame. Its all part of the learning curve for him. As regards calling TGF a moron well enough said on yhat one. His display of emotion during the post race press conference showed just how human the guy is. This race will not be remembered for the way TGF blitzed the opposition and equaled Ayrton Sennas F1 win total but for the tragic circumstances which let to the Marshall being killed. So what if Button screwed up. Does it really matter?

Ger

[Lee Purnell]

I have to say that I think that Jenson is the Moron in all this, he told TV viewers that TGF should hold a constant pace behind the safety car, ie. No slowing down, no speeding up, but if HE wasn't accelerating and weaving at the same time he would have seen the field slow, he's a pratt!

[downforce]

"Q. Your start today certainly seemed good enough. Do you agree?

MS: Yes. It was on the edge. It was just alright. I dropped the revs for a moment, but it was enough for me to stay in front. [Just as the Safety Car was going to pull off], because everything was so low in temperature, the brakes and everything, I was going to warm up my brakes. After the leader switches off the lights, the leader [may] dictate the gap of the safety car, and I was going to do so. I was accelerating/braking, accelerating/braking, to warm up my brakes. I think [I may have made] a mistake the way I did it, because some drivers were thinking we would start the race already and I was going to go flat out. But I started braking again and naturally all the cars behind started braking, but probably saw it a little bit too late. I'm sorry for whoever suffered from that. I thought that everybody knew what I was going to do, but obviously if you are at the back there are so many cars that [their drivers are] struggling to see what I am really intending to do. So, whoever suffered from that, I'm sorry."

...there u r Ralfsgirl...Double-world-Champion-human!

[Sharky]

What Liz says is totally true. That move by schu is completely legal and everybody does it. That's the advantage of being the leader when the race is about to go green. If the leader wants to break then everyone has to brake...and if he wants to accelerate then everyone must accelerate. You can see that a lot in CART. Before the race is about to go green the driver in front brakes and then just as the say "green" he accelerates before anyone. Jenson just thought that everyone was accelerating and floored it but then he found that the car in front was actually trying to catch up with the rest for the restart.

Nobody to blame there but jenson.

[Valve Bounce]

That is was legal or not really is not the point. The fact is it was sensible - the cars had gone for so long at such a slow pace that both tyres and brakes had to be heated up again. Owing to his inexperience, Bunsen wasn't paying attention. He must leanr not to shoot off his mouth at teh Aces when he makes a mistke and drives off the track. In fact, I noticed that Bunsen speeded up when the others were slowing down. He will learn!!

[Toth]

I've heard that the lead car may dictate spead but must also remain a constant speed, so no heavy braking. That would make the move illegal.

But since so many of you seem to think it was legal I'll go with that (lots of smart people here). None of the drivers seemed to mind except button I guess.
And since Button was in front of Verstappen I didn't really mind the move anyway.

[angst]

MS actually apologised (indirectly) to Button for this. He said that he needed to get his brakes up to a working temperature and apologised to anyone this may have caught out. Jenson said in an interview aftrewards that MS had braked hard then accelerated and then braked hard again. Now I'm not going to have a go at MS for doing this, but there is a responsibility to all those around you on the circuit. The reason for the massive accident that claimed the life of a marshall was because of the concertina effect of all those chicanes (ie hard on the brakes, hard on the accelerator, slam on the brakes again) - so to do the same again, behind the pace car was a little odd. Button should have been concentrating more but the same could be said of Frentzen and de la Rosa.

[Dani]

So what does TGF stand 4? I think JB should keep quiet cos i think he felt a little silly so he found some1 to blame!!!:lol

[JeremySmith]

Ralf's Girl.....To warm up ones brakes is quite normal..If one looks at an onboard car camera from the rear of the grid all the pilots do this...What happens behind M Schumacher during the start,or indeed during the race is not his problem, and therfore he should not be held responsible...

[Jay]

Ralf's Girl, there are not many "restarts" in Formula One, so I do not blame you if you are unfamiliar with procedures. It is a standard procudure that the lead car slows down as the saftey car picks up speed to head back to the pits. What usually happens is the lead car slows to a dead crawl, bunching up the field, and then hammers the throttle to burn the tires and usually builds a fair lead by the time they get to the finish line. It happens all the time in Cart.

Jensen just made a very rookie mistake. However, he is not the first, even some Cart drivers, who are used to it have done that sort of thing.

[Crash Test]

"Seeing people get killed makes me queasy. I was at Fontana last year when Greg was killed and it still comes back to haunt me sometimes."

-That is good and fair, but the thing is that when people die in motorsport it is always due to freak accidents. The problem is that freak accidents can happen at any track at any time in an car. I guess sadly, when you watch any motorsport you really have to accept the fact that anything can, and adventually will happen..

[Nuvolari]

Ralf's Girl, can't agree. Schu, as the polesitter, controls the pace behind the safety car. Button should pay more attention to what he's going.

Rookie mistake. He's lucky he didn't put himself into a wall . . . or worse.

[Valve Bounce]

Ralf's Girl, since you posted this thread with the very strong title, it may be in order at this juncture for you to make amends by refuting the title. Just a thought to keep this a happy forum once again.

[kuchi]

I agree with most of you. Eventhough is tgf who did the move we have to accept it was all legal, and poor jenson got caught in that, and what´s worse he almost killed another marshall.

[Oldfield]

I'm with Dani, what does TGF stand for?