I thought I was watching a comedy. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time!

Warren

 

one heck of a launch by Ralf. think his EBC green's failed him or he was trying a new kind of pass for heavy traffic situations.

 

I think everybody is being way too hard on Ralf. I mean, who would have thought Rubens would brake for turn 1?!? You can knock him all you want, but when you have a clothing line to think about, and hot girls all around.... who has time to look at the car in front of you?

Oh, and if we are going to rag on bad decision making, maybe Heidfeld should think about slowing down when approaching a wreck?


Matt

 

Not good. More cars wrecked then finsished the race. At least the Toyota cars are looking strong.

 

At first watching it unfold on TV last night I was like "Ralf...you !!!!". This morning watching it over and over i totally feel like RB was trying to block Ralf. He totally swerved to the left and then hammered the brakes.... sad way to start the season but I am happy that toyota picked up a point.

Victor Penner

 

Wow, that looks like something right out of Driven!

 

RB swerved to the left to take a better line for Turn 1. It wasn't like they were side by side and he clipped Ralf or anything. Rubens probably thought that since Ralf is a professional racing car driver, he would be able to react in time.

Or maybe Rubens decided to just make up for Brazil last year.

 

Or maybe Coulthard should think about making the last turn before the green on a restart?

 

That photo is definitely worthy of a caption contest...

"Psychological analysis hint at Ralf Schumacher's hidden desire to take up Baja off-road racing despite familial pressure to follow in his brother's footsteps. Thus, he inadvertently combines the two racing series in a most ineffective fashion."

 

Rubens probably thought that since he had pole, he deserved to be in front for turn 1 Ralf obviously had a better launch, and it seemed that Rubens was doing an awful lot of blocking. Anyone know the rule on that for the first turn? Normally you're only allowed to change your line once, but my dad thought there was a different rule for the start of the race. Oh well, guess we'll have to wait 2 more weeks to see what the teams are REALLY like

 

2002 BMW Williams F1 Car: $14 million.
2001 Ferrari F1 Car: paid for.
Chance to destroy 2002 BMW F1 car with 2001 Ferrari F1 car: taken.

For everything else, there are sponsors.

{sp}





[Modified by maxQ, 6:08 PM 3/3/2002]

 

minardi got points!!!!! The michelin tires..(I'm sorry tyres) looked like ****. I'm huge williams fan, but I though the quote where JPM said shumi drove around him like he was parked was great.

 

I loved Montoyas late brake pass on Schumi but it was obvious it wouldn't last.

Victor Penner

 

Don't they have launch control?

 

First Montoya got caught out just abit and Micheal is smooth and cool in ever situation and he just took advantage of it.

As for what happen at the beginning I believe Raf just didn't except that braking be so strong but I feel he was looking for his brother and for the split second all hell broke loose. As it doesn't take much of split thought or miscue to mess you up in F1. Also Raf was dragging dirctly for the inside lane and got block a many times through there I think Rubens should let him by as he probably could passed him later on in the race.

Most these F1 teams don't care if few cars get wrecked every now and then. I sure most didn't like them getting killed in the first turn but thats racing sometimes.

 

I was screaming like a teenage girl at a britney concert. The michelins really did not look good to me.

 

And they say people only watch motorsports for the accidents Stand aside nASScar Ralf and Rubens coming through.

 

The reason JPM got passed by MS was textbook driving skills, although tires did play some role. When JPM took the inside line, and MS went outside into turn 1, JPM should have inched left. This would cause MS to have to watch his distance, and he wouldn't be able to get enough speed out of the turn. Instead, MS had no obstacle in front and was able to take the perfect line through the turn and therefore have a greater exit speed than JPM. You'll see this in the video footage.

Also did anyone see how bad the BMW powered Williams walked the Ferrari on the main straight? Also Renault was not doing too bad against Ferrari on the straight.

 

From the moment I saw the accident, I thought Rubens had plenty of blame. Rubens changed his line at least twice, maybe 3 or 4 times. He just completely looked like he was blocking. And it serves him right for swerving that last time to get a better line for the corner and getting hit. He went for an inside line, and he should have kept it.

-Mike

 

I agree. RB was all over the place. But at the same time, I think Ralph was trying to make something out of his wonderful start where maybe he should have played it a little cooler when it didn't materialize into something.

As far as DC goes... What the hell was he thinking? Although, after that is when his car started having troubles, so maybe his off wasn't entirely his fault.

 

I think Ralph un-questionably had the speed to make a legit pass. Granted, with RB blocking like that, Ralph should probably have just slowed down and then radio'd his team and told them to protest it, and make RB come in for a stop/go or something.

According to Formula1.com, he was having gearbox issues, and that caught him off guard a couple times, and is what eventually took him out of the race.

-Mike

 

The thing that surprised me after watching the in-car from Ralf (and the out-of-car) is that Ralf wasn't more hurt.. he got some _air_... but I guess the lift also did some cushioning of the fall and he is in a rather reclined position, so..

Boy Toyota's putting ol' Honda to shame with their F1 showing..

 

Now Ralf, we talked about turn one if you got a good start. You should not have taken it literally when we agreed you should be flying through turn one.

 

I really don't think it was Ralf's fault and I watched the replay several times. I forgot the driver that was driving the red F1 (Michael's teammate), we'll call him the "Red F1". You see the Red F1 trying to block the hell out of Ralf, Ralf goes right, the Red F1 goes right, Ralf goes left, the Red F1 goes left...etc. etc. etc. Well, Ralf is gaining ground in the meantime. Ralf goes left, and the Red F1 goes left and whammo. Ralf goes over the car. I think it was just as much the Red F1s fault as it was Ralf's. My $.02 worth.

 

oh yeah...I ment that the michelins looked like **** in general, not particularly in that pass. The michelin teams seemed to struggle from time to time in a more dramatic fashion the the bridgestone teams. And yeah, the bmw walking the ferrari was great. Esp since JPM was on a heavier fuel load.