i only got live timing and text commentary, so was sato's spin and subsequent melee of parts and forced retirements for half the field by the end of the race the actual fault by sato? the commentary only said he spun, but other reports say a "suspension failure".

 

Mark Webber hit Sato. On one of the F1 forums, someone said that after the race, Webber acknowledged in a TV interview that he was driving too fast and had no place to go other than to crash into the rear of Sato's BAR. Webber didn't seem very apologetic about the incident though...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">"Williams-bound Webber explains what happened from his side of things. "I made a good start off the grid today and I was flying into La Source - the first corner. Unfortunately I made a mistake and braked too late,” says the Australian. “I was struggling to slow the car and I hit the Ferrari of Rubens Barrichello causing me to lose my front wing. I was making my way up eau-rouge and aiming to get back to the pits when I lost the steering and unfortunately through not fault of his own, Sato hit me and that was the end of my race." </TD></TR></TABLE>

thats a bit of a relief, i was about to give up on sato.

 

That's the same report the guys on Speed gave. Too fast, nowhere to go, crash-boom-bang, etc.

I really want to ask what is the point of divebombing into the first turn only to have your car smashed up, puting you completely out of the race? Do any of you who race (as opposed to HPDE) just lay low in the back, wait for the mess to be made, and then happily steer around it? This seems like such a waste to jockey for position only to put yourself at serious risk of an early end to your day.
-Adam

 

I'd assume just waiting in the back is a good way to get stuck in the back. Maybe not so much at Spa, but definately at tracks that are really hard to pass. The drivers are probably more worried about messing up their cars having to pass a lot of people throughout the race than taking a hit at T1.

 

starts and pits seems like the only place to pass in F1 these days anyway.

 

button was looking good for a possible podium finish when his tire just dun blowed up down a straight - ugly wreck! he took out a minardi too.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tyson &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">starts and pits seems like the only place to pass in F1 these days anyway. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Unless you're JPM! His pass in the bus stop was amazing!

 

His second attempt didn't work out as well... possibly because Michael S. was much more willing to let him by.

Was there any ruling against him after the race? It looked like he was inches away from 'officially' having rights to the corner (front tire was at the thick part of the side pod) but the other guy (was it Truli?) turned down rather hard & pinched him off.

 

It was decided it was a racing incident, no fault. If you look at the tapes, JPM had MUCH better position on Schumi at the turn in than he did on Trulli. He was fully beside Schumi coming into the right hander, he did not have position on the Renault...

This is from http://www.grandprix.com:

"The fastest way to the money was very definitely not on the run down to the first corner - in fact it turned out to be a very expensive half a minute between the moment when the lights went out and when the Safety Car was despatched. It was one of those laps when one needs a video player to watch each car on its own to see who hit who. It was a case of bumper cars. We knew the two Renaults would be quick away and they were with Trulli leading Alonso into the first corner. Michael Schumacher found himself being neatly blocked in by the Renault boys and had to watch as David Coulthard grabbed third place down the inside line. Behind them things were a great deal more complicated. Where to begin?

Well, perhaps with Fisichella's Sauber which was too slow away. It was going down the middle of the road and the men behind were looking for a way to get ahead. Barrichello went to the left, Mark Webber went to the right. At the same moment Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen were on the outside fighting over the same piece of tarmac. The two clashed and Massa lost his front wing and his momentum. This allowed Jenson Button to pile into the back of the Sauber and smash up his front wing. At the same time on the inside the Webber-Barrichello manoeuvre had ended in tears when Webber ran into the back of the Ferrari as it swooped in front of him. Fisichella braked to avoid the crunch and so was hit from behind by Olivier Panis's Toyota. No, it's not over yet. Behind Button, there was Pizzonia jumping on the brakes but Nick Heidfeld did not have the time to do likewise and with a crunch the Jordan ran into the Williams and knocked off his front wing. Down at Eau Rouge things became more and more complex. Webber had no front wing as he tried to climb the hill to Raidillon. He had to lift off to avoid crashing and that meant that Takuma Sato behind him had to lift off as well. Behind them Juan Pablo Montoya did not want to lift off and the result was three cars side by side in a piece of road built for two. Sato and Webber hit and spun. This caused mayhem. Gianmaria Bruni backed off and was hit from behind by his own team mate Zsolt Baumgartner. This punted the Italian into the barriers and as he came back onto the track he was hit by Giorgio Pantano who had nowhere to go in his Jordan.

There were four cars out on the spot and another six heading for pitlane for repairs. That was half the field.

Down in pitlane there was all the glamour of a Beverly Hills plastic surgery as one car after another came in for a nose job. With the Safety Car out there was time aplenty and Barrichello and Massa both stopped twice to sort things out and decide on strategies."

 

I thought that was one of the more exciting races I've seen in a long time! Watching JPM put that move on Schumacher was great, and Kimi drove a hell of a race

 

Begning to think JPM made the right descion of moving to Mercedes but who will be the number one driver? Isn't JPM going to make more money then kimi?

 

McLaren doesn't seem like the kind of team where there will be a clearly defined #1 and #2 driver. I suppose as long as its not as heated as Senna/Prost was there, Ron Dennis will keep his hands off.

 

Kimi doesn't strike me as the type of guy to get whiney about money (i could be wrong). it seems like they finally got that mercedes engine to work out, which is good because i think that was what was holding kimi back from being more successful. as for JPM, i'm sure he'll do very well with mclaren-mercedes; and they will have a good driver combination