Spain 2007: Wheels of fire...
May 13, 2007 - NewsAfter a period of boring races and bored drivers on holiday the first day of the new term was just jam packed full of roguish behavior…
Starting up early Alonso and Massa had a first lap tussle that effectively ended Alonso’s race. Alonso would have been better off relaxing, but at his home race he needed to please. Unfortunately for him his forced trip to the kitty litter cost him a full ten points and the lead in the championship. Now, if this had been Michael Schumacher on a trip to the gravel the race would have been red flagged. But the badge on the car was not a horse so on with the show.
Lap 1 did not let up with Sato causing a rush hour screech to a halt with the hapless Wurz unable to escape Ralf Schumacher’s rapidly slowing Toyota. Apparently Toyota makes better brakes than Williams as Wurz smashed his front wing on the back of Ralf. Ralf also did not completely escape but he came off better than Wurz but ultimately required a trip to the pits for a new nose.
After the first lap action the race settled down. Scott Speed had a moment when his tyre decided to let go and end Speed’s race. Speed admitted that he had a slow puncture and was trying to make it to his stop in a few laps. If only he had come in. Kimi Raikkonen retired around the same time as the American ending his chance to take control of the championship.
Lap 19 saw the boy Massa enter the pits for a new set of shoes. The stop itself was smooth but on leaving a splash of fuel was spilt on the car. The result looked more like a secret jet powered start assistant from Ferrari. For a few moments, three meter flames extended from the back of the Ferrari until they burnt themselves out. Pit lane antics did not end there with Coulthard almost repeating the 1995 Australian pit lane incident when he narrowly missed the failing Toro Rosso of Liuzzi whilst entering the pits.
Whilst you might think that were enough of the pit lane antics things started to take a turn for the surreal. First up is Honda drivers Button and Barrichello. The thing you should not do in F1 is crash. The next is you should not crash into your team mate. Exiting the pits that is exactly what Button did. Not content with falling behind his team mate, he attempted to muscle his way past Barrichello. The result, one broken front wing and a trip back to the pits.
Next up in the pit lane fun is “Mr. Scooter” himself, Nick Heidfeld – so called because he seems to spend most of the race on the back of a marshal’s scooter on the way back to the pits. Whilst Nick pitted for tyres and fuel, the front right wheel man did his job of putting on a new tyre, or did he? He was not sure, so despite having signaled he was finished he decided to have another go at securing the wheel. Heidfeld, signaled that he could leave did so, leaving the poor mechanic to continue his job whilst being dragged over. Heidfeld stopped but then promptly continued. However, the Toyota mechanics spotted that the wheel nut fallen off. Now, driving an F1 car with an unsecured wheel would scare most people but not Heidfeld; one lap of praying and back to the pits for a new set of tyres.
Last rogue offender of the race was Holland’s very own Christijan Albers. Ignoring blue flags when being passed by Alonso set him for a sight seeing tour down the pit lane. It’s F1Rogues opinion that whilst he ignored the blue flags, Alonso’s race was pretty much over and so who really cares?
It is a wonder why there is a track in F1. All the action of this rouge race happened in an around the pits.
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Posted by Jules at - Comments (0)
Tagged as: coulthard, heidfeld, 2007, spain, alonso, massa, hamilton, f1, formula1, formula one, sauber, bmw, sato
