Rogues Review: Australia 2008: Term starts!
March 17, 2008 - NewsAh the first day back at term has been completed. And as predicted here at F1Rogues there was much mayhem.
Without traction control it was always going to be an interesting race. The first lap proved that drivers can’t keep control of themselves net alone themselves and their wheel spin. At the first corner Fisichella ended up the victim and Massa proved that spinning whilst there is a crash at the same corner is a good way of not looking too much like an idiot, at least until the replays are shown. Within the lap the Safety Car was out for the first of many trips, with many drivers diving for the pits to put back on parts of the car that should be attached rather than hanging off the side.
Massa, not satisfied with his first lap spin, tried to make up for lost ground. Trying to unlap himself on lap 26 Masses harpooned Coulthard. The new result was that Red Bull Racing was now completely out of the race after local hero Webber retired shortly after the race began. Unlapping yourself is allowed in F1, and quite frankly was bound to happen when it’s Ferrari versus Red Bull Racing. Eddie Irvine once unlapped himself by passing Senna. Whilst there was no collision Senna was so incensed about this, he took it upon himself to confront the Irishman after the race "knocking" him off a table in the process. Coulthard did make his voice known, slamming Massa for ramming into him. Massa received damage from the collision and retired a few laps later with engine problems.
The race went a bit "quiet" after Massa’s little incident until Glock discovered exactly what everyone meant about the dangers at turn 12. It had been mentioned that the exit of turn 12 represented a bit of a danger. A small bump on the grass on the exit could cause a car to get air. Glock discovered this was true and very almost managed to put himself upside down. In the end, he span gracefully up the track coming to a halt against the wall. He came to rest missing some major parts and quietly shitting himself. It was in the subsequent Safety Car period that Barrichello showed that if you are going to mess up, you better mess up good. With no fuel left the team were forced to make the Brazilian pit. However, once the Safety Car comes out the pit lane closes. This is so the track officials can get some order on the track before all the fun begins again. It was during this illegal refuelling stop that his lollipop man got a little excited. Lifting it before fuelling was complete caused the fuelling crew to be dragged over the car. Rightly Barrichello did not stop and went on his way leaving a big heap of arms, legs and flammable liquid on the floor. Now, in case you are not aware, the pits have a traffic light at the end. Two colours are on it, red and green. Barrichello is, apparently, colourblind. He left the pits when the light was red, thus making it a hatrick of stupidity. Barrichello, for all the woes and injuries he got disqualified from the race - for the red light - and handed a 10 second stop-and-go penalty during the race - for pitting during the Safety Car. He got nothing for running over the pit crew... one will expect a kicking from the pit crew in the team garage is almost guaranteed. All this makes Barrichello our man of the race. We look forward to next race where we hope to get a black flag. The only way is up!
Before the pace car had even gone back to the pits, we were treated to yet another display of genius. Nakajima, who managed to run down his pit crew in the previous race, now managed to hit - whilst following the pace car - the high qualifying Kubica. F1Rogues predicted this would happen sometime during this race and Nakajima supplied. Kubica went out of the race; Nakajima got a new nose and a 10 place qualification penalty for Malaysia for the pleasure.
For the rest the race continued without real incident, the only tragic thing being Bourdais’ engine blow whilst running 4th in his first race - in a Minardi. We expect great things from this man.
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What's hot and what's not in the race
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Posted by Jules at
Tagged as: formula one, formula1, f1, 2008, australia, barrichello, hamilton, bourdais, nakajima, coulthard, heidfeld
