Donkey of the Race - Oz 2013

[pino]

rybetty for missing the race after stayed up all night to watch it :

[N4D13]

I think it's rather harsh to name Grosjean as donkey of the race, since he's said that something wasn't all right with his car. I'd rather have Maldonado as the donkey - he was nowhere in qualifying, spun off and, to top it off, he was beaten by his rookie teammate. Not a very promising way to start the season, is it?

[gm99]

Webber - yet another botched start.
Grosjean with an utter lack of pace compared to his team-mate.
Maldonado for being overshadowed by his rookie team-mate and binning it in the race.

But the overall donkey are the super soft tires lasting all of four laps - WTF?

[Zico]

"Webber lined up on the front row alongside team-mate Vettel, but a terrible start dropped him to seventh following an ECU (electronic control unit) failure which automatically shut down his Kers power boost. His race was subsequently ruined when he was stuck behind Button after his first pit stop."

BBC Sport - Australian GP: Kimi Raikkonen wins ahead of Fernando Alonso




Could someone clarify if its likely to have been a Kers and/or ECU issue that ruined his launch?

[rjbetty]

Yeah, I think it's gonna be all downhill for Webber from here, in what may be his last season at Red Bull.

In light of recent news, I would like to retract this statement, and nominate Red Bull.

Now I normally don't like to be childish and gripe about conspiracies; I always try and accept that a driver I like just isn't as good, if that's what the truth is, hard as it can be; but Webber's constant KERS failures are getting a bit too convenient for my liking.

Is it really so paranoid delusional to consider the possibility that all is not fair at Red Bull and these occurances (sp?) are helping to ease Mark out of the door without losing face, since he's never been part of Marko's agaenda? It may be wrong, but it's getting to the point where the evidence says this is happening too much. Am I getting this wrong?



These threads look like they're very good for gleaning new information on events of the race.

[kfzmeister]

Would have liked it to have been Alonso, for taking out Pic. But alas, it was not to be.

So, I'll go with Vettel, for not winning in a car that's 1 sec/lap faster than anyone else's.

Unfortunately for Vettel, qualifying pace does not equal race pace.
My vote for Donkey is different Red Bull driver, Webber, for that God-aweful start. What a way to waste P2 in the 2nd fastest (?) car than anyone else.

[N4D13]

Unfortunately for Vettel, qualifying pace does not equal race pace.
My vote for Donkey is different Red Bull driver, Webber, for that God-aweful start. What a way to waste P2 in the 2nd fastest (?) car than anyone else.

According to Chris Horner, it was not Mark's fault, but an ECU issue. Horner was rather quick to point the finger at McLaren, by the way.

[gloomyDAY]

Webber - Using reverse gear at the start of every race.
Maldonado - Forgot how to drive and binned it.

McLaren - Terrible qualifying and equally bad race.
Williams - Didn't these guys win championships?

According to Chris Horner, it was not Mark's fault, but an ECU issue. Horner was rather quick to point the finger at McLaren, by the way.

hplease: Christian is just making excuses. I've been really off-put by his arrogance this entire weekend, and it's as if he's expecting wins to come to Red Bull a little too easily. Mark needs to sort these starts out because it's really hampering his ability to add points to the constructors tally. Simple as that!

[anthonyvop]

Can we just save time and give the Donkey of the year trophy to Webber as we all know he will mess up even more starts this year.

The man has sat in was is universally regarded the best car for the last 3 seasons and has finished 3rd place in the Championship twice and 6th. I am surprised that RBR resigned him.

[truefan72]

Clear donkey is Webber for yet another pathetic start and overall race. 4 pit stops right? This was his home race and instead of shining, provided us with a real stinker of a race. His poor tarts are becoming legendary

followed by Ferrari for screwing up Massa's race strategy, I do believe he was on a 2 stop strategy, and on for the race win or podium before they changed it to help alonso. Because on raw pace massa had the measure of alonso, nevermind beign ahead of him in the race. His real feelings were made clear right after the race, but now has had to backtrack his comments and provide a contrived answer to the situation, because yeah, the whole world didn't see what happened but would rather believe the pr speak, lol