Donkey of the race - Abu Dhabi

[The Black Knight]

Many Candidates. Rosberg, Perez, Webber.

[Robinho]

I'll take Webber definately, and I think the other 2 are worthy of mention

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[ShiftingGears]

Well I thought Perez was quite foolish to keep the boot in when he did. Also Red Bull for severely compromising Webber's race in their haste to clear the path for Vettel. McLaren for building cars that seem extra fragile when leading races.

[The Black Knight]

I think Button is worthy of mention as well for braking too early to allow Vettel past. I think were it Lewis he would not have gone by but he's quite a distant donkey.

[ShiftingGears]

Many Candidates. Rosberg, Perez, Webber.

From first look I didn't think there was much Rosberg could've done. Would like to have another look but if the car is on the limit of traction through a corner its not so easy to change lines.

Webber made a mistake with Maldonado. He squeezed him on the apex, and Maldonado had nowhere to go. I thought the Massa incident was 50/50 considering Massa actually ran slightly wide. I thought the stewards made the right calls today. Agreed with Perez.

[dj_bytedisaster]

I think Button is worthy of mention as well for braking too early to allow Vettel past. I think were it Lewis he would not have gone by but he's quite a distant donkey.

You do know, however, that Button was on well used medium tires, while Vettel was on fresh softs? He had nothing to fight back with.

Donkey of the race for me is Webber - no contest. Best car in the field and he makes a complete monkey's breakfast of it. From a botched start to that over-eager maneuver against Maldonado to the final shunt. And to add insult to injury, by the time he bombed out, he was behind his team mate, who started 21 positions behind him. How more mediocre can you look?

[Tazio]

Webber had an awful race. I have to give it to him.

[Tazio]

forgot about perez. i have to put him above mark!

[The Black Knight]

You do know, however, that Button was on well used medium tires, while Vettel was on fresh softs? He had nothing to fight back with.

Donkey of the race for me is Webber - no contest. Best car in the field and he makes a complete monkey's breakfast of it. From a botched start to that over-eager maneuver against Maldonado to the final shunt. And to add insult to injury, by the time he bombed out, he was behind his team mate, who started 21 positions behind him. How more mediocre can you look?

Yeah that's a fair enough point about Button but I still felt he should have kept him behind him. As I said, a distant donkey.

Probably Webber that takes donkey trophy home with him alright today.

I'm interested in hearing more information about the Rosberg incident as if Narain suddenly slowed down, and it's hard to tell from the video, then there was probably little Rosberg could have done to avoid the accident.

[truefan72]

Many Candidates. Rosberg, Perez, Webber.

yup Webber had a poor start, involved in 2 questionable incidents, and then got mixed up in the perez fracas. although, to be fair, he was an innocent bystander in that one

Rosberg gets 3/4 donkey as the HRT engine seems to have been failing and thus caused the sudden lack of pace. But he should not have been that close to the HRT in those corners anyway,

Perez, mos def

...and of course team mclaren ;)

[F1boat]

Sergio Perez. After he signed with McLaren he became really clumsy

[truefan72]

Webber had an awful race. I have to give it to him.

I wonder why he always has such trouble at the starts, that is a big issue with him IMO

[wedge]

All were racing incidents but I'd give it to Checa.

If I was Whitmarsh I'd be cringing at the thought of Checa of coming from nowhere and having to carve his through the field and expecting rivals to move over for him.


Webber made a mistake with Maldonado. He squeezed him on the apex, and Maldonado had nowhere to go. I thought the Massa incident was 50/50 considering Massa actually ran slightly wide. I thought the stewards made the right calls today. Agreed with Perez.

Shock horror! Pastor is blameless! At that point his tyres were gone and he was 2s a lap slower.


I think Button is worthy of mention as well for braking too early to allow Vettel past. I think were it Lewis he would not have gone by but he's quite a distant donkey.

Fingers had better tyres.

[truefan72]

Shock horror! Pastor is blameless! At that point his tyres were gone and he was 2s a lap slower.



so he should have just conceded the position and allowed webber to chop in front of him?
fair is fair, pastor was not to blame for this one

[wedge]

so he should have just conceded the position and allowed webber to chop in front of him?
fair is fair, pastor was not to blame for this one

I fully agree but its highly strange given that with previous racing incidents Maldonado gets the most blame.

[jens]

Yeah, I am disappointed in Pérez. The biggest problem here is that due to driver inconsistencies Sauber is having a hard time catching up with Mercedes in the WCC. I mean Mercedes should be easily beaten, they are barely capable of scoring points these days. But still Sauber is making hard work of it.

Sad that Grosjean got involved in incidents again (1st lap with someone, who I don't remember any more). Looks like he has tried to be more cautious in recent races, but it is still not always enough... When Di Resta, Pérez and Grosjean were fighting on one piece of tarmac, there was such feeling in the air that something is gonna happen with overenthusiastic young drivers battling it all out.

Oh welll, anyway, a lot happened... I think it would be easier to count drivers, who didn't have any incidents during the race. :)

[truefan72]

I fully agree but its highly strange given that with previous racing incidents Maldonado gets the most blame.

lol, indeed

[Bias]

Well in all honesty. Both Red Bull drivers were sloppy.

Webber looked horrid for some reason. He was involved in accidents with Maldonado and Massa. It was not Maldonado's fault at all and he was on some 30 lap old soft tires. Massa was a weird one because I think Felipe was trying to avoid a possibility of an accident, but he lost control of the car. Mark was trying hard to make up for that start, but that has been a problem with Mark his whole career. Sometimes he pushes a bit too hard in some situations.

Vettel was running into Senna and I thought he should have received a penalty for that overtake on Grojsean. Vettel looked a bit unsettled having to overtake from the back of the field.

Perez was up there as well, but Webber takes the cake in this case.

[jens]

Vettel was running into Senna and I thought he should have received a penalty for that overtake on Grojsean.

Vettel actually let Grosjean past again before re-passing him.

[Malbec]

Sergio Perez. After he signed with McLaren he became really clumsy

No he hasn't changed one bit. He's been completely level headed not allowing his McLaren contract to change him.

The only difference is that whereas people didn't notice his mistakes because they were buried in the midfield now they do. He's only scored points in six races out of 17. I think he's had the same number of DNFs, mostly if not all from collision damage.

Going from off-track straight onto the apex with two cars close behind was suicidal.

Perez was definitely the donkey for me but I'm biased as I'm a Sauber fan and we could have closed up a lot with Mercedes today.

Webber made a few rookie errors like his move on Maldonaldo so he runs Perez a close second.

[DexDexter]

Perez, a special mention to Grosjean who made contact on the first lap again and later on in the race. Whether it was his fault doesn't really change anything...

[donKey jote]

Webber is the big fat donkey on this one. Top car and made an ass of it.
Massa close behind for allowing himself to get spooked.

...did Webber do a piquet? :andrea: :devil: :p

[Langdale Forest]

Rosberg & Webber

[RearSlip]

Perez, definitely.
I was beside myself when he cut off Grosjean to the apex at a mile an hour, took out Grosjean and Webber, and then was able to continue racing.
If I was one of those two, I'd be trying to kick Perez's ass after the race.

[steveaki13]

I would have to say Perez also.

Was running well and then that move to just cut straight back in on Grosjean from off track was pretty stupid.

Other mentions:

Nico Rosberg - Running into the back of that HRT.

[wedge]

I think PDR deserves a mention since Hulk has been the of late at FI and in typical fashion of an average driver under pressure pulls off a banzai move that causes a melee of sorts.

[gloomyDAY]

The entire McLaren organization - Hamilton gets that lump of dirt into winning contention, and his car fails. Martin Whitmarsh for taking a title-winning team and driving it into the ground. Button (next year's #1 @ Mac :laugh :) is so slow compared to Hamilton, and the "Smooth Driver" still gets pounded like a Vegas hooker in qualifying.

Webber - I remember people being pissed off at Red Bull for supposedly not giving him a fair shot at the 2010 title. Well, now you know why! He'll choke when the pressure is on, and it showed today. He looked more like the Croc Hunter than a race car driver.

Massa - I'm still not sure as to why Mr. Spin-n-Bin-it still has a contract at Ferrari. If Ferrari never want to win another WCC, then they should keep Massa until he's a geriatric.

Perez - He got a contract at McLaren for next year, so he might as well drive like a McLaren driver this season. Sliding around all over the place is NOT his job, and I bet Sauber are getting more and more happy to get rid of him for next season.

[Tazio]

The entire McLaren organization - Hamilton gets that lump of dirt into winning contention, and his car fails. Martin Whitmarsh for taking a title-winning team and driving it into the ground. Button (next year's #1 @ Mac :laugh :) is so slow compared to Hamilton, and the "Smooth Driver" still gets pounded like a Vegas hooker in qualifying.

Webber - I remember people being pissed off at Red Bull for supposedly not giving him a fair shot at the 2010 title. Well, now you know why! He'll choke when the pressure is on, and it showed today. He looked more like the Croc Hunter than a race car driver.

Massa - I'm still not sure as to why Mr. Spin-n-Bin-it still has a contract at Ferrari. If Ferrari never want to win another WCC, then they should keep Massa until he's a geriatric.

Perez - He got a contract at McLaren for next year, so he might as well drive like a McLaren driver this season. Sliding around all over the place is NOT his job, and I bet Sauber are getting more and more happy to get rid of him for next season.You're mean :s tareup:

[CaptainRaiden]

Webber - Just beautiful driving mate.

Perez - This crash kid and Jenslow Button next year at Mclaren? Oh boy...

A special mention to Mr. Button. 8 tenths off of Lewis' pace in qualifying driving the SAME car is just unacceptable. Massa and Webber are doing much better against their teammates now if you use Button as a yardstick. Should have at least finished on the podium in a car with which Lewis was destroying the opposition until the freakin Mclaren gave up.....again.

[Knock-on]

I think PDR deserves a mention since Hulk has been the of late at FI and in typical fashion of an average driver under pressure pulls off a banzai move that causes a melee of sorts.

:confused: What are you going on about?

Paul was taken out by Hulk at the start and fought his way, cleanly, back through the field. He was then forced off the track by Perez who was pulling off a 'Banzai' move that was never going to work.

Paul had a great drive today

[Malbec]

The entire McLaren organization - Hamilton gets that lump of dirt into winning contention, and his car fails. Martin Whitmarsh for taking a title-winning team and driving it into the ground. Button (next year's #1 @ Mac :laugh :) is so slow compared to Hamilton, and the "Smooth Driver" still gets pounded like a Vegas hooker in qualifying.


I agree but you missed one thing which struck me yesterday.

Whitmarsh signed up Perez about 50 milliseconds after Hamilton declared he was leaving for Mercedes. Why the rush? Perez wasn't negotiating with anyone else for a drive, even Sauber hadn't started negotiating with him at that point. The McLaren seat vacated by Hamilton is/was the single best seat available this season after it became clear that Ferrari were going to keep Massa. They could have taken their time picking the best of the bunch, seeing how the drivers kept going this season.

Instead Whitmarsh signed Perez claiming McLaren are going to polish him up into a champion. He seems to have forgotten one thing. The whole point of being a top team like McLaren, Ferrari or RBR is that you leave it to other lesser teams to polish up drivers so you can snap up the finished product when you're sure they can deliver. That way you don't lose a fistful of points every weekend thanks to yet another silly mistake.

Now casual observers are starting to pick up on Perez and his difficulties with wheel to wheel racing, Whitmarsh's decision looks increasingly bizarre and frankly it seems that sponsorship was the deciding factor in going for the Mexican. That isn't something I expect from McLaren.

[zako85]

(typing this without having looked at comments above..)

Webber and Perez IMO.

Webber had a terrible start as usual, letting something like two-three cars past him right off the bat. He also almost caused two major collisions. For the most part, his car was on TV when others were passing him. A sad sight. Is this the same Webber who almost won WDC in 2010? I guess he is getting old. The strange thing is that after all, it didn't appear to me (and to his bosses probably too) he would let Vettel go by him easily and so was called into the pits by his engineer to avoid a clumsy situation.

Perez was also a pretty big donkey. He is responsible for the mega collision towards the end of race. His car went off the track, and then rejoined very unsafely cutting off the following car. I am starting to question the wisdom of inviting him into McLaren.. He hasn't driven well at all since signing his 2013 contract. What puzzled me was how fast his McLaren contract was signed. McLaren seemed to act hastily, as if Sergio was clearly a much better option than the next mid-field driver, such as Hulk or Di Resta.

[zako85]

Vettel was running into Senna and I thought he should have received a penalty for that overtake on Grojsean.


He should have gotten the penalty, but he gave position back, so no penalty. This is a normal practice in a lot of racing. It's fair and square in my view.

[The Black Knight]

Turns out that Narain had a hydraulic failure which caused his steering to break. He then braked because of this causing Rosberg to go into the back of him. No one was to blame for the incident and it was just one of those things so I must remove Rosberg from my donkey list. He was just unfortunate.

It appears Webber is the donkey. Totally outclassed by his teammate and multiple collisions. He really had a terrible Grand Prix.

[CaptainRaiden]

Now casual observers are starting to pick up on Perez and his difficulties with wheel to wheel racing, Whitmarsh's decision looks increasingly bizarre and frankly it seems that sponsorship was the deciding factor in going for the Mexican. That isn't something I expect from McLaren.

It was a real hasty decision. I think Whitmarsh thought if Perez can get those podiums in a Sauber, if they give him a Mclaren, he will steamroll the opposition. He didn't take his inconsistency and crash-happy nature into account, and the fact that when he hasn't finished on the podium, he struggled to make it to the top 10 or top 5. Having said that, his 3 podiums indeed were impressive, and at that time talks of him replacing Massa were gathering heat.

I think the more pragmatic decision would have been to get Kimi back in the Mclaren seat. He's consistent, fast, a proven winner and champion, and seems to be rejuvenated since he came back from rallying. I don't think sponsorship would have been a problem with Kimi either.

[F1boat]

It was a real hasty decision. I think Whitmarsh thought if Perez can get those podiums in a Sauber, if they give him a Mclaren, he will steamroll the opposition. He didn't take his inconsistency and crash-happy nature into account, and the fact that when he hasn't finished on the podium, he struggled to make it to the top 10 or top 5. Having said that, his 3 podiums indeed were impressive, and at that time talks of him replacing Massa were gathering heat.

I think the more pragmatic decision would have been to get Kimi back in the Mclaren seat. He's consistent, fast, a proven winner and champion, and seems to be rejuvenated since he came back from rallying. I don't think sponsorship would have been a problem with Kimi either.

To be honest, I wanted Kimi in Red Bull as a replacement for Mark Webber. I think that Seb and Kimi could have been the best team in the sport, and they are sort of friends, if I am not mistaken.

[Malbec]

I think the more pragmatic decision would have been to get Kimi back in the Mclaren seat. He's consistent, fast, a proven winner and champion, and seems to be rejuvenated since he came back from rallying. I don't think sponsorship would have been a problem with Kimi either.

McLaren know Kimi better than any other team apart from Ferrari. If they didn't like Kimi they probably had good reason for it, most probably related to his lack of enthusiasm dealing with sponsorship events. That said he could have been a good stopgap for a season or so.

Apparently the problem with Paul di Resta was that McLaren wanted to break up the all-British lineup they had as it wasn't good for sponsorship, putting off non-British sponsors. That still leaves Hulkenberg who has left PdR in his wake this season. Or Kobayashi who has had a difficult season much of which has not been his fault but whose underlying pace is still clear and consistency leaves him just 8 points adrift of his podium scoring teammate. Then there's the solid dependable guys like Glock who could be a stopgap while McLaren sourced its long term replacement for Lewis.

[jens]

Sorry for OT:
I think Kimi wasn't/isn't interested in going to McLaren, he seems very comfortable at Lotus.


Then there's the solid dependable guys like Glock who could be a stopgap while McLaren sourced its long term replacement for Lewis.

And who would that long-term replacement be in 2014? Would McLaren hope that Vettel or Kimi would be interested then? I have some doubts about that.

I think established top drivers were always a long shot for McLaren. So they had to gamble on youth and long-term solution pretty much now anyway. Just the question was - which one should they take? McLaren thought Pérez could turn out to be the best of the lot among all those Hülkenbergs, Grosjeans, Maldonados, etc. Sergio sure has been making a fair few mistakes this season, but McLaren is gambling on him improving and reaching full potential. May happen, may not. Sometimes you have to take a gamble, especially if the situation is difficult and the driver market is not working in your favour. McLaren hired Hamilton without any knowledge, how he would perform in F1 (even less unproven than Pérez) - turned out to be a great choice. They gambled on Kovalainen as well - didn't turn out so well. So let's see.

[F1boat]

Sorry for OT:
I think Kimi wasn't/isn't interested in going to McLaren, he seems very comfortable at Lotus.


I think so as well. He seems happy in Lotus-Renault.

[Malbec]

Sorry for OT:
McLaren thought Pérez could turn out to be the best of the lot among all those Hülkenbergs, Grosjeans, Maldonados, etc. Sergio sure has been making a fair few mistakes this season, but McLaren is gambling on him improving and reaching full potential.

That is not what I heard happened. Apparently they studied the pace of several midfield drivers and there wasn't a significant difference between them (Although they are unnamed I guess they would be the Sauber and FI drivers with maybe a couple of others thrown in). The final decision was taken on sponsorship potential with Perez seen as key to the South American market with/without Telmex money, they could use that to find a new range of sponsors.


McLaren hired Hamilton without any knowledge, how he would perform in F1 (even less unproven than Pérez) - turned out to be a great choice. They gambled on Kovalainen as well - didn't turn out so well. So let's see.

You've named two drivers that McLaren chose at short notice because they were caught short with drivers leaving unexpectedly. Perez falls into the same category. With Lewis there were few concerns about pace, I think McLaren may have known a bit about that after all the testing he did with them ;) . What these episodes show is that McLaren has a weakness when it comes to keeping an eye on up and coming talent IMO.

BTW why should a team of McLaren's stature need to gamble at all?

In all three cases drivers left unexpectedly or prematurely. Maybe McLaren needs to study why they have such a high turnover of topline drivers?

[wedge]

:confused: What are you going on about?

Paul was taken out by Hulk at the start and fought his way

No he wasn't.

Hulk squeezed PDR over the track boundary then PDR compliments him by squeezing Hulk into a meat sandwich, bangs wheels.

Cars 4 abreast into the first corner isn't going to work. Hulk clashes with Senna which causes his retirement.

[ShiftingGears]

Massa was a weird one because I think Felipe was trying to avoid a possibility of an accident, but he lost control of the car.

I thought it made Felipe look extremely amateur, because having a cooler head in that situation would have given Red Bull or the stewards a fairly good reason to make Webber concede the position.

[The Black Knight]

I thought it made Felipe look extremely amateur, because having a cooler head in that situation would have given Red Bull or the stewards a fairly good reason to make Webber concede the position.

Yep, he looks pretty amateur a lot and it's hardly the first time we've seen Felipe crash. I'm amazed Ferrari have kept him on for next year. He'll probably struggle with the new car for a 3/4 of next season as well.

[SGWilko]

Didn't Webber drive straight back onto the racing line? I'd assume to avoid contact Felipe came off the throttle mid corner and lost downforce as a result.

[The Black Knight]

Seemed to me he took to much of the high kerb and just spun his car around.

[zako85]

Yep, he looks pretty amateur a lot and it's hardly the first time we've seen Felipe crash. I'm amazed Ferrari have kept him on for next year. He'll probably struggle with the new car for a 3/4 of next season as well.

I have to admire the loyalty the Ferrari drivers and Ferrari are showing to each other. Massa took the bullet for Ferrari in Germany in 2010, by accepting the team order. Now Ferrari is standing by Massa, even though his form does not seem to be good enough to earn a top ride.

[SGWilko]

Seemed to me he took to much of the high kerb and just spun his car around.

Quite possibly, but I'd suggest in order to avoid Wibba - he was a bit desperate in this race was Mark....

[The Black Knight]

I have to admire the loyalty the Ferrari drivers and Ferrari are showing to each other. Massa took the bullet for Ferrari in Germany in 2010, by accepting the team order. Now Ferrari is standing by Massa, even though his form does not seem to be good enough to earn a top ride.

Yeah it's retarded though. They could be constructors champions this year were it not for that misplaced loyalty.

[The Black Knight]

Quite possibly, but I'd suggest in order to avoid Wibba - he was a bit desperate in this race was Mark....

Yes, it was to avoid Webber. I was embarrassed for Massa though. He spun a few times in India as well throughout practice.

[Knock-on]

Yeah it's retarded though. They could be constructors champions this year were it not for that misplaced loyalty.

Possibly but unlikely. You would have needed Alonso and a top quality equal driver to challange the superior Bulls. If this would have happened, it would be likely that he would have taken points of Fred as well.

[F1boat]

Possibly but unlikely. You would have needed Alonso and a top quality equal driver to challange the superior Bulls. If this would have happened, it would be likely that he would have taken points of Fred as well.

I think so as well.

[Tazio]

Quite possibly, but I'd suggest in order to avoid Wibba - he was a bit desperate in this race was Mark....Totally agree, as Massa has said the same thing.