Donkey of the Race - Brazil

[steveaki13]

And this

[F1boat]

Mark Webber. Blocked his teammate at the start and several times during the race before letting him pass, left the strack several times and acted like complete a-hole. I am so disappointed that this jerk remain in RBR. Kimi would have been better choice.

[Dave B]

The Hulk for very possibly throwing away a race win, and taking out Hamilton in the process. Possibly his team mate too for binning it right near the end.

Oh, and Kimi for telling his sat-nav "yeah yeah yeah I know what I'm doing" before getting lost in the escape roads!

[BDunnell]

Mark Webber. Blocked his teammate at the start and several times during the race before letting him pass, left the strack several times and acted like complete a-hole.

Much too harsh. I don't think he had much option but to do what he did at the start, and as for 'several times during the race' — which race?

[janneppi]

Oh, and Kimi for telling his sat-nav "yeah yeah yeah I know what I'm doing" before getting lost in the escape roads!

Quite the opposite, Kimi tried a brave new approach to the last corner, how could he know someone had built a barrier between the track and service road. ;) :p

[truefan72]

The Hulk for very possibly throwing away a race win, and taking out Hamilton in the process. Possibly his team mate too for binning it right near the end.


agreed

[wedge]

Hulk didn't deserve the penalty. Racing incident. When will the stewards ever grqsp this concept?

Error by Hulk and unfortunately LH was collateral damage.

[The Black Knight]

Hulk didn't deserve the penalty. Racing incident.

I agree with that. It's not fair to punish a driver for an incident out of his control like that.

[Tazio]

I take no pleasure in giving it to di resta but I think he deserves it imo, just a nightmare race for him.

[steveaki13]

Hulkenberg - in a way for panicing slightly while having a win in sight and taking out Lewis.

Raikkonen - For his offroading which was one of the funniest things \i have seen for a while.

[Ranger]

Kimi would have been better choice.

A better choice for Donkey of the Race?

Most definitely.

[jens]

I don't know about donkey (I know it was slippery and it is very easy to make a mistake - many people made small mistakes, but nobody was outright crazy from what I saw), but Kimi getting literally lost was one of the funniest things I have seen for a long time in an F1 race. Reminded myself from a computer game on a rally stage. :p :

[Tazio]

I think Nelson Piquet deserves a special mention for being the worst podium interviewer this season by a bloody mile :p :

[keysersoze]

There are a few donkeys to hand out today:

1) Renault must be beside themselves with Grosjean.

2) The Williams duo--already on thin ice--manage to bin it simulataneously on lap 1.

3) Di Resta must be feeling the pressure.

4) With a sound car, Webber goes backward, while his teammate--with a damaged car--makes serious hay.

5) His DNF today may not have been his fault, but what a miserable final third of a season for Sergio!

I'm not about to give a Donkey to Hulkenberg.

[Rollo]

Hamilton for petulance:

"It was a little bit unfortunate," said Hamilton. "The dude didn't even say sorry. So that says a lot. That's what happens when you race with the less experienced. "
Brazilian GP: Hamilton disappointed Hulkenberg did not apologise - F1 news - AUTOSPORT.com (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/104579)

Like you have apologised for everything in your career Mr Hamilton. Hulkenberg was on a slippery track and the car stepped out under him because the left wheel bit the track more than the right one, when cars are going that fast, we're talking about micro seconds to react.
And no, he probably didn't apologise because as you very well know, Nico probably has to play the game of media, technical engineers and race engineers. He probably literally doesn't have time to.

[wedge]

If I was taken out of a race through no fault of my own I'd be p-ssed about it as well.

[BDunnell]

Hulk didn't deserve the penalty. Racing incident. When will the stewards ever grqsp this concept?

Error by Hulk and unfortunately LH was collateral damage.

Absolutely. It seems there's almost a fetish for handing out penalties in F1 these days. It's totally unnecessary, whereas if the same was true in many lower formulae, maybe driving standards in domestic championships would improve.

[F1boat]

I sometimes think that we are too thin skinned. In Indy Car and NASCAR drivers sometimes use much stronger words that being "a little disappointed" :D

[The Black Knight]

Hamilton for petulance:

"It was a little bit unfortunate," said Hamilton. "The dude didn't even say sorry. So that says a lot. That's what happens when you race with the less experienced. "
Brazilian GP: Hamilton disappointed Hulkenberg did not apologise - F1 news - AUTOSPORT.com (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/104579)

Like you have apologised for everything in your career Mr Hamilton. Hulkenberg was on a slippery track and the car stepped out under him because the left wheel bit the track more than the right one, when cars are going that fast, we're talking about micro seconds to react.
And no, he probably didn't apologise because as you very well know, Nico probably has to play the game of media, technical engineers and race engineers. He probably literally doesn't have time to.

Absolutely ridiculous to name Hamilton as donkey for this. I'd be pissed if I were taken out of the race too. Hulk was to blame in the end. It may not have been intentional but it was his fault.

[donKey jote]

Webber for being a tool.
Di Resta for being a donkey.
Kimi for the comedy.

[DexDexter]

I'm surprised that nobody mentioned Grosjean. I mean come on, the guy just crashed out once again. Senna was another, a total waste of space all year ending in a collision with the championship leader.

[TMorel]

Out of interest, those that are calling Kimi a donkey, if (blah blah I know, "IF") if that gate had been open like in previous years and Kimi had have been able to rejoin the track, would he still be a donkey, or would he be being praised for his quick thinking remembering that there was an emergency vehicle access road there?

[Nornbugger]

Webber was a total donkey, had he given room to Vettel at the 1st corner Seb would have been gone and safe, as it was Webbers slow thinking led to a thrilling race.

Also what was Webber up to at the restart after the safety car? Was shocked at the end to hear Horners praise for him at the end, other times he has been a good team player but not yesterday.

Also save of the day(and there were lots of good ones) but it has to have been Alonso coming out of turn 3, not a fan of the man but that was good steering

[Wasted Talent]

Well I have defended him for most of the season (eg I think Japan was Webber's fault for being so slow into turn 2), but Grosjean's mistake in qualifying was pretty poor, assuming that the HRT would simply move over even though Pedro was trying to set a time too, and it ultimately ruined his weekend. Not that worried about his accident in the race, these things happen....

What about Charlie Whiting for bringing out the safety car, meaning that Button and Hulkenburg lost their well-earned 40 second leads. I know that there was debris on the track, but it ruined Hulks race and ultimately meant he ended up fighting Hamilton for the lead?

WT

[Knock-on]

There are a few donkeys to hand out today:

1) Renault must be beside themselves with Grosjean.




Nah, if they were, he would crash into them :D




Oh, and Kimi for telling his sat-nav "yeah yeah yeah I know what I'm doing" before getting lost in the escape roads!

It was the teams fault. They told him "kimi, we have a free drinks reception after the race", but the last 3 words were scrambled.

[Wasted Talent]

Hamilton for petulance:

"It was a little bit unfortunate," said Hamilton. "The dude didn't even say sorry. So that says a lot. That's what happens when you race with the less experienced. "
Brazilian GP: Hamilton disappointed Hulkenberg did not apologise - F1 news - AUTOSPORT.com (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/104579)

Like you have apologised for everything in your career Mr Hamilton. Hulkenberg was on a slippery track and the car stepped out under him because the left wheel bit the track more than the right one, when cars are going that fast, we're talking about micro seconds to react.
And no, he probably didn't apologise because as you very well know, Nico probably has to play the game of media, technical engineers and race engineers. He probably literally doesn't have time to.

Funny how things change after the heat of the battle, as Lewis says....

"I don't remember too much about the accident with Nico (Hulkenburg), but he came to see me after the race, which was nice....."

Formula 1 (http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2012/11/14123.html)

Good man

WT

[A FONDO]

My donkey is Ferrari's strategy crew, for putting the slower Alonso in front of Massa so early, instead of letting Massa try to reach and pressurize Button.

[ShiftingGears]

Grosjean, again.

[AndyL]

I think Nelson Piquet deserves a special mention for being the worst podium interviewer this season by a bloody mile :p :

I don't know, there has been some pretty stiff competition for that title :)

[Robinho]

Several drivers might have done better, but the conditions were incredibly tricky. I can't even bring myself to give it to Hulk, he'd done an immense job up until then, although it was his fault, he overdid the entry and lost the back end, but it was unfortunate and a bit clumsy only. So therefore, my vote goes to ...the weatherman, who predicted no rain, yeah right

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

[dj_bytedisaster]

Donkey of the race is diResta for being mediocre, when his team mate actually fought for the lead. Honourary donkey for Vettel, because he swore like a trucker in his German interview for RTL.

[dj_bytedisaster]

That's disappointing to hear.

Well, I never was a friend of interviews so shortly after the race, when they're still running on pure adrenalin and testosterone. He said something that roughly translates to:



Our situation was $hit, obviously, with the damaged car, especially when it started to pi$$ down.


I'm not a fan of euphemisms and overly politically correct dumbspeak, but a bit of toning down would certainly be good. He starts to turn into Kimi...

[N. Jones]

El Donkey goes to .... hmm.... di Resta? Is he glad Hulkenberg is moving to Sauber?

[yodasarmpit]

Paul. Disappointing to see him floundering whilst his team mate is leading the race.

[Storm]

Donkey? I thought he did not watch the race.

anyways, the real donkey is the guy (Senna?) who hit Vettel but did no discernable damage whatsover :|

;)

[wedge]

What about Charlie Whiting for bringing out the safety car, meaning that Button and Hulkenburg lost their well-earned 40 second leads. I know that there was debris on the track, but it ruined Hulks race and ultimately meant he ended up fighting Hamilton for the lead?

WT

Bob Fernley said it was joke: Force India says first safety car period in Brazil was a joke - F1 news - AUTOSPORT.com (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/104605)

Well he would say that as his car was leading but what about if Hulk was second? He would be emailling Charlie about the SC.

The SC was absolutely the right thing. It seemed we had a storm surge with what looked like half track was strewn with debris.


Webber was a total donkey, had he given room to Vettel at the 1st corner Seb would have been gone and safe, as it was Webbers slow thinking led to a thrilling race.

Also what was Webber up to at the restart after the safety car? Was shocked at the end to hear Horners praise for him at the end, other times he has been a good team player but not yesterday.

Also save of the day(and there were lots of good ones) but it has to have been Alonso coming out of turn 3, not a fan of the man but that was good steering

And yet he still finished 4th and ahead of Vettel.


Paul. Disappointing to see him floundering whilst his team mate is leading the race.

He had dry set up, Hulk had wet.

[dj_bytedisaster]

Bob Fernley said it was joke: Force India says first safety car period in Brazil was a joke - F1 news - AUTOSPORT.com (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/104605)

Well he would say that as his car was leading but what about if Hulk was second? He would be emailling Charlie about the SC.

The SC was absolutely the right thing. It seemed we had a storm surge with what looked like half track was strewn with debris.

And yet he still finished 4th and ahead of Vettel.

He had dry set up, Hulk had wet.

The safety car was a thinly veiled ploy to 'spice up the show'. It doesn't really come as much of a surprise, since two cars 50 seconds up the road wasn't really in the script, especially since the one driver, who needed a 1st or 2nd the most wasn't one of them, so the title fight would have been all but over at that point, despite Vettels trouble. And it is also not surprizing that it was Alonso, who demanded the SC over team radio.
The debris was located in a single corner. Double-yellows would have done the trick just fine, but the FIA saw fit to employ a bit of NASCAR style race-riggin'.

[wedge]

And it is also not surprizing that it was Alonso, who demanded the SC over team radio.
The debris was located in a single corner. Double-yellows would have done the trick just fine, but the FIA saw fit to employ a bit of NASCAR style race-riggin'.

During SC Vettel gave a running commentary over the radio on the amount of debris all over the track and asked the marshalls to move them.

[dj_bytedisaster]

During SC Vettel gave a running commentary over the radio on the amount of debris all over the track and asked the marshalls to move them.

No, he didn't - he told them that they had missed one part, which is ridiculous enough. They get out the faux yellow and then miss a part that is in clear view. Tells you how 'serious' they were about removing the debris. They could have done that just as well under double yellows. But since Vettel profited from the SC as much as Alonso, I'm sure the deployment of Bernd didn't bother him too much. It screwed Hulk over though.

[wedge]

No, he didn't - he told them that they had missed one part, which is ridiculous enough. They get out the faux yellow and then miss a part that is in clear view. Tells you how 'serious' they were about removing the debris. They could have done that just as well under double yellows. But since Vettel profited from the SC as much as Alonso, I'm sure the deployment of Bernd didn't bother him too much. It screwed Hulk over though.

No, he said "message to Charlie, there is debris in turns 5, 9 and 12"

There was debris on the racing line at the exit of the final hairpin.

I suggest you re-watch the race and re-assess it.

[dj_bytedisaster]

Do you have a transscript of the team radio, because to me it sounded like: "... there is debris in turn 5 [on or near] the white line." German TV translated that in the same way.

[wedge]

Yes, he did mention white line. Inside or outside?

[dj_bytedisaster]

What he exactly said doesn't matter anyway. Since he profited from it, he welcomed it anyway. But I think the SC is deployed way too often anyways. It was the knowledge that SCs are deployed at the drop of a hat, which enabled the 2008 race-rigging scandal in the first place. They knew that all they had to do was crashing the car in a corner without a crane.

Many SC deployments could be handled differently. Take SC's for 'wheather' for instance. It's either safe to drive or not. If it isn't then the race should be red-flagged and resumed, once it is safe again. Period.
Same with many SC's after accidents. Often the cars are not even on the track, but in the runoff area. Why not position marshals with yellow flags at the side and say in the rules: At the first Marshal the limiter has to be activated and the car has to be limited to 40kph and it can only be reactivated after passing the marshal with the green flags. Any cheating would be easily visible in the sector times. Heck you could do that for every type of yellow flags. It would eliminate the endless discussions whether or not a driver 'slowed sufficiently'.
SC deployment should only be reserved for extreme situations, simply because the deployment messes with race results way too much. The SC in Singapore '08 most likely cost Massa the WDC as he was in the lead at the time and Vettels 'miracle drive' in Abu Dhabi was massively helped by the second SC (the first one actually hurt him position-wise).

[gloomyDAY]

1) Webber for being an idiot towards his teammate during a championship-deciding race.

2) The Williams chimps for not knowing what a steering wheel is or what it's supposed to do.

3) Hulkenburg for ruining Hamilton's race.

4) Grosjean for chucking it away, again, without any pressure and all by himself.

5) Di Resta for binning it on the straightaway.

[MAX_THRUST]

Not sure if any of us could have kept the car on track so hesitant even to give Romain a tough time or Diresta.

I don't think however Webber was that great, for all the reasons above.

[zako85]

Hulk didn't deserve the penalty. Racing incident. When will the stewards ever grqsp this concept?



This was a racing incident, that at worst might have deserved a slap on wrist kind of punishment. This is exactly the reason I was dismayed with how harsh people were on Maldonado-Perez crash in Silverstone. This was a very similar crash. Maldonado was defending on the inside of a turn. On Sunday, Hulk was attacking on the inside of a turn. Maldonado was on colder tires, Hulk was racing on wet track. Both lost the car and collected the outside car. This was unfortunate but not really premeditated or unusually aggressive. If a driver does not take risks, he is not going to be able to overtake or defend his position.

[zako85]

I was going to name Kimi as one of donkeys, but then I noticed that he still finished in points. That was unexpected, considering everything that happened.

[keysersoze]

This was a racing incident, that at worst might have deserved a slap on wrist kind of punishment. This is exactly the reason I was dismayed with how harsh people were on Maldonado-Perez crash in Silverstone. This was a very similar crash. Maldonado was defending on the inside of a turn. On Sunday, Hulk was attacking on the inside of a turn. Maldonado was on colder tires, Hulk was racing on wet track. Both lost the car and collected the outside car. This was unfortunate but not really premeditated or unusually aggressive. If a driver does not take risks, he is not going to be able to overtake or defend his position.

Do I have this wrong--wasn't Nico defending from Lewis? Either way, the penalty on him was some weak-a$$ sauce.

[dj_bytedisaster]

No, he tried to overtake. Lewis had passed him for the lead, but got boxed in by the Caterham, which opened a gap that Nico went for. Unfortunately that led him off the racing line and the car swapped ends.

[MarekP]

Kimi Räikkönen. It was not so stupid, but sou funny :D

[IceWizard]

Donkey has to be Hulkenburg for taking out Hamilton and then saying that he didn't understand why he got a penalty! Honoroable mention to Nelson Piquet for being a bumbling idiot in the podium interview.

[dj_bytedisaster]

Donkey has to be Hulkenburg for taking out Hamilton and then saying that he didn't understand why he got a penalty! Honoroable mention to Nelson Piquet for being a bumbling idiot in the podium interview.

I agree with Piquet - that was cringeworthy. The penalty against Hulk was unjustified. A penalty is supposed to be handed out for 'causing an avoidable collision'. The accident with HAM wasn't an avoidable collision, but a normal racing accident. He didn't try to pile into a gap that wasn't there or didn't give enough room to another car. He simply lost the backend in slippery conditions, something that happened to Alonso, Webber, DiResta and several others. The difference here was that Hamilton had no chance to dodge Hulks car, because he was boxed in by a Caterham. Normal accident and completely unjust penalty. Vettel vs Senna apparently didn't warrant a penalty and although also a racing accident (Senna said as much after returning to the pits) it was much more avoidable than the Ham-Hulk accident, since Vettel could have stayed on the outside.

[TheFamousEccles]

Webber for being a tool.

Yet he still managed to finish fourth in a contrived "spectacle" of a race - heeeehawww ;)

[TheFamousEccles]

Mark Webber. Blocked his teammate at the start and several times during the race before letting him pass, left the strack several times and acted like complete a-hole. I am so disappointed that this jerk remain in RBR.

How many times? Must have missed those.

"left the strack several times and acted like complete a-hole." - If you watch the race again you might see several others did the same thing in the contrived spectacle.


"I am so disappointed that this jerk remain in RBR." - well, you've got all the off season to build a bridge...


"Kimi would have been better choice." - for what, as navigator?

Frankly F1boat, I would have expected more considered comment from you rather than something you might find on crash.net....

[wedge]

I initially watched the last 25 laps live then re-watched the race paying particularly attention to accusations of Webber blocking. Actually I noticed he let Vettel through early in the race.

[Mia 01]

Bruno, that move could have been the title decider!

I bet many where glad that moment.

[heliocastroneves#3]

Donkey of the race? Ehm, well, the entire Williams team for having retired both cars after barely 3 turns..

[Warriwa]

What race were people watching that are complaining about Webber? He did not block Vettel. Sebastian was caught napping after the restart, what was Mark supposed to do? He cant deliberately stay off the gas just because his teammate has a poor start. He did all he could and went to the outside. The same goes for the start. Mark had cars on both sides. You try slamming your brakes on before the braking markers to let your teammate through at the start of any race and see what happens. F1 scrap yard.

[dj_bytedisaster]

Does anybody else here think that was a pretty inappropriate thing to say and perhaps in poor taste? Considering he had just won the Championship I would have thought his ill feelings would have been pushed aside in the joys of victory.

It's only half the story as the important part of the interview is actually missing. The interview was given to RTL, a private German broadcaster, who utterly hyped Schumacher and has since jumped on the Vettel bandwaggon. The 'completely unbiased' commentators went utterly ape-excrement, when the incident with Bruno happened. They went as far as saying publically that Senna should have been nominated for the "blithering idiot of the year award". Welcome to German Television .
The interview was conducted by Kai Ebel, who is an extremely manipulative guy of questionable intellect. He gets regularily taken the pi$$ out of by Schumacher and Vettel for his idiotic questions and doesn't even get it. He dug in several times, trying to bait Vettel into saying something bad about Senna, going as far as bringing Ayrton into play, which Vettel tried to avoid twice, before coming up with the line:

"Ayrton Senna's grave is here in SP. Maybe I should visit it and tell him what his nephew has done."

Everyone, who knows the history between Vettel and Ebel can see that Vettel takes the mickey out of him with that line, because he gets usually quite annoyed when being compared to Senna (which he thinks is a preposterous idea). Unfortunately an Italian rag took that statement, ripped it out of context and constructed a 'tasteless scandal' from it. Sore losers at it's best. You wouldn't believe the things Italian rags 'dug out' on Hamilton, when he beat Massa by a whisker in 2008 or what Schumi got to read, when he dared to sign up with Merc in 2010. The Italians are passionate, but a very fair people. Their yellow press however is something this world doesn't deserve. But then that's true for the yellow press in any country.

[The Black Knight]

I know a few comments have been made about Vettel's demeanour after the race and his comment about 'dirty tricks' with Ferrari, but another comment has surfaced from an interview he gave to RTL. This is an 'apparent' translation and I am not a German speaker.



Sebastian Vettel INTERVIEW !! Vettel F1-Champion 2012 ! - YouTube

Does anybody else here think that was a pretty inappropriate thing to say and perhaps in poor taste? Considering he had just won the Championship I would have thought his ill feelings would have been pushed aside in the joys of victory.


Well, to be honest, I don't know if that is the correct translation but if he said that then he is a complete tool as it was Vettel's faul, but until that can be confirmed by a German speaker I'd like to reserve my judgement.

I would say though that blaming Senna would be typical of him as he never takes responsibility for accidents of his own making.

[dj_bytedisaster]

Both Vettel and Senna said that it was a racing accident. He also didn't bring Senna into play - that was the interviewer. I'm currently downloading the video and will provide a complete translation later. I also need to add that at least 2 minutes of the interview before the start of the video are missing. Those would show the kind of suggestive questions he was getting. Judging by the amount of exclamation marks in the title, the video was made for the sole purpose to portray him as a jerk, why else would someone 'creatively' shorten the video to let it start two minutes into the actual interview.

[IceWizard]

I agree with Piquet - that was cringeworthy. The penalty against Hulk was unjustified. A penalty is supposed to be handed out for 'causing an avoidable collision'. The accident with HAM wasn't an avoidable collision, but a normal racing accident. He didn't try to pile into a gap that wasn't there or didn't give enough room to another car. He simply lost the backend in slippery conditions, something that happened to Alonso, Webber, DiResta and several others. The difference here was that Hamilton had no chance to dodge Hulks car, because he was boxed in by a Caterham. Normal accident and completely unjust penalty. Vettel vs Senna apparently didn't warrant a penalty and although also a racing accident (Senna said as much after returning to the pits) it was much more avoidable than the Ham-Hulk accident, since Vettel could have stayed on the outside.

If the rule states 'causing an avoidable collision' then perhaps Hulkenburg was penalised unfairly. However, I felt that a penalty was justified. While there was obviously no intent, his mistake took Hamilton out of the race. If the accident had also taken out Hulkenburg then I agree that the penalty would be harsh. Given that he was able to continue then I feel it only fair that his race should be compromised as a result.

[ShiftingGears]

I retract my nomination for Grosjean as it was more a cumulative effect of him being unable to finish races for accidents of his own doing. I thought the real donkeys were the stewards, who screwed Hulkenberg over twice.

[The Black Knight]

Both Vettel and Senna said that it was a racing accident. He also didn't bring Senna into play - that was the interviewer. I'm currently downloading the video and will provide a complete translation later. I also need to add that at least 2 minutes of the interview before the start of the video are missing. Those would show the kind of suggestive questions he was getting. Judging by the amount of exclamation marks in the title, the video was made for the sole purpose to portray him as a jerk, why else would someone 'creatively' shorten the video to let it start two minutes into the actual interview.

Fair enough. I would be dubious about Vettel saying something like that anyway given how much respect he has for Senna. I find it easy to believe that he was pushed into it in the way you are describing.

[The Black Knight]

I retract my nomination for Grosjean as it was more a cumulative effect of him being unable to finish races for accidents of his own doing. I thought the real donkeys were the stewards, who screwed Hulkenberg over twice.

How so?

[dj_bytedisaster]

Here the complete translation of the interview


Translation:
...I had to break early and lost positions as a result and obviously was not in the greatest... in the best position on approach of turn four. I got a hit from behind and [suddenly] saw the field coming straight at me and found myself sitting duck as a Geisterfahrer (German term for drivers, who enter the motorway in the wrong direction) in turn four, which wasn't ideal. Doesn't matter much, I continued immediately, noticed that things seemed reasonably ok, front wing was still there...
I think we were surprisingly quickly back up front, the conditions helped us a bit. When it started to dry it got harder for us, because, well, we had a lot of damage on the car. There was nothing we could do on the straight, which is why I couldn't overtake much.
Err, yeah,... Ferarri tried to do their best to use Felippe as a bit of a road block... err, yeah... generally... we had all sorts of stunble block thrown in our path, but in the end it worked out. With the rain at the end we could make up a lot of time again. The pitstop... the timing was a $hit as possible. Well, in the end it was meant to be, we never lost faith in making it, even when we were facing the wrong way in turn four. We could continue, didn't give up, didn't lose faith,... I still have no clue at all what to say...

Ebel: Yeah, one has to try sorting all that out first, with all that has happened. Surely Mark Webber wasn't as big a help in the team as Felippe Massa has been for Fernando Alonso then comes the Nephew of Ayrton Senna and piles into your car *here in Brasil*. What went through your mind in such a moment?

Vettel: (laughs somewhat awkwardly)
Ich had before... don't know... we'll have to see... The grave of Ayrton Senna is here in Sau Paolo, on the cemetery in Morumbi. Maybe I should visit it and tell him what his nephew has done there... [all accompanied by somewhat strained laugher] (It's abit of a wordplay on 'Geh doch petzen', which is the German counterpart to 'Cry me a river' in essence it meant 'maybe I should go and cry Ayrton a river') ... it of course didn't help much, but in the end we can say it didn't matter because all worked out at the end. It was of course a pity at the time, because we lost a lot of ground, no doubt and we lost pace due to the damage on the car, but as I said it was meant to be. The rain at the end was a big help. A lot of people were convinced that we wouldn't have a chance in case of rain, but the exact opposite proved to be the case.

Ebel: And Jenson Button helped, too. If he would've retired it would all have been over with a bang. I think one could show some gratitude and send send a case of red wine from Hesse (Vettels home region) to Daddy Button.

Vettel: (again tries to find a suitable answer to that complete drivel of a question, covers up with awkward laughter)
I don't think this is a case of thanking others, we had a hard enough time out there. Everybody did his own race today. Congratulations of course to Jenson. Don't know what happened to Lewis, he suddenly stood there after turn 4...

Ebel: Crash with Hülkenberg

Vettel: Ah, ok...
Erm, yeah, Woulda, coulda, shoulda doesn't matter in the end we did it, that's what counts. And a lot of weight fall off [my shoulders]

Ebel: You finished on Inters, but, maybe you can tell us, why did you change to the slicks shortly before that? That make it even more thrilling in the end.

Vettel: It certainly didn't help, no. Our tires were in bad condition and the pace wasn't there when it dried. We knew that rain was about to come, I wanted to stay out another lap, but we also had lost the team radio - now that *really* helped, especcially when it starts to pi$$ down,

Ebel: To rain. We all know the new FIA language codex

Vettel: (sarcastically)
Yeah, well make sure you adhere to it then. Yeah, well, and straight back in the next lap. I was yelling "Inter, Inter", but nobody was there. They were all too busy trying to unwrap the tires. Anyway, a completely crazy race, you can't stage it any crazier.

Ebel: Our Champion! Three times world champion. That begs the question, how big a blast you'll have tonight?

Vettel:
We'll see. There're a lot of people in line (other interviewers) who are waiting. But we'll think of something. Last but not least I want to send greetings back home, thank you for keeping your fingers crossed ('thumbs pressed' in German). I'm sorry if it (the excitement) made some of you fall off the couch, in the car it was no less thrilling. I'm very proud of the team, the whole team. I think this year was a very hard year for us. Especially in the later races it was visible that the others tried everything. In a way I was brought up with 'lies have short legs' (German sying, meaning that lying/cheating or any other misconduct doesn't get one very far) and 'Honesty gets you farther'.

[ShiftingGears]

How so?

His drive through for the turn one incident, and the use of the safety car when the debris was, I believe, cleared for one corner.

[The Black Knight]

His drive through for the turn one incident, and the use of the safety car when the debris was, I believe, cleared for one corner.

Well, I look at that as an incident where blame lies. A racing incident, I look at where blame lies at neither drivers feet. I know it's hard on Hulkenberg but he did end another competitors race. However, there was no intent and I agree there should have been no penalty as it was just one of those things that happens in the wet.

Mind you, I read an interview with Hulkenberg afterward where he said that Hamilton could have given him more room and after I heard that I wasn't too bothered about the penalty as he was trying to deflect blame from his own **** up and lay some at the feet of an innocent, kinda what like Vettel does pretty much any time he has an incident, and I hate that.

[dj_bytedisaster]

Mind you, I read an interview with Hulkenberg afterward where he said that Hamilton could have given him more room and after I heard that I wasn't too bothered about the penalty as he was trying to deflect blame from his own **** up and lay some at the feet of an innocent, kinda what like Vettel does pretty much any time he has an incident, and I hate that.

He most likely didn't know that HAM was boxed in by that Caterham. Just my theory though.

[The Black Knight]

He most likely didn't know that HAM was boxed in by that Caterham. Just my theory though.

Yeah, and I think he apologized to Hamilton afterward anyway.

[The Black Knight]

Here the complete translation of the interview


Translation:
...I had to break early and lost positions as a result and obviously was not in the greatest... in the best position on approach of turn four. I got a hit from behind and [suddenly] saw the field coming straight at me and found myself sitting duck as a Geisterfahrer (German term for drivers, who enter the motorway in the wrong direction) in turn four, which wasn't ideal. Doesn't matter much, I continued immediately, noticed that things seemed reasonably ok, front wing was still there...
I think we were surprisingly quickly back up front, the conditions helped us a bit. When it started to dry it got harder for us, because, well, we had a lot of damage on the car. There was nothing we could do on the straight, which is why I couldn't overtake much.
Err, yeah,... Ferarri tried to do their best to use Felippe as a bit of a road block... err, yeah... generally... we had all sorts of stunble block thrown in our path, but in the end it worked out. With the rain at the end we could make up a lot of time again. The pitstop... the timing was a $hit as possible. Well, in the end it was meant to be, we never lost faith in making it, even when we were facing the wrong way in turn four. We could continue, didn't give up, didn't lose faith,... I still have no clue at all what to say...

Ebel: Yeah, one has to try sorting all that out first, with all that has happened. Surely Mark Webber wasn't as big a help in the team as Felippe Massa has been for Fernando Alonso then comes the Nephew of Ayrton Senna and piles into your car *here in Brasil*. What went through your mind in such a moment?

Vettel: (laughs somewhat awkwardly)
Ich had before... don't know... we'll have to see... The grave of Ayrton Senna is here in Sau Paolo, on the cemetery in Morumbi. Maybe I should visit it and tell him what his nephew has done there... [all accompanied by somewhat strained laugher] (It's abit of a wordplay on 'Geh doch petzen', which is the German counterpart to 'Cry me a river' in essence it meant 'maybe I should go and cry Ayrton a river') ... it of course didn't help much, but in the end we can say it didn't matter because all worked out at the end. It was of course a pity at the time, because we lost a lot of ground, no doubt and we lost pace due to the damage on the car, but as I said it was meant to be. The rain at the end was a big help. A lot of people were convinced that we wouldn't have a chance in case of rain, but the exact opposite proved to be the case.

Ebel: And Jenson Button helped, too. If he would've retired it would all have been over with a bang. I think one could show some gratitude and send send a case of red wine from Hesse (Vettels home region) to Daddy Button.

Vettel: (again tries to find a suitable answer to that complete drivel of a question, covers up with awkward laughter)
I don't think this is a case of thanking others, we had a hard enough time out there. Everybody did his own race today. Congratulations of course to Jenson. Don't know what happened to Lewis, he suddenly stood there after turn 4...

Ebel: Crash with Hülkenberg

Vettel: Ah, ok...
Erm, yeah, Woulda, coulda, shoulda doesn't matter in the end we did it, that's what counts. And a lot of weight fall off [my shoulders]

Ebel: You finished on Inters, but, maybe you can tell us, why did you change to the slicks shortly before that? That make it even more thrilling in the end.

Vettel: It certainly didn't help, no. Our tires were in bad condition and the pace wasn't there when it dried. We knew that rain was about to come, I wanted to stay out another lap, but we also had lost the team radio - now that *really* helped, especcially when it starts to pi$$ down,

Ebel: To rain. We all know the new FIA language codex

Vettel: (sarcastically)
Yeah, well make sure you adhere to it then. Yeah, well, and straight back in the next lap. I was yelling "Inter, Inter", but nobody was there. They were all too busy trying to unwrap the tires. Anyway, a completely crazy race, you can't stage it any crazier.

Ebel: Our Champion! Three times world champion. That begs the question, how big a blast you'll have tonight?

Vettel:
We'll see. There're a lot of people in line (other interviewers) who are waiting. But we'll think of something. Last but not least I want to send greetings back home, thank you for keeping your fingers crossed ('thumbs pressed' in German). I'm sorry if it (the excitement) made some of you fall off the couch, in the car it was no less thrilling. I'm very proud of the team, the whole team. I think this year was a very hard year for us. Especially in the later races it was visible that the others tried everything. In a way I was brought up with 'lies have short legs' (German sying, meaning that lying/cheating or any other misconduct doesn't get one very far) and 'Honesty gets you farther'.

That interviewer seems like a stupendous a-hole.

[dj_bytedisaster]

@henners.

He's the dimwit in the garish clothes. He ran around in some sort of 'Captain America' shirt in Austin :S


That interviewer seems like a stupendous a-hole.

Much worse. He's a grade-A imbecile. The really infuriating thing are his suggestive or downright nonsensical questions. I don't know who it was - either Winkelhock or Heidfeld, who once showed him his place.

The driver just climbed from the smoking wreck that once was his car, comes back to the pits and Ebel stuffs a mic up his nostrils:

"What happened?"

Answer: "Wrecked my car. Come back if you have a real question."

I nearly pee'd myself :D

[Nornbugger]

I initially watched the last 25 laps live then re-watched the race paying particularly attention to accusations of Webber blocking. Actually I noticed he let Vettel through early in the race.

try watching the race from the start all the way to the 1st corner, you will see that Webber cut in when had he room to stay out a little and let Vettel clear, it was not IMHO a move to be expected from a driver of his experience

[dj_bytedisaster]

Haha, I've seen the BBC elbow him out of the way a few times and DC has stood behind him making fun quite recently. Didn't know who he was and assumed he was a comedian or something. :)

Nope, comedians are usually funny - that he is not.

[wedge]

Seb was cautious into the corner. Nothing malicious from Webbo. I think it would be dangeroues to engineer such a move at the start os the race into the first corner, especially ae Webbo was in the middle of the road.

I'm guessing Seb fans think Webbo is a punk who doesn't deserve to drive for RBR?

[dj_bytedisaster]

Considering that we don't have too many Vettel fans in here to begin with - although I'm regularily accused of it :D - I don't see anyone attacking anyone. Mark was clumsy at times and he had said before the race that he was not spending any thoughts on helping Vettel. In the end he did anyway, but in true Webbo style he made it obvious that he did it unwillingly. Considering that he is one of the last true characters in the field, I can't fault him for that. And he must have enough going for him. Red Bull doesn't hand out contracts in a yard sale :)

[Robinho]

My take on the hulkenburg incident is that is absolutely was an avoidable collision. Just because it wasn't deliberate does not absolve fault in an accident. No-one forced hulk to send one up the inside, and it was a perfectly reasonable attempt, but, lewis had no further room outside due to the backmarker and gave nico sufficient room to pass. Regardless of the trickiness of the conditions it was nico who lost control and ran out of room to save the car before collecting lewis. That is what makes it an avoidable collision, albeit an accidental one. Had Hamilton not been there he would have collected the slide and continued, but by his actions a driver was eliminated. It was a harsh penalty but entirely in line with the letter of the rules IMO.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

[Knock-on]

I just posted the exact same thing on another thread. It's not intention but consequence.

Hulk made a mistake and it took out the leader. End of story.

Imagine if it was Seb or Alonso instead of Lewis there?

[F1boat]

By the way kudos to Kamui Kobayashi, who managed to not hit Seb. It was a great reaction.

[wedge]

I just posted the exact same thing on another thread. It's not intention but consequence.

Hulk made a mistake and it took out the leader. End of story.

Imagine if it was Seb or Alonso instead of Lewis there?

Senna didn't get a penalty for taking out Vettel and I'm somewhat surprised he didn't.

[The Black Knight]

Senna didn't get a penalty for taking out Vettel and I'm somewhat surprised he didn't.

Do you honestly believe that was Senna's fault?

[Knock-on]

Senna didn't get a penalty for taking out Vettel and I'm somewhat surprised he didn't.

I still haven't had a chance to watch the race again but I am pretty sure Seb was at fault there. If you can find a clip, I'm happy to be corrected.

[kfzmeister]

I still haven't had a chance to watch the race again but I am pretty sure Seb was at fault there. If you can find a clip, I'm happy to be corrected.

Of course he was. He went far right to cover someone (can't remember who), then cut over onto the line when he clearly should have give room.

BTW, my nomination for Donkey is Hulk for misjudging that inside pass attempt on Hamilton. Rookie :rolleyes:

[keysersoze]

I've been quietly wishing Bruno would cement his place at Williams this season, but that seemed more his fault than Vettel's. Bruno hadn't presented ANY of his car before the braking zone--indeed he was directly behind SB on the run up to T4--and from the overhead video it came off as an ill-advised dive bomb.

Vettel had a charmed race. He not only survived a pretty mighty whump that took out three other cars on the spot, and not only did his car survive damage to the critical exhaust area, it seems the incident had minimal to no effect effect on either the handling or the engine.