Giving Schumacher the finger!

[Robin Plummer]

Did anyone see Coulthard give Schumacher the finger and w****r sign whiist turning right at about 100mph at the French GP!

That was hilarious, a bit of road rage on the track!!

[wodonnell]

Even better was the bit after the race. DC apologised for his gestures and said that he won't repeat what he did because there are children watching.

So, ITV go and replay the gestures about 5 times in slow motion!

[Gerard]

I don't know why people make such a fuzz about 'the finger gesture'.
It's not a sportive gesture but neither is shaking your fists or pointing at your forehead.
I won't use the gesture but I will not run to church and light a candle every time I see it.
It's a sign of these times and within maybe 50 years people will consider it a way humans communicated these days.

[Nuvolari]

Found it amusing. Wasn't DC acknowledging that he considers Schu "No. 1?"

[Red]

Not the finger is the problem. Many people use it and (unfortunately) we don't have to wait 50 years to consider it an important communication method. Like some four letter words that are already accepted. But the second part was obscene, even for nowadays standards. And he was not shacking fists.

DC himself makes the fuzz. He tries to explain his gesture by slamming MS for his driving. And according to DC, it is perfectly fair and within the regulations. And in fact he does the same thing. He did it before and will do it again. No big deal, by the way, but I am just curious how "hypocrisy" is spelled.

[Mr.S]

Some one tell me what he did after the finger! I really missed it. It's really bugging me! If you dont want post it then send me an e-mail.

[TimD]

Put bluntly, it comprised a not quite clenched fist motioning in front of his forehead.

Most elegantly described by someone this week as "presenting the Richard Cranium award."


Am reminded at this point of a desperate attempt by Murray Walker one time to dissipate the impact of an onboard camera shot in the Touring Cars.

Looking over the driver's shoulder, there is a thump and a scrape, and a BMW comes past, having successfully completed a dirty overtaking manouvre. The aggrieved, overtaken driver makes the sign of the one-fingered salute at the passing car, then modifies it to a two-fingered salute.

Murray Walker's commentary: "And yes, says Keith Odor to Tim Harvey. You're in first place... and I'm second!"

[Neil C]

Good one Murray!

Thanks Tim.

[AL Racing]

Other than it was totally un-called for, for DC to get angry about that overtaking attempt, I thought it was very funny! Not so much the finger but the, as Autosport frased it "DC giving Schuey the sign of self-pleasuring".

I also wonder what reactions we would get if the roles what had been reversed, Schuey giving DC the finger. My two cents is that it would had been that "Evil German" again, showung his wrath.
Well we'll see in Austria if Schumacher is gonna return the gesture.

[Sharky]

Hey...I think it was great too. Like I said in a previous post. It gives a "human touch" to the sport. I mean....when I drive I give the finger to a lot of people despite having a horn....I don't see why a race car driver can't do the same...although very few people see me....and the driver is watched by over 3000 million people....mhhhh.

But the funniest thing was that on RPM2night they showed the scene but his hand was was electronicaly edited like....for example when they show on the news like these people who's faces aren't sopposed to bee seen. And I thought that I would never see that on a racing TV show!

[Jay]

Ah, yes they don't sensor that kind of thing in Europe. If it was Cart, he would get a big fine.

[downforce]

Tho im a Schuey fan, I loved the gesture as it brought out the "human-ness" in F1 drivers.
I believe the salute was Cubehead's frustration at not succeeding in an outragious-outer-line excursion.
Crash helmets remove all the emotions and xpressions and we dont really know how theyre cookin inside !
Personally i would have loved to hear the song Mika was singin in Suzuka'98 after Schumi got the bad Goodyear !

[Valve Bounce]

It seemed to me that MS ws ahead of Dc so DC was making the gesture at the back of MS's head. I thought it was funny, and I am glad that when DC finally overtook MS, it was clinical and clean. We see that all the time in sailing races, especially at the gybe mark, not to mention the claims to one's ancestry. I especially remember at the start of the Sydney Hobart one year when the on board camera showed one yacht running into hte stern of another, and the comment was F*** off you stupid b*****d, and it was directly telecast around the world.

[Danielsun]

Originally posted by Valve Bounce
... the comment was F*** off you stupid b*****d, and it was directly telecast around the world.

Ah come on... they were just proving that they had plenty of Aussie blood in 'em...

Aussie!! Aussie!! Aussie!!

Oh, and I have a wonderful photo as taken at Snetterton's BTCC night race. I'll scan that in for y'all soon. It's DC to a T...

[botsquad]

that was just so wrong of david. i hope he never does such a terrible thing again. i was shocked to see such a thing.
the next time david passes michael, he should look straight ahead, avoiding eye contact.

[Danielsun]

Originally posted by botsquad
that was just so wrong of david. i hope he never does such a terrible thing again. i was shocked to see such a thing.
the next time david passes michael, he should look straight ahead, avoiding eye contact.

Have you, by chance, ever watched in-car footage of a Touring Car race? There's plenty of that sort of thing to 'savour' in there!! Serious, though, it was a bit uncalled for - it was, in hindsight, a bad move, but picture yourself in that situation on the road. I hate taxi drivers one and all for that very reason - and that's just in Brisbane; I wouldn't dare drive a car in London, having seen what people drive like here!!

So there's a nice one for you: Schumacher is a taxi driver (a pink one, just for Craig) and DC is an annoyed motorist. End of lecture.

[Liz]

The joke in NHL hockey is that Lady Byng (the woman after whom the "Most Gentlemanly Player" trophy is named) must have been deaf. Although the microphones are usually turned off during heated arguments on the ice, the cameras are not, and consequently we see an astonishing rise in the Canadian fluency in lip reading!

People in the heat of battle are likely to be intemperate. If you don't think so, imagine what probably went on at Prost GP after the last race when Heidfeld so generously punted his teammate, the calm and well-controlled Alesi - the most gentlemanly thing there was probably the hand gestures!

[Danielsun]

Do ice hockey players fight? I would never have guessed...

You're definitely right there, Liz: I'm sure that Alesi would have been doing more than just waving fingers at Heidfeld. He's not the best tempered bloke in F1 history, but of course the cameras don't follow 'backmarkers', do they, Bernie?

[botsquad]

im sorry, it's just not formula 1 form. this is not neckcar we're discussing, where most of the drivers are somehow related.

[Danielsun]

Coulthard's said he's sorry, although if you ask around, most people will tell you that he was mad for apologising. I must say that I'm with them on the issue. It's been a loooong time since anybody has been willing to stand up to Schumacher on the track, let alone away from it. The last person to do so was none other than Jacques Villeneuve in 1997.

It has been said by many motorsport journalists that it won't be too far away that a driver like Jacques, or even Montoya, won't hesitate to give as good as they get from Michael Schumacher. Meaning that if he moves across on them, they'll not move over; if Schumacher wants to cause a crash, let him be in it.

JV became World Champion for his efforts. Let's hope history repeats this time around as well...

[fatbloke]

What's your problem bobsquad ? Michael is an arse and you know it... DC rocks mister...

[botsquad]

no he's not. m.s. is fantastic driver. d.c. is having a great season. but really mr. f., formula one is not a monster truck rally. it is the ultimate racing showcase.
if d.c. wishes to behave like a rodeo clown then so be it.
m.s. can take a joke.

[Liz]

I say exile TGF to the next Knockhill race of the BTCC and see how long it takes him to understand what happens to naughty boys who use their cars as guided missiles. As Watson has been heard to observe about David Leslie, "He's going to need a Native Guide to find his way back from there!"

TGF v. Muller. I'd pay to see that!

[SL]

Liz,

It used to happen in the 1960's before the sponsers got involved. One of my earlyist memories is a Mr J Clark, Mr G Hill etc lifting a wheel or two in a Lotus Cortina trying to hold off a well drven Ford Falcon or Jag at Crystal Palace, Brands & Silverstone.

I would love to see today's F1 heros competing in other events than F1 against tin top and sports cars drivers.

Ludwig v Reuter v Lehto v Magnussen v Pirro v Plato v Reid v Menu v Neal v F1 hero's

My money would be on JJ..

Simon

[Valve Bounce]

Hey Botsquad, I loved your original post. Great humour. Keep up the good humour and ignore the objecting peasants!!