Did M.Schumacher make a wrong decision?

[Gerard]

Did Schumacher make the wrong decision when he went off in the first corner?
To me it seemed he kept the engine running, started moving again and then stopped almost in the middle of the track.
I may be wrong here but I have the impression he did this on purpose?
Was he hoping for a red flag in order to be able to re-start the race in the T-car?
But since the marshalls cleared the track very quickly the race went on.
Shouldn't he have continued to drive around to the pits and get the car's nose fixed?
Jacques Villeneuve stormed through the field to 4th, I'm sure Schumacher could have done the same.
Wrong decision here by Schumacher or not?

[Stonegold]

I don't know if he made the right decision, try to get a red flag situation!!! We don't know if Schumacher stalled his car on purpuse!!

When you are a race driver, and particulary in formula1, you don't have much time to think in some situations, and therefore you do what you have to do.
When Schumacher decided to go for a red flag, he was pretty sure of the situation he was in, so I can only say that, when he stalled his car on the track, he made the right decision for himselve at the moment.

[Liz]

That is exactly what I thought when I saw that he'd done it: deliberate attempt to engineer a Red Flag and get do-overs. Anyone who was not TGF would have got a very severe penalty for that. I am sure he will get only a shaken finger and a "Naughty Boy" from the race stewards.

Meanwhile, quiet obedient Rubens gets the points. Makes you want to go "HMMMMMM" ....

[Sharky]

Well, I neve thought about it that way Gerard but now that you mention it.....it makes perfect sense. And the best part is that he didn't get away with it. Take that!! He he he.

[Diabando]

I actually sat back and wondered about this as I watched the race. I know at the time, its hard to think of all the options, but in HINDSIGHT, he should have kept driving. The is no question that he would have eneded up with one or two points at the end of the race, and when it comes down to the wire, thats all he may need.

[Mr.S]

SEE, thats what happens when TGF tries to be smart! If he had kept going it would have been a hell-of-a-race for us too.

[downforce]

Gerard !!!
Do we know for sure that he stalled on purpose?
Chris Goodwin said his rear suspension was busted too, not jus the wing.

Liz!!!
How abt "deliberate attempt to engineer a non-finishing Ferrari No.3, by YOUR fav. Zonta...in a bid to get bak his Mclaren testing seat for 2001"?????

How abt it????

As for the Dusbin...pooh...Xcuse time!!

[Nuvolari]

Sturm und drang . . . sturm und drang!

[Peter Mallett]

Originally posted by Nuvolari
Sturm und drang . . . sturm und drang!

Huh?

For what its worth I couldn't understand the commentary so when I saw TGF try to park on the track I thought he was engineering a red flag. You have to admire his presence of mind if that was the case.

As to Rubens? He was just as poor as ever. He let the Macaroons go. I doubt that Ferrari really wanted the Macs to win without any pressure at all.

[Sparky]

Personally, I believe the no.1 Ferrari was beyond repair. He had a shove from behind, so heaven only knows what damage was done there, gearbox, suspension, rear wing, etc. But also, from the overhead shots of MS pulling back on to the circuit, his front suspension looked ka-ka too. It looked like a distorted/damaged wishbone or steering on the left-hand side. Was he pushed into anyone else?

I'm certain that by pulling onto the circuit, he went for the red flag. But he must have known the car would never have even made it back to the pits for repair.

[Schume]

From the interview he gave when he got back to the pits it was fairly obvious that TGF was hoping that the race would be red flagged.

Whatever you think of the guy it shows the way he thinks and his speed of thought.

He was hit from behind by Zonta, spun into the gravel, hit in front by Trulli, manages to keep the engine running, gets his trashed car back on the track and cuts the engine.
So in a fractions of a second he has excuted a plan to try and get the race red flagged.

Ok so it didn't happen, imagine the protest if the race had been stopped, TGF gets back to the spare car etc etc.

[Valve Bounce]

My first impression was that he was hoping for a red flag - this track is very short with a lap time around 1'14", so I was dreading cars coming around. Great that the marshals were so effective in removing the car. I will have another look at the tape, frame by frame of the incident to see what damage could have been done.

[Red]

I'm not sure about rear suspension, but I saw on my TV that his front wheels (Sparky, I thought it was the right wheel) had very strange angles. I suspect that he tried to return on the track (he didn't stall), then he saw that his direction-rod (steering rod? is this the correct term?) were broken and he realized that he couldn’t make a whole lap with only three wheels, or no steering at all. And even if he could make it to the pits, I think it was terminal (considering that maybe a rear suspension was gone too).

Anyway, a Red Flag was the only solution, but I don't think he bet all his money on that (maybe he didn't know about the FIA conspiracy that favors him) I think that he really hoped he could continue the race. Anyway, I agree with Schume, he did his best considering the situation.

And of course he hoped for a red flag, what do you expected? I hoped a red flag as well and I'm not leading the F1 WDC!

[Meister]

Hi,

I think Schumacher did the right thing. Anyone else in his situation would have done exactly the same (if he did anything on purpose to get a red flag).

Personally I would have been pretty pi**ed off if somebody crashed into me and knocked me out of the race and I would have tried to get a red flag too.

Marco

[Sharky]

Sparky. I really don't think that the car was beyond repair. He was really "pushed" instead of "hit" by Zonta unlike Barichello that got hit in the back by trulli (I think) and broke his floor. And when he tried to rejoin the track his steering seemed to work just fine and It looked to me as if the suspension was just fine.

[Marshal]

Sharky, I'll think you'll find if you look again that the front wheels were pointing in different directions, as a result of Trulli running into the front of TGF after he'd been punted round by Zonta.

All this talk of deliberate blocking of the track to get a red flag reminds me of when Russell Spence spun his F3000 car at Birmingham, and then stood on the brakes so the Marshals couldn't move it. After a brief discussion where he intimated that he didn't want to get out, it was decided to lift the car off anyway, with Mr. Spence still on board. I don't think he saw the funny side of the situation, if his hand gestures at the time were anything to go by.

As a further aside, to stop arguments about this sort of thing you could always propose the speedway system where whoever caused the red flag doesn't get to restart.

[marcus]

of course he wanted a red flag..there is no doubt about it..and it was a natural thing to do..i wish it was red flagged and he got to have another go as i found this race a very boring one...also take a look again at the incident and you will see Fisichella do exactly the same thing ..which must have annoyed ralf schumacher because it gave him nowhere to go but into the back of the benetton...but in all of this the one thing that hasnt been done (unless i missed it) was the excellent work by the marshalls in clearing the track...maybe more tracks should take a look at that and maybe learn a few things

[Mr.S]

Schumacher did do the right thing, any driver would have tried the same, I just watched the tape again.

And about RB, I don’t know what the rest of the world saw after the race, but on TSN they were broadcasting images of the cars going by one turn, just to put something on screen while Vic and Jerry Donaldson were discussing the race. Anyway When a Ferrari went by, you could clearly see that the rear diffuser was "not in working order", it was bouncing around, that would explain the car being loose.

[bondibill]

I think we should be congratulating TGF for having the presence of mind to try to have the race stopped, and save us from the tedium that we had to endure . In agreement with Red and Marshal, from the overhead shot it looked as though his car was too badly damaged to continue, although I'll happily be corrected on that TV does do funny things to angles sometimes.

Looking at the tape of the incident, is it possible that if Zonta hadn't tail-ended him, it looks like TGF was going to take RB out anyway!

As for RB I think he did a fantastic job just to bring his "loose" car home for third (or will it be second??).

[Liz]

Here's a new thought: If TGF had got that red flag and gone on to victory, do you think anybody would have checked Cranky Mika's "brain" to see if all its seals were sealed? Or were we saving that one in reserve just in case it was needed?

In the interest of fairness, I think TGF was remarkably restrained in his characterization of Ricardo. And I see that in today's paper DC says, "I don't know what happened, but I am sure Michael is to blame." He was smiling, it says here, but what do you think? Was he joking?

[Unknown Soldier]

I thought that TGF trying to stall and get a re-start was quite clever. He has a WDC to think about.

Nice comment from DC. Still talking smack towards TGF. You gotta love it.

[EERO]

Schumacher's a shrewd ****, and I'm not surprised in the least. The car looked pretty bad to me, and I doubt he could have made it around. I sure thought they'd Red Flag the race.

I find DC's pot shots rather amusing-at least he's standing up to the Schumacher juggernaut and not rolling over and playing dead.

[Nuvolari]

Sturm und drang, Peter -- storm and stress (literally). Turmoil.

I find amusing all the hand-wringing and speculation over Schu's imagined machinations.

[Minardi fan]

HA HA HA HA HARDY HA HA HA HA HA!

Once again Mr. Schumacher's attempts at blatant cheating fail. Hurrah!

Oh, the cheer when he went off...

AND I WAS THERE TO SEE IT!!!

[Slowcoach]

I'm with Sparky on this one - I think the overhead shot showed his front suspension was knackered , he had done well to keep the engine going and just gave it a bootfull to get going again but once he'd done that he realised his front was shot he just turned it off . Although I am no expert on red flag vs safety car issues I doubt that he thought by putting his car where he did he could stop the race , the marshals can normally shove them out of the way pretty quickly - surely one's natural instinct is to try and get going again , which he tried.......The thing that I thought was most suspicious was how forgiving he seemed when interviewed afterwards , he must be up to something !