MS blames Sato

[neilap]

Wonders never cease. MS thinks Sato was to blame for him running into the back of the BAR. In his words Sato shut the door on him. He thinks Sato left the lane open for him to get through. For some reason it seems, he feels people should move out of his way.

MS drove what would amount to one of the worse races in his career. He could not even get by the slooow Toyota. Instead he decided to play it safe (after he caused a near pile up). I suppose that was DaMattas fault too.

[Wrex]

Is there a contest at the moment as to which driver (Michael or JV) can have the most bashing threads?

I would'nt agree it was his worst race (far from it), and I dont think he could'nt get past the Toyota, the risk was high with a nil return.

I will agree however than there is no way it was Sato's fault. MS made (and I'm being generous) an ambtious move, and paid the price.

Racing incident, nothing else.

[Adam43]

This surprises me because I am sure I read Micheal does NOT blame Sato.

Sato did shut the door, but he was allowed to.

Looking at Michaels quote in that article I think you could say Sato took the normal line and didn't defend because Michael was so far back.

I suspect this has come our of some journalist desperate for something to say, although the Michael quote seems fairly straight.

[Super Tourer]

They looked pretty matey in Parc Ferme after the race...

[Bononi]

That's it. the usual off season bashing has started ! What about 1997 ?

[Mr V]

Definatly Michaels fault in that one, he was too far back to get through, Taku would have had to have come to a stand still for Michael to come through.

[Peter Mallett]

Tch! Then he goes further and blames Da Matta for flatspotting his tyres!

[Smokey 6 litre]

i really don't think there was any way MS was going to get past Sato when he tried, he was nowhere near close enough.
Sato didn't shut the door, he just took his normal line through the corner.
And i really dont think Sato would've given in that easilly in front of his home crowd.

[DSM]

I saw and heard MS SAY on TV that he had made the day difficult for himself, especially with his move on TS. doesn't sound like he blames him?!
I think MS assumed TS was moving out of his way because he was taking a very late turn in, which he was entitled to do. I guess history has shown MS that most, especially rookie(ish) drivers WILL move over so he made that assumption. To TS's credit he didn't and to MS's credit he didn't whinge about it.

[Mr V]

The question should be....why should he keep the door open in the first place?

Taku and Da Matta drove brilliantly under alot of pressure from Michael yesterday and they should be applauded for it.

Makes a nice change from 1998 when Michael had to start from the back at Suzuka and everyone was litrally jumping off the track to get out of his way......until he came up to the back of Damon that is

[neilap]

Maybe I should have thought about it more before I posted this. I did not really want to bash MS, its just that I found it strange he would blame TS. Like Adam said it could just be the journalist attempting to spice things up. Oh well its too late now.

[Irv the Swerve]

I think Mick drove like someone who was nervous as hell to be honest. His situation coming into the race was such that he had everything to lose. The move on Sato and subsequent attempt on Da Matta seem to support that. Having said that, he got out of jail well and seemed to wait for the race to come back to him rather than go head first into a passing spree. Maybe Ross Brawn was giving him some soothing words on the radio, trying to calm him a bit.

The highlight of the race for me was Ralf. What a legend.
His brother is going to be the first driver to score a sixth world championship, and beat Juan Manuel Fangio's record and what does he do - throw it up the inside, then almost drive Mick off the road at the chicane (although Mick made himself difficult to avoid).

Ralf has gone up in my estimation.

[Redblurr]

Originally posted by neilap
Wonders never cease. MS drove what would amount to one of the worse races in his career.

Are you sure? What did he gain by driving his worse race of his career? Only number 6. Come on, no more meat on those bones is there.

[Red]

Bah, nowhere did Schumacher say or blamed Sato in anyway. Other than the title that F1racing put on top of the story.

[Jordi]

Atlas F1 is more reliable and yes, it said that Schumi blamed Sato. It was only a mild blame, not a Montoya type one

But yeah, whether he's right or wrong, it was his mistake. He should know by now that at the Suzuka chicane "two don't fit if one doesn't want"

[garcon]

* Yawn yawn yawn *

Paraphrasing: "I thought Sato had left the door open for me so I went for it, but he had other ideas."

Don't really see any blame there. You Schumi bashers really are scraping the barrel aren't you. I suppose he should get a life ban for defending his position against ralf too.

Maybe you should all spend the winter following some local indoor karting series and remind yourselves that the essence of motorsport from grass roots to Formula 1 is overtaking, and however much you cry foul it's perfectly legal for the driver(s) you hate to attempt to overtake the driver(s) you love.

Someone close the thread - I'm bored of this pathetic nonsense, and I've said my bit now...

[climb]

you're right, Garcon,
it would be so easy to just say:
"Ok, we hate MS and can't stand that he won, thus we'll search for any argument not to acknowledge his victory!"

[neilap]

Originally posted by garcon
* Yawn yawn yawn *
Someone close the thread - I'm bored of this pathetic nonsense, and I've said my bit now...

Here is an easier solution just dont come back to the thread. Simple enough. (I guess the wink makes it not as bad so I will do it too)

The reason I said he drove what may be his worst race is because he looked shabby all race. I have seen him spin from boredom but never seen him maks so many rookie errors. Yes, in the end it came together but even he was not satisfied with his performance. He wanted to win the title with at least a good race.

As for overtaking, I think we are getting overboard. I am not bashing MS and I am not saying he should not overtake. However, imagin the roles were reversed. Imagine if Sato had hit MS. We would have been calling for a lynching.

[Adam43]

To be fair to neilap the title of the story is all that has been discussed here. And neilap's subsequent posts confirm that this is no intentional bash.

I feel there is no reason to start bleating that "if this had been another driver" or similar bashes to retaliate against the first bash. Or say only a so and so fan would say that. Just argue that Michael doesn't actually think that, which most have done.

Also I think it is fair (if that is your opinion) to say Michael didn't have one of his best races in Suzuka without distracting from his 6 titles. He did what was needed, but it was a bit messy! Still it was what was needed.

[James Elder]

I don't think this is particularly Schuey having a go at Sato, it just seems the way it was said has allowed it to get a bit twisted. He just didn't expect Sato to do what he did.

[Red]

Yeah, media twists words, now that's flash news...

PS: Belated welcome to 1010ths by the way.

[garcon]

Now if you'd put it like that at first, Neil...

OK, I relent. I guess I've just read too many really desperate Schumi bashing posts lately...

Michael himself said it hadn't exactly been his best race - despite the fact he'd done enough he was obviously disappointed not to finish with a flourish.

Of course the media will attempt to add their own spin on any and every quote they can, and of course the fans will continue to lap it up... anything to back up their own twisted idea that Michael's nothing more than an arrogant cheat .

[johanv]

Hi all. MS said on German RTL in regards to the Sato inncident that he (ms) was "stupid". ("Dummigheit von mir" or something like that).

[Jordi]

Headline: "Schumacher finally admits it!"

[Adam43]

Welcome. johanv.

BTW your not helping you know