Donkey of the Race - Spanish Grand Prix 2009

[gloomyDAY]

My computer for crapping out and missing the last 5 laps.

Oh, and Trulli.

[HenryM]

ferrari

[Dave B]

Trulli for doing the equivalant of trying to join a motorway in the middle lane, and the whole of Ferrari.

[markabilly]

Trulli for doing the equivalant of trying to join a motorway in the middle lane, and the whole of Ferrari.
well at least we were spared the "trulli train", we sometimes see from him

[gloomyDAY]

I feel bad for Massa but ecstatic for Vettel.

Still keeps the Red Bull driver in the hunt for the title.

[markabilly]

Webber, for his dirty driving that could have killed bystanders.

[gloomyDAY]

Webber, for his dirty driving that could have killed bystanders.Yes, because crap drivers always end up on the podium. :p

[Hondo]

A herd of donkeys, Massa's clueless fuel load counting pit crew. What a heartbreaker for the guy.

[F1boat]

Ferrari team. AGAIN :(

[wedge]

Trulli for doing the equivalant of trying to join a motorway in the middle lane, and the whole of Ferrari.

Undeserved. Trulli got tangled with Rosberg, tried to regain control and smacked into a train of cars.

I suggest you re-watch the replays and think again.

[Ranger]

Undeserved. Trulli got tangled with Rosberg, tried to regain control and smacked into a train of cars.

I suggest you re-watch the replays and think again.

It looked like he was still mashing the throttle on the grass though...and for that there would be no excuse.

But I'd need another replay.

[Dave B]

Undeserved. Trulli got tangled with Rosberg, tried to regain control and smacked into a train of cars.

I suggest you re-watch the replays and think again.
Trulli did indeed get knocked off by Rosberg but he seemed far too anxious to get back on the track when the sensible course of action would have been to wait until the pack had passed. Instead he used his momentum to avoid getting stuck in the gravel - sensible enough - but rejoined perpendicular to the track at the exact moment half a dozen cars were approaching. Not clever.

[VkmSpouge]

I think donkey is a little harsh on Trulli, he had to take to the gravel to avoid Rosberg and then simply spun back onto the track.
I think Ferrari were the donkey today, almost running out of fuel on Massa's car, Raikkonen retiring and of course getting caught out in qualifying yesterday.

[CaptainRaiden]

Donkeys of the weekend: Ferrari

[Daniel]

Rosberg for pushing Trulli off and then trying to tangle with Button later on

[wedge]

Trulli did indeed get knocked off by Rosberg but he seemed far too anxious to get back on the track when the sensible course of action would have been to wait until the pack had passed. Instead he used his momentum to avoid getting stuck in the gravel - sensible enough - but rejoined perpendicular to the track at the exact moment half a dozen cars were approaching. Not clever.

Trulli was losing the back end, tried rallycrossing where he thought he caught the slide but completely lost the back end back on the asphalt.

Racing incident. Doesn't matter if its Formula 1 or Formula Ford. That sort of thing happens all the time. Drivers would rather keep their fingers crossed than get stuck in the gravel and retire.

[markabilly]

I think donkey is a little harsh on Trulli, he had to take to the gravel to avoid Rosberg and then simply spun back onto the track.
I think Ferrari were the donkey today, almost running out of fuel on Massa's car, Raikkonen retiring and of course getting caught out in qualifying yesterday.
That is true about trulli, after reveiwing the "tape", I think Nico put him out there.....

[truefan72]

1. Trulli
2. piquet for running LH off the road in a dangerous and potentially catastrphic move.
3. Ferrari strategy.

[truefan72]

That is true about trulli, after reveiwing the "tape", I think Nico put him out there.....

I agree with the fact that nico bumped him out, but what trulli did next was unforgivable and potentially fatal. you cannot rallycross your way back into a high speed corner with cars zooming by, knowing how rough and unpredictable your car would react at high revs and speed on the sand and curbs. IMO his stupidty in trying to wildy recover back into the track was borderline insane.

[aryan]

Ferrari.

Really, they didn't have competition in this field.

[markabilly]

I agree with the fact that nico bumped him out, but what trulli did next was unforgivable and potentially fatal. you cannot rallycross your way back into a high speed corner with cars zooming by, knowing how rough and unpredictable your car would react at high revs and speed on the sand and curbs. IMO his stupidty in trying to wildy recover back into the track was borderline insane.

See, I generally do not count first lap stupidity as being stupidity...

as I commented in one of those threads about concentrating while racing, it ALWAYS took me a number of laps to get into the zone, if I got there at all.....for that reason alone, I always figured I would never be a great racer like a Clark, Gurney, and so on.....but now in F1 i see all this first lap stupidity and think, weelllll if I were only much younger...

so is it real stupidity on the first lap? hard to say based on my experience

so on the first lap, it is hard for me to be really down on a driver, just like I was not down on Lewis or kimi for their driving on the wet track at Spa (if the track were dry, I would say otherwise)

But the later stupid moves by Webber, neslon and rico....well that is very different :rolleyes:

[woody2goody]

It's hard to find donkeys for this one really.

Glock and Nakajima for not getting the most out of their cars is the closest I can find to any 'assery' :)

Possibly Piquet for failing to spot a McLaren in his mirrors.

I don't think anyone went off the track after the first lap in terms of driving errors so there's no-one who can be pulled up for that.

[gm99]

The Ferrari team once again (minus the drivers, who can't really be blamed).

[jens]

I don't get the Trulli criticism here. No racing driver would brake and sit in the gravel after getting pushed off the track. Unfortunately couldn't see a replay from proper angle, but I saw no 'deliberate' action from Jarno to try to get back in the middle of the "highway", it was more like a spin as a result of dropping out of the race course. We have seen such situations on many occasions.

Generally Toyota's strategy didn't work out at all today again. Starts were poor, they lost positions and as Glock got stuck behind others in the first stint and pitted before everyone else, it was game over.

Ferrari - a laughingstock indeed.

[woody2goody]

I think Turkey will be a true indication of how a race plays out, as you can overtake there. Monaco will be fun though.

I'm still sure that Toyota are faster than Ferrari.

[jens]

I have to add that I'm not really fond of Red Bull's strategies either and shame Vettel lost his chance in the race due to that. :( If they had Brawn on the pitwall, I'm pretty sure they would have fuelled Vettel heavier than Massa during the first stop to get ahead of him for the last stint. But as it was, they fuelled him as much as Massa's, Vettel got stuck behind Massa again. Pitted again at the same time for second stop and again Vettel was forced to be behind Massa. :crazy: No flexibility at all. Unlike Brawn, strategies don't get changed according to track situation.



I'm still sure that Toyota are faster than Ferrari.

I doubt it, at least on that particular circuit at Barcelona.

[christophulus]

No major donkey-ing for me, not from the drivers. But for the 5th race in a row, dishonourable mention to team Ferrari - despite massively improving the car they still mess it up in the race.

[TMorel]

The fans who are still complaining at every oportunity get my vote for being the biggest donkeys

[woody2goody]

I have to add that I'm not really fond of Red Bull's strategies either and shame Vettel lost his chance in the race due to that. :( If they had Brawn on the pitwall, I'm pretty sure they would have fuelled Vettel heavier than Massa during the first stop to get ahead of him for the last stint. But as it was, they fuelled him as much as Massa's, Vettel got stuck behind Massa again. Pitted again at the same time for second stop and again Vettel was forced to be behind Massa. :crazy: No flexibility at all. Unlike Brawn, strategies don't get changed according to track situation.


He was so much faster than Massa he could have put lots of fuel in it. by doing so, he would have had more laps on the soft tyres, which would have still given him a small chance to win.

[Ari]

Kimi and Ferrari team. Not quite fast enough in Q2. Blew their weekend.

Special mention to F1 Safety Inspector Markabilly! ;)

[DexDexter]

This is bit controversial but for me the donkey of the race was the whole Mclaren team. Yet another reliability problem, Hamilton totally missed the start, destroyed his tires and finished outside the points. Plus the drivers cannot make up their minds on whether a front wing works or not.

[RJL25]

Webber, for his dirty driving that could have killed bystanders.

christ man do you have an off button or something?

[leopard]

I don't get the Trulli criticism here. No racing driver would brake and sit in the gravel after getting pushed off the track. Unfortunately couldn't see a replay from proper angle, but I saw no 'deliberate' action from Jarno to try to get back in the middle of the "highway", it was more like a spin as a result of dropping out of the race course. We have seen such situations on many occasions.


I would ask this on who initiated accident at the first lap has caused some drivers including duo Sbastian retired early. Yeah It looked like Jarno the off spinner undeliberately trying to get back cut across the track diagonally. Else Sutil didn't have enough alertness to avoid hitting Jarno and triggering drivers behind collided in the incident.

Perhaps that occurrence will not happen, if Sutil has avoidance technique as good as Alonso...

[stevie_gerrard]

I think the award goes to Ferrari for ruining Massas chance of a podium by not fuelling up his car long enough.

[Knock-on]

JT was a bit of a Donkey. He held his boot in, over corrected and T boned straight back into the pack.

No reason he couldn't have kept over the gravel to rejoin a bit futher back. However, just one of those things.

The Ferrari team are woefull at the moment. Whatever Kimi and his engineers were thinking I have no idea. Do they not learn basic, fundemental lessons? After the Massa issue, you would think they wouldn't do exactly the same.

Then the keystone kops issue with short fuelling Massa. I really feel sorry for the poor lad and he's going to have his confidence destroyed soon if this goes on much longer.

[Tallgeese]

Hamilton, first he killed his tyres, then he ended up being over-lapped & failed to score a point.

[wedge]

No reason he couldn't have kept over the gravel to rejoin a bit futher back.

Have you tried riding buckaroo? Trulli was trying to hang on to the back end of the car.

[Knock-on]

Have you tried riding buckaroo? Trulli was trying to hang on to the back end of the car.

Call me old fashioned but if you're on the gravel, keep your boot in and steerr hard left, there's a chance you may over cook it and career left with little control.

[I am evil Homer]

This is bit controversial but for me the donkey of the race was the whole Mclaren team. Yet another reliability problem, Hamilton totally missed the start, destroyed his tires and finished outside the points. Plus the drivers cannot make up their minds on whether a front wing works or not.

There were far worse offenders than McLaren - it was obvious they would struggle at Barcelona and Hamilton was screwed by the first lap incident. Finishing 9th was something a result given what happened.

[wedge]

Call me old fashioned but if you're on the gravel, keep your boot in and steerr hard left, there's a chance you may over cook it and career left with little control.

Steer more to the right and would risk getting stuck in the gravel.

A driver compromises saving their own skin to stay in the race and causing a further mess.

Happens all the time eg. in Touring cars when a FWD car goes in a spin a driver puts his foot down to correct the car but risks creating carnage.

[Knock-on]

Steer more to the right and would risk getting stuck in the gravel.

A driver compromises saving their own skin to stay in the race and causing a further mess.

Happens all the time eg. in Touring cars when a FWD car goes in a spin a driver puts his foot down to correct the car but risks creating carnage.


I know about Touring cars and they can be idiots as well. They're always doing it at Croft causing bedlem.

However, the Toyota could have driven through the gravel up to the corner and rejoined there. He would have maintained momentum because he would not be turning the wheels and nobody would have been smashed out of the race.

[71minus2]

FERRARI

:rotflmao: :rotflmao: :rotflmao: :rotflmao: :rotflmao:

[555-04Q2]

The Ferrari Team in general. It goes from bad to worse :down:

Feel sorry for Massa and Kimi, 2009 looks like its gonna be a looooooooong one for them.

[ShiftingGears]

The Ferrari Team. Poor reliability, consistent blunders, whether that is the fault of the equipment or the pit crew.

[DexDexter]

There were far worse offenders than McLaren - it was obvious they would struggle at Barcelona and Hamilton was screwed by the first lap incident. Finishing 9th was something a result given what happened.

How come Hamilton was screwed and some other people always screw themselves in identical situations.....? Using the logic people use here against a certain Finnish driver I must ask how can the world champion have a such a bad car, he should really lead the team and make them improve the car and not give negative comments after the race. I mean the guy gives up after five races and probably eats fish and chips after the race happily! Now If Alonso or Schumi were at the team, they would surely do better... Do I really think so, no. :)

[52Paddy]

Just to be different, I'll mention two donkeys of the weekend in my opinion.

Sebastien Bourdais: Crap in quali, despite new improvements for the Toro Rosso at the weekend and then runs over the back of his team mate at turn 2, taking them both out of contention in the race. If you watch the footage from that first lap mess, Bourdais hit the back of (subsequently going over the back) Buemi's car before Trulli or Sutil created further havoc 1 or 2 seconds later.

Heikki Kovalainen (or just Heikki's car): Miserable qualifying attempt. He did complain of a lack of grip, in which case his car must have been driving like a...well...donkey. Then mechanical glitches took him out of the race. Probably just as well because I reckon he would have wasted his time trying to get a result yesterday.

[Garry Walker]

FERRARI
Sutil