Would you crash as a 20-year old F1 driver if your team boss so demands?

Now before you all post your replies think careful!

You are 20 years old, you have had a string of bad driving/luck in your first races and your contract is up but has not been renewed.
Your team boss is also your manager and has not shopped other teams for a next-season-seat.

Since age 3 you wanted nothing more than to become a Formula 1 driver. You have given up friends and your youth. You finally achieved that dream and now you are faced with this question from your team boss:
"will you crash for the team?"

Your answer is:

 

No. Life is full of crossroads. It isn't about the circumstances, it is about your own moral compass. Everytime.

 

At age 20 is the key note.
With everything that you have to sacrifice to get to F1 the temptation to do what you are told is just too great.
So at age 20 I would have as well.
Today, different story!

 

If you want to stay in F1 you would.

That is why I would never want to race in F1, and why Juan Pablo left...he hated the constant BS.

MB

 

Only if they promise to make me famous one day....

 

More to the point, if you'd done so, would you then go running around a year later, saying "The Devil made me do it!"?


Given Jr's record, I can imagine that Briatore's comment might have just been, "If you're gonna crash *again*, at least do it on lap 14 where it'll do the team some good."

I'm waiting to see if Alonso pits on lap 12 again this year, just for spite.
(Heck, betting on an SC period is still a good bet, at that track.)

The term is "infamous".

 

I voted no, but I wouldn't walk out. I'd make sure my meetings from then on were recorded and I'd do what I could to make the authorities aware of what I'd been asked to do. If I could get a recording of my boss repeating his request I'd go to the authorities with it. That way I get to finish the race and stay in F1 and help to rid F1 of an unsavoury character.

Now, if I was a cowardly and greedy driver who had never had a quick team-mate and my more famous and successful father owned the teams where I had acheived any success my answer might be different. In fact I might even crash and say nothing about it until my boss completely lost patience with my poor performance and had to sack me. Then, and only then, I would spill the beans as long as I was promised that there would be no punishment for me. I'd probably then even have the audacity to release a statement whining about the pressure I had been under and hoping to get another chance in F1!

 

If i was in a Piquet jr shoes, (rich Daddy, no need to work for a living) i would have walked away..

If I was in a Kubica shoes (starting from nothing,poor; and having to pay debts to my old racing team who invested on me to get me in F1) I would have seriously thought about it...

 

It depends on the situation.


Lets say, I was a rookie, and up until the singapore I had a good year as a rookie, but in an uncompetitive car I scored only 8 points whereas my more experienced double world champion team mate scored 15. I've made few mistakes over the whole season and got in Q3 3 times.

Seeing as I did reasonably well, I'd be sure the year after I can either stay with the team or move over to a better one. If my team boss told me to deliberately crash in return for a drive next season I'd tell him to shove the contract up his ass.


Lets say I'm a rookie again, same 2x WCC team mate and my year hasn't been good. I've made a couple of mistakes over the season, spinning out in a lot of my races and a few crashes. My team mate has had fewer spins but the car isn't very competitive and he's scored 12 points compared to my 3. We recieve an upgrade for the weekend in question, and my teammate looks good for pole position. His car breaks down after going into Q2. He fails to set a time but in Q1 he was a lot quicker than me. I fail to get out of Q2, my Q2 time on fumes still slower than my team mate did in Q1. My team boss asks me to have deliberate crash in the early stages of the GP so my team mate can have an advantage and end up on the podium, in exchange for a seat for the next season.

I sign the papers the same day and try and prove myself the season after. I crash on raceday and next season I'll try and beat my team mate more often.

Piquet failed in the last bit though. Signed the papers but failed to make himself look better.

 

Perfectly answered.

 

+1!

 

You are still making statements that are simply UNTRUE! Read the documents. He did not say any such thing. They clearly came up to him with a pre-determined plan for him to crash in a certain lap and at a certain corner. These are facts.

I hope Alonso has some failure again and is eliminated in Q1 or back of Q2 and see if they actually employ the 3-stop strategy without knowing if and at what lap the SC comes out. Yeah...like that is going to happen.

Then again, you will be screaming if he is P3 and does the 3-stopper as 'revenge' for the nay-sayers, without having any understanding of strategy whatsoever. Please refer to my previous posts in other threads on your analogy.

Just for spite maybe he should show us in the race how you recover from losing rear grip and then going full throttle to 'save-it'. Since he commented on that to Pat after the inquiries as an argument point to the Stewards.

See the FIA should have come back and said, okay, so this time around Alonso MUST start in P15 or worse and MUST do the original fuel strategy of 08. Now that would have been a verdict.

 

I would not crash the car under team orders. On top of that I would look for a new manager at that point.

The thing I am surprised that FIA has not done is remove the possible conflict of interest. Where the drivers manager also happens to be the team principal that the driver drives for. Perhaps after crash gate the FIA will see that this is a can of worms that needs to be closed.

 

I would have pushed as hard as I could. After the race, I would have sat down and introduced Flavio to my new manager, Nelson Piquet Sr., who would find me a new team next year along with Flavio's full blessing and cooperation. No funny business, innuendo or tampering of any sort. Anything perceived as obstruction will require me to explain to the world, in full, why I have arrived at this juncture.

 

No fair--that's been used

 

As in "the statements from Piquet Jr"?

Yes, I understand that you have the pitchforks and torches lit up for Flav.

I just think that these things aren't always quite as "Prof Moriarity" as they're made out. Very few people think of themselves as being a sinister villain.

Of course, it might also be that Flav was saying, 'Max is my pal this week, we can do whatever we want.' That's also possible.

I don't know -- I wasn't in the room .... and I'm not sure I'd trust the word of anyone who *was* in the room.

If you look at the statements of the various parties, the truth usually lies somewhere in between.
But when one party makes no statements, it's a bit difficult.


But you can still improve your position by taking advantage of an SC period, even without planning one. That's just betting with the odds.

You can usually count on an SC period at Monaco or Canada, and I'd guess the same would apply to Singapore.

 

Armchair racing is fun.

I havent seen the video or the race, but if the crash could be done somewhere "safe", i would have thought a lot about doing it.

Some other drivers did (Schumi, Senna, Prost...).

 

I don't think they were asked to crash in order to help their team-mate and agreed in the hope of being able to continue racing in F1. In the examples you cite they were trying to beat their opponents and used probably unacceptable methods. They did not 'fix' a race.

 

There is far more to loose by saying yes, lets start with respect.

 

In general you would be right but here, in the documents it makes it very clear that what Nelson Jr. said about the meeting and what was discussed in those meetings was factural.

There were three people.
Flavio when questioned refused to answer and lied and so no, he would never.
Pat Symonds answered various questions of the Stewards and only on those questions that implicated his involvement he said he rather not answer them. When questioned back how that would have to be interpreted by the stewards and the investigation he said that he understands that they would reach such conclusions, meaning that he understands that they believe that is what happened. Questions that were posed to Pat directly as: Mr. Piquet Jr. said...
And then there is the Piquet statement.

There is also the fact that Nelson Piquet Sen went in October to Whiting and told him about this fixing. As you will read in the documents, if you care to, Neson Jr's contract was not renewed until early November 2008.

My friend on the SC I would love to have you on my competitors team as a strategist. You sure would win me races.

Since you don't know when a SC deploys betting on it is like playing blind Roulette. 36 numbers, plus 2 Zeros and then there are all the Odd bets. Since you are blind you have no clue if you actually placed your chips on the right table.
I have used the idea of a SC with my strategist in a few races. Those are entirely different races though and had more to do with calculating fuel stops than with gaining position.
In F1 betting on a SC is completely rediculous. As a perfect example, the Singapore race of 2008...you knw, the one Nelson Jr. crashed? See all the front runners that had to fuel while the pits were closed or run out of fuel period. The only way to strategize SC into MC and Singapore is, to give yourself a 2-lap cushion in case the SC comes out in just those last 2 laps.

 

You absolutely positively do what the boss tells you to do. And to the best of your ability.
If not form your own team.

 

NOT to do list:

1. Take it up the azz

2. Crash on demand

 

Crashing to take your opponent out is 'fixing' a race. Sure they werent asked but they did so, for a championship or even for a pole position (Schumi @ Monaco..).

 

I see it as this,IF I was an F1 driver it would be with Ferrari(prefferably).If they told me to,I would simply ignore it and make my case to LDM after.I would simply explain I have to much pride to carry THAT order out.

 

So you're batting .500--not too shabby