WHAT HAPPENED?
as I said before : Montoya is a Kamikaze, he is going to kill somebody, but i hope it will be himself....
Please change the title to this thread. Not that MS does not make mistakes but on this occassion it was Juan pablo Montoya's fault who has difficulty seeing that the leader car in front of him sets the pace. So he cannot ram into thecar infront and cry like a baby. I can't wait to hear Montoya whine about this till some one puts a baby teether back into his socket again. and according to www.f1live.com ... the dodo brain they call Montoya wants to get out of his contract with McLaren for next season.
This was definately not MS' fault, as he is the leader at the moment of the incident, under yellow flag and behind the pacecar..... the leader(MS) sets the pace, and Montoya just have to stay behind the leader as long as the pace car is on the track! I sure hope Montoya will have a penalty after this incident....he seems without hesitation to run direct into the back of Michaels Ferrari!!!! I say....MONTOYA OUT OF FORMULA 1 BEFORE SOMEONE IS GETTING KILLED....who will vote for that??? Greetings Carsten Christiansen Automotive artist
Just because the leader can "set the pace" doesn't mean the leader can just slam on the brakes at any moment and expect nothing to happen. Why schumi would slam on the brakes (to the point of locking up the tires) knowing that someone is close behind is beyond me. Anyone have an explaination for that - other than "he is the leader and can set the pace"?
-there was a safety car procedure -there was a yellow flag -MS was the leader and can slow down or drive as fast as he will. -JPM had to slow down in the tunnel and keep distance and pay attention... always the same with JPM : he thinks : Michael did something wrong..i am the best...
Although JPM shares most of the burden of responsiblity for this wreck. We can't just dismiss Michael's (the greatest racer of all time) mistake. What was he thinking!!
Answer to your question The Safety Car ws due out on that lap. It is commong race tactic at Monaco to slow down while exiting the tunnel bend so that other cars have to brake and this gives you a greater gap when the safety car leaves. So Schumacher was well wihin the race tactics having been set after several decades of racing to do what he did. The leader slams on the brakes. The back markers and racers in persuit slow down. The leader gets a bigger gap when the Safety Car exits.
Oh come on. Schumacher slammed his brakes on right in front of Montoya and veered to the right. JPM couldn't react fast enough to Schumacher's erratic movements. This isn't the first time the German has done this.
Look like Michaels mistake to me reasons : you do not lock up your brakes in a dark tunnel behind the safety car in a TURN and expect there NOT to be a possible chain reaction M.S. does not own the track ! M.S. has run into the back of people too remember Belgium ? in the rain ? he plowed into the back of Coulthart
So much was at stake for MS ( breaking Seana's record ) and his perfect season. Do you think Ralph feels bad for his brother? The yellow caution was caused in part do-to Ralph when the second-place car tried to pass him. Maybe Ralph could have let the pass happen? Maybe he made it tough, even though he wasn't in the race? (not Ralphs fault but he was part of the event) Now the yellow clearly led to MS trying to jack-up the entire field with a sneaky brake jab, but this time it back-fierd on him and he locked his front right. Gee when you do that in front of 15 race cars...someone is going to suffer damage. Luckly the right guy got caught in this little cheat. So Ralph was a small part of what started it, and MS finished it.... too bad for the family just a small sad asterik in the history books of what could have been a perfect season.
a.) Somebody put a spoiler in the subject. (that's one demerit.) b.) I wonder if MS didn't hit a rubber streak left by RS while he was trying to avoid the other crash at the tunnel exit. That might account for the brake lockup on Schumi's car. If this happened on the street -- well, it did happen on a street -- but if it happened in traffic on a public road in a non-"no fault" state, JPM would be deemed "at fault" for failure to maintain control. But on a race circuit, there's not a lot of spare control to be had ... especially if you drive like JPM. It's on the fuzzy line, but I think it will come down on the side of "race incident", by a slim margin. But then, what do I know? My other forecasts for the weekend weren't all that accurate: It was pretty much a lock that somebody would get it all wrong at that spot -- FA wasn't a surprise, but MS was. But nobody jumped the start, nobody lost a whole wing in T1 (some debris, but Speed channel didn't know where it came from), ... and Speed Channel's coverage was remarkably devoid of the usual Bikini Boat Babes. (Maybe the (also not so accurate) weather forecast kept them away.)
Michael was warming his brakes up during that lap as the safety car was due to come in at the end of it. Normal practice for all drivers. Montoya had no reason to be so close behind MS at that point particularly as he was a lap down. I see Trulli is quoted as saying 'I tend to leave a gap to the car in front but Montoya did not seem to...'. According to the UK TV commentary MOntoya was apologetic about the incident when talking to his team on the radio afterwards.
Michael's "check engine" and "slow down 1-4" came on. He then crapped his pants (like some people here do) He then slammed on his brakes and proceeded to pull over to the side of the road. (like some people here do) Thus, he was following the owners manual and typical ownership behaviour. I change my mind. It's not his fault.
According to report, MS was trying to warm up his brakes and also giving himself a little between himself and the pace car to warm up his tyres. I think he may also be anticipating JPM's infamous "re-start" manuvers (some people seems to think that JPM is brave and talented at passing on re-starts, I personally think most of his moves were more dangerous, selfish and idiotic) even know that JPM is already a lap down. However, I think it was an unfortunate accident that JPM struck MS as JPM should pay more attention to what MS was doing. BTW, there are also reports about JPM not wanting to go to McLaren now and is seeking other drives. If this is true, I would have to say that JPM is the biggest cry-baby of all time. I was a JPM fan once, but with all the recent events, I am really disappointed at him. I hope that all the top teams will see JPM's lack of loyality and integrity and not sign him to any contract. Let him go circle around in a Minardi, what a spoiled brat!!
when losing a good discussion... destroy the debate and run. I wonder what owner's manual that came out of.
Real Bright of Schumacher to Slam on his brakes in a TUNNEL. JPM should have been more careful as well, but usually the FIA don't do squat about MS's antics. This time Montoya got away with it and Schumacher did not.
I can't believe a lot of comments I'm reading here. To me it's fairly evident that MS was mostly (as in 95 % + ) to blame for that incident. The way in which he locked his brakes and swerved to one side was irresponsible especially in a dark tunnel with other cars following close behind. Plus it was totally unnecessary from what I could see, there was no visible debris and the pace car wasn't making any sudden erratic movements. My dad (who was watching the race with me) was of the opinion that MS' car could have had some mechanical probems leading to that erratic behaviour, and if that were the case, MS can be absolved of blame. But if MS was doing it volitionally, especially in some misguided attempt at race strategy, the blame falls squarely on his shoulder. Thank goodness he was the only one to suffer the consqequences, at least he didn't take out Montoya as a result of his rashness.
I agree. Unfortunately most of this board doesn't like Montoya. As brilliant as Schumacher is, his swerve and brake test on Montoya aren't so bright. Montoya is probably one of the only guys who don't put up with his tactics. After all Schumacher ran into the back of Coulthard in SPA in 98 under dubious conditions.
