Waltzing in Remus.
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The Austrian track Spielberg has a rather interesting configuration. It is a high-speed
circuit, but there are two very artful corners - Castrol and
Remus. They are interesting because of their unusual configuration of
exit. Seems that you already have passed the corner and it's time to
push, but only after you did it you understand that you actually
only on the apex of the corner and there's much to go to the exit The pirouettes drivers were showing in these two corners during all week-end, induced me on the different |
ideas. Looking on
Jaques Villeneuve I
thought of mutual relations of those years, that Canadian has lost in
BAR, and millions of dollars that he
has earned for it; looking on Eddie Irvine - about the vicissitudes of fate, which has made a Championship title contender and then an idol of almost half of an England from an ordinary driver; on
Kimi Raikkonen - about the Formula 1 future and how long
Mika Hakkinen will
continue his career I did not see such a quantity of mistakes for one qualifying hour for a very long time! Mistakes were made by absolutely everyone. Someone
was quitting too widely from corners and lifted up clouds of
sand into the air , and someone simply didn't get into these
corners. Austrian Grand Prix threatened to become a comedy of mistakes, but has finished with a scandal.
Nick is really quick.
When Nick Heidfeld made his debut last in
Prost, it has not caused any agiotage. And during his first season in Formula 1 he didn't give us a reason to talk about his person. Young German remembered us only by senseless skirmishes with his teammate
Jean Alesi. And by the end of a season he was dismissed from
Alain
Prost's team the completely tremendous diagnosis - hasn't went along with team's strategic plans! Seems that
Gaston Mazzacane was a better choice! Heidfeld switched to
Sauber. And, having received a quite decent can, German began to show what he can do. He became the first F3000 Champion to finish on podium since 1993. In Austria he and has made an impossible - he has occupied 6th place on the starting grid, having outstripped
McLaren and BAR drivers! But in race Nick wasn't so lucky - his car has stalled on the grid due to launch-control failure. He started from pit-lane and drove a magnificent race. His teammate the young Finn Kimi Raikkonen has finished 4th. We can only guess about the results of this race if Heidfeld managed to start normally.
Coulthard's year?
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It becomes very similar to a ritual dance - every year on the McLaren's car launch we hear
David Coulthard tells us the same words about how strong he is now and that the upcoming season will be undoubtedly
"his year". And every year he wins one or two races and occupies 3 or 4 place in a final drivers
standing. But seems
that this time Scot's spells have helped him. He remains the only
Michael
Schumacher's rival and the only driver who managed to finish in all races in current
season, only once having lowered below third place. David has won twice in very decent style - remember
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that similar to Austrian race in
Brazil he has spend the first part of Grand Prix following Schumacher and
Juan
Pablo Montoya and in the right moment has pushed and took the lead. Scot won't step back in a wheel-to-wheel battle - he proved it many times in the past and present season. We can only hope that this time Coulthard will manage to spoil Schumacher's life.
Schumacher Vs. Montoya.
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Juan Pablo Montoya becoming a main ideological opponent to
Schumacher. The incident that happened between them on Austrian Grand Prix has caused a rough reaction from
German. Leading Columbian
experienced serious problems. Six cars was right behind his back, Schumacher attacked
Williams almost in every corner for two
laps. He has decided on a decisive attack in Remus, on external
radius. But Montoya didn't concede and was ready to brake even
later! In result he has slided out to the dirty part of a line and went to gravel with the
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blocked tyres. Michael was to close and simply has no place to go than to follow Juan Pablo off the track. On a press conference after finish Schumacher has expressed his displeasure of Columbian's actions. But followed Montoya's answer was simply exciting: If Schumacher thinks he has been granted by divine grace some right which allows him to overtake wherever he wants, I have news for him: he can forget it. He won't intimidate me, because I'm not as psychologically fragile as other drivers! Fantastic! For a very long time Schumacher wasn't
receiving such an answers. And to my mind Columbian is right - he race to win!
Last corner.
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An incident that has happened in the last corner of Austrian Grand Prix has become a serious
disgrace for Ferrari.
Rubens Barrichello was driving second, having his teammate right behind his back. And, after an order from Ferrari's staff, he has braked down in the last corner and in emphatic manner has let Schumacher passed to the second place. Such an outcome could be assumed, when after Coulthard's pit-stop the final arrangement of forces in race
has established. But up to the end I couldn't believe it. Schumacher
received two more
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points but lost the right to be respected. Barrichello drove a magnificent race. After some recession, he was close
to the victory again, but the team has considered that Schumacher's interests are more important and made a victim of Brazilian. For how many times we abused McLaren that in more critical situations they didn't give a command orders,
as for example in Belgium'99. But only now it becomes clear how right they were that didn't use such a dirty methods. And at last one more Montoya's comment on this incident: To my mind It's simply ridiculous - especially now, in the beginning of a season. It shows that Ferrari is very bad team for any driver
as long as Michael Schumacher is there.
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