Formula 1 Race Incident Analysis

Michael Schumacher's been sitting there now for a good 30, 35 seconds.

So has Juan Montoya. The temperatures in the engine and,

and brakes, everything

will be getting red hot. They need the start to be any moment now,

and guess what,

guys? It's coming. It's coming.

It's coming.

And it's now. Schumacher away. Well, look at that BAR.

Schumacher cuts across, chops in front of Montoya, a brutal chop,

and look at

Barrichello down the outside. Barrichello goes for Montoya,

but Montoya is keeping

his foot in it. Is he gonna go around the outside of

Schumacher? Yes, he is.

The two McLarens are up well as well. Contact. Schumacher's lost his front wing.

Barrichello takes the lead, and Montoya has to take evasive action.

But that's Schumacher's wing lying in the racetrack.

Yes, indeed. Let's see how Schumacher can cope with

that.

It looked a fairly big piece, didn't it?

And Schumacher will be understeering like crazy if he's lost half his front wing.

And look at this. That's Michael Schumacher with no front

wing attacking, attacking

the Jordan.

Yeah, and, uh, Schumacher went, uh, he's obviously way lower than fifth now.

He'll have v- virtually zero front grip.

We can see the Ferrari mechanics getting ready with fresh tires.

That'll be-

We're hearing that there's an incident involving car number six, which is Juan

Montoya, under investigation by the stewards.

That's presumably the incident at the start.

They're having a look at it, so let's hope they don't decide to punish

him by

giving him a black flag, stop-and-go penalty, anything like that.

Those two really are trying to stamp their authority.

Michael to maintain it, Montoya to seize the high ground,

and I think we're gonna see a lot more of those two getting together.

And in fact, he's gonna get a drive-through penalty,

Montoya.

So C- Juan Montoya's gonna be called into the

pit lane to ...

He'll lose, I'll tell you exactly how much time he'll

lose.

He will lose 20 seconds doing that.

That's how long it takes to come into the pits and go back out again.

And that, of course, then is at 120 kilometers per hour from the

start of the

speed limit area to the white line at the exit of the pits.

I've never seen that penalty applied before. Normally, it's a stop-and-go.

I wasn't even aware that penalty existed, I have to say.

It does now.

It certainly does now.

Juan, you have a drive-through penalty.

Not a stop-and-go, drive-through penalty.

Come through the pit lane on the limiter this lap.

Why?

Why?

Yeah.

Why?

Because of Michael, because of Michael. Don't worry about it. We have to do it.

We have to do it. It's fucking idiot rule.

That's him, isn't it?

A drive-through on the limiter. Roll on to the pit

lane.

To be honest with you, this is bullshit. Now, you, I gave him room.

I gave him room.

"I gave him space. I gave him space.

This decision is stupid."

We'll do the best we can.

"Just do the best that you can. We'll discuss it later."

So the driver has the opinion

they do the-

Look how close Montoya is. We know he's supersonic under braking,

and, uh,

well done, Jens. He's given him a bit of space

but not too much.

Hang on in on the apex, but brake a bit in the middle.

Slow him down.

Nicely done. Very nicely done. And put him out of rhythm,

otherwise he'll nail you into turn four.

It's such a small braking zone into four.

It'll be a good man who can do it, but Montoya is a good man, and he

has done it. Look at that. Very, very good driving from the

pair of them.

Yes.

Juan Pablo, you had much more incident in the race

than you wanted, starting at the

first corner. Talk us through that, and also what were you waving to Michael

afterwards as you were coming back round to both make your

first pit stops?

Well, I'll be honest. Uh,

when we had the start, I came around the outside of Michael

because he moved to the

right,

and, you know, we got to the corner. I gave him enough room.

You know, I talked to him already. He said he had a bit of understeer, and he

touched me, and that was it, you know? For me, it was a race incident.

I think for him it was the same.

And I was a bit pissed off because I saw he understeer off into me.

So that's why I went like that to him, but that was it, you know?

It was, it was a bit frustrating because the car

was very good.

I did fastest lap of the race, and,

and I think the strategy I was in, it wouldn't work from where I was.

Obviously, you were called in for, uh, the first driver to receive a, a

drive-through penalty than, rather than the stop-go.

Do you think that was really unfair?

I think it was very unfair because, you know, I gave him room.

He understeer a bit off. He touched me. That was it, you know?

I can't, you know, it's racing incidents that, you know,

I think after what

happened in the first race, they were a bit extreme,

and I had to pay for it, you

know? I think the stewards didn't want to go

everybody saying, "Oh, they should've

done something they didn't,"

I think.

Michael, could you describe how, how you saw the first corner incident?

Did you simply understeer into, uh, Juan Pablo, or did he not leave you enough

space?

You can see it from two ways. I mean, obviously, if he would've opened more, we

wouldn't have touched, but, uh, he, he wasn't willing to do this.

So, uh, there wasn't any, any room for me, so we touched.

I mean, I didn't see a drama in that.

It was a shame that I lost my front wing, and, uh,

had to come in for a pit stop. I lost a lot of time, obviously, for,

for that lap,

plus the pit stop. But anyway, it was an exciting race in the end.

Do you think the penalty that Juan Pablo got was fair?

You also ended up coming through the field doing a lot of overtaking.

But do you think maybe he was, uh, dealt with quite harshly today?

Um, I,

honestly,

to be honest, yes, because, uh, I wouldn't, I would think we have seen,

uh, situations far more extreme where nothing

has happened, and today, a

little touch, uh, uh, something was, uh, was done.

Um,

we, we don't seem to have a very consistent,

uh, uh, situation.

That's something we maybe all together want to improve in future.