Side by side in the pit lane

[Treffynnon]

Not real impressed with Mark Webber pushing Sato about in the pit lane. Making contact with your own crew and going on to almost cause an accident in an area full of people is idiotic. A race is a race, you win some you lose some, why endanger crews at the same time?

[THROTTLEMAN]

David Coulthard said Webber was a hooligan... maybe he's right.

[Black Beauty]

Remember a few years ago Ralf Schmie almost took out fissi when they both drove fro Jordan.

Inter-team rivially often creates inter team collisions

[HowardA]

Shocking - Webber went before the team told him to.

10 race ban would teach him that the pit lane is not the race track.

[Stori]

Originally Posted by HowardA

Shocking - Webber went before the team told him to.

10 race ban would teach him that the pit lane is not the race track.

IMHO think this is a storm in the teacup situaton
Not even the commentators made a 'Comment' about it!

I have watched this in slow motion several times and just before he begins to move, the car shudders violently. Either he put it into gear or the clutch begins to drag. Not sure which. Hard to tell if he left deliberately or was forced too.
I am also uncertain that he would have been able to even see Sato in his mirror as the pit crew we likely to be in the way.

I suspect that, Technically ,he left the pit before Sato got to him.I also
wonder what was being said to him over the radio. Often they are Talked to and told to "wait, wait" etc then "Go".


As far as I can see from the video, at no point did Webber or Sato come really close to each other or even to the wall. There was a shot that looked like Webber was possibly moving over on Sato, but there was actually plenty of room the other side of Sato. Apart from that one small moment , both cars travelled at relativelty slow speed , with hardly any deviation from the straight line

As far as racing in the pit, well they were on 'Cruise Control' and the pit is allso very wide with both cars well separated and far away from pit crews.

We travel at much higher speeds side, by side, in city traffic, and on many roads you pass cars going the other way at closing speeds of greater than 200 kph at similar separations

IMHO Montoya driving with a delaminated tyre, was driving more dangerously than Sato and Webber.
Leaving the pits with the fuel nozzle attached would also seem more dangerous, and it happens on a regular basis

NB post race...
I can see no reference to any penalty for the situation so the authorities do not seem to have seen it as dangerous.

[Treffynnon]

Just because the F1 authorities don't talk about it does not mean it is not dangerous. As for the argument that they were separated from the crews, by what? 5 metres? If the cars had made contact the parts would come off and cars would bounce off of each other, just because they are not going at race pace doesn't mean that the law of inertia no longer applies. Webber left the pit with Sato along side jumped out and Sato had to take evasive action. Hasd he have been told to go then why did he have to drive through the lollypop? It does not matter what speed we do on the roads either.

It comes down to this; it was dangerous.

Simon

[Stori]

Originally Posted by Treffynnon

Just because the F1 authorities don't talk about it does not mean it is not dangerous. As for the argument that they were separated from the crews, by what? 5 metres? If the cars had made contact the parts would come off and cars would bounce off of each other, just because they are not going at race pace doesn't mean that the law of inertia no longer applies. Webber left the pit with Sato along side jumped out and Sato had to take evasive action. Hasd he have been told to go then why did he have to drive through the lollypop? It does not matter what speed we do on the roads either.

It comes down to this; it was dangerous.

Simon

Well I do not know if he was told verbally to go or there was a mechanical reason (example Clutch grabing-certainly the car shuddered just before he accelerated) or he just went . And we probably will never know.

But yes it was an unneccessary risk considering all the dangerous
'legal' things in F1.

examples;
1) Standing starts.. I have watched drivers burn to death after being hit up the rear on a standing start.
2) Fueling in pits...all crew members at risk
3) Having someone stand in front of car when it goes into 'pit box'
4) Crew standing in pitlane when cars are driving down it

and the list goes on

[Squadrone Rosso]

The corks hanging off Webbo's helmet were obscuring his vision

[THROTTLEMAN]

Originally Posted by sbaddison

The corks hanging off Webbo's helmet were obscuring his vision

[Buck Bundy]

Originally Posted by THROTTLEMAN

The commentators only seemed concerned that Sato may have (looked like he did to me) crossed the white line when rejoining the track. If the stewards saw it too they obviously used common sense in that he had little choice.

I was surprised that nothing was said about Webber, considering teams have been penalised in the past for letting there drivers out 'dangerously'.

Buck

[Nigel S]

Seems like petty revenge from Webber for geting blocked during qualifying in Turkey.

The man (Webber) is an overrated imbecile. He's been shown up all year by his teammate. If Eddie Irvine buys a team he'd be the perfect driver, they should have an intimate knowledge of each others train of thought.