h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The only man I know who has the nerve to call Jean Todt of Ferrari Yoda to his face



Until he said it I didn't realise how much Todt does look like Yoda

I can just imagine the team talks

"Win today Michael you must, Montoya beat you will, May the Force be with you"

Luckily I don't think Todt understood/heard what he said! He didn't react anyway...

On another note, I really hope Ralf is OK. Looked a really nasty crash

From what I've read, he was asked if he could hear the team and he raised his hand, he's just got bruises on his back and a bit of concussion

He's ok

Concussion can be nasty, and he's gone for a CAT scan, so he's not that OK...

I think the CAT scan is just to check there's no bleeding or other damage to his brain, other than that I don't think it's too major

It took a horribly long time to get him out though.

Has Todt/Yoda been using his Jedi powers on the Stewards?

"25mm out of spec, those brake ducts are"

"1.5 seconds late changing cars was Montoya"

Schumi was definitely NOT having Rubinho in front of him in North America

It took a terribly terribly long time for the medics to get to Ralf!

What was going through their minds?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

It was rediculous!

God only knows what was going through team Williams' minds as they couldn't get a reply from Ralf. Their hearts must have been in their throats.....mine certainly was!

The marshalls should be sacked for that.

No they shouldn't, half the reason they took a while to get to him was that the cars were still whizzing past him. They couldn't get onto the track until it was safe for both themselves and the other drivers. He was also seen to be moving before they got to him and he actually tried to get out of the car himself but the marshalls told him to sit put so they could take extra precatuions due to the type of accident he'd had.

I admit they could have been quicker but I don't for one minute think it's the marshalls fault, it's more likely to be a problem with the 'standard procedure.'

Mel

But you must admit that if it had happened on an circuit over here, or say Germany, then they would have got to him quicker.

The drivers knew there was something wrong and the teams would have radio'd do them that a serious incident had taken place at turn 13.

They slowed down very very quickly.

All I can remember is sitting there in my chair, watching the TV knowing that there were no cars coming round the corner for an age before anyone got to him.

It just seemed far too long.


I suppose the reason the cameras (or ITV coverage) didn't show a close up of him till they knew he was ok, was because of what happened to Senna.

Anyway....sour grapes because I can't go to Silverstone this year. Sold the tickets and got the dog booked in at the vets. He has kennel cough!

I agree with EG, the mashall's knew what they were doing, the team had already been in contact with Ralf and had proved he was consious, with potential head injuries you have to be careful anyway, you can't just pull him out of the car, I do think the race should have been stopped until he was out of the car tho, I know Michael Schumacher is not my favourite driver but having to drive past his brothers wrecked car surrounded by medics not knowing if he was ok, I wouldn't have wished on anyone, I never thought I'd say this but well done Schu for finishing, he must have been in pieces for a while

As far as I know Ralf is bruised but ok

http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=30491

He was a liitle anxious and you could see it when he passed, he watched as he went past and then checked his mirrors several times afterwards too.

Ralf as far as I know it fine, I would imagine that he would be able to race in France but that depends on Jakie Stewart (I think that's his name).

VV - Why'd you sell your tickets

Mel

What I also want to know is why it took the stewards and hour and a half to Black Flag JP Montoya, because of the Spare Car fiasco

Ohhh did they black flag him? I don't get half of this being in France, they stopped the race coverage to go to the news, then because the was on directly after we didn't get any post race info

I need to read all the info on the ITV site but I also need to do some work!

Mel

The has kennel cough after coming back from the kennels while we were away.

He cannot go back to the kennels for 6 weeks now because his immunity is compromised

as he's a very bouncy dog, we can't ask any family to look after him. The only person would be my dad, but as he has cats and Murray doesn't like cats, he couldn't look after him either....

Ah well...there's next year I suppose.

You've just given me another excellent reason not to have a I've never been a huge fan of them but my bloke has always wanted one!

Hope he gets beeter soon and that you have a good weekend anyway.

Mel

Schumey Snr said that if he had been proper racing when his brother was sat there, he wouldn't have been able to continue as he wouldn't have been able to concentrate. But as it was, by the time he'd started racing again he'd been told that Ralf was pretty much OK so he could concentrate on racing again. Not a nice situation though, I just kept imagining if it was me and my sister in that situation - you always worry when they don't get straight out of the car, and to have to drive past them is nasty.

Why didn't they take them through the pits? For a start it would have kept them from seeing Ralf just sat there, and also it would have made it safer - they were risking punctures driving through all the debris!

Going back to JP

His car died on the grid before the parade lap, then about 15 laps before the end JP got black flagged because he didn't get off the grid and into the spare car in time

Don't quote me on that tho

Yeah, there's a rule saying you have to be off the grid at least 15 secs before the start of the parade lap, and he missed it by about 1-2 secs.

I think it took them so long to black flag him because they had to deal with 3 big accidents.

I'm not a JPM fan, but, if I remember the rules correctly, and Martin Brundle commented on it too....

If the marshalls show a car under investigation, they have 20 minutes to do something about it. As it was it was 26 minutes before they stated the black flag affair.

JPM would have had the right to carry on racing for 3 laps whilst his team objected to the marshalls.

As it was...the order came through when he was in the pits which didn't count so in effect he would have had an extra lap to argue his case.

It did seem a little unfair.

On this train of thought, we came up with an idea while watching the F1 yesterday.

How about if they checked the cars while they were in parc ferme in between qualis and the race? Then cars like the Williams and the Toyotas would have been found to be illegal before the race started, so they could have been banned from starting the GP, rather than finding them illegal afterwards and disqualifying them 3 hours later. Of course the cars would still have to be checked afterwards, to make sure nothing became illegal during the race, but surely it would have been better all round for those two teams to not have taken part at all, considering their cars were illegal all weekend?

What do you guys think?