F1 blogs & more: Coulthard’s crashes

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David Coulthard ahead of the Force India he didn't hit at Valencia

A round up of interesting F1 blog posts and news items from the past few days.

Including rumours of unhappiness at Force India, David Coulthard being urged to quit F1 sooner rather than later, and one fan who really, really likes Peter Windsor…

Tensions at Force India – Problems for Mike Gascoyne at Force India sound rather similar to those he had at Toyota: “The relationships within the team have been deteriorating gradually in recent months and, despite the long-delayed arrival of the team’s seamless gearshift, we hear that they have now got to a point at which action is necessary. It seems that this will boil down to a decision between team principal Kolles and engineer Mike Gascoyne.”

Revenue from F1 puts Hilton out in front – McLaren’s backer Hilton is taking its sponsorship model into other sports.

Lewis Hamilton Takes Second In European Formula One – “There are very few things that will get me outta bed at 4:30 AM, and Peter Windsor is one of them.” A big fan of Speed TV/F1 Racing’s pundit Peter Windsor.

Ferrari F2008 – revised sidepod chimneys and winglets – Kimi Raikkonen’s pit stop damaged the chimey and winglets on the rights hand side of his car. Did that cause his retirement? (Thanks Sumedh)

Ferrari confirm breakage of con rod caused engine failure of Raikkonen – According to Ferrari a con rod failure put Raikkonen out, similar to that which ended Massa’s race at Hungary.

Time has come for David Coulthard to call it quits – The Times’s Ed Gorman thinks David Coulthard should quit before the end of the season.

Dino Vittorio Marcellinus Toso – A fine and moving tribute to the Renault aerodynamicist Dino Toso, who passed away last week (sub. req.).

Massa Finally Showed Some Muscle – “F1 is like a procession of expensive cars. No overtaking maneuvers were done during the entire race except for the one Coulthard pulled over a Honda car and the front runners lapping the bottom dwellers.”

How KERS will ruin great racing – “The teams that were lucky enough to strike on the right technique first time will crush their opponents. Closer racing in 2009? Don’t count on it. Make the most of the great racing of 2008 while you can.”

Hamilton reveals how flu nearly cost him European GP points – “He said the neck pain was so bad that he was struggling to stand, and was forced to resort to pain-killing injections as well as support from his trainer.”

Valencia GP2 race reports from Maximum Motorsport:
Feature race: Title rivals Pantano and Senna stop on final lap at Valencia
Sprint race: Di Grassi lucks in to win as Pantano extends title lead

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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13 comments on “F1 blogs & more: Coulthard’s crashes”

  1. DC quitting early is a good idea. He’s been useless all year, and if Vettel took his place now it would give Toro Rosso a chance to get either Senna or Buemi settled in F1 before 2009.

  2. Red Bull have to work with Coulthard next year as consultant and occasional tester – it may not do the relationship a lot of good if they give his car to Vettel early.

    To be fair to Coulthard, it’s not him bouncing his car off others that is stopping Red Bull from holding onto 4th place in the Constructor’s championship (unless the repair bill he’s creating is throttling the budget of the development department).

  3. Perhaps Force India need to grab Alonso on his way to Ferrari.
    I agree that Kimi has not been with it for most of the season. We have seen that he can be as quick as Massa in the same car, so why isn’t he when its required?
    Let DC retire when he wants to, I expect him to fulfill the same role for Red Bull as Old Schuey does for Ferrari – sit on the Pit Wall and pretend to look important….

  4. Good point DG. What exactly DOES Schumacher do for Ferrari (beyond showing up the sport’s newer stars at test sessions attended by all teams)?

  5. michael counsell
    26th August 2008, 19:40

    Coulthards two crashes were again very noticeable. I don’t really understand it, normally drivers crash less a sthey get older not more times.

  6. I like Peter Windsor too….but,I do NOT like grid-boys.

  7. AmericanTifosi
    26th August 2008, 23:35

    DC seems to have his own rule for overtaking: “If anyone gets anywhere near me, I can hit them.”

    I am also a Peter Windsor fan, but not a fan of SPEED Channel. I have to endure endless commercial breaks advertising NASCAR races I’m not ever going to watch.

  8. Paul Sainsbury
    27th August 2008, 0:55

    I think Windsor is awful. His articles are hugely dull and his interviewing in the post-race conferences is pathetic.

  9. When talking about Peter Windsor, the first thing that comes to mind for me is that, along with Honda’s Nick Fry and Dr. Mario at BMW, he’s one of the precious few people in the F1 establishment to openly push for the return of the United States Grand Prix and to stress the importance of the Americna market to F1. I’m sure he and the other fellows agree that all the new venues are great, but he’s got the fire to stand up to Bernie’s line of thinking and give some hope to those of us in America that we haven’t been forgotten by the men at the top.

    On the topic of Peter’s post-race questions, I would ask Paul: what type of questions would you like he- or any other reporter- to ask? The questions are always going to focus on what gose on in the race, and perhaps a few thoughts on the next venue- that’s about all that’s allowed in the politically correct world of F1. The post-race interview is always going to be blunt and straightforward- if anyone is looking for questions such as “What’s your favorite new CD?” or “What grandstand had the best-loooking girls this week?” I think you are watching the wrong programming.

    Finally, after missing the boracast of the European GP, I find out that the always-enchanting grid girls have been replaced at Valencia by….grid boys? No offense to the fellows who got the gig, but what on Earth is the F1 establishment coming to? Taking out the grid girls is about as bright an idea as when Coac-Cola changed the taste of their drink many years ago- a decision that maybe 2% of their fanbase liked.

  10. Paul Sainsbury
    27th August 2008, 12:46

    @Gman.

    I certainly wouldn’t want to know about a driver’s most listened to CD or anything of that nature. I just think F1 could find someone less tedious than Windsor to do the interviews, usually the atmosphere at these things is like a funeral!

    As to his writing, it is just mind-numbing. I remember at the height of the Schumacher-era boredom, Windsor thought that F1 was perfect and nothing needed changing. As a fan of RACING, I still find that irritating even now.

  11. I like the idea of grid boys (though not as much as the idea of doing away with all that altogether) and I think Peter Windsor is a pompous ass (as in eey-ore and the law is an). His post-race interviews are pointless and his articles are long-winded tributes to the superiority of his current favourites and himself.

  12. Paul,

    I indeed agree that the atmosphere at the press conferences is not very impressive, but let’s not forget that, perhaps, that’s how Bernie, Max and their people insist that it be. Many of us have griped on this site- with good reason- about how F1 media coverage can be improved- maybe this is one aspect of that situation.

    With regards to the writing issue, I have only been reading Peter’s work since late in 2007, so I can’t comment on anything before that. If, indeed, he was as content with the Schumi-dominated era of F1 as you claim, that is a serious issue with his work- such domination by any team, in any sport, will only serve to turn off new fans who do not lach on to the dominant team.

    Finally, sorry for the numerous typos on my end- “American” and “Coca-Cola” are more like it!!

  13. David Coulthard’s shunt at Valencia was one of those incidents that you could see happening before it happened, as was his crash with Felipe Massa earlier in the year.
    I put down alot of this to just pure frustration on the part of Coulthard, who is now faced with the cold, hard reality that he is now surplus to requirements.
    A once promising career, with great teams such as
    Williams and McLaren, yelded no championships. There will be no more second chances for Coulthard, and he knows it. Just as Villeneuve was culled back in 2006 for Robert Kubica, Coulthard will be in favour of Vettel, and soon!

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