What was Paul thinking (instalment 39)?

[paul-collins]

Ok, I made the 39 bit up.

But seriously, just how deep into the corner did he intend to go? And, with Vasser hanging wide, why didn't PT dive inside and then just run wide?

I guess it was just one of those "Oh s**t!" moments.

[Lee Janotta]

He knew he wasn't going to make the corner, but if he'd cut inside, he would have taken them both out. He knew he was going to run wide, but he was just praying that Vasser would turn in and get out of the way.

[macdaddy]

Maybe Mikey arranged to have some guy hiding under the grandstands, driving PT's car by remote control.

[paul-collins]

Originally posted by Lee Janotta
He knew he wasn't going to make the corner, but if he'd cut inside, he would have taken them both out. He knew he was going to run wide, but he was just praying that Vasser would turn in and get out of the way.

I didn't tape the race, so I can't say specifically who was on the inside, but I thought at the time that he had a half-chance to thread the needle on the inside and not hit Vasser. But you're right, of course, he was expecting Vasser to turn in. Was Jimmy hanging out there to try to move around someone?

And someone should tell Paul "no overtaking until you've gone through at least three corners after any (re)start." He's misjudged a few braking points on first turns this year, it seems...

[Lee Janotta]

Yeah, it looked like Paul cut to the outside towards the end, hoping Jimmy'd be out of the way when he got there. Jimmy... I don't know, I guess that's just the line he wanted to take through the corner.

Paul wasn't looking to overtake, he was just trying to make up the whole gap in one insane braking move. Would have been brilliant if he'd pulled it off, but it didn't happen.

[JohnSSC]

Boy you guys are being awfully nice to PT! Let's see: PT is all by himself rushing up at a ridiculous rate on Vasser. Vasser is in a bright yellow car with a big wing and numbers and letters all over it. He hits him square in the rear nearly ending the race for both of them a whole 12 seconds into it. Like I said in another post, PT should get a Volvo truck chassis instead of a Lola. Or maybe he really was trying to conserve his brakes and thought he would use Vasser's instead of his own.

If one blazingly quick lap would win the Championship, my money would be on PT. If you need to win an actual race, bet on someone else. His racecraft is almost non-existent. He has been making rookie mistakes for ten years now.

[Liz]

I think Roberto Moreno put it very well on the radio broadcast when he said "When you make a big mistake or you have a big problem, your adrenalin goes so high that you just don't CARE." PT was seen earlier in the day hurling his TKG stuff out the windows of the trailer, which indicates that he was considerably rumpled up in spirit.

Jimmy was just the guy he got to first.

I'd still rather watch PT race than half the 2002 field. He races because he loves racing. He's the Jean Alesi of CART.

[f1manoz]

I think it was a bit of brain fade on PT's part. Pretty stupid thing to do on the first lap, and it certainly cost him $100,000 as his pace after the incident was very good indeed. Well, maybe it didn't really cost him the money, I guess, because he retired later...

[Jay]

what f1manoz said... He made a mistake.... hey, Jimmy took out Paul in Miami! I guess they're even now . (Although I know they're good friends, so it was accident)

[evo]

It pretty much summed up Jimmy's year actually. I'm sure he wasn't too surprised to get taken out in turn 1. And like Jay said, now they're even.