What was Sato doing?

[esorniloc]

What was Sato doing on his slow down lap? He should know how quick to run.

They should throw him out the race, he is near the back, putting him to the back isn't enough punishment.

[garcon]

Not very clever, but not wholly his fault - some communication breakdown between Sato and his team, who would normally be keeping him fully aware of where the next driver is.

[Kicking-back]

These things happen - and I'm sure if it was any other driver the criticism would be far less.

[FPV GTHO]

Having just read ITV's "as it happens" thingo...this leaves alot of questions.

Im wondering what couldve been done to prevent it, whether BAR failed to give Sato the hurry up to get the out of there! Or some other reason.

Whatever the case, how has it affected qualifying?? Webber ended up 0.02 behind Heidfeld, so no doubt he wouldve grabbed 6th at least, but between there and Trulli its 0.42s...without being able to see the live timing, its hard to justify that being down to the baulking.

Would the stewards have the authority to elevate someones grid position in these cases, or is it too reliant on heresay?

[F1_KING]

Originally Posted by Kicking-back

These things happen - and I'm sure if it was any other driver the criticism would be far less.

i dont think thats true. Wouldnt of mattered which driver it was its unexcusable, and is so costly to the other drivers race, as webber had been quick in all practises.

[garcon]

From what Sato said (apart from "Sorry!") the team didn't give him the hurry up, and it was too late by the time he saw Mark in his mirrors. He did try his best to get out of the way as soon as he realised.

The stewards aren't able to elevate Mark's position, because they have no way of knowing how much time he lost, but they can (and probably will) penalise Sato.

[mod]By the way, please don't dodge the autocensor.[/mod]

[Logrence]

Just one of those things. I don't think anyone could say Taku would do something like this out of malice, just a slight lapse into ineptness. Don't let a small mistake overshadow the fact that these guys are getting paid supermillions and can't manage even to stay on the track.

[spectator22]

What's Sato doing? Confirming once and for all he hasnt got what it takes. Bye Takuma.

[markysjag]

I think this year Webber must have broken a mirror or maybe run over a black cat or something.

[Knowlesy]

Originally Posted by spectator22

What's Sato doing? Confirming once and for all he hasnt got what it takes. Bye Takuma.

Excellent. A breakdown in communication confirms he hasn't got what it takes.

If you could explain that please?

[NO1SPECIAL]

Excellent. A breakdown in communication confirms he hasn't got what it takes.

If you could explain that please?

So sato expects the other cars to stop running cos his radio's not working? He is at least partly to blame...i mean, he was driving wasn't he?

if u can call it that, hehe

[dsg]

At the very worst Webber lost one spot on the grid. Compare that to Sato's lap and you can see he's got a lot on his mind with a broken radio being the least of his problems.

[BootsOntheSide]

Webber may have lost out to Heidfeld through this, but suggesting that he's had an especially unlucky season is a bit overstated, a lot of the problems he's had have been of his own making.

Sato seemed to be doing an especially slow in-lap, nobody else has ever caught up that early in the lap. He clearly lost concentration for a moment, but with a radio problem the situation is understandabe. It was not as blatant as some of the situations in the past, especially as Sato clearly had no chance of putting Webber behind him through that moment.

[twig]

Originally Posted by BootsOntheSide

Webber may have lost out to Heidfeld through this, but suggesting that he's had an especially unlucky season is a bit overstated, a lot of the problems he's had have been of his own making.

I disagree, Webber is a very good driver, its people like you that................................................................................................ .................................................................................................... .................................................................................................... .................................................................................................... .................................compared to Button, like JV.

hehe.

Back to the topic, BOOTS!
Luckily for Williams, Mark only lost a spot to another Williams, and even he can look on the bright side that he is starting on the cleaner side of the two - he didn't seem too annoyed in what he said either. He said that he lost about 3 tenths, which wouldn't have caught Trulli.

[Hazard]

I don't see how penalising one driver can actually be considered fair. Although the move was probably a mistake, a precident is set which means the problem child will be punished, rather than the sufferer receiving restitution.

In races, that's unfortunate. If someone gets punted off they can't say 'Right, lets do this race again so we can see where he would have finished', but I think in the case of qualifying...Mark should be allowed to re-run his lap (or something similar).

What if it was Raikkonen & Alonso...and Fisichella held up Raikkonen's lap?

[NO1SPECIAL]

Originally Posted by Hazard

I don't see how penalising one driver can actually be considered fair. Although the move was probably a mistake, a precident is set which means the problem child will be punished, rather than the sufferer receiving restitution.

In races, that's unfortunate. If someone gets punted off they can't say 'Right, lets do this race again so we can see where he would have finished', but I think in the case of qualifying...Mark should be allowed to re-run his lap (or something similar).

What if it was Raikkonen & Alonso...and Fisichella held up Raikkonen's lap?

good point, people would be screaming bloody murder

[Knowlesy]

No, because if it was anything like Satos mistake it would have been a minor problem.

We've seen much worse than this in the past, for example Olivier Panis at the 2004 British GP held up Felipe Massa extremely badly and totally ruined his lap. Sato at least made an attempt to get out of the way and the damage wasn't critical to Marks lap.

[Marbot]

Sato,back of grid now. www.grandprix.com

[JeremySmith]

It's fine, onward and upward, I doubt if Mark Webber gave it much thought.

[BootsOntheSide]

He was a little bit unfortuante, but it's still a fair punishment.

[Don K]

Originally Posted by Hazard

I don't see how penalising one driver can actually be considered fair. Although the move was probably a mistake, a precident is set which means the problem child will be punished, rather than the sufferer receiving restitution.

It's not exactly a precedent.

It has happened before in qualifying, and normally the driver gets a penalty.

[maximus]

Turns out that Sato may have been pushing the transmit button so that the team couldn't inform him, according to someone of Pitpass. if this is the case than there are no excuses Taku.

[GTRMagic]

Well a couple of years ago Minardi got pole on the Friday because the weather changed and they were best advantaged... that never got overturned either.... although there was a Saturday session to turn the unbalanced result around

Mr Sato didnt do a particularly good job, but was there a car problem in his lap, or was it just running too slow. If he wanted to stop, could the BAR have pulled off to the side of the road and "retired" or are the drivers required to complete the lap in order for it to be counted?

[Valve Bounce]

If his radio wasn't working, wouldn't you think that any responsible F1 driver would make sure that he got back to the pits before the next driver caught up?

How many more times are the Sato admirers going to make excuses for this guy?

OK, who is going to bet with me that Sato won't punt somebody off during the race? I'll bet my sig on it!!

[Knowlesy]

Idiot.