Takuma Sato to lose 10 places on grid in Brazil

[minivan]

Takuma Sato has been given a 10 grid slot penalty in Brazil for taking Michael Schumacher out at the Belgian Grand Prix. Sato made a mess at the restart and ran into the back of the Ferrari. Bizarrely, the FIA Stewards in Spa decided that Antonio Pizzonia should be given an $8000 penalty for his accident with Juan Pablo Montoya, which was a much more significant accident than the Sat-Schumacher crash. The logic is also odd given that Sato was fighting for position and on the same lap as Schumacher while Pizzonia was trying to unlap himself because his Williams was going much faster than Montoya's McLaren.

is this fair?!?

 

[prodigy]

I think many other consequences has been weight in before deciding the punishment. As much as i'm frustrated that Montoya missed the chance to finish a Mclaren 1-2, i think he's been a victim of his own undoing. I do believe that Montoya has a small part in being whack from behind simply because he might have moved a little too much which left Pizzonia no room but to smack into him. In fact, True enuff Pizzonia should be a lot more careful when overtaking let alone unlapping himself, if the driver in front tries to be too fuuny, the barrier is the only place both of them gonna end up. Its dissapointing for Mclaren but thats racing.

As for Sato, he made a very honest mistake and apologised to MS. I really don't see why should he be penalised at all because race drivers make mistakes every race. Unless the mistake is deliberate whereby the driver behind purposely smack into guy in front or cause a totally avoidable incident, i really don't see why should the FIA punish Sato for missing his braking point or failing to warm up the brakes properly. Sato is definitely to be blamed for the incident but it doesn't warrant a 10 place penalty.

I'm a BAR Honda fan but i do think Sato is not qualified to be in formula 1. He's too clumsy, makes silly mistake, doesn't make good judgement during racing and isn't a very smart driver. Schumacher quite rightly said Sato drives like a kamikaze driver. I remember watching this onboard clip with sound whereby his engineers have to literally drive him thru the opening first lap corner. I do think its a bit shameful for the cream of the crop of racers to be guided thru the corner. Almost like baby sitting them thru the race.

 

[prodigy]

"It will be tough for me having to start further down the grid but I'm looking forward to fighting my way through the field and having a good race."

When Sato says this in public, the rest of the drivers better be VERY AWARE of his presence. When he say fighting his way thu the field, he literally means it so please use extra heavy duty front and rear wings and side pods when you qualified in the middle pack.

 

[si|verfish]

LOL @ prodigy

Poor Sato though. What is the specific reason given by the FIA that warrants a 10 place penalty? I've seen worse incidents where nothing was given and brushed off as a racing incident. Because Schumacher was pissed?

 

[zephyr3d]

racist decision? i noticed that all sources kept saying sato is a 'suicidal racer'..

 

[prodigy]

He really drives like a suicidal racer, as if his life depends on it. In all honesty, i'd say he's not fit for F1. He doesn't make good judgement and also not a clever guy on the wheel. He maybe fast but you also need to have some brains to be in the sport.

People say alot about Alex Yoong, yes its true that he doesn't deserve a F1 drive because he was slow but we might have conveniently forgotten that the guy who whipped and trounced Alex Yoong so badly 3 years ago is the future champion of 2005. I'd always thought Fernando Alonso really had the speed and talent back when he was with Minardi and it showed in his consistent drive. Had Alex partnered some other driver, i believe the gap between him and the other driver would have been a little bit smaller and it wouldn't have made Alex look real bad.

 

[si|verfish]

When did Alex partner Alonso? I thought Alex Yoong's teammate was Webber?

 

[prodigy]

Oh shit, i might have screwed up my facts. It could be Webber. My mistaken!!

But it doesn't change the fact that Alex's team mate had some part in making Alex look so damn slow. Webber itself is quite an ok driver. Maybe if Alonso was Alex team mate, the gap would have been alot bigger.

 

[StonerJuan]

why was alex so slow anyways? he was like afraid to step on the pedal or something.

 

[prodigy]

Maybe its raw speed and talent which he doesn't have. If you look at Kimi, he's got the raw speed and he's always driving at the extreme limit. He's got the confidence and quite simply, he's talented.

Alex was consistently 2 to 3 seconds slower than his team mate thruout the year. This is totally unacceptable and the best way to judge how good a driver is, is to compare his times with his team mate. As it is now, even if you're 0.5 secs slower, you're actually a lot slower and you get crucified by the media. When you're 2 secs slower, man...you're in deep shit!

 

[zephyr3d]

back to sato... i guess he'll looks his place at BAR coz jenson button is there... and Ruben's joining next season. Itz either BAR is offering the test driver role, or he'z down to A1....

 

[si|verfish]

Yeah, Alex just lacks a bit in the natural talent department. He's a good driver, be there no doubt, but he doesn't have anywhere near as much talent as most of the field.

 

[prodigy]

Formula 1 are for the cream of the crop of all drivers. Alex Zanardi was a champion at Champ Cars and he didn't do too well at Formula 1. Similarly, Christiano Da Matta was such a good driver and he won titles at Indy and Champ Cars only to be replaced half way thru the seasonat Formula 1.

Alex really isn't a bad driver but he lacks the talent to compete with the best talents in the world in Formula 1. I'd say he's still Malaysia's top racer.

 

[si|verfish]

Maybe Alex Yoong is like Sato...minus the Kamikaze tendencies.

 

[prodigy]

But i do think Sato is a better driver than Alex. At least he doesn't qualify like 2 secs behind his team mate. And Jenson Button is quite a good driver too.

 

[GT3]

alex doesnt have the experiance like the drivers he teamed with.. webber for instance did a ful yr testing with jaguar f1 b4 joining minardi and as for alonso well hav been racing since 4 in almost evry category of motosport.. talent is something important but money n opportunity to improve ur driving (by testing) is also damn important esp a car as tough to drive like the minardies..