… until the fat lady sings. Or in the case of Formula 1, till they sing the national anthems.
Just over an hour ago, the desi presence in Formula 1, Force India, found this the hard way. Just over 10 minutes to go before the clock ticked to zero (there is a 2 hour limit on the duration of every F1 race, in addition to the lap limit) at Monaco and because of a few DNFs plus the timely appearance of the safety car, Force India driver Adrian Sutil was running in the points. With time only left for about 7 laps, Sutil’s radio went alive and the team informed him that he was running in P4 and his only threat was current world champion Raikonnen. The implication of the message was probably “dude, you are doing just fine. Come home now in one piece and get us the points”.
Now, you can’t fault Force India’s principals heaving a premature sigh of relief with a few laps to go. At least not this weekend. Sutil was having a perfect race, starting from 18th but moving into points by the end of the 15th lap, as weather caused a number of other drivers to shunt and his 4th place finish was almost secure when he joined behind the safety car with less than 20 minutes to go. With Monaco being Monaco, it is very very common to see a car hold a position between pit stops (sometimes even from start to finish) unless the driver does something stupid, or unless the person behind does something stupid.
Sadly, in Sutil’s case, it would be the latter, though Raikkonen could disagree. When the safety car screamed back into the pits with time left for just around 3 laps, Raikkonen lost control of his Ferrari at the exit of the famous Monaco tunnel* and clipped the back of Sutil’s Force India car losing his front wing in the process. Both cars immediately pitted (surprising the commentary team, since Sutil seemed to have gotten out cleanly). Raikkonen got out with a new wing losing just a couple of seconds(and finished 11th, just outside the points), but for Sutil the afternoon just got longer.
What was initially thought to be a precautionary stop (though i am thinking he was well outside the points by then, considering at least four cars had gone by the time he was up in the jacks), turned out to be a nightmare come true. After one look at the back end of his car, Sutil’s mechanics threw their hands up in despair.
Sutil was understandably disconsolate (link).
“It’s a really a shame, we were really close,” Sutil told UK broadcaster ITV. “Then Kimi crashed into my rear and destroyed my whole race. It was the best race of my whole career and it is really a shame – I can’t say any more about it. I am so really disappointed.”
Force India’s website also says that, after the race, Sutil accompanied CTO Mike Gascoyne to officially complain about Raikkonen’s actions, though it seemed fairly obvious that it was a racing accident brought about by the wet track and a small bump on the track at the exit of the tunnel.
And after a perfect race for Sutil, Force India was left shaking its head in disappointment at not only the loss of points, but the potential loss of millions of dollars of TV money that F1 disburses to its teams on the basis of points scored.
So, the wait continues…
* Incidentally almost at the same spot as James Garner’s shunt in the movie Grand Prix
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