Dull? Paul Ricard looks like something out of Tron;
I'm fine with
this - but the runoffs at Spa, Bahrain or the other carpark-tracks, which do look dull. Would love to see Ricard-style strips. I always thought those were CGI shots when I saw the first Peugeot 908 pictures.
Well first things first. Piquet qualified 21st (out of 22) in his first race in Melbourne! Even Heikki did a better job than him last year.... Also, he only finished once this year so far, and that was 11th. 👎 In the Spanish GP, he actually lost ground and lose a few places. Then he tried too hard to catch up and went of the track after trying to overtake and made contacting with somebody and then just had to try and overtake Bourdais a few laps later......... Bad luck or inexperience? You decide for yourself....
As for Hamilton, again, he was lucky. How many drivers would actually get into the McLaren development program? Fernando Alonso and Kimi Räikkönen didn't even have any special development program and had to struggle to be on top. Even Michael had to earn his spot......
Bad luck
and inexperience. In his first few races, he was very far off the pace, for a simple reason - Alonso is a top driver, Piquet was a rookie doing his first real races. It's not like Nakajima, Bourdais, or other rookies were
that much better in mid-field equipment, either.
You see Kimi, Alonso, Massa, Hamilton or Kubica and Heidfeld sticking their nose in a lot of times when they're behind a slower car, but they don't actually pass because they know they don't have room.
Funny you mention Heidfeld. His pass on Fisichella was
very dangerous - if Fisico wasn't the courteous, skilled driver that he is, Nick would've had to retire and Fisico would have to stop for a new wing. Heidfeld passed Fisichella on the outside of a fast corner, and went right into the inside of it - Fisico had to brake
very hard in order to avoid Heidfeld's rear. That maneuver was far riskier than Piquet's, but against a more experienced driver.
Or mentioning Raikkonen, who pulled exactly those moves in the Australian GP, sometimes running off the track as a result, yet luckily didn't actually retire. He did, however, nudge another driver out of his way once on that race, and was very close to contact with several more. When he finally got past Barrichello, he went through the inside - and immediately ran to the outside, forcing the Honda driver to come to an almost-complete stop. Guess what? If it wasn't for Barrichello's acceptance that he was passed (after a long and courageous battle), Raikkonen would've had another visit to the sand - possibly even retiring as a result.
Those drivers have the pace to outrun backmarkers by as much as two seconds per lap - but they can't pass simply because of the dirty wake generated by the slowest of cars. Even a top car like Ferrari struggles to generate enough downforce to pass during a turn - hence why most of those overtakes are at either drafting on a straight, or side-by-side braking-battles into the corner. They know there's room for two on the track - GP2 proves there's place for three on some circuits, actually - but they know they don't have the downforce to come close enough during the corners to actually pass sensibly. Piquet out-braked Bourdais into the corner, no matter how tight it was, or how much it would have to compromise his, or Bourdais' line through that corner.
As for Piquet (also directed at Muzaffar), he put up a strong drive until he ran wide into the sand, which cost him lots of time. Objectively, the crash can't really be attributed to either, because Piquet went for an
existing gap which Bourdais opened when he braked earlier than usual, while Bourdais closed the door, perhaps not realizing Piquet already went through. Personally, I believe it was Bourdais' duty to prevent a crash in a pass that already happened - he could've run a little wider, and spare the two of them the embarrassment of yet another retirement. Yet people seem to write it off as Piquet's fault almost immediately, whether because of his previous finishing-record, or other reasons.
