Racing drivers need some kind of restraint so as not to cause unnecessary drama. I'm not suggesting that you shouldn't pass on the first lap. Takuma seemingly didn't notice the other cars next to him as he was fixated on Rosenqvist's car and getting passed him. When you're penned in like that YOU HAVE TO BACK OUT. It's not worth the drama on the first lap. I don't think you can argue with the fact that the crash was preventable; poor Hinchcliffe and Rossi getting screwed over like that is awful and stupid. Rosenqvist could've been put in hospital or worse. Sato has a lot to answer for and to say he wasn't responsible is a joke.
He was following Dixon, not Rosenqvist.
“He seemingly didn’t notice the other cars next to him”...lol wut? How are you in any position to make a call on what Sato was and was not aware of? You are aware they use spotters, right?
Not exactly sure what Sato would have “backed out of”, other than lifting on the straight with majority of the field on his gearbox. If Sato is at fault for not backing out, then Rossi and RHR are also equally at fault for not backing out.
Sato has nothing to answer for, as the evidence clearly shows that he did not cause the crash by turning down the racetrack as was initially speculated.
You can call it a joke, but majority of Indycar drivers, active and retired, have since come out in defense of Sato, saying he was perfectly entitled to hold his line the way he did, and that the accident was not his responsibility.
Honestly, from what you’ve written, you just sound like a Rossi or Hinchliff fan who’s mad that your guy got caught up in a multi-car wreck.
Edit:
@UnkaD
Three cars ended up squeezing into the same place. Any one of them could have backed out to avoid drama. What makes Sato so guilty?
I don't get it. These cars are so outrageously fast through the curves on ovals and they get so ridiculously close to one another all the time. Then all of a sudden it finally ends poorly and everyone gets so bent out of shape.
Why is Pocono so much more dangerous than any other oval? Watching the cars running 4-wide a few years back at Fontana was crazy, and no one crashed until right at the finish line. Plenty of crazy hits throughout Indianapolis weeks. What is so unforgivable here? I really have a hard time with this one. It just looks like a typical oval IRL crash. They all are potentially deadly.
Any driver pulls off a two/three wide outside move, it’s all “whoa that was spectacular!!! The skill, the bravery!!! Amazing.”
Any driver gets caught in a wreck by going two/three wide, it’s all “whoa, that was reckless, dangerous, should never have done that!!”
There’s no middle ground, and it seems like people are unaware that with the margins these drivers work with, they’ll never have a 100% success rate with those kinds of moves.....and racing where drivers did have 100% success rate would be boring to watch.
Slightly unrelated, but in the same vein as people heaping praise vs condemnation. Compare what just happened at Spa, where people are questioning whether or not Correa slowed down enough (some of the video shows that his car may have been damaged, limiting his ability to slow. Regardless, there’s still a lot of people speculating that he was trying to gain positions by squeezing through a gap), to what Ferruchi has been doing in Indycar, punching the throttle to squeeze through gaps in wrecks. Thus far, he’s been lucky. But like I said, no driver has 100% success rate. I fear a day where, bolstered by all the praise from the likes of Tracy and Bell for going full throttle through accident scenes, Ferruchi tries to punch through a gap that closes on him. Will people praise him for attempting to squeeze through the gap, or will people condemn him for being reckless and dangerous?
