Ridiculous Excuses

[midgrid]

Alesi seems to be cropping up a lot in this thread...

[Sunshine_Baby_[IT]]

Fisichella, interwieved by Italian television, after hitting a wall: "A wall came on me".
I don't remember the race (probably when he raced for Force India).

[Nessafox]

Fisichella, interwieved by Italian television, after hitting a wall: "A wall came on me".
I don't remember the race (probably when he raced for Force India).

Oh, it's just the 'hole in the wall' tv-show concept. Still means he failed though.

[AdrianSutil]

Bahrian GP- lap 2: Chandhok loses the car and hits the wall.

"I didn't know there was a bump on that corner."

Despite the fact no-one had mentioned a bump being there before. Although I'm inclined to believe him, as the second lap of the race was probably his 5th lap of the weekend!!

[James1978]

Didn't Alonso in Canada 2005 blame his retirement on a "suspension problem" and neglected to mention he'd hit the wall?

[QuickYoda41]

Yeah, and I can still remember, how he said to his team on the radio: "something wrong with the car"

Surely, that had nothing to do with hitting the wall.

[Cynon]

Can I just put the names Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch in here? Because if I had to write a tenth of their respected excuses I'd be writing a thesis.

A recent one of Fat Tony's is at Sonoma, he claimed Brian Vickers was blocking him when in reality the cars in front of him were three abreast. Yeah, that's real intentional blocking there.

[stupot94]

The worst excuse ever was done by a Mr Coulthard in his first race for Williams.

The one where he said he was only used to doing 33 laps not 6o something. And was getting cramp in his foot.

You can read Frank Williams mind like a book. "BullS**t"

[Phoenix]

Fisichella, interwieved by Italian television, after hitting a wall: "A wall came on me".
I don't remember the race (probably when he raced for Force India).

What did he think, that he had the same kind of driving precision as the great A. Senna?

Yeah, and I can still remember, how he said to his team on the radio: "something wrong with the car"

Surely, that had nothing to do with hitting the wall.

Sadly, he was also complaining about Fisichella being ahead of him during the race, pretty much like he did with Massa last year at Germany, only that Alonso was comfortably ahead of Räikkönen and Trulli in the standings by that point. The team's answer was priceless: "Pass him"

[FullMetalJack]

Jarno Trulli - "There is a problem with the power steering"

How has nobody thought of this yet. The second most ridiculous, and most constant excuse of 2011.

[David AGS]

I like the 'reasons' from the old F1 reviews, from the 80's and 90's.

One that still stands out was Stefano Modena. Goes like that he didnt see the red light, then he's goinng on saying, they are the king, what can I do?

But you can argue all red-light cases. How can you miss the red light!

[ibsey]

Alesi seems to be cropping up a lot in this thread...

Yes Jean certainly did come up with some classic excuses back in his day. Another excuse from Alesi I've just remember was at Nurburgring in 1996, where both he & his teammate Gerhard Berger had their brakes stick on at the start of the race. In fact Benetton were running a clever device at the time, simliar to a handbrake, which prevented the drivers jumping the start however it failed on this occasion. Anyway the failure dropped both Benettons down the field. A lap later, Alesi who was by now in 'red mist mode' decided to try to overtake two cars at the 1st corner (I think Verstappen & Salo) & it wasn't as if the Arrows & the Tyrell were 'nose to tail' together either, when Alesi attempted the move!!! Predictably Jean smashed into the side of Mika Salo thus ending the Frenchman's race. After the race, his excuse for the move was something along the lines of...'well the race was pretty much lost at the start anyway'.

What I found especially frustrating by all of this, was Benetton appeared to have the pace to do well in that particular race. I mean, after pitting on the 1st lap Gerhard Berger started to set fastest laptimes, when all the front runners still had fresh rubber on (& comparable fuel loads) as well. What's more it wasn't as if this 'Alesi situation' was unique either. I can remember a few races around this time, where Alesi's 'enthuasium to pass' got the better of him & he most likely came up with a simliar excuse afterwards....i.e. Australia 1996, where Jean was 2nd fastest in morning warm-up behind Damon Hill. Then in the race he got stuck behind Eddie Irvine's Ferrari, got frustrated & tried a Banzai move. I can't remember what his excuse was afterwards that particular incident, but I can imagine it would have been pretty similar to his Nurburgring comment.

Whislt on the subject of Jean Alesi, he also used to frequently stall his cars (particularly in his Benetton & Sauber years) during his pitstops. IIRC he was once asked about this in 1996 & his response was that the Renault V10 (which Benetton used then) was especially prone to stalling. If that is the case then why didn't the Williams drivers stall more often around 1996 & why did Jean contiune to stall his Ferrari engined Sauber during pitstops at races like Brazil 1999?

Here some other examples that spring to mind...

According the David Croft & Ant Davidson in the FP3 coverage of Monaco 2011, Nico Rosberg crashed out of the Monaco race in 2008, because he was busy waving to some friends in a baloncy above? Although it might be possibly that Ant & Crofty were joking, I know that Stirling Moss used to wave at the pretty girls at Monaco, when he was in the middle of a race, so perhaps the Rosberg story isn't so riduculous?

Nakajima (Snr) blamed something about Detroit's concrete walls all looking the same & confusing him, for his crash there in (I believe) 1987.

IIRC at Monza in 1996 one of the Jordan drivers (possibly Martin Brundle) said something about them hitting a kerb so hard, that their knee actually hit a fire existinger button within the car & that gave them problems throughout the race.

Damon Hill blamed his 2nd lap crash in Germany 1995 on a badly worn front tyre, that was wrongly put on his car instead of a new one.

Gerhard Berger said his crash in Phoenix 1990 was down to accidental keeping his foot on the brake pedal, when he was accelarating. Not sure however, if he directly blamed it on the problems he had been having in pre season, when the Mclaren didn't fit him. But I think that was what Gerhard was implying, thereby possibly having a dig at Mclaren for his problems?

Taki Inque said something about getting a tooth ache when driving F1 cars, suggesting that was a reason behind his poor performances in 1995.

In his book, Ben Collins, i think mentions something about experiencing problems concentrating on the race when in his Ascari car at Lemans in 2001, when he had to sit in a 'warm pool of liquid' throughout a race stint, which no doubt was left behind by the previous driver. Nice.

Simliarly in Jackie Stewart's book (winning is not enough), I think Jackie talks about having to take it easy throughout the whole race at Mexico 1970, because he was worried about spinning off the track & ploughing into the speculators who were literally standing on the edge of the circuit. If that is true, then that is a VERY valid excuse indeed. IMO the 'reject' element of this story should be aimed at whoever let the crowd stand where they did.

I think in Spain (around about 1987 ish) Nigel Mansell came up with the excuse that he had left his Williams car at the stewards weigh-in after quali, because he had hurt his leg in a pre-event football match, & he was too injuried to go & fetch it. If it did indeed happen at Spain in 1987 then Mansell when on to win the race the next day, so he can't of injuried his leg that much surely?

IIRC, I think Martin Brundle said that the reason he missed the weigh-in for quali at Monaco in 1991 (& subsquently got excluded from the race as a result) was because Mansell had run over the foot of the race steward who was suppose to direct the drivers into the weigh in, as per the usual procedure. So when Brundle did come into to the pits, there was no race steward pointing him into the weigh in (as the steward was getting his foot looked at). So Brundle naturally assumed that he was not required to stop at the weigh in.

Jenson Button blamed "a freak gust of wind" for costing him 0.2 seconds in Quali for Brazil 2005. Hopefully JB was reffering to "wind" that was outside of the car, rather than in it . Martin Brundle didn't believe that excuse, so he questioned JB about it on his grid walk just prior to the start of the race (& he still didn't seem convinced about it even afterwards).

Martin Brundle blamed his Monaco 1996 crash on a damp patch of water under the shadow of Casino Square. Although this sound's like a 'reasonable' excuse, it is worth saying that no-one else had trouble with that particular damp patch in the race (however it is possibly that they all gave it extra caution after Brundle's retirement). DC also used that excuse when he spun on a damp patch under the bridge at the back chicane in Canada 1995 (even though Alesi who was just ahead of DC at the time was finding enough grip at that very corner to overtake his teammate?).

Also in Monaco 1996 JV struggled to get to grips with the circuit. IIRC, he blamed that on the limited number of laps a driver was allowed at the time in free pratice stating something like..."30 laps isn't enough to learn this track" (even though he was brought up in Monaco). Interesting how both R Schumi & DC didn't suffer from that problem at their Monaco GP F1 debuts then. DC arguably should have suffered more than JV in this respect since in 1995 Thrusday afternoon was a qualifying session (not free practice as it was in 1996) where the driver would have been limited to only 12 laps. Having said that I can't remember whether there was any limit to the number of laps allowed in the morning sessions in 1995, which may have helped DC.

In any case, even allowing for that and for R Schumi & DC having had junior formulae experience at Monaco (which I'm not 100% if they had or not?) which JV may not have benefit from, I wouldn't imagine that would completely account for JV's poor performance at Monaco in 1996. Furthermore I don't think JV ever did anything particularly impressive there in subsequent years either.

I think Micheal Andretti also used the "30 laps isn't enough to learn this track" excuse quite often back in 1993, when it was 1st introduced & he was a struggling rookie. Funny thing is I don't recall Barrichello complaining about that as much as Andretti, even though he was also a rookie back in 1993.

Quite often in the mid 1990's I do recall quite a few F1 drivers blaming a poor race stint on "a bad set of tyres". It could be that back then drivers weren't aware of how to manage / condition tyres throughout a stint (i.e. not take too much life out of it early on etc), or every tyre was actually different to one another, or it was just an easy excuse. Whatever it was I've not heard that one used recently.

Oliver Panis used to jump starts quite often in 1995 & (I could be wrong on this) but I think the excuse he gave for doing so was that he 'used to just take a guess at when the starts would happen'. I've certainly heard Martin Brundle in his TV commentaries say, that it is worth timing the length that the red lights are on for at support races during a GP weekend, as that usually is the same length as the F1 race would be. So perhaps Martin advised his then teammate Panis to that very same thing, thus using him to test out his theory?

In fact I think Panis jump the start at France 1995 & was served a 10 sec stop & go penalty for his troubles. When he came in to serve it, Rubens Barrichello (possibly another sucker who listened to Brundle about starts) was just ahead of him serving his penalty for the same offence. However Barrichello was a couple of seconds ahead of Panis & Oliver thought he could just get away with following the Brazilian out so he wouldn't have to serve the full 10 seconds, only around 8 seconds instead. I don't think it worked & think he was called in again to re-serve that 10 second penalty. I would love to know what his excuse was for his actions...perhaps his watch was a bit fast? Also begining to wonder whether it could have been a very clever intended tactic by Brundle to ensure his main competitors jumped the start...Martin certainly did rather well in that particular race?

I think David Coulthard blamed his pitlane speed limiter button, rather than admitting it was his own fault, for losing the race at Sliverstone in 1995, during his BBC commentary at the 2011 British GP. In that same commentary, he & Martin Brundle also invented a new page in the racing driver's book of excuses..."I was bluffing" (when reffering to Button & Mclaren's dummy pitstop to fool Webber & Red Bull)...although I've yet to hear anyone use that one yet.

As Stupot94 suggests, DC certainly came up with some great excuses in his early days. Further to the excuse of cramp in his leg for his drop off in performance at Canada 1994, I think he also blamed a tonsolious problem, for his poor performances in early 1995. Although these problems may have geniunely effected him, it is questionable whether DC should have taken part in these GP's in the 1st place, when he wasn't 100% fit to do so (shades of Sergio Perez in Canada 2011). My own personal view is if a driver does choose to race when they are not 100% fit (like DC in 1994 & 1995) then don't use that as an excuse if your race goes badly then (a harsh view I know). It seems that DC may have learn this lesson as I don't recall him using his broken ribs in Spain 2000 as too much of an excuse for finishing 2nd, IIRC he just said he 'expects to be more sore than normal after the GP' & said no more about it. Right attitude IMO.

Perhaps the best racing excuse / comment (what ever you care to call it) I've heard, is Marcus Groholm after a WRC stage (I think in Wales) some years ago where he said something along the lines of... " A stone when up Timo's (his co-driver) a*se!!! It came through the seat & when up his a*se!

BTW apologies for the length of this post...sometimes I can get a bit carried away. Also please note that a lot of these examples have come from memory, so whislt I think they are all true, I can't be 100% sure & I haven't had time to check as I wanted to. Nevertheless I hope the above is of interest to you.

[ibsey]

I like the 'reasons' from the old F1 reviews, from the 80's and 90's.

One that still stands out was Stefano Modena. Goes like that he didnt see the red light, then he's goinng on saying, they are the king, what can I do?

... " go there & kick them"

I couldn't stop laughing when he said that.

[James1978]

How on earth do you remember all this ibsey? Great read anyway.

[James1978]

Also I can't remember which race it was but I'm certain Giancarlo Fisichella once said he "ran out of talent"!

And another Fisi special - Turkey 2006 he said he spun deliberately at the start to avoid crashing into Alonso becuase his teammate was fighting for the championship. So it would have been OK to have wiped him out in other circumstances would it?

[midgrid]

Alesi seems to be cropping up a lot in this thread...

Yes Jean certainly did come up with some classic excuses back in his day. Another excuse from Alesi I've just remember was at Nurburgring in 1996, where both he & his teammate Gerhard Berger had their brakes stick on at the start of the race. In fact Benetton were running a clever device at the time, simliar to a handbrake, which prevented the drivers jumping the start however it failed on this occasion. Anyway the failure dropped both Benettons down the field. A lap later, Alesi who was by now in 'red mist mode' decided to try to overtake two cars at the 1st corner (I think Verstappen & Salo) & it wasn't as if the Arrows & the Tyrell were 'nose to tail' together either, when Alesi attempted the move!!! Predictably Jean smashed into the side of Mika Salo thus ending the Frenchman's race. After the race, his excuse for the move was something along the lines of...'well the race was pretty much lost at the start anyway'.

I was karting at Red Lodge in Suffolk on Sunday, and the race director's safety briefing included the advice that the first corner could not be taken flat-out, but that one of us would inevitably try it at some stage. Alesi could have done with that advice.

What I found especially frustrating by all of this, was Benetton appeared to have the pace to do well in that particular race. I mean, after pitting on the 1st lap Gerhard Berger started to set fastest laptimes, when all the front runners still had fresh rubber on (& comparable fuel loads) as well. What's more it wasn't as if this 'Alesi situation' was unique either. I can remember a few races around this time, where Alesi's 'enthuasium to pass' got the better of him & he most likely came up with a simliar excuse afterwards....i.e. Australia 1996, where Jean was 2nd fastest in morning warm-up behind Damon Hill. Then in the race he got stuck behind Eddie Irvine's Ferrari, got frustrated & tried a Banzai move. I can't remember what his excuse was afterwards that particular incident, but I can imagine it would have been pretty similar to his Nurburgring comment.

I found this in Autosport's race report: "My lap times were quicker than Irvine's, and it was important to overtake, because the first three cars were getting away. I tried to pass, but it did not work..." Irvine is also quoted as saying "with Alesi, you never know what to expect." Their reactions to their collision in Austria the following year were somewhat more colourful...

Whislt on the subject of Jean Alesi, he also used to frequently stall his cars (particularly in his Benetton & Sauber years) during his pitstops. IIRC he was once asked about this in 1996 & his response was that the Renault V10 (which Benetton used then) was especially prone to stalling. If that is the case then why didn't the Williams drivers stall more often around 1996 & why did Jean contiune to stall his Ferrari engined Sauber during pitstops at races like Brazil 1999?

I'm sure that he would blame the notoriously unreliable gearbox that was installed in the C18.

Here some other examples that spring to mind...

According the David Croft & Ant Davidson in the FP3 coverage of Monaco 2011, Nico Rosberg crashed out of the Monaco race in 2008, because he was busy waving to some friends in a baloncy above? Although it might be possibly that Ant & Crofty were joking, I know that Stirling Moss used to wave at the pretty girls at Monaco, when he was in the middle of a race, so perhaps the Rosberg story isn't so riduculous?

I'm sure that was a joke, as IIRC Moss would do that at the Station Hairpin, whereas Rosberg crashed at La Piscine in tricky drying track conditions, a point on the circuit at which he would have undoubtedly needed to have two hands on the wheel.

Nakajima (Snr) blamed something about Detroit's concrete walls all looking the same & confusing him, for his crash there in (I believe) 1987.

Naka-San struggled at street circuits throughout his F1 career (with the notable exception of the wet race at the more open Adelaide circuit in 1989). He routinely failed to qualify for the slower Detroit, Monaco and Phoenix races when the grid was over-subscribed during his Lotus years, and crashed out on the first lap of both Monaco and Detroit in 1987. He much preferred faster circuits such as Spa, Hermanos Rodríguez and, of course, Suzuka.

IIRC at Monza in 1996 one of the Jordan drivers (possibly Martin Brundle) said something about them hitting a kerb so hard, that their knee actually hit a fire existinger button within the car & that gave them problems throughout the race.

See also: Mika Hakkinen, Phoenix 1991 (knocking the steering-wheel release mechanism with his knee over a bump); Kimi Raikkonen, Imola 2001 (possibly doing the same thing); and Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Nurburgring 1997 (pressing his engine's kill switch in the confusion at the start and dropping into the midfield).

Damon Hill blamed his 2nd lap crash in Germany 1995 on a badly worn front tyre, that was wrongly put on his car instead of a new one.

Williams later found a driveshaft joint which displayed unusually high wear upon stripping the car down back at the factory, and sent out a press release that it could have contributed to Hill's spin (although I get the impression that Frank 'n' Patrick blamed it on a driver error and were just trying to save face for him).

Gerhard Berger said his crash in Phoenix 1990 was down to accidental keeping his foot on the brake pedal, when he was accelarating. Not sure however, if he directly blamed it on the problems he had been having in pre season, when the Mclaren didn't fit him. But I think that was what Gerhard was implying, thereby possibly having a dig at Mclaren for his problems?

There's a great photo of Berger and his then-team-mate Teo Fabi walking in from their broken Benettons during qualifying for the 1986 Italian Grand Prix, in which the lanky Berger stands at what looks like over a foot taller than the tiny Fabi! Prost and Senna weren't quite as small, but both still conformed to the "jockey" stereotype of top drivers, so the evolutionary MP4-5B was always going to be cramped for Berger. On a related note, I remember that Frentzen had a similar problem when he replaced Felipe Massa for the 2002 United States Grand Prix, and said that he was driving like his grandmother, with his knees bent and his face far too close to the steering wheel.

I also read a story which took place during the 1992 season at Monza. Riccardo Patrese asked team-mate Nigel Mansell how he was able to get through the chicanes so quickly, and Nige replied, in a deadpan voice, that he braced his hands against the side of the cockpit so that the steering wheel would not move as the car bounced over the kerbs, thus minimising the car's tendency to get out of shape. Patrese went out to attempt another flying lap, but then aborted it before setting a time. As he got out of the car, blood was seeping though the fingers of his driving gloves where he had taken the skin off his knuckles.

Taki Inque said something about getting a tooth ache when driving F1 cars, suggesting that was a reason behind his poor performances in 1995.

That must be from the "Taki Stuff..." segment of the 1995 official season review! I think that was a joke as well, but on a more serious note, David Coulthard's form suffered in the first half of the same season due to the effects of tonsilitis (although DC isn't the most believable when it comes to excuses, either...).

In his book, Ben Collins, i think mentions something about experiencing problems concentrating on the race when in his Ascari car at Lemans in 2001, when he had to sit in a 'warm pool of liquid' throughout a race stint, which no doubt was left behind by the previous driver. Nice.

Neither the first nor the last driver to experience that particular problem.

Simliarly in Jackie Stewart's book (winning is not enough), I think Jackie talks about having to take it easy throughout the whole race at Mexico 1970, because he was worried about spinning off the track & ploughing into the speculators who were literally standing on the edge of the circuit. If that is true, then that is a VERY valid excuse indeed. IMO the 'reject' element of this story should be aimed at whoever let the crowd stand where they did.

IIRC he had to retire from that race after hitting a stray dog that ran onto the circuit. I also recollect that local hero Pedro Rodríguez and the other drivers went around the track before the start to plead with the crowds to move back behind the barriers, to no avail - the spectators moved away from the edge of the circuit, but remained in front of the barriers. Presumably they had not heard of, or had forgotten about, the events at Le Mans fifteen years earlier.

I think in Spain (around about 1987 ish) Nigel Mansell came up with the excuse that he had left his Williams car at the stewards weigh-in after quali, because he had hurt his leg in a pre-event football match, & he was too injuried to go & fetch it. If it did indeed happen at Spain in 1987 then Mansell when on to win the race the next day, so he can't of injuried his leg that much surely?

1988, I think. Typical Mansell.

IIRC, I think Martin Brundle said that the reason he missed the weigh-in for quali at Monaco in 1991 (& subsquently got excluded from the race as a result) was because Mansell had run over the foot of the race steward who was suppose to direct the drivers into the weigh in, as per the usual procedure. So when Brundle did come into to the pits, there was no race steward pointing him into the weigh in (as the steward was getting his foot looked at). So Brundle naturally assumed that he was not required to stop at the weigh in.

Brilliant - I didn't know of that additional detail before reading this.

Jenson Button blamed "a freak gust of wind" for costing him 0.2 seconds in Quali for Brazil 2005. Hopefully JB was reffering to "wind" that was outside of the car, rather than in it . Martin Brundle didn't believe that excuse, so he questioned JB about it on his grid walk just prior to the start of the race (& he still didn't seem convinced about it even afterwards).

Perhaps it was the same gust of wind that caused him to run wide at Campsa during his qualifying run for the 2004 Spanish Grand Prix.

Martin Brundle blamed his Monaco 1996 crash on a damp patch of water under the shadow of Casino Square. Although this sound's like a 'reasonable' excuse, it is worth saying that no-one else had trouble with that particular damp patch in the race (however it is possibly that they all gave it extra caution after Brundle's retirement). DC also used that excuse when he spun on a damp patch under the bridge at the back chicane in Canada 1995 (even though Alesi who was just ahead of DC at the time was finding enough grip at that very corner to overtake his teammate?).

Again from my karting experience at the weekend, someone hit the tyres at the apex of a slow corner, and when it was cleared up and the tyres repositioned, there was a small amount of water on the racing line. The next time through, I almsot spun as my tyres immediately lost grip. It's amazing how a tiny patch of water can so dramatically affect the handling of a kart (or car).

Also in Monaco 1996 JV struggled to get to grips with the circuit. IIRC, he blamed that on the limited number of laps a driver was allowed at the time in free pratice stating something like..."30 laps isn't enough to learn this track" (even though he was brought up in Monaco). Interesting how both R Schumi & DC didn't suffer from that problem at their Monaco GP F1 debuts then. DC arguably should have suffered more than JV in this respect since in 1995 Thrusday afternoon was a qualifying session (not free practice as it was in 1996) where the driver would have been limited to only 12 laps. Having said that I can't remember whether there was any limit to the number of laps allowed in the morning sessions in 1995, which may have helped DC.

Yes, free practice sessions were also limited in 1995, to circa 24 laps.

In any case, even allowing for that and for R Schumi & DC having had junior formulae experience at Monaco (which I'm not 100% if they had or not?) which JV may not have benefit from, I wouldn't imagine that would completely account for JV's poor performance at Monaco in 1996. Furthermore I don't think JV ever did anything particularly impressive there in subsequent years either.

Yes, it must have been his second bogey track after Montréal.

I think Micheal Andretti also used the "30 laps isn't enough to learn this track" excuse quite often back in 1993, when it was 1st introduced & he was a struggling rookie. Funny thing is I don't recall Barrichello complaining about that as much as Andretti, even though he was also a rookie back in 1993.

I've always wondered why the restrictions were introduced for the second round of the championship, and not the first round at Kyalami. Perhaps it was to allow the teams to test their new cars at the opening event? Or was it linked to the introduction of the rule that the slowest of the 26 cars would fail to qualify, which also took place at the second round of the championship?

Quite often in the mid 1990's I do recall quite a few F1 drivers blaming a poor race stint on "a bad set of tyres". It could be that back then drivers weren't aware of how to manage / condition tyres throughout a stint (i.e. not take too much life out of it early on etc), or every tyre was actually different to one another, or it was just an easy excuse. Whatever it was I've not heard that one used recently.

It's because the current Pirellis are uniformly "bad".

Oliver Panis used to jump starts quite often in 1995 & (I could be wrong on this) but I think the excuse he gave for doing so was that he 'used to just take a guess at when the starts would happen'. I've certainly heard Martin Brundle in his TV commentaries say, that it is worth timing the length that the red lights are on for at support races during a GP weekend, as that usually is the same length as the F1 race would be. So perhaps Martin advised his then teammate Panis to that very same thing, thus using him to test out his theory?

In fact I think Panis jump the start at France 1995 & was served a 10 sec stop & go penalty for his troubles. When he came in to serve it, Rubens Barrichello (possibly another sucker who listened to Brundle about starts) was just ahead of him serving his penalty for the same offence. However Barrichello was a couple of seconds ahead of Panis & Oliver thought he could just get away with following the Brazilian out so he wouldn't have to serve the full 10 seconds, only around 8 seconds instead. I don't think it worked & think he was called in again to re-serve that 10 second penalty. I would love to know what his excuse was for his actions...perhaps his watch was a bit fast? Also begining to wonder whether it could have been a very clever intended tactic by Brundle to ensure his main competitors jumped the start...Martin certainly did rather well in that particular race?

Apparently Panis often jumped the starts by a fraction in 1994, which was the main reason why the FIA introduced the electronic sensors for the 1995 season. I also noticed that potential problem at the 1995 French Grand Prix, but Panis didn't have to take an additional penalty. Looking at the lap chart, the reason why he ended up some far behind Barrichello is that he made his first scheduled stop four laps earlier.

I think David Coulthard blamed his pitlane speed limiter button, rather than admitting it was his own fault, for losing the race at Sliverstone in 1995, during his BBC commentary at the 2011 British GP. In that same commentary, he & Martin Brundle also invented a new page in the racing driver's book of excuses..."I was bluffing" (when reffering to Button & Mclaren's dummy pitstop to fool Webber & Red Bull)...although I've yet to hear anyone use that one yet.

This was a valid excuse, as his Williams suffered a serious electronics failure which caused his dashboard to black out, his electronic throttle mechanism to stop working on downchanges, and his pit-lane speed-limiter to pack up. He had to estimate at what speed he was travelling in the pit lane, as his speedometer wasn't functional, and he got it wrong at his final stop.

As Stupot94 suggests, DC certainly came up with some great excuses in his early days. Further to the excuse of cramp in his leg for his drop off in performance at Canada 1994, I think he also blamed a tonsolious problem, for his poor performances in early 1995. Although these problems may have geniunely effected him, it is questionable whether DC should have taken part in these GP's in the 1st place, when he wasn't 100% fit to do so (shades of Sergio Perez in Canada 2011). My own personal view is if a driver does choose to race when they are not 100% fit (like DC in 1994 & 1995) then don't use that as an excuse if your race goes badly then (a harsh view I know). It seems that DC may have learn this lesson as I don't recall him using his broken ribs in Spain 2000 as too much of an excuse for finishing 2nd, IIRC he just said he 'expects to be more sore than normal after the GP' & said no more about it. Right attitude IMO.

That's fair enough. Probably the best example of that attitude was Niki Lauda's racing return from his horrific injuries in 1976, and then his refusal to allow to Ferrari team manager to invent a mechanical problem to excuse him from retiring from the Japanese Grand Prix.

Perhaps the best racing excuse / comment (what ever you care to call it) I've heard, is Marcus Groholm after a WRC stage (I think in Wales) some years ago where he said something along the lines of... " A stone when up Timo's (his co-driver) a*se!!! It came through the seat & when up his a*se!

"Up in the ass of Timo." *Fisting motion*

BTW apologies for the length of this post...sometimes I can get a bit carried away. Also please note that a lot of these examples have come from memory, so whislt I think they are all true, I can't be 100% sure & I haven't had time to check as I wanted to. Nevertheless I hope the above is of interest to you.

More long posts please!

[ibsey]

How on earth do you remember all this ibsey?

Haven't got a clue, I just seem to remember odd stuff like this at the strangest moment

Their reactions to their collision in Austria the following year were somewhat more colourful...

Indeed Alesi said that it was lucky he didn't find Irvine afterwards, as he reckoned Irvine would have been sporting a black eye afterwards. Seems a few F1 liked to use Irvine as their own punching bag.

I'm sure that he would blame the notoriously unreliable gearbox that was installed in the C18.

Indeed the one that Alesi himeself requested.

More long posts please!

Thanks. I'll try & think of a few more to post back here next week.

BTW does anyone know if Mika Hakkinen came up with a good excuse after his poor performance at Nurburgring in 1999?

[Ferrim]

I can confirm some of these from FORIX -it includes a Villeneuve quote on having too few laps to learn the Monaco track, for example.

[Sunshine_Baby_[IT]]

I remember that in one of his Ferrari races, Fisichella said that I hadn't score any point because Vettel, who was slower than him, didn't let him pass.

[TomWazzleshaw]

I remember that in one of his Ferrari races, Fisichella said that I hadn't score any point because Vettel, who was slower than him, didn't let him pass.

I'd imagine that it'ld be Monza, the only time Fisichella was anywhere near the Red Bulls whilst driving a Ferrari

[RonDenisDeletraz]

I remember that in one of his Ferrari races, Fisichella said that I hadn't score any point because Vettel, who was slower than him, didn't let him pass.

Epic excuse is Epic

[Sunshine_Baby_[IT]]

I remember that in one of his Ferrari races, Fisichella said that I hadn't score any point because Vettel, who was slower than him, didn't let him pass.

I'd imagine that it'ld be Monza, the only time Fisichella was anywhere near the Red Bulls whilst driving a Ferrari

Exactly, I remember that Vettel was 8th and Fisichella 9th, so it should be Monza.

[RonDenisDeletraz]

I remember that in one of his Ferrari races, Fisichella said that I hadn't score any point because Vettel, who was slower than him, didn't let him pass.

I'd imagine that it'ld be Monza, the only time Fisichella was anywhere near the Red Bulls whilst driving a Ferrari

Exactly, I remember that Vettel was 8th and Fisichella 9th, so it should be Monza.

Yep, just checked Wikipedia

[ibsey]

Again from my karting experience at the weekend, someone hit the tyres at the apex of a slow corner, and when it was cleared up and the tyres repositioned, there was a small amount of water on the racing line. The next time through, I almsot spun as my tyres immediately lost grip. It's amazing how a tiny patch of water can so dramatically affect the handling of a kart (or car).

Yes I know what you mean, as I've suffered a simliar experience (although with a small patch of dirt on the road rather than water) when driving down a mountain pass at speed in the Alps & I almost flew off the side of a mountain as a result. Thankfully I was driving a Mazda MX-5 that day, which is wonderfully balanced & perfect for catching scary oversteer moments.

Aguri Suzuki also suffered from hitting a damp patch of track, which caused a crash in (I think) pre qualifying for Mexico 1990. However in Suzuki's case, he was virgously weaving the car from left to right, in an effort to warm up his tyres for a 'hot' lap. On a track which was only fully dry on the racing line. So I think Suzuki, had only himself to blame for that one.


Here's a few more examples for your enjoyment.

At Hungary 2006, apparantely the reason why Kimi Rakkonen smashed into the back of Liuzzi & lost the race win, was because Raikkonen had agreed to let his team mate (Pedro De La Rosa...whom was running less fuel at the time) through at the exit of turn 5. So as Kimi was busy checking his mirror, Liuzzi chose the same moment to back off to allow the Mclarens through to lap him. Thus Rakkionen creamed into the back of the Torro Rosso.

I think Jenson Button also said he was busy looking down at something within his car, only to suddenly have the cars that were directly in front of him brake sharpely when behind the safety car at Monza 2000, which caused him to crash out. Whislt these kind of accidents can be a suprisingly easy thing to happen. I myself recently had a simliar incident whislt playing GP4 (1st time I've played it in a while & its still brilliant!). Basically I was checking my lap times whislt crossing the start / finish line at Imola & looked up only to find DC coming out of the pits & I only narrowly avoided smashing into the back of him. Ultimately I do think it is the responsibility of the driver behind to avoid contact in these circumstances, no matter what their excuse or circumstances are.

Around the 1995 Japanese GP, Damon Hill made a comment about how poor the Williams team had been with their pitstops, suggesting that as one reason as to why he had failed to win the World Championship that year. Williams later pointed out that they might have done better in this area had Damon Hill correctly stopped at his pitstop marks.

On a simliar note can you guess who ran into one of his mechanics (for his new team that he had just joined) during the morning warm up for the 1996 Australian GP, when the team were practicing pit stops. It's none other than... Jean Alesi & his excuse was that 'the pitlane was dusty' (which tends to be the standard excuse for embrassing moments in the pitlane).

However it was probably more true than usual on this occassion, as (I think) there had been enviromental protestors pouring diesel on the race track shortly prior to that race weekend. The extent of the problem was shown by all of the teams installing abbrasive strips on the floors of their pitboxes to help drivers out. However, to my knowledge, no other drivers suffered any simliar incidents & it doesn't suprise me that out of all the drivers, Alesi would be involved in something like this. Incidentially in that same weekend, DC said the reason he qualified badly because he was "worried about falling foul of the (newly introduced) 107% rule".

Also came across this gem of a quote from JV explaining how he saw the 1st corner incident at San Marino 1996... "Alesi just drove into me. I'm not saying he did it on purpose. It can happen. But the second time he was actually looking to see where I was. All I know is that it screwed up my day."

Incidentially I remember a Eurosport interview after that particular race with Flavio Britore where he was trying to make some lame excuses for Alesi's actions. Flavio said something like "it shouldn't be forgotten that Alesi drove in the spare car & also hurt his hand after his morning warm up crash". So that explains why Alesi recklessly punted not only JV off the track by also (IIRC) Panis.

IIRC Damon Hill initally came up with a couple of lame excuses after his incident with M Schumi at Monza 1995. Firstly I think he tried to blame Taki Inque (for distracting him when Taki was being lapped). Then he blamed M Schumi for braking way to early for the corner. Also In that same race DC blamed oil on the track for spinning off on the formation lap.

Distraction was also the reason behind a crash once by the great Fangio. According to his biography by Gerald Donaldson, there was an extermely gruelling South American road race that Fangio was taking part in October 1939. on a 'straightforward' 100-mile section Fangio started to become distracted by the constantly flickering of bright sunshine and deep shade affecting his vision as he drove flat out between trees that lined the road. This caused a crash on a sharp S bend, which was witnessed by a large group of spectators. However Fangio learnt from this crash, and would from then on regard an unusual concentration of bystanders on an unfamiliar road as a sign of the need for increased caution.

IMO Fangio's 'excuse' is a very valid one, however I wanted to share this story here as I think the ending is a perfect example of just one of the many reasons why the great man was 5 times world champion (as well as a legend off the track). In fact his book, which I highly recommend, is fully of great stories about how he overcame major problems during races. Things like his race seat working it's way lose..on the Nurburgring of all places!!! or the clutch pedal snapping in two. Problems which lesser drivers would have instantly retired because of & perhaps used it as an excuse afterwards.

IIRC According to Gilles Villeneueve's biography at Zandvort in 1981, Gilles was told by his Ferrari team to "forget about the race & just get the car to the finish" as the team wanted to test the new turbo engine & therefore needed the data from a race distance. What does Gilles do in the race...get involved in a 1st corner accident & retires as a result. His excuse to the team afterwards was "I just couldn't help myself". Personally I love this story, as for me this sums up Gilles perfectly, a racer through & through...which is why he's my all time favorite driver. However I acknowledge others may view is actions as slightly reckless.


Other short examples...

M Schumi excuse about why he wouldn't agree to Michelin's proposals at Indy 2005 (thus allowing all the teams to race instead of the joke 6 car parade). In the post race press conference, he basically said that because he didn't get his way prior to Monza 2001 (about all the F1 drivers not racing one another at the 1st two corners). So he wouldn't give way on this matter.

M Schumi's excuse after his Monaco 2006 incident & how he tried to make people believe that he didn't do it on purpose. Simliarly whatever M Schumi's excuse was after him parking his severely damaged Ferrari right on the racing line at Austria 2000, in an failed attempt to get the race stopped, following his 1st corner crash & subsquent retirement.

JPM excuse after the 4 car pileup on Saturday morning in Monaco 2005. JPM basically said he he was trying to move over to let JV past. This is despite the small matter of two other cars (DC & R Schumi) being inbetween JPM & JV at the time. To everyone else who saw the incident, it was pretty obvious that it was a attempted brake test from JPM to his former teammate R Schumi. Afterwards Ralf summed it up perfectly when he said "He (JPM) was simply f**ked off at me so he does this". Also I think there was couple of brake testing incidents during the Monaco GP in 2004 involving M Schumi, JPM & Alonso. Although I can't exact remember what excuses were (& whether they were valid or not). I think JPM & Alonso may have blamed M Schumi of trying to warm up his brakes in the tunnel whislt behind the safety car?

Ron Dennis' very obvious sour grapes after Malaysia 1999 saying stuff like "there were some very bald tyres on those Ferrari" & complaining that they were using team tactics etc. Boo hoo Ron!.

Alain Prost at Sliverstone 1988, where he retired due to 'poor handling'. Surely the Mclaren couldn't have been that bad since Senna won the race in the other one.

Senna's excuse after breaking the pre-race agreement he made with Alain Prost at San Marino 1989, about whoever led off the start wouldn't be attacked by his teammate going into the 1st corner. I believe Senna's excuse was "this wasn't the start it was merely the re-start (after Berger's firey accident). So the agreement didn't apply anymore". When I was younger I used to think that was a clever tactic Senna employed. However now I am older (& wiser) I have the view that it actually was a poor show from Senna & therefore I consider this win a 'hollow victory'.

I mean if Senna wasn't intending to stick to the agreement at the re-start at least have the decency to inform Prost. Aside from the fact that the re-start would have provided identical risk to the Mclaren drivers as the first start, which was the reason behind the orginal agreement (thus begging the question why did Senna make the agreement in the 1st place then?). How much satisfaction could Senna really have got from that victory knowing deep down, he didn't beat Prost fair & square? Like most people, I'm full of admiration for Senna's genius behind the wheel (particular his quali laps). However this is the side of his career I dislike.

Damon Hill's excuse for punting poor Nakano off the track, when racing for position, at San Marino in 1997. Damon said something like "Well I was catching him at about 3 seconds per lap, then he wouldn't move over for me...& I was pretty cheesed off starting from the pitlane".

JV said he was adjusting his Brake Bias which caused him to hit the wall at Monaco 1997. I know that race (being wet) was particularly challenging & the Williams had a semi dry set up on it instead of a fully wet one, etc. But this incident makes you wonder how would JV of coped in todays F1 cars where multi-tasking is such an important element (what with KERS, DRS & engine maps etc). Remember JV was looking at making a come back a couple of years ago.

Jenson Button's excuse about struggling with San Marino's kerbs in 2000, I found a little weak at the time, since that was the unique challenge of Imola & all drivers had to deal with it (it's F1 not a kids tea party). Also I don't recall the other rookies in 2000 complaining about them either.

Barrichello & Hakkinen crashed on the last corner of the last lap at Sliverstone in 1994. Rubens damaged his suspension in the incident & rather than hobble over the finish line which would have secured him 4th or 5th (I think). Instead he choose to come into the pitlane, the longer & harder way to finish the race (the old narrow pit entrance by Woodcote which contained a couple of tight bends within it). I think that mistake cost him a points finish & his excuse was that he didn't know it was the last lap. I find that difficult to believe given the banzai move he had just done on Hakkinen, which drivers tend save for the last lap.

DC blaming traffic for losing the 1999 San Marino GP...when he clearly wasn't asertive enough behind the traffic (the way Senna used to be). Also IIRC, DC failed to mention the few seconds he lost by going off the track at Rivazza 1 after just lapping Panis & Fischella.

Ferrari's previous attempts to cover up team orders i.e. at Austria 1998 (where their excuse for giving up 4th position to M Schumi was 'Irvine's brakes were fading') & Hockenhiem 2010 (the excuses/explainations Ferrari made after the 'Fernado is faster than you' affair). Simliarly I found the excuses Barrichello's made on Top Gear about how he didn't really know he was the no.2 at Ferrari until Austria 2002 etc, very weak indeed. I mean ever since he joined Ferrari in 2000 they made him wear a red cap with a big no. 2 on it. It seemed Ferrari wanted to remind him of his no.2 position, in case he ever forgot.

Couple of real gems now from the BBC commentary at the 2011 Hungarian GP. In it David Coulthard admitted that he crashed out of the 1994 Hungarian GP, because he "wasn't strong enough to hang onto the car anymore". Remember that race would have been approx 3 months after he made his F1 debut, so you would have thought DC would been able to overcome his fitness issues by then. I know Hungary is a particularly demanding track, physically, but still.

Furthermore, Martin Brundle said that in the 1991 Hungarian GP he & (his then teammate) Mark Blundell had to retire, because a bend in the Brabham cockpit design meant that the drivers suffered servere cramp in their legs & ankles. So they couldn't feel their feet, & the brake pedal, anymore.

On a simliar note, Derek Warwick said he found the 1986 Brabham a difficult car to master, as the low design of the car meant the driver was almost lying down inside it (with their chin digging into their chest). IMO this seems like a valid excuse, but I just thought I'd share this aswell as it highlights the extermeties that designers will go to. Simliarly I remember during the 1st half of 1996 Murray Walker kept saying how Martin Brundle's poor performances were down to him struggling to get the Jordan to his liking. Seems like a bit of a weak excuse from Brundle given all of his experience & expertise? (particularly with poor F1 cars)

The authorities at Brazil 2003 excuse about not bring (IIRC) exterme wet tyres to the event, in an effort to cut costs. What a mistake that turned out to be.

Also I think (although not 100% sure) on the offical 1985 season review video, Alberto made a pretty lame excuse for colliding with his team mate Johansson at the 1st corner in the German GP. I vaugely remember him saying something afterwards like, ' well I had to win the race afterwards, otherwise Enzo Ferrari wouldn't have been too happy with me'.

Finally does anyone know what Mclaren's excuse was for running out of fuel around the end of the British GP for 3 years running? (1991 - 1993 & also the same thing happened at the 1991 German GP, the very next race after Sliverstone)

[AdrianSutil]

Christ. Where did you get all these from?! Great post.

[Sunshine_Baby_[IT]]

Some new ones that I listened during interviews during and after the races watched with Italian coverage.

Indianapolis 2006: Montoya crashed at the start, taking Raikkonen out of the race too. Later he was interviewed and, when was asked about the crash, he said that the public wanted to see a show and they were surely happy because, thanks to him, the start of the race wasn’t boring.

In Italy 2006 Alonso was given a penalty because he slowed another car in qualifying. After the race, when he was interviewed, Briatore said something like Alonso had lost points because FIA favored Ferrari, when it was evident that the reason why Alonso did not score any point was because of his retirement, due to an engine failure.

When Barrichello was driving for Brawn GP, I don’t remember which race, once he stayed for a lot of laps behind Nelsinho Piquet. After he said: “If you allow me to say it, Nelsinho is an ******* who didn’t let me pass.”

But the best one in excuse history is surely Domenicali and sometimes he cannot even invent an excuse. I remember that, when he was asked about team orders in Germany 2010, the only things he was able to say were that there wasn’t any overtake to talk about, that they had a beautiful double win and Ferrari was a great team.
Ferrari people has another custom too: every time that it’s possible, if Hamilton is involved in a controversy they blame him (calling him like “silly boy” or something like this) for bad results of Ferrari drivers, even when their results don’t depend on Hamilton.

[QuickYoda41]

When Barrichello was driving for Brawn GP, I don’t remember which race, once he stayed for a lot of laps behind Nelsinho Piquet. After he said: “If you allow me to say it, Nelsinho is an ******* who didn’t let me pass.”

I don't remember him saying that, but he was stuck behind Nelsinho in Bahrain for a while.

[RonDenisDeletraz]

Good post Sunshine_Baby_[IT], (I think I got your username right) so many excuses I didn't know about.

[TomWazzleshaw]

When Barrichello was driving for Brawn GP, I don’t remember which race, once he stayed for a lot of laps behind Nelsinho Piquet. After he said: “If you allow me to say it, Nelsinho is an ******* who didn’t let me pass.”

Rubens isn't alone in thinking Nelsinho is that

[Sunshine_Baby_[IT]]

When Barrichello was driving for Brawn GP, I don’t remember which race, once he stayed for a lot of laps behind Nelsinho Piquet. After he said: “If you allow me to say it, Nelsinho is an ******* who didn’t let me pass.”

Rubens isn't alone in thinking Nelsinho is that

But it seems he's the only one who in that moment wasn't able to overtake him.

[ibsey]

Martin Brundle at Sliverstone prior to the 1989 British GP, when asked about him failing to pre-qualify for the previous race (on the offical FIA season review video). Martin's excuse was "I don't know what it is, i'm driving like an old tart at the moment".

Also Martin said on his grid walk just prior to the 2011 Italian GP (when interviewing JB), he once had to pit because he had too many fly's on his visor. Does anyone know, by chance what race that may have been?

Christ. Where did you get all these from?! Great post.

Its the result of too much time on one's hands.

[Cynon]

I think Micheal Andretti also used the "30 laps isn't enough to learn this track" excuse quite often back in 1993, when it was 1st introduced & he was a struggling rookie. Funny thing is I don't recall Barrichello complaining about that as much as Andretti, even though he was also a rookie back in 1993.

Michael Andretti never used that excuse in CART... but he did say he "didn't see" various different people that he ran straight into. He also claimed he had "no idea" Robby Gordon was passing him for the lead at Phoenix and subsequently lost the race...

Robby Gordon, Big Mo Gugelmin, and Paul Tracy wore a shirt that read; "Michael Andretti Driving School for the Blind" or somesuch...

[midgrid]

I think Jenson Button also said he was busy looking down at something within his car, only to suddenly have the cars that were directly in front of him brake sharpely when behind the safety car at Monza 2000, which caused him to crash out. Whislt these kind of accidents can be a suprisingly easy thing to happen. I myself recently had a simliar incident whislt playing GP4 (1st time I've played it in a while & its still brilliant!). Basically I was checking my lap times whislt crossing the start / finish line at Imola & looked up only to find DC coming out of the pits & I only narrowly avoided smashing into the back of him. Ultimately I do think it is the responsibility of the driver behind to avoid contact in these circumstances, no matter what their excuse or circumstances are.

This sort of thing happens all the time between the AI cars in the official F1 games of the PS2 era (2001-2006). Stupid glitches...

However it was probably more true than usual on this occassion, as (I think) there had been enviromental protestors pouring diesel on the race track shortly prior to that race weekend. The extent of the problem was shown by all of the teams installing abbrasive strips on the floors of their pitboxes to help drivers out. However, to my knowledge, no other drivers suffered any simliar incidents & it doesn't suprise me that out of all the drivers, Alesi would be involved in something like this. Incidentially in that same weekend, DC said the reason he qualified badly because he was "worried about falling foul of the (newly introduced) 107% rule"

Typical environmental protesters, so concerned about the environment that they pour diesel over it all.

(Note: I'm not Jeremy Clarkson, and I support the environmental movement in general, but that story demonstrates the hypocrisy of some of the fringe members.)

Distraction was also the reason behind a crash once by the great Fangio. According to his biography by Gerald Donaldson, there was an extermely gruelling South American road race that Fangio was taking part in October 1939. on a 'straightforward' 100-mile section Fangio started to become distracted by the constantly flickering of bright sunshine and deep shade affecting his vision as he drove flat out between trees that lined the road. This caused a crash on a sharp S bend, which was witnessed by a large group of spectators. However Fangio learnt from this crash, and would from then on regard an unusual concentration of bystanders on an unfamiliar road as a sign of the need for increased caution.

Indeed, Fangio avoided the multiple pile-up that severely reduced the field during the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix by paying attention to the spectators. The accident occurred behind him at Tabac on the first lap as he was leading, but had not been cleared away by the time he came around again and could have claimed him if he had gone around the corner at racing speed, but he noticed that the crowd, instead of watching the race leader approach, were actually looking in the other direction, at something on the exit of the corner. So he slowed down significantly, picked his way through the crash scene, and went on to win. Incidentally, the crash was caused by several drivers losing control on a track surface suddenly made wet by a particularly large wave which had just broken on the harbour...

M Schumi excuse about why he wouldn't agree to Michelin's proposals at Indy 2005 (thus allowing all the teams to race instead of the joke 6 car parade). In the post race press conference, he basically said that because he didn't get his way prior to Monza 2001 (about all the F1 drivers not racing one another at the 1st two corners). So he wouldn't give way on this matter.

And the only driver who didn't agree (causing the rest to waver) in 2001 was a certain Jacques Villeneuve.

JPM excuse after the 4 car pileup on Saturday morning in Monaco 2005. JPM basically said he he was trying to move over to let JV past. This is despite the small matter of two other cars (DC & R Schumi) being inbetween JPM & JV at the time. To everyone else who saw the incident, it was pretty obvious that it was a attempted brake test from JPM to his former teammate R Schumi. Afterwards Ralf summed it up perfectly when he said "He (JPM) was simply f**ked off at me so he does this". Also I think there was couple of brake testing incidents during the Monaco GP in 2004 involving M Schumi, JPM & Alonso. Although I can't exact remember what excuses were (& whether they were valid or not). I think JPM & Alonso may have blamed M Schumi of trying to warm up his brakes in the tunnel whislt behind the safety car?

Alonso crashed whilst attempting to lap Ralf Schumacher around the outside of the tunnel, which he was more-or-less forced into doing because Ralf had gear selection problems and was cruising around at reduced pace. This triggered the safety car, during which Michael took the lead due to not pitting, but was taken out (again in the tunnel) by Montoya (who was also a lap down) when warming his brakes a little too aggressively. Although Michael would have found it hard to win the race, needing to build up a pit-stop's worth of advantage over Trulli and Button in not so many laps, the incident ruined any chance he had of breaking his and Mansell's record of winning five consecutive races at the start of a season.

Ferrari's previous attempts to cover up team orders i.e. at Austria 1998 (where their excuse for giving up 4th position to M Schumi was 'Irvine's brakes were fading') & Hockenhiem 2010 (the excuses/explainations Ferrari made after the 'Fernado is faster than you' affair). Simliarly I found the excuses Barrichello's made on Top Gear about how he didn't really know he was the no.2 at Ferrari until Austria 2002 etc, very weak indeed. I mean ever since he joined Ferrari in 2000 they made him wear a red cap with a big no. 2 on it. It seemed Ferrari wanted to remind him of his no.2 position, in case he ever forgot.

My opinion is that Rubens was too naive about the situation at Ferrari. He didn't have Number Two-type clauses written into his contract, merely ones that stipulated that he must obey team orders. As Schumacher also had the same clause, he believed that they would have an equal standing in the team (and perhaps they did at the start of the 2000 season, until it became apparent that Schumacher was again faster than his new team-mate).

[AdrianSutil]

ibsey wrote:
IIRC According to Gilles Villeneueve's biography at Zandvort in 1981, Gilles was told by his Ferrari team to "forget about the race & just get the car to the finish" as the team wanted to test the new turbo engine & therefore needed the data from a race distance. What does Gilles do in the race...get involved in a 1st corner accident & retires as a result. His excuse to the team afterwards was "I just couldn't help myself". Personally I love this story, as for me this sums up Gilles perfectly, a racer through & through...which is why he's my all time favorite driver. However I acknowledge others may view is actions as slightly reckless.

There was another time, again at Zaandvort, where Gilles picked up a puncture at the beginning of a lap. The tyre was destroyed, he shouldv'e parked it. Any other driver would've done so. But not Gilles...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbRnPwS178g

It doesn't make him reckless in my opinion. It just shows Gilles for the way he was, a racer...

[ibsey]

Couple of more excuses to add.

According to Murray Walker commentary during the 1988 Brazilian GP, Nelson Piquet stalled his Williams during a pitstop in the previous year's race. To which Nelson's excuse was "I didn't stall, the engine died on me". Judging by Murray's tone when he told that story, he didn't seem to believe Nelson's explaination.

By the way, Does anyone by chance know what Nelson's excuse was for hiding his car set-up from Nigel Mansell during the 1986 Hungarian GP. Thus effectively ruining the possiblility of Nigel fighting with Nelson at that race on a equal footing (as there was something new on the car Nelson was hiding in particular...at least according to Mansell).

Also during the 1988 Portuguese GP Berger crashed out at turn 3 in the middle of the race. IIRC in that year's official season review video, Tony Jardine said that the reason for the crash was Berger had accidently knocked on his fire extinguisher in the cockpit.

There was another time, again at Zaandvort, where Gilles picked up a puncture at the beginning of a lap. The tyre was destroyed, he shouldv'e parked it. Any other driver would've done so. But not Gilles...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbRnPwS178g

It doesn't make him reckless in my opinion. It just shows Gilles for the way he was, a racer...

Absoultely agree! Can you imagine what kind of fine's / penalty's he would have incurred had he done that in today's F1.

Simliarly he also drove most of the 1981 Canadian GP with a severly broken front wing & still managed to finish 3rd (in awful conditions I might add). Further showing his 'natural born racer' qualities when when his car was falling apart around him.

[Cynon]

There was another time, again at Zandvoort, where Gilles picked up a puncture at the beginning of a lap. The tire was destroyed, he should've parked it. Any other driver would've done so. But not Gilles...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbRnPwS178g

It doesn't make him reckless in my opinion. It just shows Gilles for the way he was, a racer...

Absolutely agree! Can you imagine what kind of fines / penalties he would have incurred had he done that in today's F1.

Sebastien Bourdais did the same thing during a Champ Car race (I think it was Las Vegas in 2007), but the team shouted at him over the radio and eventually told him that they couldn't afford to damage the car any further, so he pulled it over.

Turns out, had Bourdais pulled it over immediately he would have had the opportunity to do some extra testing... not like it mattered, he only dominated the rest of the season.

[mario]

ibsey wrote:
IIRC According to Gilles Villeneueve's biography at Zandvort in 1981, Gilles was told by his Ferrari team to "forget about the race & just get the car to the finish" as the team wanted to test the new turbo engine & therefore needed the data from a race distance. What does Gilles do in the race...get involved in a 1st corner accident & retires as a result. His excuse to the team afterwards was "I just couldn't help myself". Personally I love this story, as for me this sums up Gilles perfectly, a racer through & through...which is why he's my all time favorite driver. However I acknowledge others may view is actions as slightly reckless.

There was another time, again at Zaandvort, where Gilles picked up a puncture at the beginning of a lap. The tyre was destroyed, he shouldv'e parked it. Any other driver would've done so. But not Gilles...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbRnPwS178g

It doesn't make him reckless in my opinion. It just shows Gilles for the way he was, a racer...

Mind you, it is also emblematic of the way that Gilles could throw away good chances, such as throwing away 2nd place in Monaco in 1979 because he was too aggressive over the bumps and broke his transmission (whereas Scheckter, noticing where Gilles was riding the bumps and knowing how fragile Ferrari's transmission was, deliberately avoided hitting those same bumps).

[ibsey]

Mind you, it is also emblematic of the way that Gilles could throw away good chances, such as throwing away 2nd place in Monaco in 1979 because he was too aggressive over the bumps and broke his transmission (whereas Scheckter, noticing where Gilles was riding the bumps and knowing how fragile Ferrari's transmission was, deliberately avoided hitting those same bumps).

True. However IIRC, that point you mentioned was exactly why Enzo Ferrari loved Gilles so much. Because Enzo felt that if he could build Ferrari engines / gearboxes / etc, strong enough to withstand the punishment of Gilles's untamed driving. Then those same Ferrari parts could withstand anything. Enzo also felt the public would realise this, what with F1 being a promotion tool for selling their Road cars.

Also at Monaco 1979, Scheckter undoubtably benefited from not only significantly more F1 experience than GV, who was only still in his 2nd full season. But also the talent of Ferrari's elder-statesman chief mechanic, Antonio Bellantani. So perhaps because of this Jody, was better informed than GV on things like how fragile the gearbox was in Monaco etc & could thus drive accordingly. It is worth noting, perhaps because of the above, Scheckter had not one mechanical failure throughout 1979, whereas GV had sereveral, arguably costing him the title.

It is actually my belief that when he wanted to GV could drive with mechanical sympathy & demostrated this on occasions like;

Sliverstone 1977; had he disregarded the information of a faulty temperature gauge, he would have finished 4th in an obsolete M23 at his 1st race.

Canada 1978; Won, despite choosing a compound his tyre supplier said was way too soft. GV demostrated an uncanny feel for how to nurse the rubber but still conjure winning speed from it. His teammate renowned as one of the most sensitive drivers of all time, knew he couldn't make these tyres last, opted for the harder ones & finished 3rd. GV also won in Long Beach 1979 under similar circumstances.

South Africa 1979; Won by forcing a pace on Jody that made him overwork his tyres, yet GV managed to make his last. Thus overturning Scheckter's logically 'correct' choice of slicks in a race that turned out only to be briefly wet. GV had begun on wet, so that shouldn't have been the right strategy, but he made it so.

Wakins Glen 1979; Won again, despite having to conserve a sick engine, its oil pressure almost non-existent for the last 20 laps.

Also one could argue he drove most of 1981 showing a certain amount of mechanical sympathy, since the Ferrari suffered from severe turbo-lag. Yet managed to take impossible wins on the two most unlikeliest of tracks suited to his car despite this. However I think driving with 'preservation' in mind, bored him (he once described his Jarama 1981 race as 'a grind'). He much prefered to drive flat-out all of the time, no matter what the consequences were. Which is of course why we loved him so much, because that's such a refreshing & unqiue attitude to have in F1 & probably wouldn't last very long in today's F1.

Furthermore, regarding the Zandvoort 1979 incident, I think there is a bit more to it than simply Gilles throwing away a good chance. Namely possible team-orders. As GV explained afterwards;

"I'll never know, because it didn't happen. but if I had dropped back to second I think I would have been ordered to give that place to Jody (who by that stage had a total of 42 points to Gilles 32). They would never have done that if I was leading, so for me there was no option. It was lead or bust."

[ibsey]

Just been rewatching the 1982 Long Beach GP & Laffite appeared to crash off, because he was trying to avoid smashing into the back of the pick up truck that situated right on the racing line (when recovering Piquet's car). Not sure what his exact excuse / comments were afterwards. But he was clear unhappy at the time, showing what he thought of the marshals.

Also in the commentary, James Hunt was commenting on the drivers saying how the track was breaking up & making it extra slippery. To which he replied, he recalled them also saying that one year in Belgium, to which Jackie Stewart replied, "the good drivers stay on the good bits of the track".

Also I think in the commentary for the 1982 Italian GP, Hunt was talking about how De Cesaris was blocking other drivers particularly in the later stages of the race, "because he felt tired". Suggesting that if De Cesaris was too tired to check his mirrors, perhaps his vision ahead was also somewhat questionable & therefore possibly dangerous? Oh how I love Hunt's outspoken views.

Also in Canada 1995, Berger crashed into Brundle, when attempting a poor overtaking move. According to Brundle's book 'Working the Wheel', Martin asked Berger what he was doing? Berger said something like "he was sorry for the crash & 'personal reasons' were to blame".

[ibsey]

I hope I'm not boring everyone, by constantly updating this thread, as I seem to be the only one posting here.

However just had to post this link of classic Eddie Irvine moments here, as it contains a couple of great excuses by him. Enjoy.

http://www.irvtheswerve.net/classic.html