Well, in a busy weekend for sports fans everywhere, there will be one battle that will be talked about for at least the next couple of days. Am I talking about England V Germany? or was it Mexico v Argentina? could it even be England V Australia in the Cricket or any of the weekends international rugby fixtures? Nope, I'm talking about the great battle of the pit lane between Eddie "The Irish Bloodhound" Jordan versus David "been there, done that" Coulthard.
Now before I go on much further, I'm going to nail my colours to the mast and not just because I'm a Lotus fan either, but because Eddie Jordan was absolutely, 100 percent correct. Ever since Coulthard failed so incredibly badly to get past Enrique Bernoldi in the Orange Arrows, he's had a bee in his bonnet about passing back markers.
There is a simple rule that should be applied, on the road, at sea or even in the air (no that doesn't include Webber in this case) the overtaking vehicle keeps clear. Webber knew he was going to be faster than the Lotus and knew he could get past, it was just a matter of time. Could you imagine trying to pull that one with your insurance company? Reason for crash: Guy in front was driving a FIAT Panda and when I pulled up behind him in my BMW I didn't realise he was going to be so slow so I just ploughed into the back of him. Not my fault Guv'nor. He should be quicker. I could just see that one working.
Heikki is a clever enough driver himself to know that he isn't going to keep the Red Bull behind him. I don't think he would have deliberately swerved to do so. Looking at the footage several times it would appear that Heikki makes a slight move to the right expecting Webber to try and go around the outside. Nothing happens so he pulls out towards the centre of the track and starts to shape up for the corner. Obviously, I've no idea if he'd started to brake by then or not but there was more than enough room for Webber to get down the inside under braking or Webber should have backed off and known full well that he would have zipped past on one of the long straights.
So back to DC, His argument is that because you are in a slower car you should just get out of the way because you are going to loose out at some point. How on earth can that be a valid argument? Isn't that like saying the boxer with the shorter reach should just chuck it in because he can't win or the least fancied horse in a race shouldn't bother to enter? Stupid in the extreme. It is not the duty of every driver on the track to get out of the way of a Red Bull (or any other top team) for that matter, just because they are quicker. Its up to the driver behind to find a safe way past. I believe its called over taking. Its something that the very best formula one drivers of the past used to be very good at. Just think, DC could have been a world champion if all those pesky cars in front had have just stepped to one side.
To further stick the boot into DCs argument, he claimed that the Lotus was some 4 seconds a lap off the pace of the Red Bull. When confronted with Kobayashi's performance in a slower car DC said that's different he was only a second off the pace. Well in qualifying (Q1 when all three cars were involved) Kobayshi was 1.539 off of Webber's time and Kovi was 2.333 of Webber's time so half of that quoted. Just to confirm it in race conditions, Vettel set his fastest lap in the remaining RBR on lap 52 in a time of 1.39.141, Jarno Trulli in the sole surviving Lotus set his best lap on lap 53 in a time of 1.41.770 just 2.629 seconds off the pace (and keep in mind that Trulli was having issues with his car). So still not "4 Seconds" off the pace.
Finally, it has been so hard for the new teams given how far they've had to climb to get where they are today. Given more notice to join the grid and given the choice of which engine they wanted in the back instead of being hamstrung with the slower Cosworth engines and this would be an issue at all but then again there would be the risk that a new team might hit on a golden formula and suddenly be quicker than say a Red Bull? How would a spokesman for Red Bull Racing explain that?
So the question is, who is right, Eddie Jordan or David Coulthard? I'm with Eddie all the way. What about you lot?
Now before I go on much further, I'm going to nail my colours to the mast and not just because I'm a Lotus fan either, but because Eddie Jordan was absolutely, 100 percent correct. Ever since Coulthard failed so incredibly badly to get past Enrique Bernoldi in the Orange Arrows, he's had a bee in his bonnet about passing back markers.
There is a simple rule that should be applied, on the road, at sea or even in the air (no that doesn't include Webber in this case) the overtaking vehicle keeps clear. Webber knew he was going to be faster than the Lotus and knew he could get past, it was just a matter of time. Could you imagine trying to pull that one with your insurance company? Reason for crash: Guy in front was driving a FIAT Panda and when I pulled up behind him in my BMW I didn't realise he was going to be so slow so I just ploughed into the back of him. Not my fault Guv'nor. He should be quicker. I could just see that one working.
Heikki is a clever enough driver himself to know that he isn't going to keep the Red Bull behind him. I don't think he would have deliberately swerved to do so. Looking at the footage several times it would appear that Heikki makes a slight move to the right expecting Webber to try and go around the outside. Nothing happens so he pulls out towards the centre of the track and starts to shape up for the corner. Obviously, I've no idea if he'd started to brake by then or not but there was more than enough room for Webber to get down the inside under braking or Webber should have backed off and known full well that he would have zipped past on one of the long straights.
So back to DC, His argument is that because you are in a slower car you should just get out of the way because you are going to loose out at some point. How on earth can that be a valid argument? Isn't that like saying the boxer with the shorter reach should just chuck it in because he can't win or the least fancied horse in a race shouldn't bother to enter? Stupid in the extreme. It is not the duty of every driver on the track to get out of the way of a Red Bull (or any other top team) for that matter, just because they are quicker. Its up to the driver behind to find a safe way past. I believe its called over taking. Its something that the very best formula one drivers of the past used to be very good at. Just think, DC could have been a world champion if all those pesky cars in front had have just stepped to one side.
To further stick the boot into DCs argument, he claimed that the Lotus was some 4 seconds a lap off the pace of the Red Bull. When confronted with Kobayashi's performance in a slower car DC said that's different he was only a second off the pace. Well in qualifying (Q1 when all three cars were involved) Kobayshi was 1.539 off of Webber's time and Kovi was 2.333 of Webber's time so half of that quoted. Just to confirm it in race conditions, Vettel set his fastest lap in the remaining RBR on lap 52 in a time of 1.39.141, Jarno Trulli in the sole surviving Lotus set his best lap on lap 53 in a time of 1.41.770 just 2.629 seconds off the pace (and keep in mind that Trulli was having issues with his car). So still not "4 Seconds" off the pace.
Finally, it has been so hard for the new teams given how far they've had to climb to get where they are today. Given more notice to join the grid and given the choice of which engine they wanted in the back instead of being hamstrung with the slower Cosworth engines and this would be an issue at all but then again there would be the risk that a new team might hit on a golden formula and suddenly be quicker than say a Red Bull? How would a spokesman for Red Bull Racing explain that?
So the question is, who is right, Eddie Jordan or David Coulthard? I'm with Eddie all the way. What about you lot?