The themes of 2008: Mistakes
Kazuki Nakajima hit David Coulthard at the start of the Japanese Grand Prix
It was, by anyone’s standards, an error-strewn season.
Crashes, spins and the odd pit blunder are part of Formula 1, but rarely have we seen so many of them committed by the championship front runners.
Was it just a gaffe-prone year for the leading lights? Or are more mistakes inevitable in post-traction control F1?
At the end of 2006 when I reflected on Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso’s battle for the championship, I thought one of the most impressive things about it was how few mistakes they had made.
Alonso had picked up a couple of grid penalties, Schumacher shunted at Melbourne and had an off at Istanbul. But apart from that, they seemed to have driven pretty much flawlessly.
The same cannot be said of this year’s title aspirants. Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa, along with their teams, often seemed to be trying their best not to win the championships.
A year of errors
Hamilton had a series of blunders in Bahrain, crashed into Kimi Raikkonen in Montreal, picked up another penalty in France, missed a pit stop at Hockenheim, used the wrong tyres in qualifying at Monza and fluffed his start at Fuji. And there was the messy business at Spa.
Massa meanwhile spun at the first corner of the championship and later collided with David Coulthard in the same race, spun off in Sepang and Monte-Carlo, had pit lane dramas at Valencia and Singapore (where he also hit Adrian Sutil), crashed into Hamilton at Fuji, and the less said about Silverstone the better.
But it wasn’t confined to these two. Raikkonen had a pair of spins in Melbourne, followed by more at Monaco before he also hit Sutil. He crashed out at Spa and Singapore as well. Even Alonso had his formation lap gaffe at Catalunya, and spins and Montreal and Hockenheim.
Some were largely immune from these mistakes. The BMW pair, for example, largely kept their noses clean.
Why so many mistakes?
Was there a cause for this epidemic of errors? Before the season began there was much talk of the traction control ban making the cars harder to drive. Certainly in the wet races this seemed to catch some drivers out, but not all these mistakes could be blamed on the absence of gizmos.
It’s ironic that while discussion has raged about the necessity of cutting costs in F1, drivers and teams have thrown away points and prize money with needless mistakes. While Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari celebrate their championships, they will surely reflect on the unforced errors that nearly robbed them of their crowns, and work on weeding out the mistakes for 2009.
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Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 14th November 2008, 10:12
Charles – I think if you look at the incident without striving to put the worst possible spin on it for Hamilton, it’s clear he was trying to avoid both drivers. If he’d turned right he would have hit the pit wall.
NDINYO said on 14th November 2008, 10:21
Keith you forgot Alonso’s dramas at Monaco – the crazy kiss on Heidfield’s backside at the Grand Hotel hairpin if i recall correctly.
Sush said on 14th November 2008, 10:30
Alonso used only one R26 chassis during his 2006 campaign.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 14th November 2008, 11:22
Sush – I wonder if either of the BMW drivers managed that this year?
roser said on 14th November 2008, 11:38
About Alonso’s mistakes: OK, he did mistakes but his car was “undrivable” specially at the beginning of the season. The same applies to Piquet. That’s why I think Ferrari and McLaren drives mistakes are more surprising.
SoLiD said on 14th November 2008, 11:59
I think lewis might have done it this year aswell,
he didn’t have a ‘real’ crash or anything.
Heidfeld probably has done it!
Daniel said on 14th November 2008, 17:39
I think the main point, that decided the championship, is that while the title contenders made more or less the same number of mistakes, one of them had an almost flawless team behind him (McLaren), while the other lost at least 20 certain points due to his team’s failures (Ferrari).
Paul said on 14th November 2008, 18:32
Why has Alonso’s installation lap gaffe at Barcelona been mentioned in two separate entries today? Two rather broad entries: 2008 mistakes and 2008 Renault recaps. It was highly insignificant, particularly compared to something of the magnitude of Montoya at Melbourne in 2006.
It cost him nothing.
Daniel said on 14th November 2008, 23:58
Paul: in fact, it cost him a few positions at the start, because his tyres were dirty…
Toby said on 15th November 2008, 0:28
Didn’t one of the top 6 drivers get a new chassis this season because it was better balanced? I’ve got a feeling it was Heidfeld or Kubica….
Toby said on 15th November 2008, 0:37
SoLiD –
I think this is a very good point. The drivers aren’t worse than previous seasons (remember pre-qualy and the 107% rule), but the tight spread of the field would of course contribute to more accidents due to driver error and the dreaded red mist.
Traction Control (or lack of it) would also contribute, but not too much imo.
Senor Paz – If the F2008 was handling so badly in those conditions, wouldn’t that constitute a mistake in the design of the car? So, one more for Ferrari. But the driver themselves have to set the thing up in order to drive it, so that would also point to a mistake from Massa during this process – a lack of foresight if you will.
The Limit said on 15th November 2008, 19:48
As much as I like him, David Coulthard made his fair share of mistakes this year, which is disappointing from the aspect that he had so much more experience than the rest of the drivers.
Piquet JNR is the out and out ‘chumpion’ though isn’t he, although I am glad he kept his job.
Sush said on 15th November 2008, 21:58
possibilty, i’ll keep my eyes peeled for that info.
Sebastian said on 16th November 2008, 12:45
Tighter races/championships equals more tension and thus more mistakes.
It’s a good thing.