The worst moments of 2008
Rubens Barrichello at Montreal - sadly, F1 may be without both in 2009
What was the worst moment of the 2008 F1 season?
Here are my least favourite moments of 2008, many of which were suggested by contributors on the F1 Fanatic forum.
Spankgate
Max Mosley making the headlines for all the wrong reasons and taking the attention off of the race track.
– Scott Joslin
A sorry episode best forgotten, which dragged the sport’s reputation through the mud.
Penalty controversies
Penalties assessed by stewards. Honestly, those penalties were putting me off F1. Some reason the Bourdais penalty in Japan irked me the most.
– Muckymuck
stay the hell away from the sport, fer cryin out loud!
– Stubie
We’ve taken apart the year in penalties in this post. Of course penalties are always going to be contentious in professional sport, but in not bothering to write down many of its rules, in having stewards whose experience of motor racing is negligible, and in denying competitors right of appeal, the FIA has made many fundamental mistakes that spoiled the competition this year.
Farewell Super Aguri
Losing Super Aguri
– Loki
Losing any team is bad, especially as F1 is now down to just 20 cars and there’s a credit crunch/financial meltdown going on. But Super Aguri had charm, character and cult appeal, not to mention a pair of decent drivers who deserve a place in motor racing’s top flight.
A rotten year for Coulthard
Lots of crashes involving Coulthard. I don’t remember him being involved much in crashes in previous seasons, but this season it seemed like he had a bullseye painted on the rear or side of his car.
– Patrickl
Coulthard declared halfway through the year that it would be his last F1 season. Unfortunately that didn’t stem the depressing tide of incidents and accidents. The most disappointing of which came at the first turn of his final Grand Prix.
And spare a thought for Rubens Barrichello. We might already have seen his last Grand Prix without knowing it at the time.
Adrian Sutil at Monaco
Raikkonen losing control at Monaco, shunting Sutil
– Loki
Sutil was on the kind of giant-killing drive at Monaco that everyone loves to see. Until Raikkonen, in a classic brain-fade moment, lost control of his Ferrari and swiped Sutil out of the race. That was the closest Force India came to scoring points in 2008.
More of my least favourite moments of 2008
Losing Montreal and Magny-Cours – I’m no great fan of the Circuit de Nevers but the prospect of not having a Grand Prix in France – the birthplace of Grand Prix racing – is bonkers. Not having any race in North America is just as bad.
The Glock Delusion – A new low in idiotic conspiracy theories.
Do you have any other least favourite moments from 2008?
Terry Fabulous said on 18th November 2008, 22:39
Sutil being punted out by a Ferrari. Especially when he was knocked out and the Ferrari kept going!
(I say Ferrari because I don’t want this to be a anti-Kimi comment. I would have been just as shirty with the Scuderia if Felipe was driving. Although Kimi was annoyingly unapologetic after the race)
Wesley said on 18th November 2008, 22:57
Worst moment for ME:
Finally talking my friends into watching a F1 race with me instead of Nascar and then trying to explain to them after the race why Piquet who just lucked out and pitted at the right time was on the second step of the podium at the end of the race because of stupid safety car rules…..this is the top shelf of racing afterall….quite embarrassing.
Worst moment for F1:
Taking F1 out of North America and France…..and I never expected to have to see red bottoms.
Too Good said on 19th November 2008, 0:04
Wesley – Amen!!!
I have had hard time explaining F1 to the people on this side of pond. But I have been very lucky to have co-worker in present place and one of my ex directors , both into Open Wheel racing and F1 followers , So at least there are some people whom I can talk F1 and of course there is this forum and live-blog
I should have listed live-blog among the best events of 2008 season :)
Jason said on 19th November 2008, 5:44
1. Bernie and his insane hunger for money leading to the axe taken to the Canadian GP for next year, my closest hopes for actually going to a real GP event.
2. The stewards. ‘Nuff said.
3. DC getting punted out on the first lap of his last race. Just a shame.
Stealthman said on 19th November 2008, 6:07
Agreed. I felt so sad when I read about that. :(
Jean said on 19th November 2008, 7:41
Kimi assualting a cameraman (although the guy may have come close to deserving it) , Lewis driving with eyes shut in Montreal pit lane , Massa learning to “skate”on Silverstone track , and his engine blow-up in Hungary , Lewis passing Glock in Brazil . Those are probably the worst moments I remember.
PaulD said on 19th November 2008, 9:00
Constantly hearing how Massa won more races than Hamilton when in fact he was gifted one by an incorrect marshalls decision at Spa.
PaulD said on 19th November 2008, 9:02
Belittling of Kimi’s performances when he had a pretty sertain win taken away in Montreal and another one taken away by a bust exhaust.
Basically the fickle public ****** me off the most this year.
Pink Peril said on 19th November 2008, 9:34
Sadly there too many to chose from, which is a bit of a sorry state of affairs.
I’d have to say the Spa penalty, S&Max Mosley-gate & ensuing vote of confidence (WTF?), axing of Canadian GP, Valencia, loss of Super Aguri, and DC’s non-existant last race were all lowlights that spring to mind.
abdel said on 19th November 2008, 9:58
The worst moment is :
-Losing kimi raikkonen the title .
-not having the USA GP
-seeing Alonso not in a competitive car
Roly said on 19th November 2008, 16:39
Surely it’s unfair to brand Raikkonen-Sutil incident as brain-fade; wasn’t it over-cautiousness rather than carelessness that meant he braked earlier and lost it on the wet patch?
Also Sutil was going to receive a 25-second penalty anyway so shouldn’t we simply disregard the incident?
Just a thought…
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 19th November 2008, 16:52
Roly – If we’re going to get into ‘should’ves’, Raikkonen shouldn’t have even been there. The correct penalty for still having mechanics on the grid before the start of a race, as Raikkonen did at Monaco, is to be sent to the back of the grid, whereas Raikkonen only had a drive-through penalty.
So I think we should judge based on what happened.
George said on 20th November 2008, 2:18
Raikkonnen did spoil Sutil’s race and its a shame, but Hamilton crashing into the back of Raikkonnen at Montreal, for me was even more humiliating