Di Resta still unsure over cause of Singapore crash

2013 Singapore Grand Prix

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Paul di Resta says he is still not sure what caused his crash in the closing stages of the Singapore Grand Prix.

He was on course for sixth place when his Force India understeered wide into the barrier at turn seven with seven laps to go.

“The big question is why it did happen and why we lost all that downforce and why we went off,” said Di Resta. “Even the team are a bit unexplained.”

“But at some point you have to move on, you have to progress and learn from it.

“Maybe in a different position we’d have done something different but we’ll continue to keep pushing because it is still possible with the car we’ve got, although it’s not the strongest we’ve got, it still can get results and our tyre management showed to be very strong.”

Di Resta believes the team were on course for a good result before the Safety Car was deployed:

“Our pace was very good. I think the whole weekend we took a different approach, maybe it didn’t look the best on Saturday afternoon, but we were the only ones that were going to achieve a two-stop strategy.

“We were strong, but you get unexpected things like that.”

2013 Singapore Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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57 comments on “Di Resta still unsure over cause of Singapore crash”

  1. I can’t stand his **.

    He basically blame his crash on car.

    And blame his lacklustre Saturday performance on setup for sunday.

    Force India deserve better driver seriously, this guy is full of british hype just like Chilton.

    I wish the UK media can stop hyping their driver up

    1. Who in your view is doing the “hyping”? Because I don’t believe I have for either driver.

      1. media obviously.

        1. Ah yes, “media”.

      2. I think the BBC does to some extent.

        1. In my view Sky are guilty of it too. Every broadcaster tries to promote their own countrymen so it’s to be expected. I just get tired of the pundits on Sky constantly throwing di Resta’s name into the conversation when talking about who deserves top level drives. Hearing them go on about how he deserves a chance in a Ferrari, McLaren or Lotus is a bit much!

          1. I can’t watch Sky here from Belgium so I have no comparison.

            I think they are generally quite fair though, not overly favouring Hamilton and Button. I just find the praise for Di Resta sometimes a bit undeserved.

          2. Although I rarely watch the BBC coverage from what you have said I’d say his treatment is about the same on both channels. And generally when I watched the BBC they were very fair in their treatment of the drivers, but di Resta on both channels appears to be over-hyped and given a lot of attention.

      3. The BBC used to do a lot of it, haven’t watched them since Sky came in so can’t comment on whether it’s still going on.

        1. The BBC do a lot less evangelising of Di Resta nowadays, but to be fair, it was always Coulthard that spoke so highly. The other presenters tended towards neutrality.

      4. Nick Jarvis (@)
        3rd October 2013, 22:25

        David Coulthard does it a LOT, every chance he gets, he describes him as ‘young, talented’ and always talks about his career prospects, it’s bloody annoying, especially when someone convicted of GBH outperforms him every single weekend.

        1. “outperforms him every single weekend” – and you complain that DC is biased…

    2. I think he’s actually got some talent as a driver. Not as much as he thinks he has, but some. However his attitude is appalling and will probably cost him his F1 seat. Hulk back to FI next year?

    3. Couldn’t agree with you more! Di Resta’s head has gotten too big and he needs all the humbling he can get. In his head he thinks he is the next big thing and he is NOT.

    4. “He basically blame his crash on car.” – fancy that, a driver suggested his car failed. I’ve never heard that before, must be a first…

  2. Hamilton’s fault. Oh wait, the car went straight into a wall didn’t it? DiResta’s fault.

    1. It’s obvious he was at the queue of a tense battle for a point and he outbraked himself by being too much optimistic? …and then the wall appeared.

      1. W (@yesyesyesandyesagain)
        3rd October 2013, 19:42

        No no no, there is no such thing as breaking too late for Paul, it was a sudden loss of downforce, let’s all get that straight.

    2. I thought he blamed the brakes? Now he “doesn’t know”? Aka, it was him, finally. But he still has never admitted he was in the wrong, ever, even when he rear-ended I think Grosjean at Monza? He just sort of danced around admitting he was in the wrong…

      1. Not at all. He took full responsibility for his Monza crash.

        And on a separate note – I wish people would stop with all this now. He has had a few bad races, but that doesn’t all of a sudden mean he is terrible…

      2. He said Monza was his fault. Don’t lie.

        1. I’m not lying. I never saw that he took responsibility, actually stating “It’s my fault”. I saw him saying something that looks/sounds similar, but never an actual admittance of fault. @jmc200 @strontium

          1. Whether or not he said those exact words is not really relevant. He made it clear that it was his fault.

  3. Are you stupid?? nothing abnormal shown on telemetry means its driver error.

  4. He probably missed the breaking point and carried too much speed to make the turn. Then he tried to break, flatspotted the tyre and crashed into the barrier. Your fault, Paul. Entirely your fault.

  5. I did like Di Resta, but he’s starting to annoy me now. Admit your mistakes – that’s a far greater sign of a strong driver than one who doesn’t. In other words, take a leaf out of Ricciardo’s book and admit your mistakes immediately.

    1. @vettel1 hehehe what I wrote seems like an interpretation right under your post.

      1. @makana so it does haha! Even as a Scot myself though, please Paul just quit it! It’s intensely annoying more than anything else!

    2. I have to agree. As a fellow Scot i try my best to support Di Resta, but his attitude and comments make it quite difficult. I know drivers have to big themselves up a bit to try and compete for the top seats but a bit of honesty and humility goes a long way too. He’s too keen to take credit, too quick to blame the team, too quick to point out when he’s beating his teammate.

      1. @keithedin agreed totally mate. I liked him initially due to patriotism and all, but my support for him has waned. Then again though, I cheer on the German’s – so clearly I’m not a proper Scot ;)

  6. Does Paul think he’s doing himself a favor for next year if he keeps it “unclear”. So the team says nothing and he says nothing, in terms of evidence, and it looks like he doesn’t want to take any responsibility for the shunt; a stark contrast to for example Ricciardo’s response to such events. I think a team principle is more impressed with an F1 driver who steps up and says “the data shows nothing… that was me…” instead of “the team are a bit unexplained”!

    1. Yep, Ricciardo did it right … for di Resta, no one knows, was it the car, was it him? We won’t find out …

  7. Is it me or the whole of Sky F1goes ga ga over Paul, when he sneezed, when he ate… God, kick this guy out of F1

  8. I actually used a jedi mind trick on him .

    1. really? combined with the tiny tranquiliser dart I blow-darted into his neck, he never stood a chance!

  9. C’mon guys Paul is used to beat Vettel All the time, and he got italian blood, notice he is in his third year and always victim of some damnation keeps him from podium he deserves, anyway still not experience enough to know why his car crashes or why Ferrari sign Raikonnen !

  10. Give the new Brit a chance!! Bird is the new kid in town. Ready to rock f1 !!!!

  11. Paul is really getting on my nerves with all this. He is a decent driver. I really think that he is, but I can’t imagine many teams who would actually want him as a driver. When he doesn’t stab his team in the back publicly, he tries to hide his own mistakes and pretend like nothing unusual was going on and suddenly a wall just appeared out of nowhere.
    If he could just admit his mistakes…

  12. Maybe you find him annoying, but if I would pick between Sutil and di Resta, i’lll go for the latter ;)

    1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      3rd October 2013, 23:07

      @paeschli why? to avoid having to talk about parole?

      1. @omarr-pepper Because di Resta is doing a better job than Sutil? He’s got a lot more points …

    2. It’s a hard choice for all the wrong reasons.

    3. A very hard decision as they sre both equally unsavoury, but I really had to pick, I’d pick Di Resta too.

    4. A very hard decision as they are both equally unsavoury, but If i really had to pick, I’d pick Di Resta too. . That being said, Force India needs to drop both next year, put Hulk and Massa.

  13. It was Nelson Piquet Jr’s fault. He put the idea into di Resta’s head. Di Resta just wasn’t smart enough to incorporate it in any way into his team’s strategy.

    1. Michael Brown (@)
      3rd October 2013, 23:12

      Ricciardo did a good Piquet Jr in Singapore

      1. There’s a subtle difference between understeering and nerfing the barrier, and deliberately smashing into a wall at speed :-P

      2. OmarR-Pepper (@)
        4th October 2013, 15:14

        @lite992 For Seb? wrong. Because everybody caught up, and that’s the end of any conspiracy theory about both RB teams. And even more, on the replay you see Dan trying to turn left, just the car couldn’t do it for the speed.

  14. Your fault Paul. End of.

  15. I don’t want to criticise di Resta at any given opportunity, but he just attracts it with his comments. He won’t take the blame for this crash (let’s be honest it seems like it was his fault), he has criticised his team in the past, often talks about wanting to drive for another team, and takes all the plaudits for his decision in Belgium like he’s getting one over on his team.
    I hope Force India drop him at the end of the season. Get Magnussen in there, and replace Sutil with Hulkenberg or Massa given the chance.

  16. “The big question is why it did happen and why we lost all that downforce and why we went off,”
    I wish they would stop the “we” talk. There is no “I” in team, but the team isn’t driving the car.

    I wish for Di Resta that he gets a drive for next year, but he really needs to take the winter brake to change his attitude, and admit to his own faults. His professionalism is second to none, when he is focussed, but it’s beginning to slip. I guess he has had his fair share of head wind, and the frustration is getting the better of him.

    I’m still a fan of his!

    1. I wish he could make up his mind whether he and FI are “we” or “I”.

      1. Well, he has made his mind up. When it comes to mistakes, it is “we”, when it comes to great qualifying strategy, it is “I”.

        (To be fair, he admitted his mistake in Monza and took the blame on himself.)

  17. Chris (@tophercheese21)
    4th October 2013, 0:52

    Funny how when things are going bad for Paul he refers to himself as “we”. Pushing most of the blame on to the team. And then when things go well for him, he takes almost all of the credit (Spa qually anyone?)

    He practically wouldn’t shut up about himself apparently making the call to go out and how he proved his team wrong.

    Singapore was absolutely Di Resta’s fault. No ifs or buts about it. He made a driver error and seemingly can’t face up to it. Instead choosing to say that something went wrong with the car. Paul Di Resta was the problem with the car.

    1. (Spa qually anyone?)

      Yes , I almost forgot that . He went and rambled on as to how it was his ingenious decision to go out immediately.What a character ! Pity as his driving is actually decent.

  18. I came here to have a massive whinge about Di Resta, but I see you guys got it covered. As you were.

    1. Hahaha, I came here because I knew a massive whinge would already be in course and I wanted to gloat over it (he really gets on my nerves!)

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