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Old 2007-07-22, 07:19 PM   #9
sperry
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Real Name: Scott
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Portland, OR
Posts: 20,335
 
Car: '09 OBXT, '02 WRX, '96 Miata
Class: PDX/TT-6
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dean View Post
Unless you crash the car, which I am still not convinced there is an excuse for.

The announcers sure seamed to know it was going to rain and when.

And the teams had right up until 5 minutes before the start to change. Radar should be pretty good 5-10 minutes out...
At 5 minutes before grid, teams were planning on rain at about 3 laps in. No one in their right mind would put inters on for a dry start. They might as well start from the pit lane... which is what the only car that did start on inters did.

And the teams *don't* have spotters. The crew is just at the pit wall watching the TV screens. There is no way for the drivers to know that at the end of that straight there was a swimming pool until it's too late to slow for it, which is why there was a pile of 6 cars off course there.

My point is that, while it looked like a bunch of people comically making the same mistake, it's really more like a bunch of teams getting caught out by a situation that was almost unavoidable. The same thing's happened at Spa a bunch of times over the years, and more recently 2 or 3 seasons ago, there was the same deal in Brazil (IIRC). This is just what happens in F1 when there's a sudden downpour.
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