Pascal Wehrlein confirmed at Sauber

[Smitters]

HustleRussell said:

true.

I have watched that moment where Wehrlein fails to turn his car off once in total I believe, so I could well be wrong- but to me it sounded like he simply wanted to be doubly sure about what the team was asking him to do. I can imagine it's tough to concentrate on whispers in your ear when you're trying to get a stricken multi-million race car off the circuit and close to an egress point with 21 competitors tearing around at 220mph, particularly when you've not done it before.

Yep, agree - it the difference between a racer full of adrenaline and an engineer on a wall and no more than a light gust of wind in a teacup. Anyway, as we saw in Abu Dhabi '16, or Malaysia '13, all F1 drivers obey everything their teams tell them and if they don't they are always unsuccessful, get dropped and are shunned by society.

Noooo, wait. That's not right.

[rubystone]

ELUSIVEJIM said:

Totally agree.

Ocon would not have been signed over Pascal if he was the real deal.

Ocon was a cry baby in the lower formulae. Bad tempered and always, always bhing. Friends who raced in the F3 series bent my ear about it all the time. perhaps he's grown up or possibly just disguising it? We will see next season

[VolvoT5]

I think Wehrlein may have attracted this 'bad attitude' label a bit unfairly... it is really only one small incident people can point to as a concrete example and he comes across well in interviews an so on... I mean how many times last year did we hear any number of drivers such as Verstappen, Vettel or Alonso argue with the team over the radio...

Going from Major to Sauber is a step sideways at best, especially as Sauber are going to run year old spec engines which practically guarantees they will not even be midfield competitive. It is a shame that Williams couldn't or wouldn't take him on instead of Massa.

[stemll]

Not entirely sure what he was doing last night, with a passenger too! Race was finished and he just drove into the barriers and then Massa before rolling his Slingshot. Bizarre

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fhz_2gSpT_Y

[HustleRussell]

That's an odd one. Imagine the headlines if Mercedes had just signed him!

Looks like he got greedy with the amount of track he could use on exit and clipping the barrier dragged the car fully into Massa's car.

Classy by Massa, never seen him move so fast as he did extricating himself from that car and running over to check Wehrlein and his passenger were okay.

[MikeyC]

HustleRussell said:

Looks like he got greedy with the amount of track he could use on exit and clipping the barrier dragged the car fully into Massa's car.

Yeah a little too greedy and not getting back to his side of the track

Looks like the impact with the central barrier broke the steering/track rod arm causing him to veer right - they must be a bit more substantial than they look !

[Mr_Thyroid]

MikeyC said:

Yeah a little too greedy and not getting back to his side of the track

Looks like the impact with the central barrier broke the steering/track rod arm causing him to veer right - they must be a bit more substantial than they look !

They're usually part filled with water or gravel so, yes, they are a lot heavier than they look.

A bit of a lazy mistake - probably didn't even see the barrier until it was too late.

[Smitters]

Mr_Thyroid said:

They're usually part filled with water or gravel so, yes, they are a lot heavier than they look.

A bit of a lazy mistake - probably didn't even see the barrier until it was too late.

This I think - he seems to be looking at his passenger, not the track and then clips the barrier, which pitches him right.

[Adrian W]

Neither Wehrlein or Massa seem that bothered about the passenger, says a lot

[TRPK]

Adrian W said:

Neither Wehrlein or Massa seem that bothered about the passenger, says a lot

They both looked bothered to me, waited while he was helped out of the car then both had their arms around him as he walked away, what else should they have done?

[Adrian W]

TRPK said:

They both looked bothered to me, waited while he was helped out of the car then both had their arms around him as he walked away, what else should they have done?

Looked like "you ok" right let's get back to the pits asaap to me

[TRPK]

Adrian W said:

TRPK said:

They both looked bothered to me, waited while he was helped out of the car then both had their arms around him as he walked away, what else should they have done?

Looked like "you ok" right let's get back to the pits asaap to me

What's wrong with that? As I said, what else should they have done?
I think you're just looking for a reason to criticise for the sake of it.

[HustleRussell]

TRPK said:

What's wrong with that? As I said, what else should they have done?
I think you're just looking for a reason to criticise for the sake of it.

Bingo. That, as far as I can tell, is Adrian W's M.O.

[Mr_Thyroid]

TRPK said:

Adrian W said:

TRPK said:

They both looked bothered to me, waited while he was helped out of the car then both had their arms around him as he walked away, what else should they have done?

Looked like "you ok" right let's get back to the pits asaap to me

What's wrong with that? As I said, what else should they have done?
I think you're just looking for a reason to criticise for the sake of it.

In general, and more-so in a small stadium circuit where qualified help is so close at hand drivers should really stay well away - there is nothing Massa could've done except get in the way of marshals and medical staff.

[col68]

Force India didn't want him and they tested him extensively, Mercedes didn't want him and they tested him extensively...Sauber have been paid to take him.....the guy is no Verstappen.

[rubystone]

col68 said:

Force India didn't want him and they tested him extensively, Mercedes didn't want him and they tested him extensively...Sauber have been paid to take him.....the guy is no Verstappen.

Force India didn't test him extensively, nor did Mercedes (unless you count his victorious season for them in DTM). Force India tested Ocon and went with the devil they knew.

There is no indeed only one Verstappen though.

[Mr_Thyroid]

rubystone said:

There is no indeed only one Verstappen though.

When you say Verstappen he thinks you're talking about Jos the Boss, whoever he was.

[MartG]

Seems Wehrlein may miss testing after his RoC crash

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/sauber-confirms-...

[moffspeed]

Yep, if you take a look at that Slingshot accident in slo mo it really was pretty nasty. Lucky that it went into the final concrete barrier bottom-first as the roll over protection looks a bit rudimentary. Quite how an out of the crate car-engined trike that is 6 inches wider than a Range Rover and handles half as well ended up in the RoC remains a mystery . Imagine the law suits that would be flying if either PW or his passenger had been more seriously injured. PW demonstrated the F1 Merc at the 2015 RoC in London - maybe he should have stuck with that.

Over the years F1 drivers have been injured/incapacitated by many extra - curricular activities -Robert Kubica in a rally car is an obvious example but other distractions have included lower formulae of circuit racing, mountain biking, hang gliding, lawn tractors and, in the case of Mr Hunt, various models/promotion girls.

Will this herald an era of F1 bosses being even more restrictive of their Charges' activities (over the years many have banned Le Mans participation)....

[jamiebae]

rubystone said:

col68 said:

Force India didn't want him and they tested him extensively, Mercedes didn't want him and they tested him extensively...Sauber have been paid to take him.....the guy is no Verstappen.

Force India didn't test him extensively, nor did Mercedes (unless you count his victorious season for them in DTM). Force India tested Ocon and went with the devil they knew.

There is no indeed only one Verstappen though.

FI did test him a few times, and he's had several days running in the Mercedes too - certainly enough to make an informed decision. He's quick, but is supposedly a bit of a tit and has been known to disregard orders which has turned people off him, for example trying to drag a Manor out of the gravel after being told several times to turn it off.