Rubens, thinking he would be hard placed to keep 5th, knowing Jenson is 12th, bins the car to make sure he starts ahead of Jenson? Lots of drivers were on hot laps, and chances are, given Brawn's comment on fuel strategy, would have ended up far less than 5th. Maybe Rubens took advice from his countryman on deliberate crashing?

This is what happens when you cheat. You not only discredit yourself, but your sport. No one can be sure about whether what they are watching is true or false.

Shame on you Nelson Piquet!

Not a chance it was deliberate. Now he is going to race in a freshly rebuild car hoping everything was done tip-top. And if it wasn't, he will have to deal with it for the entire GP.

was his gearbox changed?
in case of bigger damage he should start from pitlane?
I think this is big BS.

NO

Well, he does have warm up to sort it out.

He knew he was going to get a 5-spot grid penalty, so I think he was just trying to minimize the grid loss... (True) accidents do happen.

Which will have to start from the pitlane so if he did a Piquet he didn't do a very good job at it

His car can't go into Parc Ferme as it needs rebuilding so that means a pitlane start ?

Not necessarily. Think back to Nurburgring 2007, Hamilton crashed in Q3, his car needed serious repairs, but he started on the grid and started from where he qualified.

I've always said. Verstappen's pit fire at Hockenheim was just on purpose. It was his manager who manipulate the fuel system in the hope Verstappen's seat was secure for the Hungarian GP, where he finished 3rd and saved his career.

Aah thanks

Yes, his gearbox was changed. Yes he knew he was taking a 5 place penalty.

His setup can be replicated regardless.

Ross indicated that he was on a heavy fuel load. That means that if he finished 7th or worse, he would be behind Button on a similar heavy fuel load.

He is in 5th, and crashing the car ensures he is in front of his title challenger. Chances of finishing 5th on a heavy load with so many people ready on a hot lap was unlikely.

Of course, nobody would deliberately crash their car to gain advantage, (WDC advantage in the case of MS, or contract advantage in the case of PK).

All speculation, but my bet is that Rubens is willing to do anything to win the WDC.

Your theory makes so much sense. Did you even see the crash?

his gearbox was changed before the FP3, so he was using the "new" gearbox in the qualifying...

Rubens did a mistake in q2 to, so I think it was him just pushing to hard to try to minimize the penalty impact.

if he was heavy on fuel than maybe the red flag helped him, but if he was light....

Everyone is saying "nooooooo this could never happen, you conspiracy people are idiots"

However people said the same last year about Piquets crash

I think Rubens was struggling with an ailing car and the crash gave him the best possible position for tomorrows race

Even if it is not true, it just feels like WWF1 these days.

Yes, Brawn, the tactical genius he is, decides that what better time to deliberately crash a car for an advantage than right after another team got punished for doing the same thing one year ago at the same track where their team boss was banned from F1 for life and the team's position in the sport put into jeapordy!

Genius!



What sucks is not that the sport has put been into question, but that something like that happening suddenly makes some people believe any stupid conspiracy theory that comes along.

In interview on BBC , Ross wondered if Rubens might have damaged the new gearbox as he smacked the rear wheel into the barrier

Of course , he was deliberately trying for another 5 grid penalty ?

No, he was deliberately making people think "oh well he couldn't have done it on purpose, the crash may have damaged the gearbox!"

I never suggested that Brawn wanted Rubens to crash. I am saying that Rubens wanted to crash to get ahead of Jenson.

I don't think Rubens would cheat and anyway how does half rebuilt car with no Sunday warm up he will effectively have half of a new car and his only warm up will be the drive to the grid and the warm up lap.

No driver would cause that much damage/potential damage to their race car just to keep a few grid places ,even more so being in contention for championship

if you watch the crash - the idea is idiotic - it's not a computer game they are playing , the car has to be repaired in limited time for the race tomorrow

If he had punted the nose into a slow corner and blocked the track - maybe guilty

Like Schumaker did in Monaco a few years back. If he had done that he would have been put to the back of the grid.

No but what happened last year just puts these ideas straight into your head before you even have a chance to think rationally about it.

Imagine you caught your GF or BF one afternoon snogging the postman on the doorstep. She/he apologises, you decide to make a go of it. I dunno about you but I'd be worrying every time I got home and found a parcel had been delivered

I guess "pulling a Piquet" has entered the lexicon. Whether it will it achieve "____-gate" infamy or not, only time will tell. It does have good alliteration though.

I think Sutil did a Piquet in the race, but mistaked Nick for the barrier...

Not just that but Singapore now has a named corner - Turn 17 = 'Piquet'

This honour belongs to Michael Schumacher. He started the trend.

no its was started by Senna!!

Prost in fact, but that was another trend. The 'take your WDC opponent out' trend. Not the 'red flag the track' trend.

Well, according to his fans, MS wouldn't even have known how to do it without Senna. He kept trying, but right to the end he struggled to fully master the technique...