"Formula 1". Coultard-Schumacher

Coultard slowed down on purpose
Confident in Ferrari
After the 13th stage of the Formula 1 World Championship, the Belgian Grand Prix, in which eight cars out of 22 that started reached the finish line, the drivers and team owners accused the organizers of miscalculations. In particular, they argue that the race should have been restarted not from a place, but from a move.

This racing season, large blockages on the track are no longer uncommon. Something similar to the Belgian meat grinder happened at the Canadian Grand Prix, when both the first and the restart ended in failure. However, unlike the Canadian stage in Spa, this could have been avoided.
The circuit's track is so difficult that even on a dry road it takes a lot of work to keep the car on it. The start turns out to be especially dangerous - the cars barely have time to accelerate and enter the first turn in a crowd, with each pilot forced to act on the verge of a foul in order to keep his place. So in the rain in Spa it is preferable to start on the move. This is exactly how, for example, the start took place last year. After the race, the pilots and team owners unanimously said that this should have been done last Sunday.
Even stage winner Damon Hill spoke out against starting from a standing start. “It’s amazing how even eight cars reached the finish line... I had to drive almost blindly. The rain was like a wall, and I could only hope that I wouldn’t crash into someone. I was lucky and I won. But it would be better if there were fewer such races.” What can we say about the rest! Alain Prost, whose team's stage in Spa brought the first point of the year, believes that the race organizers were negligent in their responsibilities by allowing the cars to start from a standing start. Benetton chief David Richards said he was glad that none of the pilots were injured: “We lost both cars, and at some point I was afraid for the lives of my drivers. God bless the race, there will be others. Good, that everyone is alive."
Another controversial moment of the race was the main accident of the stage, the collision between Coultard and Schumacher. Of the interested parties, only Ferrari technical director Jean Todt has spoken out so far. He has no doubt that there was malice in Coultard's actions.
“Everyone who saw the moment of the collision understands that Coultard slowed down on purpose. On the wet track, Michael did not have a single chance to avoid the accident,” said Todt. “As for Michael’s reaction to this accident, he may have been a little excited when he went to the McLaren pits to sort things out. But I understand him. Schumacher is generally a reserved person, but when they fight against him in such ways, it is not surprising that he flared up. And Coultard’s actions need to be sorted out, because the accident could have had much more serious consequences. than just a broken car."
There has been no official response from the FIA yet. Most likely, it won't happen. It is almost impossible to prove that the Scot braked on purpose so that his teammate's main competitor would crash into him.
If Coultard had such a goal, then he achieved his goal: it will now be extremely difficult for Michael Schumacher to get Hakkinen. There are only three races left until the end of the championship. The Finn's lead is only seven points, but most experts expect McLaren's advantage to increase rather than decrease at the next stage. The Monza circuit is considered the home circuit for Ferrari, but the track there is much more suitable for McLaren. It is not replete with combinations of difficult turns - unlike Spa, where the technical lag of the team may well be compensated by driving skill, as Schumacher showed. Thus, it is likely that the Italian Grand Prix will be won by a more advanced car. As a result, Schumacher will have to postpone winning a third world title for at least a year.

ROBERT J-DAMBEGOV

Newspaper "Kommersant" No. 161 dated 09/02/1998, p. 11

"Formula 1". Coultard-Schumacher