Heartbreak as Raikkonen shatters Monaco dream
Raikkonen at Monaco
By Karl King
May 25 2008
Adrian Sutil could be seen crying inconsolably in the Force India garage as his race was brought to a cruel end just minutes before recording a great points finish that Mike Gascoyne said would have cemented his career after a somewhat rocky start to 2008. Sutil was running in fourth as the clock was ticking down to the 2 hour race limit when he was rammed from behind by champ Kimi Raikkonen.
The Finn, who was brought up close behind the Force India driver after a safety car period, seemed simply to lose control of his Ferrari under breaking, collecting the number 20 car down into the chicane.
Sutil seemed to be reveling in the wet conditions like those he set the fastest first practice time in in Saturday practice in the Spyker last year.
After the race Adrian told ITV Sport that the incident had 'destroyed my best race in my whole career'. He added that it was 'so disappointing all my hard work was over'.
Mike Gascoyne, who excitedly joined ITV Sport's commentary throughout the race was equally disappointed when he joined the broadcaster for a post-race interview.
He said, "Raikkonen looked as if he was always going to do something stupid and in the end he did."
He added that whilst they were wary of the thread of Raikkonen after he was brought back into contention after the SC period, they were confident in Adrian's abilities.
He went on to tell ITV Sport, "the frustration is that if that was a Force India driver hitting a World Champion we'd expect to get a one or two race ban but the other way round nothing ever seems to happen".
Gascoyne said that they would be taking the matter up with the stewards, something ITV Sport pundit and ex-F1 driver Mark Blundell reckoned would come to no effect, saying he thought it was just a regular racing incident that you have to expect around the streets of Monte Carlo.
It's such a shame for Sutil and indeed for the entire team, as they were on for five points, the first points for the team under thier new guise.
In the end..just wanna say that ..Adrian..hats off to you sir..you'll one day beat raikkonen for the podium ..my instincts tell me..
so don't lose hope ..
It's sad, very sad for Adrian. That's how races go. It's been good for Webber, Vettel and Nakajima, who all scored big points.
And as to penalties, I've seen more than once top drivers slowed down or even crashed into by drivers in the last positions (even though, not always the slowest cars around), and as far as I can remember the hardest penalties have been inflicted to Schumacher. And if you exclude Monaco 2006, the previous one was Jerez 1997, so you can see that there have been quite few decisions in the last years.