Monaco: Breaking the Golden Rule

By Jamie Makin
May 22 2005

Both SAUBER PETRONAS failed to bring their cars home in the points when Jacques Villeneuve broke F1's 'golden rule' of 'do not take out your own teammate'.

Before that nightmare incident in Ste Devote, things were looking promising for the team. BAR Honda was banned from this race, both Red Bull's had DNF'd and both Ferraris were back in the pack after Albers spun out and held them up. It was a prime opportunity for both SAUBER drivers to score and the C24 had been performing well.

"Our strategy today was very good, and to begin with my plan was to save the tyres as I had plenty of fuel on board," said Villeneuve. Team boss Peter Sauber held the same view. "We had a perfect strategy for the race today and some very good work by the pit crew brought us up to a very strong position after the first incident that brought out the Safety Car."

That first incident occurred at the Mirabeau hairpin when Christijan Albers spun his Minardi into the barrier. He caused a backup involving Red Bull's David Coulthard who was hit by Michael Schumacher's Ferrari. Both Villeneuve and Massa as well as Rubens Barrichello were also caught in the mess and action stopped briefly on track as they tried to sort things out.

"But then I got really messed up with the incident at Mirabeau on lap 25," bemoaned Villeneuve. "Felipe was able to get through a gap and make his pit stop, but I got badly held up and there was no point in refuelling then because I was on a long run strategy, so really I got nothing out of the situation."

"I made a very good start and in the incident at Mirabeau between Coulthard and Schumacher I was just able to find a way through a small gap," said Massa. "The team called me in to refuel as the Safety Car came out and that was a brilliant plan." Massa was able to rejoin the race without losing any positions.

Things were looking up for the team with Massa running in 6th and Villeneuve 7th until Massa's tyres started to go away. Villeneuve had closed up on his teammate but tried to make an overly optimistic move on him in the run to Ste Devote. Villeneuve moved to the inside but locked up his wheels and went straight into the barrier. Massa had to take the escape road to the left to avoid Villeneuve but lost a lot of ground before getting going again. Villeneuve was also able to continue but had to pit for a new front wing. Both cars lost their chance to score valuable points in this incident leaving Peter Sauber fuming.

"We had a perfect strategy for the race today and some very good work by the pit crew brought us up to a very strong position after the first incident that brought out the Safety Car," explained Sauber. "However, the incident caused by Jacques cost us five valuable championship points that would have enabled us to close the gap on our direct competitor, Red Bull. What happened today is the most depressing thing that a team can experience."

Massa was upset but more so with his tyres than his teammate. "After that (first incident) I was running strongly behind Heidfeld and was able to make a second stop later on, on lap 50, without losing much time. Unfortunately my tyres were losing grip and Montoya passed me, and then there was the incident with Jacques at Ste Devote. I think it was wrong from his side, but now I am just focusing on the next race," said Massa.

Villeneuve stopped short of apologising, but explained how he viewed the incident. "Towards the end I caught up with Felipe again and I could see that his rear tyres were finished, whereas my car felt pretty much as good as it had been all through the race. I was told to reduce the gap to the guys in front of me because a lot of us were closing up in the fight for points, and I tried something that unfortunately didn't work."

Either way, this has been a devastating blow for the team who has not enjoyed much success this season. They will now head to the Nurburgring for the European Grand Prix next weekend. They ran strong there last year and will hope for a good result again to put them back on track.