Why are these Clowns always crashing at Turn 1 on Lap 1?

Question

Its been a fascinating trend this season, people nicely running into one another on the first lap, can't they control themselves without T.C.

I can only imaging the astonishing pile up waiting to happen on the opening Lap in Monaco.

Answer 1

Its rare for Giancarlo Fisichella to make such a error of judgement on coming into a corner, but these things happen and you can't say it doesn't make for exciting starts... I will say this though... although it wasn't his fault... Fisi did hit Nakajima.... a lot of things are happening around Kazuki... regardless of whose fault it is...

Answer 2

The start of the race is when they are closest to each other so drivers, especially the ones at the back need to make the most of it and try and overtake each other on the first few corners of the race.  None of the first lap accidents so far this season have been a result of the lack of traction control, these accidents have been going on for a long time.

Answer 3

'coz those clowns are not learning from their mistakes, and keep repeating it again & again.

Answer 4

You may be happy because Ralf Schumacher is no longer in F1.

Answer 5

It's not to do with TC, most accidents happen as cars brake or turn into the first corner.

You've sweat it out in qualifying and the start of the race is a time when it can all go to waste or you can make up for your mistakes.

It's not easy when trying to get the best position to be aware of everybody's position on the track at such speed, you want to brake late but can never be sure how late others are going to brake because everybody is off the racing line and with tires that are not exactly up to tempereture.

Drivers that made a good start try to go around other cars, drivers that made a bad start try to defend so there's alot of movement across the track.

It would actually be strange not to have contact under these circumstances.

Answer 6

It's quite common actually. The cars are really close when the race starts and it's important to make some ground here. So each driver will pick his way through, hoping to maintain position or gain a few spots. Sometimes, it's too tight and there's no manuevring space. That's when contact happens. If they just touch wheels it's not so serious. The unfortunate ones go into a wall or another car.

TC has nothing to do with this. Even with TC, first corner incidents did happen. Most spectacularly was the US GP in 2006, I think. JPM took about 5 cars out with him. Among them were Kimi, Scott Speed, Heidfeld (?) and Button.

Answer 7

There is actually nothing unique about this season in this respect.  First turn crashes at the start have been common in most years.  Indeed, up until the last few years, a driver could move to a backup car if his first one was damaged and they stopped the race to clean up the mess.  Nowadays they use a pace car while cleaning up the mess, and no one gets a second chance.

There are multiple reasons.  The stakes are very high, and there is unbelievable pressure on all the drivers to perform.  The cars of the top teams are so closely matched that it is very difficult to pass on most of the tracks.  How the cars sort themselves out at the start tends to have a long term effect on how they fare over the duration of the race - especially since the gaps between the cars tend to lengthen as the race progresses.  Thus an advantage gained on the start can have a significant effect in the long run.  Thus the drivers are willing to take more risk during the first few seconds after the start.  

The situation is complicated by the fact that temperature in the tires has not come to the equilibrium which will hold after the first lap or so, with the result that grip may not be as good or as predictable as the drivers would like.

There are many cars, densely packed relative to normal racing conditions, accelerating in an erratic fashion towards the first turn.  Because of the eagerness of some of the more brave, they often get three abreast.  This is very dangerous as neither car on the outside is likely to be at all aware of the presence of the other.  Each thinks he can crowd the car in the middle.  The car in the middle has nowhere to go.  Wheels touch.  Cars fly.