Formula One’s new Salazar/Piquet are at it again. This time, with handy visual aids.
Jarno Trulli and Adrian Sutil started their “bitter” feud up again in today’s Drivers Conference ahead of the Abu Dhabi race this weekend, much to the amusement of the gathered journalists, as well as Raikkonen and Alonso who were also part of the conference.
All was harmless ranting until that well known vigilante Jarno Trulli announced he had pictures, which he promptly pulled out and started waving round, educating Sutil as to where he went wrong. Clearly, Jarno had been anticipating the question regarding his crash with Sutil in Brazil two weeks ago, and had come prepared with print outs.
A sarcastic and – dare I say it – catty argument ensued, leaving Kimi and Fernando sat in the front row, laughing and joking that they should leave and let Sutil and Trulli get on with things.
It was, I would imagine, a rare sight for the journalists – not only were two modern day drivers getting angry and saying less than neutral things to one another (shock horror!) in front of the press, but two of the sport’s biggest drivers – one of whom supplanted the other at Ferrari mere weeks ago – were left giggling together at the pantomime behind them.
A snippet of the action: (makes you wish they filmed the Thursday conferences!)
TRULLI: “In Barcelona I spun and he hit me because he cut the kerb, cut the circuit completely, and he didn’t slow down.”
SUTIL: “I didn’t hit you. You hit me. I don’t know what is your problem. I really don’t understand.”
…
SUTIL: “There’s nothing to discuss, it was quite an obvious incident… It’s not my problem. It’s his problem. I don’t know why he’s freaking out like that to be honest.”
…
SUTIL: “It’s not a problem to be on the kerb. Where’s the problem?”
TRULLI (sarcastically): “Yeah, no problem! As long as we know the rules.”
SUTIL: “I know the rules.”
TRULLI: Fantastic!
This is just a mere taste of the heated conversation that went on for over half the press conference. Brilliant!
On a more serious note, however, Alonso mentioned that it would be spoken about ‘deeply’ in the GPDA meeting tomorrow. The Sutil/Trulli and the Nakajima/Kobayashi incidents have thrown up some questions regarding proper defensive-driving etiquette. Is it OK to slam the door on someone trying to overtake you? Should there be a more coherent rule agreed between the drivers regarding space given and acceptable defensive maneuvers?
Unlike the days of Senna et all, there is no way for us to know what goes on in the GPDA meetings, but I like to imagine it as one big, loud mess with Alonso, Webber and de la Rosa trying to bring order to them all bickering with one another and ganging up on each other. I’m sure the reality is much more “I respectfully disagree…”, with each politely giving the others room to speak their minds (anyone have any articles/links that give an insight into the meetings?), but if today’s conference is anything to by, tomorrow’s meeting could be a little more rowdy than usual!
