OLSON’S QUALIFYING RUN RUINED BY RECKLESS COMPETITOR
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Shanghai International F1 Circuit, Shanghai
American racer Peter [“Pete”] Olson got off to a great
start this race week by setting fantastic lap times in the first practice
session for the big races at the newly-opened Shanghai F1 track this
Sunday.
Unfortunately, being taken out by competitors in
the second practice as well as qualifying doesn’t make for a good start
position.
Olson was the fourth fastest timed racer for
Saturday’s first practice session, driving the FRD/Christian Children’s
Fund/Gibson Dunn and Crutcher/Winfield Lee
Investments car number 5 – a great result for the
Olson was on only his third lap of the second
practice session when a competitor from another team tried to out brake Olson
into turn ten, a sharp left-hander where racers brake from 200kph [120mph] to
less than 80kph. “He had tried to out
brake me at a few of the previous corners and could not do it” said Olson. “I tend to brake late, and after a few
corners he should have known that there was no way he was going to be able to
pass me.”
Unfortunately, the reckless driver had other ideas
and decided that in turn ten he was going to dive inside Olson, no matter what.
Olson turned into the corner only to feel the
hard impact of the other car’s front wing in his rear left tire.
“I turned in and then all of a sudden there he
was, on the inside after I was already committed to the turn. He had no business being there and that is
why his front wing and nose exploded after hitting my rear tire. It was never
my fault, never my responsibility, and that you can see on CCTV. I received a punctured tire and he lost the
entire front wing and nose of his car – but the practice session was over for
me, and we had only five sessions in total to prepare for the races
Sunday. Of course I was furious.”
As the TV cameras and photo crews arrived at turn
ten, Chinese television captured the American driver in a furious state, out of
his car but still in full race gear, making wild gestures at the inexperienced
corner workers and demanding that they remove his car from the track.
“I shouldn’t have acted like that, but I guess it
just made me angry to watch the other cars go by, lap after lap, as I stood on
the sidelines because of some stupid dive-bomb pass attempt” said Olson.
Upon his return to pit lane, Olson located the
other driver in the pits while the driver was waiting in his car to go back out
on the track. Olson shouted several
expletives at him in English and made a derogatory hand gesture in front of the
racer’s car before he stormed back to the FRD garage.
“Maybe it is my Latin temper, but I think any driver
who wants to win more than anything else would do the same. This weekend was a great opportunity for me
to do very well, and I got off to a great start and then had serious problems
to deal with as things went on.”
Little did Olson know that another driver would
do something even more foolish during qualifying itself, and end his chances at
a good starting position for Sunday’s first race.
FRD mechanics worked furiously to repair Olson’s
car after the damage incurred by the reckless driver during the second practice
session, in order to get the car back on the grid for the qualifying session
just 90 minutes later. Olson left the
grid to qualify just five minutes late, thanks to the FRD mechanic’s valiant
efforts. Olson left streaks of tire
tread and a cloud of smoke on the grid as he aggressively launched his car from
pit lane to get up to speed as quickly as possible.
Olson was on only his second lap, still breaking
in new tires, when he waved a competitor by on one of the SIC’s
back straights. With no cars in front of
Olson on the straight, Olson decided a wave-by was the only option. “I knew I could go to full throttle, but then
I would just have to let him by at the next corner” said Olson. Of course, the straight is the best place to
let people by, and I was not going to ruin someone’s qualifying session by
blasting down the straight and then over slowing for the next corner before my
tires warmed up.”
Unfortunately, Olson’s American sense of fair
play and “may the best man win” was thrown in his face as the other driver he
had just waved by turned directly into Olson’s race car as he passed, bouncing
his right rear tire off of Olson’s smaller front tire and front suspension, for
no apparent reason.
Olson recovered from the impact without going off
the track, and made a heroic effort to continue as he debated pulling into the
puts with his damaged race car.
“I knew I had only about six laps left to qualify
well, so I knew I just had to push it” said Olson.
Little did Olson know that his car was undrivable, the front left wheel toeing in and out (right
and left) as he drove, as result of the damage incurred in the incident.
Olson came onto the front straight and went to
full throttle in sixth gear before turning in at 200kph [120mph].
“I turned the car in and felt…nothing. There was no response, no control. The car would not take a set. Almost no response at all” said Olson.
Olson’s car started careening off the track at
high speed but he managed to bring it under control before flying off the
track.
“I always feel totally safe in a race car. But that was the one time in my life that I
have felt something very terrible, to have no control. It is a very bad feeling. In those times the only thing that you can
rely on is your faith” said Olson. “It
pays to know who your maker is when you strap yourself in the cockpit.”
Despite his near crash, Olson kept trying to push
his car to the limit. After another
dangerous lap on the edge and out of control, an agitated Olson pulled his car
off into the pits and stormed off into the driver’s room, with television
cameras watching.
“I don’t care what anyone says, that driver was
either the biggest fool I’ve ever seen on a race track, or he did it on
purpose” said Olson. “Of course, I like
to think that he was just being stupid and trying to make some silly attempt to
intimidate me while I was on a warm-up lap, and after I waved him by, of all
things. But if that is how he will
drive, than he has no business being on a race track and he should put his
helmet in his closet” said Olson. “I was
very excited to race on this track, it is just what I like, nice and twisty,
very challenging, a rush to drive. But
enough with these fools crashing into me, we haven’t even raced yet and I’ve
been taken out twice by other drivers in practice and qualifying.”
As a result of the qualifying incident, Olson
starts tomorrow’s first race in the back of the pack.
Can Olson jump ahead in
the pack, as his hero Kimmi Raikonnen
does in Formula One when faced with similar qualifying challenges? We will see tomorrow, along with a hundred
million Chinese viewers and thirty thousand in the grand stands.
We wish Pete Olson the
best of luck in tomorrow’s races.
Charles Schepens
Schepens Promotions