‘tzali’ reports on her trip to the Austrian GP

Biggest fan ?
By Louise - ‘tzali’
May 17 2002

Site visitor ‘tzali’ made the trip from the UK to Austria a week ago, and played witness to the events that unfolded there. As a Heinz-Harald Frentzen fan, she gives her view on what was missing from the TV coverage.

Original words edited by Huw Alban.


I was in a grandstand between turns one and two - to describe where, Kimi parked directly in front of us on Sunday when his engine blew. Great view of the circuit from there, could see probably 80% of the track. So I saw pretty much all the action, plus there was a giant TV screen directly opposite us, too, to keep track of the timings etc.

Not a great result in either qualifying or the race for Arrows, but those guys were seriously flying! I reckon both could have qualified comfortably in the top ten, if HHF hadn’t lost his first couple of runs on oil and a banker lap, and then them both catching traffic - HHF, in Enrique’s case - oops!! But at least HH admitted it was totally his fault and apologised, unlike some drivers would. Mind you, it was EB’s turn to look a bit shame-faced on Sunday after running into the back of HHF, and taking himself out in the process.

Hope they’re as competitive in Monaco, but without the bad luck! At least they had a bit more reliability, even if their speed didn’t come across on TV.

Taku’s and Nick’s accident - I can’t believe they both got away without serious injuries. That was a very scary moment. Particularly as it seemed to take forever for them to get Taku out. We could see him waving right after the accident, but it was very worrying that it took so long. Poor old Nick looked green. The fact they didn’t stop the race and take him back the short way around the track suggested it wasn’t as bad as it looked, but it was a relief when the news came through.

And then the end. Obviously we were all waiting for the switch, but I can’t believe they were so blatant about it! Barrichello practically stopped on circuit and Schumacher looked to be holding back too. It’s a shame Montoya wasn’t a bit closer, he could have sneaked through and won!

The crowds were chanting Barrichello’s name, and he got loud cheers every time he appeared on screen (couldn’t see the podium!) - and you no doubt heard the whistling and booing for Schumacher and Ferrari. Ferrari and Schumacher fans were walking out in disgust, we saw a few flags ripped up etc. A very strange atmosphere.

One of the reasons I support Williams is because they rarely impose team orders between the drivers, even if it costs them the drivers’ championship at times. On the other hand, Ferrari regularly have team orders so I was surprised at the strength of the reaction from the Ferrari fans in particular.

Be interesting to see how this develops - I remember the FIA saying they wouldn’t stand for this kind of action, yet it seems to be legal within the regulations.

Many thanks to Louise for allowing AllAboutArrows to use her text in a story for the site. Let’s hope for more of the same after her trip to Monaco.