The following footage is courtesy of Jensen Motorsport.
The video below features onboard footage from Markus Niemela’s Jensen Motorsport car during the controversial incident between himself and Simona De Silvestro (Team Stargate Worlds).
The crash resulted in Markus being penalized 30-seconds (2 positions) for “avoidable contact” and Simona De Silvestro dropping out of the race (waving her title hopes good-bye).
Good Call or Bad Call by the race stewards? You be the judge, feel free to share your opinion in the comment section.
Simona clearly had the racing line…Niemela should have been DQ’d.
I think if you look markus just got ran off the track by her. He was still half way up the side of her and she knew next corner was a right. It was a racing accident. Markus did a great job at holding her off and she just screwed him off the track.
Markus gave her room on the left, subsequently Simona knows that he would have nowhere to go, if she had given him a wider berth then there wouldnt have been contact. He shouldnt have been penalised.
-Ryan Lewis
That was an overly aggressive move on the opening lap for Simona when she didn’t need to press the issue. She made her move late in the corner and then moved to the apex though Markus was still alongside her, forcing him to go off course to avoid contact.
She had a great season and threw the championship away making a move that didn’t need to be made that early in the race.
Simona had the line! Her front tire was ahead of his, Niemela was in the wrong!!
Niemala’s fault, he should have chosen to back out of it when Silvestra obviously had the line and was ahead. The penalty was right too – he consciously went off track (when he could have conceded) and consequently slid back on track htting the rear wheel of Silversta
Bad call Simona should knows better than that. I guess that’s why she’s not crying about it. Better luck next year. …. BREAKS ARE FOR LOOSERS!
Niemela messed up, big time. He should have fell in line behind Simona. Must have been hard for him to deal with the fact that a woman driver whooped his ass this season.
There was nowhere for him to go. He was alongside her in the apex of the left and then she pulled ahead slightly for the right, but there was no room for Markus to back out anymore and she didn’t leave any for him to not hit her.
The reason why Simona is being quite is because she’s not going to get in a pissing match with you, she’s got a little too much class, but I’ll take you on. Niemela messed up. He was in a back marker team that he did not want to be in next year and was hoping for a good showing to end the season. Maybe come back to Newman Wachs. So why not help them out, right? Come on, a lot of people were whispering that after the race. I’m just saying what a lot of people were saying Sunday.
wow, where was Markus supposed to go exactly? Simona tries to pass him but is only half a car ahead getting in the turn. You can clearly hear Markus waiting to get back on throttle because she’s in his way. She never leaves room for the car she’s passing. Markus goes off track to avoid hitting her (when he could have just stayed his line i might add), still, she never gives him enough room to stay on track. Regardless of who you are and where you are in the championship, no one can expect a driver to just park the car. I think he tried all he could to avoid the crash. What’s he supposed to do, stay off track? I like Simona a lot and i am gutted she didn’t win, but she brought this on herself. I think Markus deserves more respect than that.
Nice of you to stick up for a teamate though Frankie!
Simona De Silvestro should not have gone in, she did not have a chance at that line and put Markus Niemela in a dangerous situation. Simona should be DQ’d. That means she did not have the line.
Steve, just because people are saying it doesn’t mean you should repeat it. Those knowing Markus know that’s just bull. Yes Simona has a lot of class, that justifies trying to tarnish a driver’s rep to suit your x-files rumblings? anyways, cheers mate!
Just a note for everyone.
While I appreciate all the comments and encourage them, let’s all please try to stay away from personal attacks of any kind.
Thank you.
-Ryan (Junior Open Wheel Talent)
Well Markus outqualified Simona in a so called back marker team and Simona tried to pass in the cork screw which is always a gamble as its blind, dusty and has crazy camber change.
Markus did a great job to outqualify Simona at Laguna and too overtake in the corkscrew is always a gamble.
Steve flip the script and think about if Simona took Markus out like that. Who side would you be on then? It’s just my opinion and I can only see it from Markus car camera but it looks like some aggressive driving to me. (Which is cool and what the fans want to see) Anyway I think she did a great job this year and hate to see her lose the championship like that.
“Not wanting a pissing match I don’t really care that much about it sorry”
Simona should have been in cruise and collect mode to win the championship. Racers want to win races and aggression is part of that, but the maturity to not risk what happened is what I’d be looking for in a driver if I was paying the bills as a team owner.
Class or no class, I though to give my opinion too…
First of all I’m sorry about the outcome of the incident which caused Simona to be out of the race. Nevertheless I’m not sorry for my action as both of us took chances in there.
I gave her room on the inside of the left hand part and tried to get my position back on the right hander as I was still half way alonside her and had an advantage of being on the inside for the right. She didn’t really leave me room in there and by doing this there was a big risk for a crash. Of course I could have just backed off in the braking of the left and let her go. But on the other hand she could have given me room on the right hander, not having to risk to crash and she could have tried to win the next corner where she would have been on the inside.
People will always have different opinions on these kind of situations. Did she have right to turn in the right hand corner when I was still partly alonside her and not leave me room on the inside? Would I have had the right to start turning earlier on theearly part of braking of the left hander when she was still just slightly alongside me and not leave room for her on the inside (which I didn’t do btw…)? Did I have right to race her hard although she was fighting for the title and I was not? Would my penalty have been the same unless she wasn’t fighting for the title? Would, could, if… big bunch of conditionals that don’t change a thing.
And about your conspiracy theory Steve… Why would I deliberately take out Simona to lick NWR’s butt with a cost of burning the bridges with Stargate if I wanted to secure a seat in top Atlantic team for 2010? Would not be the most clever move would it.
Simona and her team did great job all year and it’s a shame it ended this way. Anyway, that’s racing… You either love it or hate it or don’t really care.
This is a case of a racing incident. I think it was a bad call on the race officials part.
There is really no such thing as a “line.” There is only track, and creative ways to pass. The only time a racer controls a line is when he/she is leading the following car, and this balance only shifts after all four wheels of the overtaker have passed the leading driver. At any time, whether it be on the straight or alongside someone mid corner, you must leave a car width for the other car or risk that the cars will collide as the other driver does not want to go off track.
Through the left hand section, Markus leaves room inside, and through the right hand section Simona does not, and her wheels never cleared his. She is at fault.
It appears that she forced the line agressively. Had the championship in hand and had plenty of laps to get there. Look at what happened to Dempsey in the same position in the FM race. Same turn and first lap emotion.
“Simona tries to pass him but is only half a car ahead getting in the turn.”
Yeah, ONLY half a car AHEAD. Wait, and she kept it on the track? This isn’t even a conflict. Markus made a poor choice and deserved to be penalized. To be quite honest, I’m not even a fan of Simona, but I know when a race incident is someone else’s fault. It is plain as day.