paulsimery: De Villota, Watkins & Bahrain: The low points of 2012

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

De Villota, Watkins & Bahrain: The low points of 2012 | 2012 F1 season review

De Villota, Watkins & Bahrain: The low points of 2012 is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.

Yesterday we took a look at the moments F1 Fanatic readers picked as the best of 2012.

But it wasn’t all good news this year – here’s what F1 Fanatic readers named as the worst moments of the season.

Maria de Villota’s crash

The dreadful accident that befell Maria de Villota during her first test for Marussia in stunned and shocked the F1 Fanatic readership. There was much concern over her condition at the time, dismay over the extent of her injuries including the loss of an eye – and relief that they weren’t even worse.

Happily de Villota has now left hospital and is continuing to recover.

De Villota losing her right eye was quite a horrible incident.
@Todfod

Maria De Villota’s sickening crash, which stunned me only with that sound recording.
JPedroCQF1 (@joao-pedro-cq)

The death of Sid Watkins

The saddest new of the year in the F1 world was the passing of Professor Sid Watkins. A great man who served the sport for decades in the essential work of making it safer. Watkins was warmly remembered throughout the F1 community not just for his sterling work, but his tremendous and beloved character.

Professor Sid Watkins’ death – a man who did so much for the sport behind the scenes, saving so many lives, his passing leaves a huge void in motorsport.
Sundar SV (@SSVRacing)

Sid Watkins passing. RIP Professor.
@Sigman1998

The Bahrain Grand Prix

The subject of the Bahrain Grand Prix remains an open sore for Formula One. Having not raced in the country in 2011, F1 returned this year and the slogan chosen for the event made clear the sport was being used as a political tool by a dubious regime. Eight months on it’s clear many are still angry that F1 returned – and is planning to do so again next year.

The mere fact there was a Grand Prix in Bahrain. A disgusting joke that everyone involved in the sport turned a blind eye to what was actually going on (and still is) in that country.

Every single team and driver should be ashamed and embarrassed that they allowed that to happen and as a fan I certainly was.
@DaveF1

The Bahrain Grand Prix fiasco was a low, a country using a sporting event to mask an oppressive regime did nothing but highlight the greed in the upper circle of F1 putting team personnel at risk as was seen with Force India.
@Robk23

The Bahrain Grand Prix and the lack of awareness by certain members within the F1 fraternity. Never have I been so ashamed to be an F1 fan
@James_mc

More bad news in 2012

Other downsides to the 2012 season which several readers commented on included the fire in the Williams garage in Spain. The shocking moment unfolded on live television and for a dreadful few minutes it looked like the kind of incident that could produce more than one fatality. Thanks to the quick and brave work of mechanics from several teams, it did not.

There were also complaints about the grid of unattractive step-nosed cars and Ferrari’s post-season attempt to cause trouble for Red Bull by raising a spurious request for “clarification” with the FIA concerning Sebastian Vettel’s driving.

The inadequacy of the fire and rescue services in Barcelona.
@Robk23

The ugliest car to ever win an F1 race. Also, the second, third and fourth-ugliest cars to ever win F1 races.
@Matt90

Ferrari pushing to win a championship by way of appeal. To me, if they had of succeeded, this would have damaged the sports’ reputation. Don’t get me wrong, if there was a clear violation of the rules, I’m all for the rule makers stepping in and policing the issue, however, this was a way that Ferrari saw they could exploit to win the 2012 championship.
@Dragoll