Lehdistötiedotteet - Craig Gardner is sick of being blamed for DNF's that aren't his fault

Craig Gardner is sick of being blamed for DNF's that aren't his fault

For the fourth time this season, alleged teammates Escalada and Gardner collided in a way that caused the latter to retire from the race, costing them what should've been an easy 7th in the championship to Trintignant. Anyone with a working pair of eyes could've seen that, after earlier incidents this season, Gardner was being extra careful to avoid conflict when he only needed to beat one other driver on track to lock in 7th, yet when contact happened regardless, the commentators saw fit to call it like this;

Lap 71: Craig Gardner tries to overtake Elias Escalada, but makes a mistake and causes a collision!
Elias Escalada loses time due to the collision!
Craig Gardner is out of the race after the collision!

Keep in mind that this was the instruction given to Gardner at race start;

Risky Drive in Dry Conditions: 11
Risky Drive in Wet Conditions: 3
Tyre Aggressivity: 84
Mechanical Aggressivity: 1
Standing Start Aggression: 48
Overtaking Aggression: 1
Blocking Aggression : 1

When interviewed post race about the blame apportioned to him, Gardner had this to say;

"It's a disgrace that Richard Dickson is allowed to call races when he clearly has no idea how racing works. How can it always be my fault when everyone can see that Escalada is chopping me off at the last moment and getting away with it? If Richard has a problem with me personally he should come to me and settle it directly, not sully my name as a clean driver in this series because I happen to end up in more incidents than anyone driving as cautiously as I have been ever should."