Hamilton's Driving

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Originally Posted by Ari

ABSOLUTE CORRUPTION. Simple as that.

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What, you reckon all the stewards walk away with a nice shiny new TAG watch and matching Vodafone iPhones????

Phoooeeeyyyyyy.

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Originally Posted by tamburello

Of course, for your sort it's just easier to blame nasty Johnny Foreigner than admit fault.

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Admit fault - what did I do sweetie?

I find it hard to believe that Hamilton didn't brake because their tyres interlocking would have caused an accident, as some claim. And it was because he didn't brake that Vettel moved over, which resulted in contact.

But Vettel stayed in his lane, even if he did move over. If they had been on track under a yellow flag then Vettel would have let Lewis through, knowing he'd be penalised for overtaking illegally.

But the message I get from the stewards here is that overtaking in the pitlane, or at least battling for position, is not as bad as overtaking under a yellow. I feel that the issue is not just whether you like Hamilton or not. We saw Kubica overtake at the start of a session in qualifying in Malaysia right at the end of the pitlane. Now this. It seems the stewards consider these moves okay, which I think is wrong.

So does anyone know what the reprimand means in practical terms? I mean, in football, if a player gets a yellow card then he knows that a second yellow equals a red card. What about Vettel and Hamilton? Hamilton has now had a warning (of sorts) and then a reprimand in two races.

http://cdn.gallery.autosport.com/pic...e/l__26y0247-2


http://cdn.gallery.autosport.com/pic...e/l__26y0251-2

http://cdn.gallery.autosport.com/pic...su_10chn1336-2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D5uMlUZnaU

Well, here we have it in glorious technicolour.

First we have Webber closing in on Hamilton effectively squeezing him into Vettel and then Vettel starts to drift out. Webber could have got out of it but decided to go off track as there's beautiful run-offs. Guess he wouldn't have been there had it been Monaco!!

I know that Hamilton races hard but there was no intention to punt Webber off that I can see.

The stewards have made their judgement, so it's all academic, but for the sake of passing time on a Monday morning, here is my reading of those photos.

The first one shows Vettel on the blue area as he gets away from his pit. You could say he's trying to cut Hamilton's getaway, but in the second photo Vettel is clearly well into the centre of the lane, where he should be. It seems to me that Vettel won the getaway from the pits contest, but that Hamilton was the last to realise or accept this.

In my view Vettel is trying to stop Hamilton from doing something that Lewis shouldn't have been trying in the first place, but that the stewards cannot be relied upon to rule clearly on.

I have never really liked Hamilton but I have to give some credit to the guy. He has made a lot of exciting things happen on the track. I even kind of like how he bends the rules every now and then. Besides, he can be fast as hell. But at the pitlane he should have just backed down. Vettel didn't put him in a perfect position but Seb was ahead so he could do a thing like that. Hamilton was too stubborn and well...if an accident happens at the pitlane there's a lot more people who can get hurt than at track.

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Originally Posted by theugsquirrel

He slid because he had to turn sharply to avoid Vettel. That makes it more the fault of those who released him into the path of another car than his. I have seen several drivers having to take evasive action such as Hamiltons, unfortunately thats what lower peripheral vision from the cockpit will entail.

However in retrospect, judging from the pictures, it was very clear that for a considerable amount of the time that Hamilton had enough of a gap not to lock wheels, and hence should have dropped behind Vettel.

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The criteria for a safe release is that there must be no cars within the vicinity of the exiting car. Vettel's man looked, there was nothing, so a safe release. At almost the same split second, Hamilton's man looks, there was nothing in pit lane, so a safe release. But for whatever reason, Seb the Vet had good traction, Lewis had none.

Good luck getting ANYONE to give up their spot if they rightfully think it's theirs.

Lewis was a bit naughty in not slotting in behind Vettel and Vettel was a bit naughty in squeezing Lewis. Both got a rollocking. Let's move on.

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Originally Posted by airshifter

It's not as if Lewis had any safe way to lift and allow Vettel to move forward to he could tuck in behind him. To do so would have risked more contact between the two cars potentially sending the cars into the wall filled with team engineers, or the pit boxes or garages filled with mechanics.

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How so? Lifting at those speeds wouldn't have upset anything. That is, in fact, what Hamilton should have done. They were both being incredibly competitive going into and within the pit area, Vettel got out first and Hamilton should have tucked in behind him. Not sure what the appropriate penalty should have been but that is the easiest way to generate a fatal incident - car to car contact around unprotected and proximate people focusing intently on the job at hand i.e. pit crews