Finally a fantastic race that doesn't make people fall asleep. Oh how I was wrong expecting a boring race before Sunday. Keep more of those juicy F1 "scandals" coming! :-)
Hamilton's driving was a fine class act.
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Finally a fantastic race that doesn't make people fall asleep. Oh how I was wrong expecting a boring race before Sunday. Keep more of those juicy F1 "scandals" coming! :-)
Hamilton's driving was a fine class act.
I spent some time rewinding and watching the incident again and again after Rosberg's interview. And l don't understand how he felt comfortable standing in front of the press and effectively the world making such a claim. But let us analyse it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bagwan
1. Hamilton was ahead approaching the corner on the racing line by half a car length. Nico was trying to counter attack on the inside and had the opportunity to take the apex of the corner and come out of it in front.
2. Hamilton was still ahead by half a car's length on the apex of the corner but on the outside which was still the racing line for this particular corner.
3. A driver genuinely fighting to take the lead would at this point attempt to take the shorter line cutting the apex to come out of the corner with a better position on the other side of the apex, giving that Hamilton would take the wider racing line through the corner.
4. But Rosberg who was all the while not on the racing line at any point during this maneuver and at a disadvantage of being half a car's length behind, decides he wants to dictate position on the apex of the corner. Kind of like Kimi on Bottas if you remember that one. That was always going to result in a mindless collision.
I think you have to be ahead at the corner and have command of the racing line going into the corner to have the right to cease the racing line at the apex of the corner. In Rosberg's case, he was not ahead going into the corner. He was not on the racing line approaching the corner. He had clearly lost the initiative even at the apex and this was clear from the nature of the crash that the front of his car collided with the mid section of Hamilton's car. The ugly thing about it all was that he did it with ample track space to make the corner, he did it with a counter attack line available to him to fight for position coming out of the corner without needing to crash into Hamilton. The choice to try to cease the racing line from a losing position was just desperate and pointless because it was going to cost more points than was necessary.
This is the big point for me. I was thinking about this afterwards and wondering what his reasoning was for what he did. He could have turned into the apex, retaken the lead and won the race without any damage to either car at this point. So why did he do it? Well the answer, I think, lies in what Toto said; he had brake by wire failure. He knew the only way he could keep the race victory was to eliminate the threat (Hamilton) and that is what he tried to do. Had he turned in, he wouldn't have had enough braking to keep Hamilton behind him coming into turn three. In the end it was heat of moment stuff but he deserved to lose out.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nitrodaze
What really bothers me is how every time this happens Nico keeps getting little slaps on the wrist opposed to real tangible punishment. It reminds me of soccer and the way players continually pull and push each other in the box nowadays for corner and free kicks. Had UEFA stamped this out from the beginning and given a few lads red cards, it would have stopped straight away. Instead, it has crept into the game and spread worldwide and now everyone does it. It's much the same with Rosberg. He has gotten away with things like Monaco, Belgium, Spain and now he has gotten away with Austria. The most alarming thing for me is that it's two races out of the last 5 races, so clearly he's escalating now in the knowledge he can keep pushing the limits and he won't get punished. It's bad for sport, it does nothing for Rosberg's reputation and most of all, it's bad for F1. Time to stop it and the only way to do that is a race ban or disqualification.
This reminds me a lot of the Rossi/Marquez incident at Sepang last year. Rossi was on the inside, ran Marquez way out wide, eventually Marquez turned in anyway, and they touched sending Marquez off the track.
The outcome was similar too, with the stewards finding Rossi at fault, but the punishment was heavier: 3 penalty points which, added to the 1 penalty point he already had, sent Rossi to the back of the grid for the next race.
The Spain crash between Rosberg and Hamilton could have easily been fatal to one or both drivers. In the early Mosley era, that crash could have easily been fatal. The crash that killed Senna, seem innocuous as he crashed in to the tyre wall, but turned out to be fatal.
Recurrence of a crash between the same two drivers should have at least given an opportunity to the stewards to stamp it out with a harsh punishment. An ineffective 10 points punishment and 2 points on the license, sends a very weak message. But more importantly, shows an inconsistency when compared to the Kimi on Bottas incident last year.
Besides, there is a higher possibility for this recurring trend between Rosberg and Hamilton to result in an injury or a fatal situation if it is not nipped in the bud at this stage. The stewards have failed to recognize this point, l hope the Mercedes team at least recognize this possibility and act accordingly. That said, team orders is not the answer. These are the finest drivers in the world. They should behave and drive responsibly. If an external input is required to compel them to be responsible, then the team have the wrong people or person in their cars.
Rosberg clearly disagrees with the stewards opinion, hence it could be said that the stewards have failed to make their thoughts on this kind of behavior clearly made. A repeat of the scenario looks most likely to re-occur. I just hope that when it does, that nobody gets hurt or killed in the process.
This paragraph says it in a nutshell.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nitrodaze
The key to all of this fuss is in what Rosberg said afterwards .
He said he had the right to dictate his line because he was on the inside .
I have been set against this point of view every time I've heard Lewis state it , so it would certainly be wrong to allow Nico to get away with it .
But , I think it's the key to why he wasn't flayed by the team . He stated it roughly the same way it had been said in the past , so I think they knew what he would be saying when they got to the debrief .
One thing Nico did get right , at least in the relating of the hard facts(and you're not going to like me saying it) , is that Lewis did turn into him . Nico turned away just afterwards in avoidance , perhaps feigned .
Now , don't get me wrong here(I know some will) , because I believe , as Lewis should be able to do as well , that the spirit of the rule that states that the driver must leave room for his competitors should give him the confidence to have been able to trust that his fellow racer enough to just turn in , at least when there is still a physical chance of getting around the corner on the track .
You have to give the other guy space if he's along side .
It's in the rules .
It's why he was penalized .
So , it's all about the point that Rosberg has been trying to make all along , I believe .
It's incredibly ironic , if I'm right , for Nico to take a penalty and lose points as he makes his point about this .
I think it's why Toto is tired of talking about these incidents . It's the same conversation every time .
Maybe this one will be different .
Glad Kimi finished on the podium. The doing was Lewis, he steered into Nico. Lewis get a grip.
Even if everyone bar Mia here agree on the crash being Nico's fault, I also think that both this crash and the ones in Barcelona and Spa wouldn't have happened had it not been Hamilton driving the other car. Quite a few drivers are overaggressive in their defending and put their cars in positions where the other driver has the choice to take evasive action (often needing to drive out of the track) or crash. Lewis does not seem to be a huge fan of yielding whenever other drivers' defending is excessive or even dirty - so that's why we've got crashes. However, if you rewatch this season's races, you'll find lots of scenarios where the defending driver doesn't leave one car's width, which leaves the pursuer angrily gesticulating at the car in front - but backing off.
This is not to take the blame away from Rosberg - his driving was dirty. I'm just saying that it's not as uncommon amongst the drivers as we'd like to believe.
I think Verstapenn in the other car would be equally challenging for Rosberg as we have witnessed a few times this year. It not Hamilton that is the problem. Rosberg finds competition difficult.Quote:
Originally Posted by N4D13