Quote Originally Posted by Nitrodaze View Post
I took another couple of looks at the start and l have to agree that it was a tough elbowing maneuver by Hamilton. But my point was that Rosberg put himself in that position by having a bad start which put Hamilton along side him before the approach to the corner. Rosberg had lost the advantage of starting at pole at that point. From then on it was sheer desperation to hang on to get something out the apex of the corner and Hamilton could see the loss of advantage and the position was there for the taking.

You have to watch it again and look at Kyvat's line into the corner. Kyvat's line is closer to the proper line through the corner, but it is the slower line as he initially gained advantage on his teammate who took the wider line going into the corner but lost the advantage coming out of the corner. But he got a better drive through the next corner to pass Ricciado.

Hence l concede that Hamilton could have left more room for Rosberg, but at the expense of losing the advantage coming out of the corner. This is the junction where the racing instinct of champions kick in. For the rest of my explanation, l would swap in Alonso for Hamilton.
So Alonso finds himself at the apex of the corner alongside his teammate and he knows he had gained advantage into the corner by a nose. He knew he could give his teammate a little more room, but his analysis tells him that such a move would hand over the advantage to his teammate coming out of the corner and possibly expose him to attack from behind.
What would Alonso do in this circumstances where there was a race win and possibly clinching world title was on the cards?

The racer in Alonso would do what it takes to get ahead coming out of that corner. So would Vettel, Schumacher, Lauder, Senna, Prost etc. THIS MY FRIENDS IS RACING plain and simple. Not a tea party or a friendly game of cards.
I understand the need to be first , and how bad they want it .

Certainly , Nico lost the pole advantage on the way to the corner , but he was right there with Lewis on entry .

You have two choices at that point , one to brake early and get him coming out , and the other , to stay outside , forcing him to brake early , knowing that if he didn't , he would touch .
I'm pretty sure Nico knew he would slide into him , as he had in the second corner at Suzuka , but he had to keep his line outside as the Bulls were right behind , waiting to pounce .
He was forced to believe his team mate would follow both the rules of the series and the specifically designed rules within his own team .

He was on the better trajectory , and on the grippier part of the track , but got rudely punted . It's as simple as that .


Nico had the measure of Lewis this last weekend , except for that one mistake , despite having to deal with the first corner punk .

I'm sad it's over , especially this way .