Originally Posted by
The Black Knight
Let us look at it historically.
Silverstone – Kimi ruins Hamilton’s race and got less of a penalty than Hamilton did for it i.e. only 10 seconds, whereas Hamilton lost 27 seconds sifting through the field.
Paul Riccard – Vettel ruins Bottas’s race. Vettel got a pathetic 10 seconds and still ended up ahead of Bottas after it.
Mexico (2017) – Vettel hit (I would say very much intentionally) Hamilton after turn 3, gets no penalty and ruins Hamilton’s race
Baku 2017 – Vettel intentionally drives into the side of Hamilton. Vettel ends up ahead of Hamilton in the race.
I can’t think of once incident where a Mercedes has hit a Ferrari in that time frame. Maybe it has happened but I certainly can’t think of one.
Now, I don’t think Silverstone or Paul Riccard were actually intentional but it was incompetence from both drivers in both instances. Both Mercedes drivers and Mercedes itself lost out on a big haul of points. Hamilton would have quite likely won yesterday given the race he had, Bottas would probably have ended up second in France. This is the difference between leading or winning either championship. Each time Ferrari has been at fault, and each time they have come off better than the Mercedes they hit after the incident. Kimi may ended up behind Hamilton yesterday but Hamilton still could have won Silverstone or been in with a big chance anyway whereas he had no chance yesterday.
Ferrari owe Mercedes an apology for their clumsiness not the other way around, mate. The aero problem has always been there. You’re behind another car, you lose downforce. It may be exacerbated by the new aerodynamic rules but it certainly isn’t anything new and, as the best drivers in the world, they should be able to cope with and predict it regardless.
One thing that does put a spanner in the works for me is that it was James Allison, Ferrari's ex Technical Director, whom suggested Ferrari may be intentionally hitting Mercedes. It's interesting that this is coming from an ex Ferrari man with direct working knowledge of the teams racing etiquette. James isn't the kind of guy to just to make unfounded accusations, so it makes me wonder what else he witnessed at Ferrari that he is unable to speak about which was also unsporting.
I have never been more pessimistic about the future of wrc. Manus will hold wrc hostage for a couple more years till one quits and then its over
WRC main class in 2025