Defending your position

[Valve Bounce]

Still no reason to leave the door open at the last moment. He should've stayed on the inside line, make Lewis do the hard work on the outside line.

Maybe he thought he was being lapped by a faster car? :

[kalasend]

Defensive driving seems to be something lacking in most of the current drivers, maybe Alonso, Button and Fisichella should start giving lessons in this area as, from what I've seen, they are undoubtedly the best three out there.

Fisichella.......remember Suzuka 2005?

[ShiftingGears]

Defensive driving seems to be something lacking in most of the current drivers, maybe Alonso, Button and Fisichella should start giving lessons in this area as, from what I've seen, they are undoubtedly the best three out there.

Button and Fisichella?

Fisichella buckles under pressure really easily, and Button always seems to get passed really easily, unless it involves Coulthard.

[wedge]

Bring back Sato!

He knows a thing or two on the art of defensive driving. Remember his first race for Super Aguri where he got a fantastic start and held up a train of cars which included Barrichello for the first ten laps or so.

[mattlamb]

Glock may well be good at defending positions. He was the only driver to make a fight of it with Hamilton in the race where Hamilton charged through from near the back of the field to second in GP2 a couple of years ago. Most drivers (including Piquet, I seem to recall) just let him through!

Jacques Villeneuve was good at defending positions

[jens]

Glock may well be good at defending positions. He was the only driver to make a fight of it with Hamilton in the race where Hamilton charged through from near the back of the field to second in GP2 a couple of years ago. Most drivers (including Piquet, I seem to recall) just let him through!

Yeah. And it's not just about defending, but Timo is generally a spirited fighter. For example in Turkey he actually repassed Kovalainen after the Finn had fought past him! Also a nice battle with Vettel in Germany and defending against Alonso in Bahrain.

[Dave B]

Why would anyone want to plonk a chair on the beach to stop the incoming tide?

I can't help but think that part of the blame lies with the current points system. If you're being challenged for the lead by a faster car, there's no real incentive to fight it out over a mere two points - especially if you're in the hunt for a championship.

Better to settle for a safe 8 points for second place than to risk running off the road and going home with nowt, sadly.

[Bezza]

I can understand Piquet's lack of defence, because he's inexperienced and never been on the podium before, and didn't want to harm that.

However, Massa was a different story. Even IF you don't have the car underneath you to your liking, you must up a bigger fight than what he did. He didn't even defend the inside, which is ridiculous. Make Hamilton do it the hard way. If you hold him up long enough then he may not have enough time to catch Piquet and therefore you only lose 2 points, rather than 4 to him.

I can assure you that Alonso wouldn't have let him past so easily!

[markabilly]

Alonso has much the same ability as Colin Edwards would occaisionally show (esp one year in WSBK) as well Rossi at the recent Seca Motogp. Because of size, one would think that blocking in Motogp would not really work all that well, except for weaving on the straight....however, motogp has no mirrors to see your opponent, and as Rossi demonstrated with braking, positioning then cutting the throttle at the apex and delaying its use on an inconsistent basis, such that the rider behind is forced to observe the rider (or driver) in front to avoid an accident rather than figuring out how to pass.

It is an ability to use brakes, position and throttle in such a manner as to throw the other driver's rythm off, to keep them from getting a good run out of the corner and force them to take a dirty line to the outside to pass--- without having to engage in a bunch of weaving on the straight, that is Alonso's secret.

Indeed, as DC once found out at an British GP several years ago when he had a fairly massive crash going off road to avoid the rear of FA, it was a willingness to slam on the brakes at inconsistent points on the track just to have the driver behind run into him. Over the years, FA seems to have gotten more crafty, so it is not so obvious.....

now is that dirty play?? well Stoner certainly thought so at Seca, DC certainly thought so when he went off.....

and interestingly enough, Hamilton was carving through the field to make up lost posisitions, except once he got close to being behind FA, he slowed and made no further progress..ended up finishing about two seconds behind FA..humm i wonder if...

[wedge]

and interestingly enough, Hamilton was carving through the field to make up lost posisitions, except once he got close to being behind FA, he slowed and made no further progress..ended up finishing about two seconds behind FA..humm i wonder if...

IMO LH settled for points finish, not worth damaging your car against the calibre of Alonso. He knows how tough FA is to pass - he hypocritically criticised FA at Spa last year for the first lap manouvre at La Source.

Delaying throttle/brake early = dirty tactics? No. Senna did exactly the same thing to hold off Mansell - Mansell sportingly said it was a great win for Senna after that race in Monaco 1992. Alonso and Schumi used the same tactics to beat each other for the best wins in Imola post-Senna.

However Senna used to play those silly games to Schumi during testing circa 1992 to the point Schumi wanted to punch Senna at Hockenheim.