Racing incident according to the Stewards, no further action. For once I think they've got one right.
Watched the start a few times and honestly can't really blame anybody, It was just one of those things. Pretty much everybody had a right to be doing what they were doing at the time. Vettel was simply defending his position and most likely completely unaware that Kimi was in the position he was. Sometimes crap happens and it's just racing.
It's the correct decision, but still totally avoidable from Vettel's standpoint. He rolled the dice and lost. Did he need to roll the dice in the first place with a move like that?
Well I suppose we're back to one driver does one thing it's ok, and others do it it's not. Peoples opinion and perception differs. What I will say (and I imagine Cosi might understand/agree) whilst a driver might or might not be at fault or responsible, as a driver you have an obligation to avoid contact. This was possibility unavoidable from a number of viewpoints, but I don't think (subject to data) any is to blame directly. Horners comments pre race and Max's post race comments do little to dispel the theory that they are prepared to threaten a championship leader with the nothing to lose philosophy. I think if Lewis was in Max's position he would have approached it differently, Max has the ability to win races but not the mentality to win a championship.
I don't think Vettel moved over as aggressively as people make out. It's quite common for 1st place to move towards 2nd place. It's just a perfect storm.
Agreed. Despite Vettel's potentially risky defence; as others have said, the incident was essentially a multiplication of unusual circumstance. I was disappointed that the stewards decided to get involved in the first place – especially when one considers the new directive for this season that for penalties to be applied, there needs to be evidence that one driver was clearly at fault in causing an accident. [Edit: Yes, Smithers: just read your post and pretty much agree – especially about Horner, who often seems ready to 'score points' with his calculated choice of words]…
Totally. It's not like he completely chopped max up. Three cars in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Probably not no . History has proved however ( IMHO ) That at times , he is a hot head . Ferrari will suit him down to the ground !
Not a Ferrari fan to say the least, simply loved it and all within 60 seconds, Ronnie Barker couldn't have written a better script. Well worth waiting for.
It wasn't aggressive, just ill advised. If he is going to make like that he has to be sure there is no one alongside him. He should have seen Max come up in his mirrors, but Kimi would have been in his blind spot so far over. Maybe their race engineers should 'spot' them NASCAR style at the start to let them know if someone is there? May make them think twice about pulling across if they are told someone is coming up alongside so they would be making the move too late. That was Vettel's issue. He didn't have a great start but could not make that move left until he was rolling properly and the wheelspin had stopped, otherwise he could have risked losing more traction with a 'chop' and losing control completely. With the conditions being so treacherously slippery, he probably should have been a bit more cautious. Maybe the conditions 'made; him do it, knowing that Hamilton does seem to have the edge when the track is damp, so felt he had no choice but to do what he could to hold the lead. If it was dry, I wonder if he would have done the same knowing he could probably have the RBR once DRS kicked in?
Honestly, I really don't see what Vettel did wrong there. He was just trying to cover Max. It's not anything unusual, it was just unfortunate they were three abreast at the time.
You shouldn't move over if someone is already there. Fair enough to cover off a move from behind, but you can't just move across like that and expect people to yield. If that was a move on say lap 30, I'm sure the stewards would have looked at it very differently. Vettel started to put the squeeze on Max, which in turn put the squeeze on Kimi. All inadvertent, but did Vettel really need to make that covering move? The finger (no pun intended for Vettel) should ultimately be pointed at him because he had more to lose than the others. Not to say he is to blame in terms of needing penalties etc, but did he need to do it? His penalty is Hamilton getting 25 points on him at a race when Vettel really should have at least closed the gap or retaken the lead.
He didn't necessarily do anything wrong, but his move did trigger the accident IMO, if inadvertently.
Alonso went right too, and it didn't help! Hamilton admitted afterwards that in those situations you just hope you don't get taken out. Sometimes, as Alonso said, afterwards, you are just in the wrong place at the wrong time. You can't always see into the future.
Yeah, I can see that, but I don't think that puts him at fault. There were three drivers going at it there and to me they all had a right to be doing what they were doing at the time. It was just an unfortunate outcome.
Vettel caused it but shouldn't really be punished. It was clumsy (not an excuse) but more importantly it was only really minor progressive movement. It wasn't a chop or a dart, it was just one of those things. If you're Max or Kimi you'd be annoyed, but realistically that's racing.
That sort of move has an obvious outcome, for conclusive proof suggest you try it the next time you pull away at the lights, Vettel was driving brain dead, as proven a few seconds down the road.
Unless that car at the lights is an Audi you can't really expect it to actively try and stop you getting past. Then again racing off lights would suggest your brain was less than fully sized anyway.
