i thought there was a rule (to do with blocking) saying you weren't allowed to force an opponent off of the track. that is essentially what rosberg did. Hamilton would have found it very difficult to abort, considering he was alongside rosberg and had to go off the track to avoid a collision
That's the thing he wasn't alongside Nico until he went off, he was behind him while Nico was making his 1 defensive move. The issue is that he was beside Nico when he went off and continued to overtake Nico outside the track which is not allowed in the rules. That place was meant to be a run off area for emergencies and chances to back off cleanly and lose little time, Lewis though kept his foot down and kept on attacking so he broke a rule in conclusion. He could of gone on the left side of Nico instead of going off the track, why he didn't I dont understand.
I think it would be helpful to rescind some of the fiddly rules like leaving a car's width when defending, not overtaking for two corners after handing a position back, not changing direction more than once, etc., and just have a blanket rule like dangerous driving. I think the stewards should should be capable of deciding what's fair and what's safe on an individual basis (and coached by the FIA in what kind of incidents they don't want to see) rather than having to judge what constitutes crowding a driver off the road or whether you could fit a car into this or that gap. That said, the nerdy side of me enjoys the anal arguments and the outrage at race results being decided three hours after they've finished.
If an overtake move results in a crash then maybe it needs looking at otherwise f**king get on with it, the following driver has to decide whether he can make it through or not.
He would have had to back off massively otherwise he woudl have run into the back of Rosberg if he attempted to switch to the otherside. He had the momentum to make the pass. Rosberg and the stewards have set a precedent now when it comes to blocking and what is fair, just as much as they have said you can overtake off the track by not penalising Hamilton (though the point that with grass verges it was fairly unique to that circuit and he had not cut any corners, but drivers who have overtaken with all four wheels off the track have been asked in the past to give the place back, but not always, see Vettel in Aus 2010). It just shows the inconsistency of the Stewards based on decisions from previous years, but is it good that drivers can now property fight for a position again? Some of the penalties from years gone by have been for pretty mundane things and handed out just to equalise a situation. Roll on Spain!
The problem with that is that it allows the defending driver to put an attacking driver in the position of - Crash into me to get me penalised, thats what costs championships - Schuey/Hill! I do agree with your tone though, that if all is equal (and safe) aggressive is fair!
It was only a matter of time Eternal, every thing that can happen will happen sometime, its just a matter of when mate. But I think we will run out of universal time before we share the same opinion on MS
Perfectly true Smithers, but these guys are presumably professional and know how to drive and use their mirrors so have to make snap judgements, I remember screaming at the telly with the words "f**king wait he'll take you off" but obviously Hill couldn't hear me, now why didn't he just back off for 2 seconds.
There will always be a driver who is prepared to take it that little bit further than the others - that will always be the problem. Rules are predictable/fixed - human nature isn't - it will always be a variable factor that will influence every given situation!
Drivers will be penalised in future for doing what Hamilton did, allegedly, but I'm not sure if that means 'zero tolerance'.
well,'presumably' he thought he was racing a professional driver who knew how to use his morrors, if you let people cheat they will. If I try to rob a bank it doesn't matter if I was succesful, it's the attempt.
I haven't seen anything official yet, just that GMM report and they're not always completely reliable.
I find it a bit concerning if it is true. Whilst racing was getting a bit sanitised by all the penalties that were being handed out for 'nothing' incidents, i feel Rosberg's blocks were definitely on the edge of acceptability and now they are deemed okay we could see a lot more of it. If Alonso & Hamilton had not taken immediate action to avoid Rosberg such was their closing speed even on a straight and not into a braking zone, then you potentially would have had Webber/Kovaleinen all over again. I find this strange if it is true and can see certain drivers really taking this to the limit. There will be tears on this forum if it happens!
I feel Lewis was justified to overtaking off the track, Nico's defensive move was a tad over aggressive (though legal) and Lewis' overtake was also a tad too aggressive. In my opinion it canceled it each other out, eye for an eye etc...
