OK. Are you referring to Monaco. I don't think he was to blame there mind. It was the way the armco comes out. He was to blame for todays incident, but as you say, the ban is a definite no!
He didn't try to cheat. He hasn't sat there and thought "I know, I'll go before the lights go out, why has no one ever thought of this before". He's made a mistake. If the stewards didn't hand him a grid penalty it isn't going to set a precedent whereby drivers think they can get away with jumping the start, because he hasn't gotten away with it. This is an incredibly frivolous and pedantic application of the rules, but that's become the norm in F1 in recent years unfortunately.
Drivers are used to the winter break, there are no points on the board and (let us who do not drive competitively guess) they approach the start of the first race of the season with a tiny fraction of a degree more caution. They are not used to a 5 week break, mid season, with the mental baggage of points scored and team positions to defend. I'm not a psychologist, but I can imagine that this might affect some drivers more than others. On the flip side, Button seems to benefit from the breaks.
You say he's been banned because he chopped across Hamilton and it could've resulted in a death. So shouldn't they apply this to every piece of dangerous driving?
Yes, but don't forget this Summer break has been included for a few years now. This includes the GP2, GP3 series. I don't think this has an affect on drivers.
I can't answer that with any certainty but if you watch the aerial footage which Forza posted on the race thread, Grosjean's start, driving in an extreme diagonal from the left into Lewis on the right, is totally irresponsible and, IMO, obviously risking a major accident. Furthermore, Spa has a history of pile-ups at the start and he should know that. Additionally, he's had so many incidents within seconds of the start this season. Finally, as has been said, Alonso could have been a dead man tonight.
I'm not saying the break is necessarily an acceptable excuse, but the winter break isn't at all comparable, they have weeks of testing before they have to race, they didn't even get a Friday practice this weekend because of the rain.
The summer break allows the mechanics and such to go have some time with their families and take vacation... I'd rather that they have time to recharge before hitting the end of the season rather than getting burned out and even worse things happening.
It was a stupid cross when he didnt have to Abs! If you look at the amount of space he had, theres no logic to why he wants to be in the line he wanted to be for that corner. But, like in most sports, thing that look very severe, get punished and highlight things that have occured many times before. Hence the punishment.
I am going to bring up my initial comment now: Are the Wing-Mirrors to blame as well? I know how much Martin Brundle goes on about how small they are and that it is difficult to see other drivers
From what I've gathered (and this doesn't include sitting in an F1 car, unfortunately) it's a combination of the teams abusing the wingmirror rules to hell and the drivers' low driving position makes the wingmirrors difficult to use. In this particular instance, though, I don't think they're to blame. I doubt Grosjean thought for even a second to use his mirrors and I'm pretty sure he would have seen Hamilton as he moved right across the track. He certainly would have seen him when they went wheel-to-wheel.
Didnt grosjean come from behind, and cut across lewis? Grosjeans mirrors wouldt help him hitting someone who was infront or to the side of him. ****ed up, simple.
Totally agree He cut right across the whole track - at the start! It was outrageous when seen from above - IMHO, of course
Don't suppose anyone has access to Grosjean's onboard camera at the start? Would be interesting to see.
It is unfortunate that punishments in F1 are so easily criticised as inconsistent. However, in no way I am I defending Grosjean, who today, in my opinion, was completely to blame for what became an horrific incident. Disregarding previous incidents â and thus any previous punishments, I would completely agree with a race ban for this most basic error of judgement. During the sprint to Turn 1, he had at least as much space as all other drivers, and probably the least excuse to make contact before reaching the braking zone, since he had acres of space to his left and absolutely no right to expect Hamilton to back off. Indeed, causing another driver to leave the circuit or brake to avoid an accident before a braking zone is punishable in itself. It is not becoming of an F1 driver to make such a mistake with such little mitigation. But it is natural to draw comparisons with previous incidents and punitive consequences, which have sometimes left me wondering who has been running the FIA. Having said that, I believe that these perceived inconsistencies were far worse a few years ago, especially before professional drivers became involved in stewarding. Seen in isolation, Grosjean's 1 race ban is, in my view, correct. When weighed against Maldonado's deliberate swipe in Monaco, it seems harsh. I believe I said at the time that this incident should have resulted in very severe punishment; such as a 3 race ban or even a revocation of his license, if only for 3 or 6 months. When weighed against incidents such as Barrichello being squeezed to perhaps an inch of his life (very seriously), one cannot entirely blame Grosjean if he perceives such antics as acceptable. They are not! And for this reason alone, very severe action should have been taken against the offender at the time, especially when such a high profile and experienced driver is likely to set such an example. That said, I do not believe Grosjean's actions today were done with the conscious deliberation of either of the above comparisons. I think these sorts of incident are becoming more commonplace as the result of a combination of 'Playstation mentality' and advances in safety which can give a sense of immunity to grave consequences, coupled with a sense that such behaviour is somehow acceptable; since without severe punishment, the perception of acceptability can become distorted (as above). To put it bluntly, there has been an increase in reckless driving for the past two decades, especially when certain well-publicised incidents have gone completely unpunished, far too often. What matters is that from now on, similar recklessness meets with similar consequenceâ¦
I'm sure Brundle said the mirrors were actually surprisingly good when he tested the Ferrari. He'd have known Hamilton was there for sure, but he might've though he was still behind rather than slightly alongside.
