No, I didn't take it as you defending him. My response was aimed purely at his statement. If he were an airline pilot then this statement would be apt! (from airplane): Controller: "I know but this guy has no flying experience at all. He's a menace to himself and everything else in the air... yes, birds too."
And I give you (From 2009): http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/jul/09/fernando-alonso-renault-ferrari-formula-one Which states: Fernando Alonso has denied he has any agreement in place to swap Renault for Ferrari, although he left the door open for a switch after this season. Reports in the Italian and Spanish press had said that Alonso, the Formula One world champion in 2005 and 2006, had agreed to a two-year contract with Ferrari from 2011. "They are only rumours. They have been happening for the last four or five years," Alonso said as he prepared for the German grand prix, before making it clear there had been no contact between the two sides. "We are in the beginning of July and normally after the summer it is time to talk with people if you are interested in something outside of your team. I am very happy with Renault. Obviously everything is open, but there is no hurry at the moment." And yet, as I have posted elsewhere, the truth was slightly different!
Many incidents today that were investigated after the race. I hate it when that happens. What happened with Webber's unsafe release? The decision on that should have been easy and during the race, not after, right?
Vettel re Schumacher run-in: Can you talk us through your encounter with Michael: He, we were both pretty much on the limit and he is a wily fox and doesn't give you a lot of space. But that is the fun in fighting with him. I don't have any problem with that. I believe that the whole situation stemmed from a misunderstanding. He wanted to pit and I didn't. So the message is that nobody is to blame. And thank God we both got away with it.
IMO the Webber incident was on the very verge...I haven't seen a replay onboard with Massa so I can't judge if it slowed Massa down.
Perez is almost a rookie. His words and the article seem fairly honest. LdM said publicly he is not ready and Perez says no contact with Ferrari. He appears to be settling in at Sauber. Its the #2 role Ferrari are looking for. So no rush, hence Domencali stating more than once they are protecting Felipe for the rest of the season, and no word until after the season concludes. More to follow Im sure.
A few comments: 1. While the start line swerve by the French Lotus driver was extremely why didn't LH swerve right ONCE their wheels were locked? He had room and could have used the grass. Once their wheels were locked an accident was the only outcome and he took no avoiding action. 2. Why did the RedBull team setup their cars so they were so slow in a straight line? For racing at Spa you need straight line speed to pass. 3. Why the heck is LH using fncken Twitter and sharing team secrets? Want a worry he is. 4. Lastly now that Vettel is ahead of Webber in the championship I wonder if Mark will have any more gearbox issues ... don't you think it is weird that he has had 2 gearbox changes this season? A component that rarely gives problems in this computer controlled era. Feel sorry for Alonso but at least he was not hurt. Pete
Ham was on the grass watch it again. In fact I give up, yes Pete it was all Hamiltons fault happy now.
... for a change? I seem to remember Ham slashing right across the first turn on his own, a while back, creating mayhem, and getting nothing in reaction. Typical consistency from FIA. Plus a five grid penalty for jumping the start in a race he didn't finish seems a big much. Amazing how much of that race we *didn't* see, on Speed. Didn't see the collision that got Mal the other five spots. Didn't see Phil's pass on Webber. I guess Speed was playing to the "average" viewers: He didn't win, so he "sucks" regardless. But the Brit announcer messed it up.
Unfortunately mate you are wrong. Here is a photo. LH never moved further right and he could have. Now absolutely STUPID move by the Frenchman but why didn't LH try and avoid?. And yes all these things happen very quickly and I'm sitting on my couch so of course I'm being wise AFTER the event, but ... I will look for further photos and if I find one when LH was on the grass then I accept I am 100% wrong (at the avoidance point, not after contact has already been made). Pete Photo from http://www.google.com.au/imgres?q=Spa+2012+F1+start&num=10&hl=en&biw=1221&bih=456&tbm=isch&tbnid=tH3MRAEphp_-jM:&imgrefurl=http://article.wn.com/view/2012/09/02/Alonso_and_Hamilton_crash_in_Belgian_GP_start/&imgurl=http://i.ytimg.com/vi/plX5J_W_RJI/0.jpg&w=480&h=360&ei=1fFDUPrNLbGtiQfuzoCoDA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=266&vpy=143&dur=172&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=167&ty=131&sig=113168379317825267841&page=1&tbnh=121&tbnw=163&start=0&ndsp=12&ved=1t:429,r:7,s:0,i:102 Image Unavailable, Please Login
To blame Lewis for the accident at the start shows you're looking for some way to put blame on him. I'm no Hamilton fan, but he didn't do anything wrong this time. This one is squarely on RG. Mark
Agree that RG is to blame completely, but what I am trying to say is why didn't LH try and avoid contact?. The race was 44 laps long, sometimes you have to budge and loose a battle to win a war. Now if LH had swerved to the right and lost it on the grass because of RG's move then it would have made more sense to me, but instead he refused to alter his line which is just odd to me. Note: The photo I posted previously shows LH could have moved 1m over to the right at the time the photo was taken and still been on the track! Pete
Okay I have found a photo where LH did indeed end up on the grass but this is AFTER the initial contact (I believe). I've got work to do now and I know you all think I hate LH (I don't hate him I simply dislike the person that the media has shared with me), but again while a stupid RG (Schumacher of old) start line move, not enough was done to avoid contact when LH had plenty of room. He put all his eggs in one basket and lost, again. Pete Photo from http://www.google.com.au/imgres?q=F1+Spa+2012+start+crash&start=176&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1221&bih=456&tbm=isch&tbnid=GkSMxHTHdEeXAM:&imgrefurl=http://www.formula1digger.com/&imgurl=http://i.ytimg.com/vi/AgzCKRHjzpM/0.jpg&w=480&h=360&ei=IflDUI-2BJCyiQfJgoDgDw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=267&vpy=137&dur=5406&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=136&ty=148&sig=113168379317825267841&page=11&tbnh=129&tbnw=164&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:176,i:379 Image Unavailable, Please Login
I've never liked LH but THIS is not his fault in any way, shape or form .... maybe if he moved to the pits RG would not have hit him
When you start at the back of the grid it's much easier to gain spots in a faster car, especially when 4 cars ahead of you DNF on lap1 Schumie has made it to 5th from the back of the grid time and time again. 9 places isn't impressive. The more pressing issue was why was he so far down the grid to begin with? Had he been in 7th place behind Alonso and assuming he didn't crash that Ferrari had the pace for a Top3 finish. At least I'm not going to sue anyone Yes. Unless the FIA has changed the rules again Watch the replay, Webber let Massa thru so even if he was released a tad early he didn't compromise Massa. That's gentleman racing not penalty worthy. Torrents are usually a good place to find races If you like to wait they also show race edits on f1.com I dunno, I'm watching the replay time and time again, and it does look like Lewis is part to blame. Gro moves over aggressively but stops moments before making contact with Lewis. Lewis had all the time in the world to see Gro was going to take him out and use his BRAKES!! I know I know, brakes is a bad word in F1 The worst part is FOM deleting all the videos on youtube. They really don't have a clue when it comes to online presence