The Spanish Incident - Who was at fault? ***spoilers***

No time for an extensive post now but according to a poll conducted by Sky with 70k votes:

23% blame Lewis
58 % blame nico
19 % racing incident


I think that is pretty much conclusive given sample size

 

Posting here also for posterity and those who missed out on the lengthy discussion already had about this in the Grand Prix thread.

Stewards can rule it as a racing incident, I accept their ruling because I think it's a fair one. As they have said in many, many words following their announcement neither driver was grossly negligent or reckless.

But as a Mercedes engineer, principal & owner I would lay most of the blame on Nico who by his own doing put his car into the wrong mode from the start (incompetence), tried to correct his mistake and lost sight of where Hamilton was (careless), by the time he was done twiddling away w the buttons on the steering wheel he shat his pants, overreacted and ran his own teammate off the road (unsportsmanlike). Hamilton had a wing and a wheel alongside Nico whether he saw it or not, and by regs he had to leave Hamilton at least 1 car width of space.

Hamilton's clear fault as thoroughly argued was to be so bold and aggressive to attempt the move on the inside. Did he crash into Nico whilst still in control of the car? Nope, he was already a passenger the moment he tried to avoid contact w Nico after being run off the road and into the grass.

As fate would have it, hamilton's car came spinning back onto the circuit and wiped Nico out...
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Makes sense...its what toto said as well

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

 

You're right.....conclusive!! 70k votes....wow...huge...those pesky stewards, prost, lauda....all morons without a clue, unlike the tv audience of sky

 

Team Mercedes was at fault.

 

A few tenths before this photo, we'd see: a wider gap, all of Hamilton's tires on the track, and part of (at least) Hamilton's front wing alongside Rosberg's rear tire.

 

Lewis has not figured out yet it's Rosberg's year. The fix is in and he doesn't like it.

But then it was his year last year so...

 

and before that, Nico aiming for the spot with Lewis behind. It's not like Nico waited until Lewis was next to him and turned into him. That's the trouble, so many of you are looking at the final moments instead of the big picture. Again, Nico was ALWAYS moving to cover the inside line well before Lewis got there. They were both aiming for the same spot well before Lewis' wing was next to Nico's wheel. That's the important bit.

 

Nico, didn't wait, his incompetence / car being set in the wrong mode allowed Hamilton gain so much on him so quickly...

 

Thanks to the mod who merged the threads & added options 3 & 4.

I suspect the results may be different had those latter two been there from the start.....

Having said that, & leaving aside the inevitable personal "biases", I think this once again shows what a tough job Charlie & the stewards have every other week. So much is down to "interpretation" - Some see it one way, & others differently.

As noted prior, it ain't easy!

Cheers,
Ian

 

From watching replays, it looked like Nico never went all the way out to the left coming out of turn 3, and stayed about in the middle of the track. Whether or not he was paying attention to Lewis behind doesn't matter so much to me, so that's what made the whole thing unusual...normally the leader would have been out to the left on the run up to turn 4, and in that case Hamilton behind would have HAD to go right to get around...maybe Lewis just blew it and didn't take into account that Rosberg was already not on the regular racing line. Regardless, ROS clearly made his defensive move as allowed, and even though some read the rule as black-and-white, that black-and-white reading does NOT really account for what happened here.
What happened here was that (as some have mentioned) they were both basically going for the same gap at the same time, and the rules of physics still mostly say you can't both occupy the same spot at the same time...so rather than hitting the brakes, both drivers kept going. For Rosberg that meant keep going ON track, while HAM had to go off track. The grass took away his traction, and HE lost control ALL ON HIS OWN and took out his team-mate.

Two simple steps here your honor!
1: There's no way you "convict" Rosberg of being "guilty" of not leaving space for Hamilton, because in the tiny tiny tiny fraction of a second where he moved right BEFORE Hamilton was there, he was not violating any rule. By the time he moved another fraction of a second, it was too late for EITHER driver to change course.
2: IF the lead car was not OBVIOUSLY wrong, then the following car is at fault for losing control of HIS car, and in this case, TAKING HIS TEAM MATE OUT. Any questions after that, see rule #1 of racing: NEVER take out your team-mate and hurt the team.

Yeah, I think we've covered it and won't change anyone's mind.

Great race to watch!

 

that's right....and??

 

If you watch the helicopter view and look at the grid right behind, you'll see a certain driver do the exact same move attempt Hamilton did, but once the guy in front of him committed to cutting to the inside, he swapped to the outside and the two didn't crash.

Hamilton did a move that would of required Rosberg to just roll over and give up for it to work safely. He probably wouldn't of done that same move on Vettel, Ricci, Verstapen, without a similar result. He expected to bully Rosberg off the track, and Rosberg didn't take it this time.

If Hamilton had a record of not sticking it to Rosberg, I'd say Rosberg should of lived by the silver rule and given up the spot.

 

I blame Kvyat, it must be him, Vettel said it's always him

 

....and they lived happily ever after in the sandpit

I wonder whether they shared their toys as children ..... let's ask Toto

 

Nico may have been slowly/gradually moving to his right, but there's a clear, more sudden/abrupt blocking move to the right by Nico as Hamilton moved to the gap (best seen from an aerial view). There's no question Rosberg was defending/blocking against Hamilton, rather than simply maneuvering toward a better racing line with no awareness of Hamilton.

And it's because Rosberg was defending/blocking on a straight, that 27.7 applies.

 

I had to vote for it being Danii's fault.....poor kid is getting kicked lately one more won't hurt. In the end it was a racing incident, both had some blame to share. Sad for the team but congrats to MAX and to his amazing race craft in keeping Kimi at bay. To the Scuderia, I hope you've more in the tank!

 

And just watch a video:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1J6B09HH7I[/ame]

 

He is allowed to block, but not double block. Hamilton has been racing by himself, or used to pushing Rosberg out of the way, if you look just behind, you'll see the exact same set of moves without a crash - because the driver behind knew he couldn't be double blocked, and swapped to the outside.

If Hamilton had of done the same, the crash would not of happened, or it would of probably rested on Rosberg.

 

Yep, 6 development tokens full of it compared to Renault's 24. wonk, wonk.

 

Yes, Rosberg is allowed to block. But the rules are clear ... he can't close the door completely, if Hamilton has a bit of wing alongside Rosberg's rear tire.

Sure ... the accident could have been avoided, had Hamilton backed-off, changed his line ... or not tried the pass at all But the fault in this case was Rosberg's, for trying to close an occupied gap.

 

Watching that, is just sad.

Rosberg was looking into the cockpit, he may not even of been aware that Lewis was on his right? Only Rosberg knows if he was pulling to the inside to let Hamilton go, or he was blocking, but his helmet is looking down into the car.

We need open radio communications again so driver's can focus more on driving. Alonso's wreck at Australia might not of happened had the Haas driver been fideling with buttons inside the cockpit as well.

 

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lol...that's just total poppycock....Nico doesn't have to leave room on the inside so that Lewis can overtake him! Nico was going to the inside to block Lewis...and that was well before Lewis was next to him. You're completely ignoring that, and I don't know why.

To me, 27.7 applies when there's someone next to you. Lewis aimed for a gap that wasn't there by the time he got there....it's simply not the same thing

 

'pulling to the inside to let Hamilton go'????? lololololz

He forced Lewis onto the grass,he did not get a penalty because only his own team suffered as a result,had he pulled that stunt on another team he would have been penalised.

Toto putting a brave face on it 'these things can happen ' ...'we let our drivers race' etc etc .Total disaster for the team.

Anyhow lets hope Monaco will not be the usual procession.

Mad Max? Brilliant!