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

It was Nico Rosberg's fault for squeezing out his team mate!

It was Lewis Hamilton's fault for putting his car in a position where it was vulnerable to being squeezed out by his team mate!

It was Mercedes' fault for giving both drivers equally reliable and quick cars!

It was Daniil Kvyat's fault for not being a much better driver who could have replaced either Rosberg or Hamilton at Mercedes!

It was Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen's fault for not being faster in qualifying and not getting off the line quicker than the Mercedes!

It was Renaults fault for not making a more powerful engine!

It was Arrivabene's fault for not providing the miracle cure that instantly put Ferrari into the the first two grid spots!

It was Ferrari's fault for not giving Seb and Kimi much better cars so they could qualify 1st and 2nd on the grid!

It was the anonymous designer of the Circuit de Barcelona - Catalunya's fault for the designing the circuit the way it is!

It was the fault of whoever had the bright idea to have grass at the edge of the track!

It was Toto Wolff's fault for having both Rosberg and Hamilton in the same team!

It was Ron Dennis' fault for not keeping Hamilton happier at McLaren!

It was Bernie Ecclestone's fault for allowing there to be F1 racing still!

It was Ayrton Senna's fault for inspiring Hamilton to become a racing driver!

It was Keke Rosberg and his wife's fault for having a son!

It was Anthony Hamilton and his wife's fault for having a son!

It was the fault of the FIA (via the CSI) for creating Formula 1 racing!

It was the Allied forces fault for allowing Mercedes Benz to survive as a company after a certain event in Human history!

It was the Austrian Decorator (whom you're not allowed to mention on Fchat for some reason)'s fault for not winning a certain event in Human history!

It was Le Petit Journal's fault for putting on the first motor race event in 1894!

It was Karl Benz's fault for inventing the petrol/gasoline powered auto-mobile!

It was François Isaac de Rivaz's fault for inventing the first ever internal combustion engine powered car!

It was Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot's fault for inventing the first ever auto-mobile capable of Human transportation!

It was Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot's parents fault for having a son!

It was Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot's Grandparents fault for having children!

It was Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot Great Grandparents fault for having children!

It was Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot Great-Great Grandparents fault for having children!

(I think you can see where that one is going! )

It was the fault of:

1) God! - For creating the Earth! (If you are religiously inclined)
2) The Big Bang for creating the Earth! (For those not religiously inclined)

To name but a few who are at fault in this incident!



Why oh why are so many of these people/teams/deities not mentioned in the poll?

Sorry but the poll is seriously flawed!

 

I'm not sure why you guys are arguing. You're not going to change any minds around here. If the roles were reversed Hamilton would still be guilty.

Both not scoring in this particular race is an advantage for Hamilton. 2 or 3 incidents like this would be even better.
None of the haters will figure this out though.

 

OMG....please explain

 

I'll let you figure it out. Big hint: they need to be exact or similar incidents at the start of the race.

 

nope....still don't get it. I'll need you to fill in the gaps.

 

Still trying to work it out......makes no sense. Lewis and Nico crash out, that help Nico as far as I'm concerned....unless you're thinking Lewis would rather see anyone win WDC than Nico, so if they keep crashing out someone else wins. Is that what you mean? That would be weird.

 

Nope

 

well, you haven't answered, so i assume you can't because it was a nonsensical claim. I thought as much.

 

The only long term opinion that counts is that of MB and thus far toto has stayed out of the fray but Niki has spoken. Hammy would do well to stfu and get back to racing-his starts have been horrendous. Best car in the field, clean side of the track and still screwed it up. Lots of season left.

 

Elton should stick to his music from now on ...

 

Other than the shock (or elation) felt when the incident occurred, it ended up:
- enabling a great race for most other teams, and a great result for Max
- costing only Mercedes, their points
- tightening up both Championship battles
- setting the stage for more drama between LH and NR

And with neither of them being penalized, they go into Monaco on even footing. The one thing I don't understand is when Nico was in the wrong engine mode. If as previously described, he had full power until hitting the brakes, it contradicts his out accelerating LH after turn one. Either the mode doesn't act as it was previously described or Nico made his mistake after the launch toward turn 1. Either way, the elf screwed up.

As said before, "On to Monaco"

 

That was the weird thing...Ham actually had a GREAT start off the line, but Nico pulled him in quickly by the first corner. Perhaps we got a glimpse into the set up that makes Rosberg so successful in his starts and he just fumbled the transition back to race mode.

If so, good job on him for exploiting every possible advantage. Ham was clearly quicker off the line yesterday, but Nico's car collected him like a Manor by the first corner.

 

They are given team orders not to race into t1, so whoever is on pole gets to lead the race. I think that's what he's playing at. However, they likely won't make that order, if they do something like that it will be whoever gets to t1 first will get the lead with team orders not to try to pass. There is some precedent there (Mclaren with Coulthard and Hakkinen comes to mind), but that was an agreement rather than orders (ie drivers were agreed on it).

 

Hasn't Lauda said Lewis' fault? That's good enough for me.
I say let them arm wrestle to decide this, winner also gets pole for next race.

 

I blame Nico more than Lewis on this one. Nico was aware he f'd up on the engine setting allowing Lewis to have a power advantage. Nico should've bit the bullet and played the role of a TEAMmate and ceded the position to Lewis then go after him once his car was on a proper setup.

 

I'm making stuff up?

You made up a make-believe definition of "first move" to suit your opinion ... even though your definition doesn't even fit into the rule. The rule uses the language "first move", to distinguish from possible "second moves" (e.g., returning to the racing line as in 27.6). "First move" can't possibly mean the first motion of the block, since it would be physically impossible to even use the full track width on the very first instant, the very first physical motion of the defending block.

Now you're adding a make-believe time frame into the rule to suit your opinion: "The driver being overtaken can't use full track width to block, if the overtaking driver has a wing alongside the rear wheel ... UNLESS the overtaking driver has been alongside for less than a second. If he's there for less than a second, then the full track width block is allowed."

The rule is ridiculously clear, and even more simple : you can't shut the gap completely, if the passing driver is alongside. The rule even clearly defines what is meant by "alongside". What could possibly be more clear?

The rule does NOT include any of these make-believe qualifiers:

- The driver being passed can shut the gap completely on the alongside driver ... if he's been there for less than a second.

- The driver being passed can shut the gap completely on the alongside driver ... if the passing driver had more room to execute the pass around the other side.

- The driver being passed can shut the gap completely on the alongside driver ... if the passing driver is pissed or vengeful from an earlier incident.

I can't even imagine a more simple rule. It even goes out of its way for the "avoidance of doubt". I may not agree with the rule (i don't), I may not even be a Hamilton fan (i'm not) ... but this debate is beyond ridiculous.

I'm out guys. have fun

 

Hamilton wasn't alongside when the gap was ever disappearing. He just drove into it

 

I was hoping for a track side boxing session. Perhaps that was my only disappointment of the day haha.


What you guys are forgetting though, Hamilton could have just used his brakes

 

Both. Nico was far too aggressive, especially with a teammate but you can understand why. Lewis' move was a bit desperate but he had far greater speed coming off the corner. He probably should have backed off and tried later instead of the first lap.

 

I put the blame squarely on Nico. If you are losing power and had that much time to notice it, you are akin to a back marker and thus need to either move out of the way or at least give room. That track is very tough to pass on so he shut the door hoping in vain to keep Lewis behind him and the result was both cars in the sand trap. This will be the turning point in the season where Nico unravels because he knows in his heart he is not as good a racer as Lewis. He is quick in qualifying and ok when he can stay out front unhindered, but he is not Alonso or Perez or Vettel.

 

hahaha - I nearly spit my coffee...Kvyat as an option

haha

 

nice! Hockey meet F1!

 

If / since Rosberg is entitled the move, then Hamilton at fault. Seemed like Rosberg to me, but if it's within the rules, then it's clear Hamilton should have known better.

Shades of Senna and Prost!

 

This is EXACTLY why both drivers did what they did. This was probably Hamilton's best shot to pass Nico and Nico wasn't going to let it happen. Both guys' desires converged and everything ended up in the sand.

As I said earlier, "comparative negligence" (i.e. 'racing incident')