It was concrete actually, with a light dusting of sand. If you caught the GP2 race that preceeded the F1 event the same scenario occurred in the same turn in a 3-wide instance and all drivers emerged unscathed and without penalties. I tend to think if they were going to knock Rosberg for this one they needed to penalize Lewis as well. Since both drivers got a pass I am okay with it but it was definitely dirty driving by Nico in both cases given the rule says you must leave room. >8^) ER
Well that changes my view slightly...but it still was likely very slick and Rosberg pulled a card from the old man's rolodex. He was allowed to get away with it despite doing it twice, MS wasn't.
Rubens could have hit the brakes when he saw MS moving over just like Alonso did w/Rosberg, let's not kid ourselves. MS started clear over on the left hand side of the straight and was moving over right for a long time to take away the inside. Rubens saw this and still went for it. Besides, their wheels were never interlocked...
I hope you're wrong but racing is impossible to predict. I think Fred and McHam were caught out because it was Nico, he was serious all of a sudden, OMG !!... McHam was surprised undoubtedly but because they've raced together since they were kids, there's a trust factor. He knew he could stay on it and NR would give him room to return to the tarmac. For Alonso, it was a bit of a curveball and he was naturally upset. There won't be any payback because there isn't one due. Concurrently, I doubt they'll attempt 'mash and he'll give us room' passes on Nico in future. They'll have to fake and jink, hellishly more difficult to make without incurring momentum loss. Britney relayed his message.
I doubt that Nico would have done it without his new found confidence. Perhaps this is why a driver's "luck" so often changes with a win.
