2016 FORMULA 1 PIRELLI CHINESE GRAND PRIX RACE *** SPOILERS ***

IF Lewis can pull it off his year he would join an elite few who have won the WDC 3 (or more) years in a row:

Schumi 5
Fangio 4
Vettel 4

He is certainly capable of achieving this with that Merc,just needs to get a couple of wins under his belt,and yes a change of 'luck' might help a bit too.

There is not much between the two of them in qualifying,but i believe Lewis has the edge on raw talent..much too early to write him off. Hat trick in Russia?

 

d) Back off and follow Danny ,not easy to tighten his line for sure but he had a lil bit of space to play with on the right. (easy to say sitting on the couch with a cold beer!)

 

Hamilton left room on the inside subsequently took the corner, the racing line, as if he was alone on track. Except he was in traffic, hitting Bottas who was already halfway around the corner and more than halfway Hamilton's car. (look where Bottas front left wheel hit Ham. car). Bottas should never have gotten a penalty. Hamilton being protected again by race control.

Vettel didn't expect Kviyat comming down the inside with that speed diff. For no reason he swayed to the left into Kimi, while what he should've done is just follow his trajectory into the corner, their was enough space for the three of them.

It's that simple.

 

d) is the same as c) as he needs to brake to let Kvyat by before he can follow him...
And it is not true that all those behind are constantly considering the one in front might suddenly brake, they are all looking for the tiniest gap to go through. Not even Hamilton at the very end of the field was on his brake avoiding contact although he might have seen that there are accidents in front of him, so why does anybody think anyone else would do so in front?
I still believe that an accident was unavoidable by Vettel...Whether you want to blame Kvyat or put it as a race incident is on another paper and up to the marschalls but it was not Vettels fault like some of you want to make us believe. Or why was Vettel not under inverstigation by the marschalls if you think it is so clear that he was the aggressor causing the accident?

 

Well as Seb said Danny arrived like a torpedo ,ie at a higher speed than Seb as he passed on the inside ...so i still think d) was possible ...its a split second decision . These guys are not paid mega $$$$$ for nothing.

It was a racing incident.What most of the racing fans don't like is the whining after the race....

 

Your opinions are not without merit. I agree with you that Mercedes has plenty of performance in hand, and Rosberg's advantage over Hamilton seems to have come out of thin air. I wouldn't count Lewis out just yet. If he will give social media a rest and get his head in the game he can challenge Nico for the championship. Perhaps his narcissism trumps his will to compete and win?
I think the emerging story of this season is the resurgence of Red Bull. With more power(from Canada) they will be fighting for wins.

 

It was very clearly Vettels fault, as I already said; Vettel didn't expect Kviyat comming down the inside with that speed diff. he was startled and moved to the left into Kimi, while what he should've done is just follow his trajectory into the corner.

Their was enough space for the three of them.

It's very clear that it was an avoidable incident.

Start GP F1 China 2016:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTk39AaaxUY

Just like it's very clear that the Bottas - Hamilton incident in Bahrein was a racing incident where Bottas took the gap clearly presented by Hamilton. But Hamiltons awareness in traffic is just off => aka Hamilton not expecting anyone comming from the inside in such a tight low speed right hander, after the start, when he left such a gap, is just not very smart.

You can even argue if Hamilton should've been given a penalty.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXitZc6dAhg

But no; race control protected his uncrafty style of driving by giving Bottas a penalty.

Just like race control lend themselves as an extension of Hamiltons disingenious driving at the start of COTA 2015 by letting him get away with crowding Rosberg off track limits, something which is litteraly written as being against the rules as described in the FIA F1 regulations.

Hamilton obviously and deliberately being way off his racing line at a rel.low speed, clearly seeing Rosberg on the inside giving him no space to move and subsequently crowding him off track.

No racing incident => clear penalty.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7Cc7W1T2zQ

 

An interesting proposition, but to me it makes no sense.

How does giving Bottas a penalty "protect Hamilton's uncrafty style of driving"? If they had called it a racing incident, which I believe most probably feel it was, it would have made no difference. Giving Bottas a penalty had absolutely no effect on Hamilton.

Why would race control want to protect or favour Hamilton? What's their motivation?

 

It's a race deal... not someone not being able to drive. I don't get how everyone immediately implies that Seb, Ham... whomever has "no racecraft" because you have a pack of cars going full speed into a super tight corner and in those split seconds... crap happens.

You can argue fault all day long. Kyvat just like Bottas had no way to take that corner at that speed without actually running wide and perhaps hitting someone else. It doesn't matter though... that's racing. Risk taking is part of it and that what Kyvat did in his own words. Smart? I don't know maybe. It turned out good for him this time... maybe not so much next time. I think we all remember Grosjean's first corner race down the inside.

In the end, to say it was Seb's fault or that he's a whiner, or can't drive is just silly. He got pinched... if he slams on his breaks, he get nailed from behind. There was not a lot to do in that situation. I said it before... I'm fine with these guys showing some emotion. I watched the video... I didn't see an enraged Seb... I saw a guy who was frustrated and voiced his impression at the time. Big deal. Crybaby? Hardly. I'm all for seeing a less sanitized F1.

 

+1

 

Kvyat is coming from the inside drifting towards the outside of the turn, Raikkonen is coming from the outside pointing towards the inside...I do not see where you can see room there for a third car??? I think even with Vettel hitting the brakes Kvyat and Raikkonen would have made contact as they were both driving towards the middle of the road to take the next turn...

Exactly what I meant, there was not much Vettel could do about it...

 

Vettel has come out of his anger now as predicted - Vettel moves to defuse Kvyat row

 

"Kimi came back from the left, Kvyat came from the back right and I was reacting to him. From my side I didn't really know where to go, I was sandwiched between Kimi and Daniil.
I tried to back out of it, going off throttle and hitting the brakes, but there was no way, so I had contact with Kimi."

So even with hitting the brakes he did not make it, so how can one say he just needed to drive on...Just look at the video where Kvyat is after the turn (very much on the outside left of the track) so how should there be room for two more cars left of him if Vettel and Raikkonen just drove on???

 

Am I invisible?

All the best,
Andrew.

 

It sort of "protects" Hamiltons way of driving, giving Botta's a penalty, justifies, even rewards Hamiltons uncrafty manouvre. Because it was clearly he who left the door wide open, subsequently giving no consideration to a possible move from a fellow driver comming on the inside by just naively following his racing line in a tight, low speed, right hander, just after race start. Bottas was racing. 2 trouble free years and leading the pack probably made Hamilton less handy in traffic.

And a penalty given to Bottas ofcourse affects the race, a non given penalty would've let to a different race outcome and possible rewarded points.

Bu I agree; calling it a race incident is most suited IMO, a penalty for Hamilton being the secondary option IMO.

 

Oh so sorry!!! Please delete my post if you can

 

I actually think it was Kimi who trigered the whole thing...he misses the turn and then comes in on a very tight angle...Seb had nowhere to go....just anunfortunate racing incident.....as it was between Bottas and Elton.

 

Sorry but I think most are completely wrong then!

+1

Looking at this footage: https://www.formula1.com/content/fom-website/en/latest/headlines/2016/4/vettel-diffuses-kvyat-row.html , there are a few things that become apparent:

1) The biggest villain of the piece and creator of both his and Sebs downfall was Kimi! - He locked up, ran wide and then drove back into the path of Seb.

2) Seb had nowhere to go! - Kvyat cames from a long way back, at speed, initially hugging the inside curb nicely. Seb spotted him coming just as he himself was heading towards the apex (which to be honest was pretty good going considering everything else that was going on!), and so had to hold station in the middle of the track, where Kimi then drove across him. This meant that Seb was driving into a wedge of two cars with nowhere to go.

3) if you note what happens with Kvyat, he spots an open invitation to dive up the inside of Seb and takes it, initially controlling the move nicely (as previously mentioned - hugging the curb), but then it becomes apparent that his speed was too fast for the corner because he understeers quite badly to the outside of the track.

I can fully understand how Seb initially thought that Kvyat caused the whole incident, because it was Kvyat's incoming speed that had distracted his attention at the time, but once he would have reviewed the replay, then he would have realised that, although Kvyat's speed wasn't ideal for the corner (otherwise he wouldn't have understeered wide across the track! - See 0:47 of the linked footage), KImi was actually the main cause of of his woes.

Here are some pictures of what actually happened:

 

https://www.formula1.com/content/fom-website/en/latest/headlines/2016/4/vettel-diffuses-kvyat-row.html

Looking at it again, at the footage Ferrari posted, Vettel did alter his trajectory after he suddenly saw Kvyat comming on the inside, but indeed he was also squeezed; by Kimi moving to the inside of the corner, Kvyat to the outside, but only when he was almost past Vettel. Vettel still had some room on his right, on Kvyat's side, but not much,

Given the speeds at which this is all happening, your probably right, their wasn't much he could do about it.

Still his rant on Kvyat is unjustified, Kvyat did nothing wrong. As Ferrari acknowledged.

 

+1

 

The pictures have not gone well! - I'm going to try an edit (Wish Me luck!)

 

Nah, I just found it amusing that when I posted the link nobody mentioned it. You post the same link and then the conversation starts.

Maybe I'll just start forwarding interesting links to your PM inbox.

Interesting analysis. You make a reasonable case.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

Right here we go again (I hope!):

First set:
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then:
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