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

The comparison was made several times a day over the week!

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Having seen a replay from onboard Kvyat's car, I'd actually say the incident lies at Vettel's feet mostly...Kimi went wide, Vettel followed, the gap for Kvyat was absolutely huge and because the corner is so odd, there are quite a few lines you can take. Kvyat absolutely would have slowed down. Just a ripple effect from the lines all 3 drivers took. I see Vettel has now called it a racing incident, we all know that's racing driver speak for ''my bad'' .

 

In theory Lewis is "capable" of winning six in a row. In practice, it will be extremely difficult. Three drivers have accomplished that feat prior to Nico...and, none of those were LewHam. (they were Ascari, Schumacher, and Vettel) Six in a row is not something that happens with any degree of regularity...quite the opposite, in fact.

 

The Hamilton fans will be having kittens over that statistic.

 

That's the way I saw it too.

I couldn't understand why Vettel turned against Kvyat after the race, when his own team mate caused the fracas.

 

I'm not sure why anyone is surprised Seb had a go at the ruskie, when have you ever nailed the throttle heading into a turn amongst other race cars without taking notice of what and who else is going on there, and just hoped no one either brakes, takes your line, or runs you off? You take stock, nail it, but guide yourself being prepared for others, whether they make a mistake or not. He headed into a gap which he knew wouldn't necessarily remain by the time he got there, almost like a kid playing PS4 who knows if he goes in too fast, he can use a wall or other car to keep himself on the track. The same people who moan about others seem to support the guy here, probably because it's ferraris race that was at risk rather than their hero.

Kimi ultimately lost control and is the cause, but Seb should have had room to move, rather than have the Russian missile grazing his side pods with understeer. Yes, it's a racing incident, but give it a few more starts, and when Elton has someone do it to him, watch everyone cry foul.

 

Because vettel only had his own point of view and never saw any TV shots from Kvyats POV. There really was a huge gap. As for Kimi causing it all, not really. Slight lock up yes, but he came back. Normally a driver in Vettel's position would go off throttle briefly or steer a bit more right, but with Kvyat there it was impossible. It was also impossible to see if Kvyat was there for Raikkonen due to the mirrors, and reasonable to expect no one to be there.

Vettel left a gap, and the reasonable actions of all drivers involved caused Kimi to be wingless. It has racing incident written all over.

Tried to find a video of the Kvyat onboard but haven't succeeded.

http://youtu.be/GM2zlx74lHc?t=96

Best I could do.

Turn 1/2/3 is odd at Shanghai, it allows various different lines to be taken and you can position yourself in all sorts of ways, which is wat Kimi and Kvyat did in the end. Regarding the last bit. Absolutely. If Bottas gets a penalty for Bahrain...Kvyat/Vettel would be hanged if Elton was in Kimi's position.

 

Looking at the sky bit, it's actually Rosberg that cuts across Kimi, causing him to lock and all the rest!

 

I am not sure how you come to that conclusion

The space was there
He got through the turn at that "impossible" speed
He did not hit anyone
And gained a couple of places along the way

All good stuff IMHO

 

+1

 

Yup, there was room for a car + a car with two wheels on the white line to his outside. He did what he should of. The Ferrari's lost control when their attempt at setting up for a better exit speed fell apart due to the speed and lines of the two cars in front of them.

 

My point was that race after race, the driver who flies up the inside at full speed can't maintain that inside line. They always end up running wide... Nico, Bottas, come to mine recently, but it's not specific to any other driver. So when they can't hold that line... well... I guess my questions for someone like FAST-IAN would be...

If you have that inside line and have to go wide around the first corner... is there a real rule or unspoken rule about who does what? It's not just a free for all. You can't just run wide because you can't hold your line and force other cars out of your way who are going outside-in.

 

Daniil did get a good shot at that point. Kimi was in trouble after locking his brakes and really had a crazy angle coming back onto track. Seb was pinched in the middle. I think Seb's criticism was based more on the fact that both he and Kimi out qualified him. It was tantamount to resisting a blue flag warning by the marshals. Yeah he got in front but he couldn't maintain it. He capitalized on Kimi's mistake but ended up forcing a crash between too faster cars and drivers. If Kimi hadn't cut in so hard and avoided contact with Seb, they would have both stomped him later and put him back in his place. He was grinning like a school boy and Seb was obviously upset but maybe more for the damage to Kimi's car and the team effort then for any possible contact with his own car. He drove the last stint with a broken front wing! Imagine the car with a good front wing!

 

Its F1. It's more than a free for all.

Yes you can. If Vettel doesn't like it, then don't leave the door open.

Kvyat didn't touch him, didn't even do anything more than scare an old man in a racing car, and make him flinch. (and Vettel flinched right into raikonnen)


In Motorcycle racing it is called a "block pass".

In Nascar it is called a "slide job".

Other racing calls it a "dive bomb".

My racing calls it a "McGrath"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oADUnA6vJY

Kvyats grip on the inside was brilliant. My guess is that his team started him with very slightly higher initial tire pressures, and he didn't have to slop around for a lap to be able to get maximum grip

 

Exactly.

And for the record, I'm a huge Vettel fan.

 

Why should someone going from outside to in have precedence over someone going from inside to out?

 

Just my opinion regarding "Kvyat running wide" after passing Vettel:

After watching this video, I think Kvyat did not "slide out" or "run wide", I think he intentionally "squared off" turn 2, to get a better line onto the straight after turn 3-4 lefthander. If you look at the video, Kvyat closes the gap to Rosberg very much onto the kinked straight (turn "5")

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WPWQi-2DFU

 

In this case, Kvyat could and did hold the inside line past the apex, unlike Bottas where he was going too fast and couldn't hold it. Kvyat got his car well ahead of Vettel, and by doing so has the right to choose his line exiting the corner and it's up to Vettel to avoid him - by either backing off and tucking in behind, or running off the road, Vettel's choice.

So actually - you CAN just run wide and force other cars out of your way, if your car is ahead of the other car. Kvyat successfully took an inside line and held it, he didn't slide wide into Vettel. Bottas took an inside line with excessive speed and couldn't hold it, and slid into Hamilton who was slightly ahead.

 

The only reason Kvyat did not crash is because Vettel cleared the way for him...If Vettel did not take out Raikkonen Kvyat and Kimi would have come out of the corner at the exact same spot, Kvyat was never in front of Raikkonen...As there was not much room left of Kvyat at the end of the turn he would have either forced Kimi off the track (-> penalty) or they would have crashed...

Kvyat even admitted that he never saw Raikkonen and talks like it is not his business whether there is another car next to him ("It was a logical move: you see the gap and you go for it," he said. "If he [Vettel] didn't have a car on the outside it would have been okay: I only have two eyes so I couldn't see Kimi, and it's his [Vettel's] business to deal with that.") so I do not see how this was a great move...Kvyat was very lucky how things went and that he got away with it, next time things will be different and this is exactly what Vettel told him...

 

Maybe because he was fully ahead at turn-in?

Nobody's saying Vettel should have had precedence to go fully inside. He left the inside open, and never made an attempt to chop all the way in to the curbing. he left the lane. If you're overtaking and going to dive-bomb into that lane, then I think you're expect to be able to hold the inside until you're past. Kvyat's car started to track out without his steering angle changing position (see the pics above). I believe the turn decreases radius, so the aforementioned dive-bomber would have to be able to continue to dial in more in order to hold the inside, otherwise contact is inevitable.

Seems to me Vettel did over-react at one point, pushing further outside than necessary, but contact with the sliding Kimi was probably inevitable anyway. However, if Vettel held his line (about 1 car-width from the inside), I believe Kvyat would have collected him as the corner tightened.

The stewards' random rulings on these ambitious passes - well, I'm used to that. But, the fact that it wasn't even investigated shocked me.

 

You can't expect any car to hold the inside curbing for an entire pass. So long as the guy on the outside can keep two wheels over the white line, you gave him enough room.

The Red Bull came amazingly sharp and tight off of that corner, a "dive bomb" is when your car shoots to the outside forcing the other car off the track, there was room for two cars outside of DannyKiaFiats car with how tight he went after the apex. He glued himself to the inside curb, then only loosened up when the Ferrari's took themselves out.

Ultimately, the front row got off slow, and stacked things up. The Ferrari's piled into eachother, and DannyKiaFiat had the grip to hold a safe inside line.

 

How does that work together with the fact that Kvyat said that he did not even see Raikkonen? From his inboard you do not even see the crash until the front wing of Kimi crashes into his sidepod...He did not loosen up because the Ferrari were out, he never intended to have a different line as I do not see his steering opening from the inbord...In contrary, he is even steering more to the right to make the corner, no way that he would have been able to take the turn more on the inside judging from the inboard camera...

 

You would have pulled a few passes like that in your days

 

The Ferrari's were locking up and out of control. They ultimately, have no one to blame but themselves. DanniKiaFiat, if you watch the onboard, does not track off the inside curb until clear of Vettel.

Primarily, it was the lack of situational awareness provided by the very narrow field of view a F1 driver has. At the front of the grid, they expected to pull away, and not have it go three wide. Vettel and Rosberg did not get good starts. Smiley, DanniKiaFiat, and Kimi did get good starts. Kimi tried to set up on Rosberg, but Vettel diving inside of him did not allow, the two Ferrari's both lost traction, and KiaFiat, who had a run on Vettel from the line, just sailed by. Had he not been there, yes, the two Ferrari's may not have run into eachother as hard as they did, however, its a 20+ car grid, and other cars have a right to the track besides Ferrari.

Nico ran wider in that corner than Kvyat. Vettel turns into the force India. Vettel drove like a Red Bull driver, Kyvat drove like a Red Bull driver, Kimi drove like there were only three cars on the track.

 

https://twitter.com/Gianludale27/status/723062567707525120

onboards from all 3 in T1. Really can't see Kvyat doing anything wrong here.