Imperial, Intent does not exclude one from being assigned the blame in an incident. The statment, "I missed the braking point but didn't mean to take him out" does not make a blatant violation of the rules a "racing incident". A "racing incident" is one in which both competitors share some of the blame for what has occured and in doing so neither driver has broken a rule or regulation that superceedes the other rule. Different racing organizations handle such racing incident's differently. Some assign blame based on who should share the majority if the error, others do it by some other formula. In MS's case he voilated at least one rule and in my opinion a second rule. Nick didn't voilate any rules. You have to give racing room if the other driver has not done anything wrong or violated any other rule. Nick initiated the pass and was in the process of doing so. Locking up your wheels is not in and of itself a violation of an FIA rule. At the very least MS did not give racing room to Nick and this alone puts the blame for the collision on him as the FIA rules state clearly that racing room must be given once an overtaking driver has commited to a pass on the racing surface. I also think Michael was in violation of the FIA rule which states that once commited to a certain line coming out of a corner you cannot change that line once another driver has commited to that line (Nick). Rember all the "Chop Shuey" comments from fans and competitors about MS's chop of the front of the field. In the end MS did what the rule permitted which is one direction move or change to block a car. However the rule that allows this clearly states that the move MUST be made before the other driver or car has already commited and in the act of passing (one wheel alongside the other car in most race rules). From the TV view there it isn't 100% clear if Nick's wheel was inside the Ferrari but at the very least MS did not give passing room. Remember a racing incident is one in which majority blame cannot be asigned to one driver and neither drive broke a rule that superceedes the other driver's breaking of a rule. In this case Nick did nothing wrong and MS voilated a rule which caused the collision. It cannot therefore be deemed a racing incident. As far as penalties and such I have no opinion on this as it's up to the judgement of the rules makers (chief race steward and the FIA) to take action if they deem it appropriate. Certainly allowing other drivers to pass judegment on on track incidents is a recipe for disaster. RB didn't come to MS defense for a simple reason. MS is now under the gun to drive more carefully and should he have another incident he could be penalized which of course helps RB in his title quest. Regards, Jon
I think the problem lies when MS will not own up to his mistake and actually blame the other driver. he made a mistake yes but to deny it didn't happen is pure arrogance. They were right to make him apologise
I don't know why you all get upset about this. HE thought apparently he should apologize and he did and that is it! If he felt he should not then he would have said, screw you and your vote, I did nothing wrong. Why are WE discussing this?
Cause we're bored. Plus i doubt he would have said screw you and your vote to 19 other guys looking at him angrily under any circumstances, lol
The funniest thing about this thread is Senna lecturing someone on safety in F-1. Not that I'm any particular fan of Irvine's (perish the thought)! BHW
