Blocking

Didn't you read FIA's decision? Maldonado was deliberately blocking hulkenberg despite team telling him to move over. Taking into account what he did earlier to Perez in Monaco and to Hamilton in Spa last year I think he wanted to take revenge after what happened between him and hulkenberg in Hungary

Edited by TFLB, 01 September 2012 - 20:09.

Doesn't matter if Hulkenburg went through or not. Can't remember if he had to use a new set of tyres or not, but whether he did or not, blocking is blocking, and if you block, you should be penalised. That's what happens. The fact the FIA release says he was warned by his team not to hold him up but did anyway means really he had very little defence, and so a penalty was the only option.

It doesn't say anywhere it was intentional or deliberate. And as far as I know nothing happened between him and Hulkenberg in Hungary. Edit: also, it was between turns 18 and 19 - approaching the chicane in other words, which is always a place where there is traffic problems. But because it's Maldonado it's all part of his evilness

Edited by g1n, 01 September 2012 - 20:38.

I want to know why Karthikeyan wasn't investigated for blocking--did you see how he held up Grosjean? He's developing a reputation for being incredibly stubborn when he needs to move over for another car.

No, please provide more.

Pastor, should be stood down for a few races, if only to remind him that he is not the 'only driver who is on the circuit'. He wants to win, yes, as do they all, but, being called into the stewards office, at most races, is not the way.

Can't find a video of it on the web, but if you can rewatch Quali, they showed a replay of it at the end of Q1. He gets in Grosjean's way on the way into Pouhon (might've been somewhere else), and then uses all of the road on the exit, stopping him from getting by.

All this fuss over what was pretty much a non-incident. Goodness me. The Maldonado witch-hunt has reached a new level.

All this fuss over what was pretty much a non-incident. Goodness me. The Maldonado witch-hunt has reached a new level.

Now I'm not Maldonado's biggest fan, but why did he get a penalty for blocking in Q1, when hulkenburg made it through??

It's just what you get when you try to defend the indefensible.

I never said he shouldn't have had a penalty. It's the rules. The rules are illogical, but there you go. But he was suggesting Maldonado be banned for it, which is overkill to say the least.

It certainly didn't use to be that way. I think it's only this year or last that the penalties for blocking without effect have been used.

Nonsense.... look at that blocking penalty:

Phew, someone failed reading comprehension, didn't they?

No-one's saying he should be banned specifically for THIS incident. What people are saying he should be banned for is the cumulation of the bazillion times he's been in front of the stewards this year. He's clearly not learning anything from any of the times he goes to the office and TBH I don't reckon he'd learn anything from a race ban either.

I never said he shouldn't have had a penalty. It's the rules. The rules are illogical, but there you go. But he was suggesting Maldonado be banned for it, which is overkill to say the least.

Unfortunately for you, Villeneuve didn't get punished for that.

That's overkill, yes.

But to say that the rules are illogical without any further explication is overkill as well. And it would be quite a mess if an individual driver would be permitted to do things aganst the rules because he just thinks that they are illogical. If you accept that "It's the rules", you must accept the consequences.

It's your suggestion of a witchhunt that caused my remark, because the critical comments from other posters are simply triggered by the OP who suggested that you can do anything against the rules as long as there are no consequences. When you state something like that, you trigger the response.

Maldonado gets exactly what he deserved. Not a ban, not a five place grid penalty, but a three place grid penalty. A decision by the stewards that looks a bit lenient, but is pretty well formulated and explained.

Yes he was.

Link?

No link for you. Takes two seconds on google if you really need proof.

You dismissed my post with a stupid comment and a stupid smiley.. how about getting your facts straight in the first place?

Edited by TFLB, 01 September 2012 - 22:14.

It is not a "witch hunt", it is Pastor being called to the Stewards Office far too many times.

Edited by PoleMan, 01 September 2012 - 22:17.

Villeneuve was a little disgruntled with eighth. He would be even less pleased when the stewards deleted his Q3 qualifying times as a punishment for impeding Fisichella.

This had not been anything like as clear a case as the Sato/Klien incident in Q1, but with modern aerodynamics a car does not have to be that far in front to cost their rival time and grip.

"I guess they wanted to make any example of me," mused Villeneuve, who would consequently drop to 10th, before rising to ninth when Webber's engine penalty was applied. "That's okay, as long as it's going to be the same for everyone else at the other races..."

http://www.autosport...d/546/rid/5/p/3

Edit: actually, no, my point still stands.

But your point is nonsense. "Blocking without consequences" has to be punished just as passing under yellows without consequences safety-wise, jumping the start without gaining positions, or speeding in the pitlane without consequences in the final result.

But he stopped Fisi reaching Q2 so it was a different situation to Maldonado's. I've acknowledged my error in saying he wasn't punished in my previous comment.

No it isn't. It never used to be punished. That's my point. Only in the last year or so.

No it isn't. It never used to be punished. That's my point. Only in the last year or so.

There is a contradiction between "never was" and "only last year"

You simply got that one out of nowhere and stick to it. People coasting too much on the inlap of single lap qualifying sessions and getting passed without bothering the qualifer at all were punished.

It's clear to everyone who's not trying to be difficult that my comment meant 'before last season/this season it never used to be punished.

Edited by scheivlak, 01 September 2012 - 22:33.

Which means that punishing this behaviour is the current practice.

But surely you can see that it's a ridiculous overreaction? Maldonado by accident blocks someone in qualifying, something that happens many times to most drivers, and that would get people talking about a ban again? It's ridiculous.

Edited by Fourjays, 01 September 2012 - 22:34.

It's clear to everyone who's not trying to be difficult that my comment meant 'before last season/this season it never used to be punished.

Edited by Slowinfastout, 01 September 2012 - 22:39.

No, they weren't.

Oh yes, they were. It wasn´t allowed to get passed by the next car, whether you cost the other guy time or not. It didn´t matter.

It was even tougher than now, now if you cost someone time, you pay. And that´s how it should be. If you screw someone´s lap for no reason, you should pay, regardless of if it ends costing him grid slots or not, just like if you pass lots of blue flags without yielding you pay for it, you cost the other guy positions in the end or not.

The thing is the notion of 'blocking without consequence' is your own fabrication.

The Stewarding being flaky about blocking or impeding is nothing new or quite recent, and it certainly wasn't created for this Maldonado witch-hunt you're also trying to see..
IMO it's very simple; Maldonado is a fast driver but his situation awareness is remarkably poor so he gets himself into all sorts of avoidable problems which the Stewards are incapable of not noticing. The Stewards don't have an agenda, it's just human nature to remember something that is constantly being reminded to you.

It was even tougher than now, now if you cost someone time, you pay.

Edited by Slowinfastout, 01 September 2012 - 22:52.

The reason it is ridiculous is because he hasn't been dealt with sufficiently enough for incidents far more serious than a little bit of blocking in qualifying. If he'd got the well-deserved race bans for deliberate crashes at Spa '11 and Monaco '12 then he may have learned a lesson and the fans would feel "justice" had been served and it would be just a blocking incident. I don't know about others here, but I have zero-tolerance towards any driver that intentionally rams another in open wheel motorsport. It is dangerous enough when cars come together completely by accident. In both cases he was punished less than drivers have been for simple mistakes during overtaking attempts. That is what I call ridiculous.

It's always down to the judgment of the Stewards, they'll get it right most of the time but not every time. There's nothing to indicate they were wrong this time with Maldonado.

The stewards weren't wrong at all, but the rule is unfair I feel. Such is life, I can complain about it all I like but it's not going to change. But all the people calling for him to be banned for blocking are deluded. No point arguing about this anymore, I've got better things to do like sleeping. I'm sure you have too.

The driver of Car 18 was warned by his team not to "hold up" Car 12 which was behind him, yet he
clearly did impede Car 12. However as Car 12 continued into Q2 a more severe penalty was not
considered appropriate.

'all the people' as in you have enough fingers on one hand to count them.

I think for once the Stewards have done a good job, and instead of being a drama queen about it, let's appreciate the entirely reasonable explanation they've given us: