53 replies to this topic

[techspeed]

My agenda? How do you explain that Hulkenberg got a penalty because if lost the rear of his car just a bit over the limit - it was nothing outrageous - in a wet track ruining Hamilton race but nothing happens to Vettel by doing much worse - it could even have ended his race -?

Well they are two totally different events.

Hulkenberg wouldn't have got a penalty if he hadn't took Hamilton off. Hulkenberg knew that Hamilton was alongside and knew where the Caterham was in front of them, and there were no other cars around them. The Caterham didn't suddenly move over in front of Hulkenberg to cause him to brake too hard and lose the car. I'm sure if it was Kobayashi or Grosjean that had knocked Hamilton off and took the lead there would be outrage if there hadn't been a penalty.

The Vettel/Senna incident was on the first lap, it is expected there is a chance of contact on the first lap or two until they sort themselves out.
Neither Senna or Vettel knew where the other one was, both being unsighted by DiResta. Vettel made sure the car behind him (DiResta) was behind him when he turned in, and Senna was clear of the car he was overtaking (again DiResta) when he reached the corner. Both cars aimed for the same empty piece of tarmac without seeing the other car until it was too late, both unsighted by being either side of DiResta. That counts as a racing incident.

[halifaxf1fan]

To be fair, just because there was not official "investigation" announced doesn't mean they didn't look at the footage.

It is most likely that they looked at the footage and then determined that an official investigation was not required. After all this incident involved the wdc leader, it would have been the first replay they viewed imo..

Edited by halifaxf1fan, 01 December 2012 - 16:11.

[Masenco]

Vettel risked the collision by turning in even though he couldnt clearly see the inside line. Although it wasnt really clever, i dont think its something that you can give him a penalty for.
Vettel does often seem to do this kind of stuff regarding spacial awareness, this is atleast the third time he's touched another car this season because of a misjudgment.

[superuser]

I don't see any obvious fault in Vettel's driving there. Senna stopped so much later than the drivers around him and was on the inside. Everyone that has at least a little racing experience knows that when you are on the inside, you have to stop a bit earlier to take the corner with smaller radius and lower speed. Even if Vettel could somehow see the Senna move, it wouldn't help him at all. With this speed Senna would never managed to stay inside. His car would've have slid into Vettel just like Hulk's car when he tried to take the first turn too sharply with too much speed.

I understand Senna's behaviour too - it was his last race, in Brazil, he had nothing to lose. And yes, Vettel was stupid to close the door like this but he probably forgot that he's now racing with the likes of Senna, Grosjean and Maldonado, not with the top drivers. And he certainly checked his mirror before starting the turn but at that point Senna was far behind.

As for Vettel's comment after the race, it was really distasteful. Probably the fact that Senna publicly said that his uncle would have preferred Alonso to take the title and then the accident with Bruno provoked Vettel, but nevertheless, his comment was way out of line.

Edited by superuser, 02 December 2012 - 08:12.