Motors The Official bit-tech F1 2011 Thread

It would seem so, but take into consideration the resurfacing of the track, the mostly damp conditions off the racing line. For a start the resurfacing may not have been 100% checked over, a small bump in the track can lead to even the best drivers losing control, if only briefly. Then look at the conditions, the racing line is bone dry from the laps but throughout the session anywhere off the racing line remains damp and slippery and there's only room for 1 car on that line so perhaps Pastor made an error of judgement when deciding where he was going to go, then attempted to correct himself without realising just how close Hamilton was, or even thinking "if he's going that fast, he'll be back on the accelerator and out of the way by the time I put the car back".

All I'm saying is, it may look intentional and be a coincidence caused by a series of minor incidents taking place over a single second. Although I don't rule out the chances of it being intentional.

 

The way it looked to me, the incident going into Eau Rouge, Maldonado sped up to drive alongside Hamilton, presumably to give him some words and/or gestures. Hamilton made a twitch right and then a second later, made another move right. It's a right-hand curve there and it looked as though Maldonado was driving straight on.

If you look at the face-on footage, the gap between Hamilton and the edge of the track widens before they collide, then both cars veer left after they've touched.

If Hamilton escapes without a penalty, I'd be very surprised.

 

He actually made a twitch left after attempting to move right to follow the clean line only to suddenly discover an idiot in a Williams next to him so was forced to dodge out of the way.

The track also widens at that point from when it used to be a pit entrance for smaller formulas and bikes giving the impression that he was moving over.

I know it clearly sounds as if i'm being a total Hammy fanboy here but that, to my eyes, was blatantly intentional and that, as fangusztin said, is the big issue here. It's not inconceivable even that, relatively minor, incident could have resulted in deaths and that is completely unforgivable and should be punished, severely.

 

Not so much that you sound like a Hamilton fan boy but it's the fact you say with such authority that the Williams driver is an idiot and is the one at fault as if there is no need for the FIA, they should pack their bags and go home because you have the facts right there in your back pocket.

Nobody wants to see a death, I hope you would agree but we can't go around punishing competitors at whim, that's why we have stewards. Whilst I wouldn't trust Mansell to band together a group of monkeys and go hunting for bananas I am sure he takes his job very seriously. As do the other stewards.

What annoys me about the incident is that absolutley everyone that commented on it immediately jumped to the conclusion that Pastor has an issue with Hamilton, specifically since Monaco. How come over the past couple of months, when Hamilton has been throwing the car into everyone and everything the Hamilton fanboys and British media at large allow him all the space he likes, as if he's too good to be questioned. I'm glad that the stewards treat them all as equals and often harsh words are spoken, it's just a shame we don't get to hear them.

 

This is the thing for me, Hamilton is reckless. You only have to look back a couple of corners to see what he's prepared to do. He was approaching a group of cars, all doing hot laps, and he barged his way through and banged wheels twice with Maldonado in the process. And then you've got David Coulthad saying he was right to do it. No way is that the right thing to do. If you got blocked, go to the stewards and complain, hitting their car with yours is not acceptable.

I wonder if the Eau Rouge incident was intentional. I wonder if Hamilton was the culprit.

 

Maldonaldo proven this before. He injured a race marshal because he ignored the yellow flags, the guy was recovering from the injuries for one year. He ran in the crashed car under red flags because he was speeding like a idiot through a blind part of the track (sudden height change of the track). And he did some other crazy moves as well.

Maldonaldo is a hot-head, that is why.

 

I agree, Hamilton has been stupid in the past, but they were all under racing conditions pushing for positions and usually going into corners at relatively low speeds. This was long after the quali session ended, in fact these were the extra laps which started just before the flag dropped.

I don't think Maldonado has (or at least had) an issue with Hamilton from Monaco but this incident was clearly red haze. Now i think about it a bit more he was probably already a bit annoyed since his lap was ruined by others in front of him getting it wrong but his lap was completely destroyed, just look at how slow he comes through the last turn. At that point, knowing his lap was beyond saving, he shouldn't have been trying to close the door on someone, regardless of who it might have been. The tap from Hamilton probably added fuel to his already sour mood and made him do something very rash but, had it been during a race and not on cooldowns after quali, they would have been doing 150+ by that point of the circuit instead of 50, imagine what might have happened if they had been at race speeds with even more cars around them.

 

He was third of four people coming through the last turn. Of course he's got to take it slowly - if he went any faster he'd have hit someone... like Hamilton did.

 

BBC footage: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/formula_one/14691716.stm

 

There is no way that was Hamilton's fault, especially if you look at how far out of the way Hamilton was, he was close to the edge of the track and Maldonado comes along and cuts him up. You can tell it is Maldonado cutting into Hamilton as Maldonado carries on in the same direction, Maldonado did nothing to try and avoid that incident.

Also it looks like Hamilton turns into Maldonado, but all Hamilton is doing is following the race track round as there is a corner there. You can tell this by looking at how much race track is on the right side of Hamilton's car (looking from the front angle) the space never increases.

 

Whilst on his hot lap? I think not. He just screwed it and should have been out of the way. Just look at the difference in speed.

 

According to that BBC link Maldonado has had a 5 place grid drop. Not harsh enough to be honest. That and the fact that Hamilton has had a warning for effectively being blocked regardless of the incident approaching Eau Rouge is just plain wrong.

 

Yet again, you can't say that. Wether he deserves the penalty or not is up to the marshals who no doubt will have made the decision on wether or not it was intentional, and with that penalty I doubt that was their conclusion and as we keep being reminded the stewards have much more in the way of resources to decipher incidents like this.

edit: Lewis has also been reprimanded.

 

I'm sorry but you don't need to be a steward or have extra resources to see that it was clearly intentional.

And seriously what has Hamilton been reprimanded for this time? Being blocked? Being hit?

What we do keep seeing is that the stewards have issues with certain teams and/or drivers. Yes i do agree that Hamilton has been a moron in the past and was duly punished for those incidents but in this case he is not at fault just like he wasn't at fault in the last race. He span his car and made one car off the track, if he hadn't done so three would have been forced off, how is that fair?

 

How can you not be at fault for hitting someone?

 

Maldonado closed in on him, how can you not see that? He was way wide and his lap was ****ed, what the hell was he doing trying to close the corner off?

 

Exactly what I am talking about, Hamilton fans taking the notion that they know for a fact that Hamilton is in the right and that he couldn't be at fault whatsoever. Frankly if anyone has a hot head it is Hamilton, I don't recall Pastor giving an interview and crying about how the stewards dislike him like a spoilt little kid that always gets his way. Mind you, to find anything said by Pastor you have to search far and wide because just as I predicted the British media is too busy taking select quotes from Hamilton and nursing his bruised ego.

 

And i have already stated that i agree that his little whining interview and previous incident involvements this year were all bad. But on this occasion i really think that he's completely innocent.

Besides i don't recall any Pastor interviews because i don't recall Pastor really doing anything this year apart from being hit by and hitting Hamilton. I had really high hopes for him this year, his GP2 performance was fantastic but he's done absolutely nothing until this bit of craziness but it's one bit of craziness too far.

 

I don't think he has been such a bright star either, but with a team that SHOULD be midfield and just isn't cutting the mustard at that point on the table this year and with a team mate as experienced as Rubens I don't think anyone would notice if he was driving an outstanding race. But that furthermore speaks volumes, he is only noticed when in an incident with beloved Hamilton, or so it would seem.

 

Well it is because Maldonado isn't performing very well, and doesn't have much history in F1. Even when a midfielder does perform well people still don't take much note look at Alguersuari and Perez, they both did great in qualifying, but no one seems to take much note. It is because they are not fighting for the championship. Look at football it is always about the top 4 and who is going to win the premier league.

On a different topic good to see Massa in Front of Alonso, interesting to see how Ferrari deal with that. My guess even though Massa has track position they will use him to let Alonso get the most out of his race leaving Massa with the scraps.