Sabastian Vettel was given a 20 Sec. penalty for his off track pass on Jenson Button on the penultimate lap of the German GP.
He will be classified a 5th behind Alonso, Button Raikkonen and Kamui Konbayashi.
Vettel stated he could not see Button and wanted to give him room. When asked about the move in the podium interview with Niki Lauda, Vettel had also said Jenson Button had not mentioned anything about it to him. TV pictures of the drivers in the moments after the race clearly showed Jenson and Seb discussing the incident...
How do you feel about this rule?
why was not lewis penalized for disturbing the race leader ?
ReplyDelete"why was not lewis penalized for disturbing the race leader ?"
ReplyDeleteHow on earth can you make this about Lewis?
As for Lewis move, i guess he was not impeding Seb. Considering he was on fresh rubber and trying to improve his timing. Seb over took button off the racing line, which needs to be penaized.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Hamilton did not do anything irregular at all ( though ha could have given Jenson more of a hand). One could question if DRS for a lapped car is proper given they are well more than one second back...
ReplyDeleteI was surprised when Vettel wasn't penalised for his move at Australia last year I think it was, when he passed Button IIRC around the outside of Turn 4 with all 4 wheels off the track. The FIA clarified the rules after Hamilton's pass this year on Rosberg outside the track, and so yes it is clear that Vettel should have been penalised as if he didn't run off the track, then he would have not been able to pass Button as there was no room for him to pass.
ReplyDeleteHamilton's move was 110% within the rules, sure it wasn't nice to Vettel or Alonso to be impeding their race however he was much faster and if I understand the rules correctly you can only be penalised for impeding if you do so for longer than 3 blue flags, and blue flags are only given when you are slower than the car behind or the car behind you is really close, so because Hamilton was so much faster and he pulled away from Vettel quite quickly he probably only received 1 blue flag and therefore did not deserve a penalty.
Race control need to take a leaf out of other race series books and punish leaving the track whether its on an overtake or not. Otherwise you have a situation like Sunday where drivers are repeatedly driving outside the boundaries of the track for the entire race, then punished for a single infraction on the final lap. I sympathise with a racer who is getting mixed messages and naturally wants to use every advantage possible.
ReplyDeleteFirst time outside the track is a gimme, second time is noted, third time gets a pit board advisory, fourth is a black flag (fifth if you're generous). There are plenty of race series able to work this system (often to protect the circuit grass more than anything else Jonathon Palmer loves him some neat grass) and it's crystal clear what the rule is.
Well, no there is a big difference between passing and driving. Otherwise you would have to penalize any driver blowing a corner and running wide. I heard criticism of Alonso for driving wide in the final turn, for one he was not passing anyone, second he was being clever and figured out a way to save his tires a tiny bit by straightening the exit. Give racers something paved and they will race on it.
Delete"Otherwise you would have to penalize any driver blowing a corner and running wide."
DeleteNot at all - I watched the GP with two racers, the rules as I described them above apply in their particular series. Totally cures this 'problem'. Run wide on a corner once no problem... keep doing it, problem.
But they must enforce it from lap 1 otherwise you will get this kind of situation.
the only series I know where you get penalized for running wide is Lemons....
DeleteIt's a byproduct of the modern safer (thank goodness) circuit design. The fact of the matter is that drivers are more than capable of remaining inside the circuit limits. These are super accurate drivers after all who prize consistency very highly indeed. They can circulate at Monaco where the penalty for exceeding the limit is hard and fast, likewise at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve... the 'Wall of Champions' has claimed lots of high profile scalps but these are exciting exceptions when pushing right up to limit. At those circuits the risk/reward for pushing it right to the edge is pretty stark, in Herman Tilke's world it's quite different.
ReplyDeleteThere seems to be a disparity in how the rule is administered in the UK
http://racelogic.wordpress.com/2012/06/22/crossing-the-line/