With the premise that this type of pass happened a lot in the past, especially out of the hairpin at Spa but that the FIA has made it so that a driver cannot make a pass by using the space outside the "circuit", let's have a look at the incident again.
After the race, during the podium interview, Vettel claimed he could not see Button and did not know where he was so he decided to go straight. Well that's his story and I'm sure he'll stick with it but I'm sure anyone reading these pages knows enough about racing to see right through that steaming pile.
But let's have a closer look.
Notice how Jenson, who's always a gentleman, leaves the Red Bull at least enough space to keep two wheels inside the line. Vettel is lucky, imagine if it had been Maldonado there?
Now pay close attention to the high overhead shot, check out the point where you see Vettel clearly get on the gas and look at where he is pointing.
He can't see Button, really? And if we all know best acceleration comes with zero turning do you think Sebastian Vettel is unaware or vehicle dynamics?
Vettel did himself a real disservice lying about this incident, especially lying about it on the podium when he claimed Jenson had not brought it up. Hey Seb, there is a thing called "television recording"....
How times have changed. This is the sort of stuff Schumacher would have gotten away with in his day. Kudos to the stewards.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad the stewards didn't let this stand. You can see he carried far too much speed in and just could not get on the throttle without running wide. Personally, I would have preferred to see him drive straight into a gravel trap. That way we would have a week of laughs instead of a week of Vettle whining.
ReplyDeleteThose surfaced runaways are the worst thing that ever happened to racetracks.
ReplyDeleteSo true. If there were grass & gravel, Vettel ( or Hamilton in Bahrain) wouldn't try this move
DeleteYet Hamilton did the same thing to Rosberg at Bahrain, but was not penalized. And in that first shot, Button's car is sideways, and he's spinning the tires. Another 10-15 meters up the track, he's got the car all the way to the curb.
ReplyDeletedoesn't stand up to scrutiny, look at where Vettel is point in and he's already on the gas at that point. Where Button was 20M down the road is inconsequential.
DeleteAnd look at how badly Button's car pushes after the apex. If he hadn't gotten the car sideways, there probably would have been contact. If you look at the in-car from Vettel at that point, you can see Button's nose pushing to the left, like he's going to contact Vettel. Can't blame Vettel for not pinching the car tighter and risking a collision. And of course Vettel is on the gas, he's accelerating out of a corner.
Delete^ Yup. That's what I had thought watching it live. It looked like JB was going to push him off. His tires are even pointed in that direction in the photos. He was being passed for position and was maybe a bit desperate to hold him off for just one more lap...
DeleteBut that said, I think SV should have given the position back. Especially if they had been warned/clarified before the race. He's a lot worse off now than if he had dropped back.
this is what I've been saying the entire time. I agree seb shouldn't have passed off the track, but also looking at it I think it's clear there would've been contact otherwise.
Deletenot sure what you are looking at, Vettel starts on a tangent way before there is any possibility of a collision. Now imagine that was gravel rather than tarmac, what would have been Vettel's options?
DeleteA. lift and tuck behind or
B. go off.
Vettel took advantage of the extra pavement to do what would have been impossible in this situation within the confines of the track. The collision avoidance argument, even if you were to buy it, has no baring at all on this.
The fact this happened at the hairpin is irrelevant. So too is Button's intended trajectory.
ReplyDeleteAll that matters is Vettel was behind, went four wheels off, and re-joined ahead. This could have taken place anywhere else on the circuit and been ruled the same. There is nothing to argue.