I didn’t see F1 Extra or any super slow-mo shots, but I advanced a standard slow-mo frame by frame, and it was pretty clear to me that the light changed before he started to move.
Here’s a video that makes it look like he started in the same frame (1/30th of a second) as the light went out, but not before.
That vid wasn’t as clear as the split screen they did on F1 Extra (one camera on the lights, the other on the right front wheel). He moved before the lights went out, but must not have crossed that little box they have to park in. It could have only been a few inches, but hey!
During practice today, they talked about the Bottas “jump start”, and explained it away with a bunch of vague double-talk. And a word they kept using was “reaction”.
Bottas anticipated, not reacted. He got damn lucky. You can’t “react” to something that hadn’t happened. He moved before the lights went out. He anticipated, and got it right.
A silly, minor quibble, but it’s pissed me off all day.
I’m a little late to the party… but yeah, Bottas got lucky. I’m good with it though!
Just finished watching this week’s race. I mostly had it on for background noise as I was expecting a snooze-fest but at least the last few laps were interesting.
Rightly, that the stewards wouldn’t heavily penalize a Ferrari driver. I am shocked that he didn’t get the black flag for that move. Hell, Verstappen got the same penalty this week for clearly accidental contact with Ricciardo.
I suspect Hamilton is going to wind up winning the championship this year because there are more power circuits than twisty ones left on the calendar, but if he doesn’t, it won’t be because he gave third back to Bottas this week; it will be because the stewards fucked up at Baku. Okay, also possibly because Mercedes forgot to clip his cockpit canopy-thing in place.
It’s a thing wherever you’re from. The company is named for founder Adolf “Adi” Dassler. We just pronounce it wrong in the US.
As a driver? Doubt it. As a marketing exercise? Almost certainly. Given that Palmer’s long-term potential seems to be limited (I don’t think he’s as bad as others, but I don’t think he’ll ever be more than a midfield runner), they might as well take a flier on Kubica.
The most interesting part about Spa was watching the Force India guys try to take each other out again. That and Alonso’s radio meltdown… not that I blame him.
I’ve said it before, I’d love to see Alonso come to IndyCar.