That was absolute bullshit what just happened. Total fucking shit! My jaw was on the fucking floor. I cannot believe it. The most bullshit call I have ever seen in any sport. Vettel skillfully recovered from a tight spot that could have taken a lesser driver out of the race, and was rewarded for it with an egregious bullshit kneecapping. Hamilton did not win that fucking race.
Maybe, but Vettel had it coming, not the first time he has pulled this kind of stunt by a long way. Very amusing reading about him acting like a petulant child at the end, too. Grow up, Vettel, then maybe you’ll have more of a chance.
To your earlier comment, Vettel was actually favoured to win the race, as the long straights make Ferrari’s power advantage tell and there aren’t too many technical corners for them to lose time. But Vettel made a mistake and it cost him.
I agree it was a total bullshit call. But I feel no sadness for Vettel after he dodged getting excluded from Baku (pr mpre) a couple yrs ago for intentionally ramming Hamilton behind the safety car.
What we don’t get is all the camera angles and telemetry that the stewards get.
The key point here is whether Vettel had a chance to stay off the racing line as he re-entered the track. That is what you have to do if at all possible. He says he had no option and was out of control but the stewards will know whether he was under/over steering once back on the track and whether he was accelerating or not and from that they can decide whether or not he had a reasonable chance to stay left. His first priority is to come back on to the track safely, not to try and defend his position.
Personally I don’t think he was out of control when back on the track and his squeezing of Hamilton looked deliberate to me. I don’t buy that he didn’t know he was there. I suspect he knew he screwed up and that was the only way of stopping Hamilton passing.
What is far more interesting to me was the fact that the Ferraris were not much ahead of the Mercedes at all. Slightly faster in Quali-trim, not appreciably faster in race-trim.
This track with a huge straight was supposed to be the one that suited Ferrari top-end speed and to a certain extent it did, but nowhere near enough to suggest they are back in the title race. Few other tracks play to their strengths like this one does.
There is also the unavoidable observation that Vettel under pressure is nothing like Hamilton under pressure. Lewis tends to get better as the season goes on and he’s already won 5 out 7 races and he seems super-relaxed and confident.
Good to know your opinion when just about all former F1 racers seem to agree it was feat in itself not to go into the wall and that you have pretty much no grip at all when you have just been on the grass with all 4 tyres.
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Those former F1 racers wouldn’t have had access to the telemetry either.
I’m normally the first to jump to the conclusion that F1 is perhaps corrupt (see also: FIFA, UEFA, IOC, et al), but the conspiracy theory doesn’t add up in this case - if anything it would be in F1’s interests to avoid penalising Vettel if at all possible, to prevent this season being a boring procession of Mercedes victories, which in turn will turn off viewers and sponsors. I can’t believe the stewards or the FIA are suddenly feeling guilty about years of decisions favouring Ferrari and are now trying to redress that slightly.
Sure, my opinion is my opinion only but it looked to me like he was just trying to minimise the damage done from his error and it was done right on the limits of plausible deniability but I’m not surprised he did it and I suspect that a lot of others drivers would do the same. There is more to lose from not doing it after all.
And indeed, I see that the telemetry and additional infothat only the stewards had played a big part in the decision. Namely that he had enough control to steer towards the right and squeeze Hamilton and that he was probably looking in his mirrors as he did so.
I’m not slamming Vettel, I like him but I think the reaction to this incident is more to do with the effect that it had on the race and the one-sided nature of the season so far than actually a sober assessment of the incident and the rules.
Pretty much sums up this entire season.
(Apologies for bumping this zombie)
Except the last two races have been great! Especially Austria.
Yeah, Silverstone was won by the slimmest of margins.
If that’s the only way you get enjoyment out the sport, then yeah, don’t bother watching.
I actually enjoyed the race, and yes, there was some good racing mid field that initially made me think that was a good race. But Hamilton could have driven his Silver Arrow to the parking lot, swapped it for his own car, driven to a nearby pub, had a few pints, and taken an Uber back to take the checkered flag. I don’t think it’s wrong to expect competitive racing for the win.
Before the safety car, it was legitimately up in the air between him and bottas. But after, yeah, he was long gone.
In other news, I suspect there may be a driver job opening or two at Haas. And a sponsor opening too. They could definitely use a livery change.
German Grand Prix is tomorrow and my money is on Ferrari. I’ve got wagers on Vettel and Leclerc. Have to get up early in the morning to watch the race, as I overslept and missed the last one.
An aside, what is the deal with Lance Stroll always doing horribly in qualifying but consistently doing well (relative to his position) in the actual race? A few races ago he even managed to overtake Raikkonen, I think. I know everyone hates on the guy because his father owns his team and they just think he’s a rich kid on a lark, but he’s able to hold his own in the race; why is he SO horrible at qualifying?
:smack::smack::smack::smack::smack::smack::smack::smack::smack:
Exactly how much money did you put on Ferrari?
Unbelievable, innit? I really really want to root for Ferrari (tho not vettal) but shit like qualifying today keeps happening. And when shit like this doesn’t happen, vettal steps in and seems determined to undermine the team.
Enough to make the race interesting, not enough to hurt me. I’ve since placed a wager on Verstappen as well, so that I can at least get some enjoyment out of tomorrow.