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Edited Date/Time
6/11/2019 8:54pm
For those of you that follow F1, you’ve certainly seen that the latest round resulting in the winner, not winning the race. For those that don’t, Sebastian Vettel went off the track, slid through the grass, and then accidentally (he wasn’t really in control) blocked Lewis Hamilton when he reentered. He was assessed a five second penalty for the unsafe reentry. So despite winning the race by a few seconds, he ultimately got second. He was pissed and felt the stewards got it wrong. Like many of the recent discussion about SX/MX “gaining an advantage” calls, opinions are mixed. I think they got it right, but I seem to be in the minority. You can’t cut a corner out of control or not, block a guy while re-entering (Lewis had to check up), and expect nothing to happen. Just goes to show that its not just our small sport that struggles with these decisions. Thoughts on the penalty - justified or no?
https://www.planetf1.com/news/motorsport-react-to-vettels-mental-penalt…
https://www.planetf1.com/news/motorsport-react-to-vettels-mental-penalt…
I do chuckle at all us armchair quarterbacks, pausing and freeze framing an event that happens at blistering speeds, in the blink of an eye and all you have are your innate reflexes telling you what to do and less than 3 tenths of a sec. to make a decision.
The Shop
There shouldn’t be a time penalty. It was a racing incident. These guys are doing 130-150mph(?) thru that turn. On top of that, when you’re on the grass in one of those cars you are essentially a passenger at that point.
Why give him a time penalty at the heat of the moment? They couldn’t fine him later? Give him a grid penalty for the next race? There was FINALLY a battle for the lead this season and the FIA ruined it. That’s how you drive spectators and viewers away QUICK.
Sounds a lot like something the AMA/FIM would do.
Think the same thing happened to ham couple years ago..
Seb was in front and intentionally went into Lewis’ line as he know Lewis would blow by if he left a cars width between him and the wall.
These guys are at the top of their game, they know what they are doing. Lewis would have done the same and would have also been penalised. Seb needs to own it, he knows what he did.
Reality is, if you want to beat Lewis you can’t make a mistake.
Bottas is in the same car and finished 5th last year behind both Ferrari’s and is 29 points back this year.
Lewis is peaking in the prime of his career while Mercedes is the car to be in. Like Schumacher in Ferrari, McGrath on Honda - records will fall.
It would have been nice to see somebody else, aside from Magnusson in Q2, hit the Wall of Champions. A safety car around lap 55 or 60 would have been GREAT!!
In motogp they can calculate average time lost and gained. For example in this incident they could easily calculate Hamilton's average lap time and how much time Vettel cost him because he cut the corner which is illegal. And then "give it back " as it where to Lewis but the correct procedure is to give the min penalty to Vettel 5 secs. In terms of the rules they could apply the 5 sec in various ways. Add it to the final time. Add it to a pit stop.
It is no fun playing chess with anyone that does not abide by the rules of the game !
The Rules of the Game :
Penalties may be imposed on drivers for numerous offenses, including starting prematurely, speeding in the pitlane, causing an accident, blocking unfairly, or ignoring flags of any color. There are four types of penalty which a driver may incur for violation of on-track rules:
The five-second penalty is a very flexible one. A driver may serve it the next time they are due to pit. If they don't need to pit, then five seconds will be added to their time at the end of the race.
The drive-through penalty requires the driver to enter the pitlane, drive through it while obeying its speed limit, and exit without stopping. Drive-through penalties are normally imposed for minor offences, for example kerb-hopping at chicanes, ignoring yellow flags, and cutting corners.
Consistently and fairly applying the rules is very important and has been a problem in Motor sport for a while. They strive as much as possible to get the ruling fair and equal. If you cut a corner 5 sec.
Motogp as well exceeding track limits they also are consistently applying the rules as written.
Which is a good thing !!! AC the rule is enter the track at the next safe opportunity without gaining advantage. AC was within the rules of the game.
If the new age safety guidelines were not in place, he would be out of the race anyway as there would have either been kerbing or a tire barrier he would have had to smash through when making that mistake.
He lost control of his car, cut the track, but also an amazing job to get it back under control, but end of the day he cut the track, there is a penalty in place for that, he was penalized.
If his car was up to it, he could have pulled a five second lead over Ham and still claimed the victory.
Let’s face it, sure, he made a mistake, went off the track, and re entered in a spot that wasn’t great. But if you watch the on board footage, you can see that he’s trying like hell to regain control of the car. When he re enters the track, the kerb gives him another snap of oversteer which ultimately sent him even further into Hamilton’s line.
It’s a street circuit, it’s tight racing, and these guys are fkn flying. These guys aren’t robots. Vettel made a human error and the FIA penalized him as if he made the deliberate choice to re enter and block Hamilton.
Try and make a quick direction change on fresh cut grass at 150mph and let me know how that works for you...
The problem was that Vettel was out of control going into the turn, and out of control coming out of the turn. With somebody pushing him.
Had he had his car under control, Hamilton would have over taken him and passed him because he would have been going slower so as to be under control.
Instead he was out of control, could have killed both of them BUT Hamilton had his car completely under control and backed off. Hamilton was rewarded for being under control. Vettel was penalized for being out of control and endangering another driver. Had Vettel done it all on his own, with no one around him, he wouldn’t have been penalized.
Pit Row
I’m a huge Mercedes fan. I worked for Mercedes for a long time. But I’m a racing fan first. I hate to see a good (potential) race stripped away like it was.
AC didn’t endanger anyone.
Had Vettel not endangered another driver, had he done it all by himself, 10 seconds out front, Vettel wouldn’t have been penalized!
There are some angles which show Vettel seemingly not having enough control over his trajectory, but there other angles which show him turning his steering wheel right just as Hamilton looks to go for the overtake.
Part of me just wants to say 'quit complaining, quit your appeals, bang bars and let's race'.
Monaco 2016. Hamilton doing exactly what Vettel did. It was considered a racing incident.
We're just asking for consistency and you don't get that with a different set of stewards at each race. Some of them are just political fill ins for voting for the right people (Jean Todt). Some used to race. Some have very little experience at all. For many, this will be their only opportunity to be a steward so some might feel the need to "do something" with the power they have been given.
Besides, if Hamilton HAD passed Vettel on the outside all 4 of his tires were over the white line which is a rules infraction in F1. Both drivers broke a rule so no further action was needed.
Some needle dick sitting in a booth looking at monitors shouldn't have unregulated control over a teams 300 Million dollar racing effort. Who knows? Maybe one of them bet money on Hamilton winning. I doubt it but it's not impossible.
The guy who make the penalty decision was/is a french Le Mans driver. A fairly useless former F1 driver who writes for the (horrible) BBC Sport said that Vettel deserved the penalty.
You don't have to move your head to look in the mirrors. The eyes can move more than enough for that.
One thing is for sure - Vettel can't handle pressure! At the end of the day, racing these days is nowhere near as exciting as it once was and rubbish like this only sterilizes it further.
Post a reply to: Vettel’s penalty - leaving the track isn’t just a moto problem