Re: British GP - new format
Originally Posted by
Primus1
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Well the stewards deemed Hamilton was at fault and awarded a penalty accordingly, but as the great ayrton senna said
“ if you no longer go for a gap that is there, then you are no longer a racing driver” ..
I maintain that Hamilton should have been disqualified Primus.....
Verstappen was hit from behind, the aerofoil on the front of hamilton's car pierced the rear tyre of verstappen's car. There was no risk to hamilton whatsoever by performing such a careless and unsafe move coming off a bend. The worst that could happen to hamilton was a new nose (which happened) the best that could happen to verstappen was a controlled crash into the barrier, it could have ended far more serious for the Dutch driver. If you were hit from behind while driving it is naturally assumed that it's the driver behind at fault. Vision is impaired on a racing car and verstappen might not even have noticed hamilton behind him, and hamilton switched sides twice to find a space to pass and therefore would have been in verstappen's blind spot. Verstappen has the right to make one defensive move, so if he had noticed hamilton, he could leave the racing line to defend.
I'm sure Ayrton Senna didn't mean putting another driver's life at risk by deliberately making an unsafe and careless move to overtake at any cost. Hamilton is probably one of the best most skillful racing drivers ever, and he knew exactly what he was doing, and if he didn't, it was a massive error of judgement and in either case the penalty should have been far more serious.
If a driver takes a shortcut leaving the track to keep control of his car and passes a another competitor, he must give the place back. So the decent thing to have done here would have been to disqualify hamilton and let the points stay the same. In the event, hamilton has taken a massive advantage by his action.