[johannskaria]

Race Highlights

[Hatari]

Great race! Loving the chaos. The Lewis and Seb clash was really what was needed, to ignite the championship race, too much lovey dovey words going around between them. Now, it is a proper battle!

But Seb really, he claims Lewis brake tested him, but unintentionally!

I hope our cab/Uber/Ola drivers werent watching, if multi millionaire WDCs can do it, cabbies are understandable!

Honda brought in their Spec 3 PU, claiming its worth a few tenths.
If they are 2 seconds behind it hardly makes a difference. I can understand being half a second off and then bringing an update worth a tenth or two.
Not once they are miles behind. Still doubt they are capable of delivering a top notch F1 PU in the next 3 years.

Kudos to Stroll. Baku will keep the monkeys off his back now.

Force India/Toro Rosso/Sauber need serious team building exercises for its drivers.

[amitoj]

What an event filled race that was!

Was Vettel recently in India?? Seems to have picked up some of our local driving habits.

And what a drive by Bottas though. That last second snatch for 2nd place from Stroll was simply superb.

[narayans80]

Honestly! Bottas made the best recovery from being a lap down to second! Am not sure if the RAI-BOT clash itself was right, seems tad too over ambitious and RAI didn't quite have the space to pull it off.

Originally Posted by Porschefire

- Most of the mechanical noises - gear changes, Turbo, wheel spin are easily audible. The gear changes are equivalent to a soft thunder!!! Towards the end of the race, the McLaren's gear changes sounded like someone was drilling the earth with a very heavy equipment. Didn't sound pleasing.

- Biggest disappointment was the engine note, sounds very gruff and muted. It is definitely not bad but then it is not a symphony like the earlier V12/V10/V8s of yore.

- I feel I had one of the best seats available (in terms of the view) but I hardly had any idea what was going on in the race. There was no screen on the track where I was seated and the TV in my colleague's house wasn't working.

I really think watching the race on the television is a better option.

You are a lucky guy I have been to Indianapolis in 2002 and from where I was seated, could hardly see anything let alone following the race. I knew the race classification post race. I also ended up having a bad headache post-race.

And yes, (ad free) television with timing screen on laptop is the best way to follow the race.

About the turbos, it is true. They are so silent, the Ferrari GT cars sound 'louder'. Certainly no match to the V8s.

Originally Posted by amitoj

Was Vettel recently in India?? Seems to have picked up some of our local driving habits.

Driving in Italy isn't too far. South Italy, specifically Naples takes the cake. Am told, Naples is lot more 'entertaining' to drive than India VET's encounter with HAM was straight out of a road rage scene I get to see here once a while.

[mp417]

Lewis Hamilton called title rival Sebastian Vettel "a disgrace" after the Ferrari driver drove into his car in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku.

The two clashed before one of three restarts in a chaotic race, Vettel hitting the back of Hamilton's Mercedes and then swerving sideways into him.

Vettel said Hamilton had deliberately slowed - or "brake-tested" - him.

The Briton denied that and said Vettel's driving was "disgusting" and "not sportsman's conduct".

Vettel of Germany was given a 10-second stop-and-go penalty in the race - won by Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo - after being found guilty of dangerous driving but still finished a place ahead of Hamilton in fourth, extending his championship lead to 14 points.

The 29-year-old was also given three penalty points on his licence, taking him up to nine. If a driver receives 12 in a 12-month period, it triggers an automatic race ban.

If Vettel receives three penalty points at the next race in Austria on 9 July, he would face a race ban. However, two points will drop off after the British Grand Prix on 16 July as he was punished for forcing Felipe Massa off the track at Silverstone last year.

Hamilton was not penalised. The stewards examined data from his car and found that he had maintained a more or less constant speed, had not lifted off the throttle or braked, and had behaved no differently at that restart at that point on the track than at the other two restarts.

Hamilton appeared not to accelerate out of Turn 15, the penultimate corner, and Vettel hit him up the back, damaging the Ferrari's front wing and part of the Mercedes' floor.

Vettel then pulled alongside Hamilton and swerved into him, banging wheels.

Asked if he drove into Hamilton deliberately, Vettel said: "It was very clear. We are racing with men. I don't have a radio to him. If we get a penalty, we should both get a penalty."

He added: "I wasn't happy with the brake-testing. I drove alongside him and raised my hand to say that is not the way to do it and we had a little contact."

Vettel added that it was "quite obvious" Hamilton had brake-tested him.

"I don't run into the back of him on purpose," he said. "I damaged my wing; he had a little damage as well.

"His restart was really good; I didn't think it was necessary. The problem is me right behind getting ready and all the other cars.

"He did something similar a couple of years ago in China at the restart. It is not the way to do it.

"The leader dictates the pace, but we were exiting the corner, he was accelerating and then he braked so much that I was braking as soon as I saw and I could not stop in time and ran into the back of him. That was just not necessary."

Vettel was unaware immediately after the race that his penalty was for swerving into Hamilton. He said that he thought the penalty must have been for hitting Hamilton from behind.

Hamilton, who lost victory in the race because he had to pit to have a loose head restraint fixed, responded: "I didn't [brake-test him]. I controlled the pace. All the restarts I slowed down in the same spot.

"He was obviously sleeping and driving alongside and deliberately driving into a driver and coming away scot-free is a disgrace. He disgraced himself.

"If he wants to prove he's a man, we should do it out of the car face-to-face. Driving dangerously in any way can put another driver at risk.

"Luckily we were going slow. If we were going fast it could have been a lot worse. Imagine all the kids watching Formula 1 today and seeing that kind of behaviour from a four-time world champion. It says it all."

Asked if things had got dirty in the title fight, Hamilton said: "Not for me. I am going to keep going.

"We had the upper hand this weekend. We can continue to move forwards in the future. Through difficult times true colours show, so it is a good day for me."

Vettel said the fight was "still respectful", adding: "I don't have a problem with him. It is just one action today that was wrong.

"I am willing to sort it out with him. I don't think there is much to sort out. I will talk to him when you (the media) are not there and then we move on."

Asked if he expected Vettel to apologise, Hamilton said: "I don't fancy seeing him. It might turn into something else."

Vettel should have been penalised heavily for sure. He was caught sleeping at the restart. See these videos where Vettel had no response to what he did. He was repeating the same thing about hitting Lewis from behind

https://youtu.be/01nfDoiXl6M

https://youtu.be/NbZc-poYClM

[deetjohn]

The best of team radio from Baku.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mmeBqoTWUE

I got to say both managements - Mercedes and Ferrari have been very measured in their response after the incident. Maybe because they never know whom they could be paying to drive the cars around in the future.

Was also good to see Toto putting Sky' Ted Kravitz in his place when the latter tried to probe too much into the head rest issue.

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by myavu

He can do it, he is the lead driver. In the last SC period he did exact same thing.

Yes, it is the lead driver's prerogative to manage his speed. If Lewis stopped, then !!

But I think there should be some honour among thieves. I think Lewis has none (his past record says so). So he almost invited Seb to hit him.

[ashwin.terminat]

Even if Hamilton did brake test Vettel, his reaction wasn't justified.

I'm a Ferrari fan, but I couldn't help but shake my head when I saw that reaction from Seb. You could argue that it happens in the heat of the moment. But composure is what differentiates the leaders from the rest of the pack.

With the Stewards looking at the telemetry and concluding that Lewis had neither lifted off nor braked, I don't see any reasonable justification for the German's action.

That said, hope he wins in Austria!

[myavu]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

If Lewis stopped, then !!

Lewis didn't stop and FIA analysis showed Hamilton did not brake-test Vettel https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f...esting-923425/

As I said before it was Vettel's responsibility to maintain a gap to Lewis.

Now whatever be the reason, Vettel has no right to bang wheels with Lewis intentionally. He should have reported it to Charlie instead.

[sun_king]

Originally Posted by myavu

Lewis didn't stop and FIA analysis showed Hamilton did not brake-test Vettel https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f...esting-923425/

As I said before it was Vettel's responsibility to maintain a gap to Lewis.

Now whatever be the reason, Vettel has no right to bang wheels with Lewis intentionally. He should have reported it to Charlie instead.

Sadly, the statement in bold is not true for Formula One. Article 39.5 of 2017 FORMULA ONE SPORTING REGULATIONS states "No car may be driven unnecessarily slowly, erratically or in a manner which could be deemed potentially dangerous to other drivers or any other person at any time whilst the safety car is deployed. This will apply whether any such car is being driven on the track, the pit entry or the pit lane"

HAM's slowing down is questionable and he does it quite often in Safety Car restarts. What Seb did was quite brash and not to be condoned in the post-Senna era, but it was more of an attitude issue than dangerous driving. I agree, talking to Charlie would have been the sensible choice.

[Hatari]

Originally Posted by sun_king

Sadly, the statement in bold is not true for Formula One. Article 39.5 of 2017 FORMULA ONE SPORTING REGULATIONS states "No car may be driven unnecessarily slowly, erratically or in a manner which could be deemed potentially dangerous to other drivers or any other person at any time whilst the safety car is deployed. This will apply whether any such car is being driven on the track, the pit entry or the pit lane"

*

HAM's slowing down is questionable and he does it quite often in Safety Car restarts. What Seb did was quite brash and not to be condoned in the post-Senna era, but it was more of an attitude issue than dangerous driving. I agree, talking to Charlie would have been the sensible choice.

Hamilton was not found to be violating Article 39.5, was he?

All drivers back the pack up under SC, prior to a restart. Dont confuse the two.

[Cyborg]

Hamilton did not do anything wrong as per the FIA finding after checking the cars telemetry data - period.

In any case, what Vettel did after that should never have been condoned or let off with a slap on the wrist (10 second penalty + 3 points on his super-license). He deliberately pulled out and banged Hamilton from the side which was clearly caught on camera and to add insult to injury, he did not admit it at all.

Vettel should have been black flagged to send a clear message to all the drivers that irrespective of what you may think happened, you cannot take the law into your own hands so to speak.

This is not a case of who supports which driver (from the viewers perspective) or what any driver may or may not have done in the past, but simply a matter of discipline which should have been enforced to prevent any recurrences in future.

Cheers

[SilentEngine]

Originally Posted by sun_king

HAM's slowing down is questionable and he does it quite often in Safety Car restarts. What Seb did was quite brash and not to be condoned in the post-Senna era, but it was more of an attitude issue than dangerous driving. I agree, talking to Charlie would have been the sensible choice.

Seb doesn't believe in Charlie anymore (remember Mexico?), so he decides to be the judge himself

What will be interesting to note is how Ferrari handle Vettel. His action clearly cost a win which would have extended his lead after Hamilton's unscheduled stop to fix head rest. So far it seems the team is playing along with Vettel's line of thinking.

[jraj]

It was a very poor show by Vettel.He ought to know better ,more so when he is competing for the WDC title with a Driver who has perfected the art of instigating and then playing victim.

That blind rage cost him a race win which was his for the taking and he could have come out of Baku with even more points advantage.

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by jraj

It was a very poor show by Vettel.He ought to know better ,more so when he is competing for the WDC title with a Driver who has perfected the art of instigating and then playing victim.

That blind rage cost him a race win which was his for the taking and he could have come out of Baku with even more points advantage.

Sorry, but what?? He's just a better driver in a better car. Part of being a wdc is "instigating" and the other part is not responding. Especially not like an angry ola driver.
Apart from that, the telemetry is in, so we all know what "instigation" occurred. Or didn't.
His for the taking? That's rich. . I remember when vettel had a consistent lap time advantage over Lewis. 2 seconds after the safety car, wasn't it?