Belgian GP 2011 - Spa-Francorchamps

[myurr]

I must say, I am really impressed with Senna's performance. In this though conditions he didn't make mistake and was really fast. We don't know it, but he might be actually much better, than most of people thought of him after his rookie season in HRT, which was more of a GP2 car than actual F1 machine in the terms of speed...

Kovalainen also did great job, being fast and using variable conditions to his aid.

Completely agree. A lot of people have been unfairly beating on Senna, probably because of his name. Last years car was so bad you couldn't really judge him or Karun, and I believe both of them deserve a shot at F1.

Bruno definitely impressed today. In difficult conditions, in a car in which he's had hardly any running, he out qualified in the top 10, beating Petrov and looked faster than him through all three sessions. I'm squarely in the camp that thinks Petrov has improved a lot since his rookie year, so Senna definitely impressed me by being instantly quicker than him.

That said I do expect him to fall back a bit in the race unfortunately. He has had no real dry running at all and has precious little experience with looking after the Pirellis. It could take him several races to fully get up to speed with the tyres, so if he finishes in the points tomorrow then I would consider it a great drive by him.

[myurr]

If Lewis' toe was wonked by the contact, would that not indicate that his suspension is bent somehow? Would that not cause the possibility of the monza 2010 type retirement that lewis had?

We're probably talking a fraction of a degree, but that would be enough to affect the car. Either way the suspension will be replaced over night under the park ferme rules.

[vall]

I must say, I am really impressed with Senna's performance. In this though conditions he didn't make mistake and was really fast. We don't know it, but he might be actually much better, than most of people thought of him after his rookie season in HRT, which was more of a GP2 car than actual F1 machine in the terms of speed...

Kovalainen also did great job, being fast and using variable conditions to his aid.

Completely agree. A lot of people have been unfairly beating on Senna, probably because of his name. Last years car was so bad you couldn't really judge him or Karun, and I believe both of them deserve a shot at F1.

Bruno definitely impressed today. In difficult conditions, in a car in which he's had hardly any running, he out qualified in the top 10, beating Petrov and looked faster than him through all three sessions. I'm squarely in the camp that thinks Petrov has improved a lot since his rookie year, so Senna definitely impressed me by being instantly quicker than him.

That said I do expect him to fall back a bit in the race unfortunately. He has had no real dry running at all and has precious little experience with looking after the Pirellis. It could take him several races to fully get up to speed with the tyres, so if he finishes in the points tomorrow then I would consider it a great drive by him.

I have said it many times: the only way to judge a driver is to put him in a descent F1 car where he could show his worth.

[marcush.]

Yo could see Hamiltons front tyres were blistered when he put the car in parc ferme.Hopefully he can change them on safety grounds.

[myurr]

Okay for what it's worth, here's the pictures of the 'incident'. (like we'll actually have a sensible discussion )

Coming out of turn 1, Maldonado behind Lewis, moving to the right to go around him:




Side by side with Maldonado angled to go round the bend, Lewis keeping left:




Lewis following the left edge of the track, Maldonado angling to move back to the left:




Lewis still a similar distance from the left of the track, Maldonado angled toward him. This is just before impact:




From the other angle, Maldonado angled toward the racing line as he comes around Lewis:




Just before point of impact, Maldonado angled to the left, Lewis still following the edge of the track. For reference look at the angle of the grid position markers.




From the last image I can see where some confusion comes in. The camera angle makes it hard to work out where the line of the track is. The grid marker and white borders of the track show, to my mind, Lewis angled to follow the curve with Maldonado angled to move to his left causing the collision. The racing line is to hug the right hand line, so Maldonado is way off course and is on a straight line that he follows after the collision that sends him off track.

Between the last two pictures you can see that Lewis's car has rotated to the right to follow the track, whereas Maldonado's has not rotated and if anything is angled slightly more to their left. Were he trying to follow the racing line instead of pulling a stunt on Lewis then his car would have rotated further to their right and would be a couple of meters over towards the racing line.

[bhall]

The pictures don't show Hamilton's brake check on Maldonado coming out of the hairpin. I think that's what set Maldonado off. And as irrational as this discussion is likely to get, that simple fact should be included.

[Richard]

.....

[Just_a_fan]

I've just watched the hairpin bit of that incident several times and there was no brake test by Hamilton.

Maldonado just had a childish swipe at Hamilton because Hamilton had caught him half-asleep at the chicane. Maldonado was never going to get through to Q3 irrespective of Hamilton's actions. Maldonado needs to be given a race ban for the obvious premeditated swipe across another car.

[Aced]

First of all, I think the fanboys should cut the crap and all the racing line bullshit. Stop posting 34894 videos and 859458 pictures of the incident.

Why the hell can't they be both at fault?

It was obvious that both Hamilton and Maldonado asked for that to happen, probably because they were both mad at each other after Hamiltons overtake.

But Hamilton didn't have to turn right just after Maldonado tried to make a pass on him. I don't know whether he was pissed off at him or something but it was obvious that it was on purpose. And then Maldonado, the smartass, thought he had something to prove and ran straight into him.

Now I'm pissed off because I think Hamilton should've broken Maldonados car in half, that's what he should've done. Seriously, I always thought that Alonso is a total whining bitch but you just can't blame the guy. If you're a goddamn rookie fighting for tenth place you should really make some room for someone who's fighting for pole.

It's like the second time he's acting like he's got something to prove to Hamilton. I honestly believe it was the same scenario back in Monaco, where he didn't leave any room whatsoever for Hamilton turning right into him. And I don't even want to hear about no goddamn racing line.

I think the whole racing line crap is just total nonsense and bullshit. You barely even see wheel to wheel racing aymore, unless it's between teammates who have respect for each other. You can totally push anyone wide and offtrack and not get blamed for it if you were on the "racing line". You can practically get away with anything if you're on the racing line. I think I'm just gonna grab my AK47 and shoot the crap out of Schumacher, but wait a sec I gotta check if I'm on the racing line first.

Racing should be racing, and unless you're runing into someone on purpose or driving offtrack than it should be fair and square. Racing line my ass.

It's really pissing me off like what the hell is the sport coming to?

[ringo]

The pictures don't show Hamilton's brake check on Maldonado coming out of the hairpin. I think that's what set Maldonado off. And as irrational as this discussion is likely to get, that simple fact should be included.

That is not brake testing. Lol
Brake testing only works under heavy braking. You can't brake test a highly responsive and trained F1 driver at such slow speeds.

Maldonado 100% to blame.

watch this:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXwFwm1s6MM[/youtube]

The word brake testing is highly overused. Brake testing is something that is very dangerous and is mostly used at high speed and high tension to throw off a driver who's focused 100% on braking into a turn.
There is no braking zone here, there is no high speed. Just Maldonado try to find a way to hit Hamilton without making it look obvious.

He had no reason to be over that side approaching the next turn. He should be nearer the white wall.

Hamilton minding his own business thinking of Q3. Maldonado trying to prevent Hamilton from going to Q3; simple as.

There is no "both at fault" here.

Maldonado 100% at fault. Has no business riding up on another driver then swiping them.
Worst thing i ever saw in F1 in a long while.

[beelsebob]

First of all, I think the fanboys should cut the crap and all the racing line bullshit. Stop posting 34894 videos and 859458 pictures of the incident.

Why the hell can't they be both at fault?

It was obvious that both Hamilton and Maldonado asked for that to happen, probably because they were both mad at each other after Hamiltons overtake.

But Hamilton didn't have to turn right just after Maldonado tried to make a pass on him. I don't know whether he was pissed off at him or something but it was obvious that it was on purpose. And then Maldonado, the smartass, thought he had something to prove and ran straight into him.

Now I'm pissed off because I think Hamilton should've broken Maldonados car in half, that's what he should've done. Seriously, I always thought that Alonso is a total whining bitch but you just can't blame the guy. If you're a goddamn rookie fighting for tenth place you should really make some room for someone who's fighting for pole.

It's like the second time he's acting like he's got something to prove to Hamilton. I honestly believe it was the same scenario back in Monaco, where he didn't leave any room whatsoever for Hamilton turning right into him. And I don't even want to hear about no goddamn racing line.

I think the whole racing line crap is just total nonsense and bullshit. You barely even see wheel to wheel racing aymore, unless it's between teammates who have respect for each other. You can totally push anyone wide and offtrack and not get blamed for it if you were on the "racing line". You can practically get away with anything if you're on the racing line. I think I'm just gonna grab my AK47 and shoot the crap out of Schumacher, but wait a sec I gotta check if I'm on the racing line first.

Racing should be racing, and unless you're runing into someone on purpose or driving offtrack than it should be fair and square. Racing line my ass.

It's really pissing me off like what the hell is the sport coming to?

Get off my lawn.

[gridwalker]

To be fair, the session was over, their laps weren't being timed and neither driver was being compelled to start on the tyres they were using. Therefore there was no reason for Maldonado to be following Hamilton's line so closely prior to the incident and there was no reason for him to try such a tight overtaking manoeuvre when there were metres of track to spare.

If it wasn't a deliberate sideswipe, why the hell was he so close to Hamilton in the first place? Spa isn't Monaco!

[flynfrog]

To be fair, the session was over, their laps weren't being timed and neither driver was being compelled to start on the tyres they were using. Therefore there was no reason for Maldonado to be following Hamilton's line so closely prior to the incident and there was no reason for him to try such a tight overtaking manoeuvre when there were metres of track to spare.

If it wasn't a deliberate sideswipe, why the hell was he so close to Hamilton in the first place? Spa isn't Monaco!

to give the bird?

[gridwalker]

Maldouchebago has gotten away with a mere 5 place grid penalty.

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2011/08/ ... id-places/

The stewards are having a laugh!

[beelsebob]

Maldouchebago has gotten away with a mere 5 place grid penalty.

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2011/08/ ... id-places/

The stewards are having a laugh!

Worse... Hamilton, reprimanded... wtf?