PlatinumZealot wrote: ↑17 Sep 2024, 12:28
Perez was not side by side he ws behind. His front wheel needs to be at side pod level to be counted as beside. I don't think you are up to date on general racing guidelines! With all due respect.
If a car is considered alongside or not depends on a lot of things. For an inside overtake in a corner, for example, you only need front axle ahead of rear axle to be considered "significantly alongside". The "sidepod" thing is bogus, and there's no credible source for that. From what i can tell, it's something people on the internet came up with.
But the problem here is that people are taking rules that apply to racing in a turn, and trying to apply them to two cars racing on a straigth.
Logic dictates that when two cars are racing on a straigth, they each have to respect each others space. It's as Seanspeed said. Sainz - even if he's following the racing line and is slightly ahead - can't move into Perez space when Perez is alongside him (and yes, Perez is alongside him) - and the same thing applies to Perez.
If it was as you said, then Perez would have been penalized. He:
- had more space to his left than Sainz had on the right.
- had better visibility in his position.
- was behind.
- was NOT alongside according to you.
...so if Sainz was entitled to the racing line, then ruling it as a racing incident is out of the question. It could only have been blamed on Perez then. Stewards noted that Sainz was following the racing line, but that's not the same as being entitled to it. You can't just take up space that's occupied by another car - that's only allowed in one instance, and that's when another car is attempting an outside overtake, and isn't fully ahead after the apex.
As other people said, they're both to blame - probably Perez slightly more than Sainz, because he was in the best position to avoid the incident.
