Sergio Perez has been given a 5-place grid penalty for his coming together with Felipe Massa in the final lap of the Canadian Grand Prix, FIA stewards have announced after the race.
Yeah I agree that maybe the WDC should be decided on race wins and then second and third places etc. WCC can easily be decided by points and consistency over the year. The reliability of a car should not hurt drivers in the drivers championship.
However, what happens if a driver wins less than someone else because of mechanical issues?
I would welcome a move to a best 18 out of 20 or best 17 out of 20 situation. It would make it fairer for all drivers IMO.
AnthonyG wrote:I had the impression Massa's problem was setup related, Williams chosing a setup that's easier on the tires but also doesn't give traction like the RB or Merc.
His problem was the DRS train.
And of course the Williams chassis isn't as good as the RB so they loose a little on the exit of corners.
Renault should be ashamed at how hard it is for one of their cars to overtake a Merc even with DRS.
Well done and well deserved Ricciardo! Otherwise, thoroughly disgusted. Rosberg cuts a chicane, no further action. What BS. F—k Formula1 and Race Control. What a slap in the face.
I’m starting to doubt MercGP is a level playing ground, too. So they both have brake problems, causing Hamilton to retire, after which Rosberg’s brakes magically heal themselves?
I wouldn’t blame Hamilton if this triggers paranoia. I know it does for me.
Gutted for Perez, to be taken out like that. Not sure what came over Massa there. It could have been so much more for both.
Part of the role of becoming a world champion is not just raw driving talent--which Hammy, as we all know, has a good portion of--but knowing the limits of the car and using all avail team data resources to your advantage.
Today's race and Nico's ability to bring the car back to viability reveals a calmness in the midst of the storm, imo. Additionally, Nico is using Hamilton's data to improve his performance during the race--that's called using all avail resources to win which BOTH drivers can do. If Nico is better at using all options, then he deserves the advantage since he is using all avail resources.
Yea I get it that just raw talent is a beautiful thing to witness and certainly Hamilton meets that expectation, but in today's racing f1 formulae, there's more to the game. Deny it all you want, but a championship contender MUST consider ALL options avail to them and take advantage of the options that have little to do with raw track driving. Imagine the advantage Lewis would have if he embraced and integrated the data info as Nico does? I get the "just get in the car and drive" thing, but the talent pool is so close one must look to every resource to realize success even if studying data is not so sexy.
Sure Hamilton is better on brakes, but if the technique used to have that brake advantage kills the car, of what use is the skill set? Which is the better driver characteristic...the driver who without thought for the car limits kills the car due to a lack of sensitivity of the parts of the car, or the one who may have less raw speed, but abides by the technological dictates of the cars engineering limits, utilizes ALL data avail for better discernment in racing divisions, and finishes the race in the points?
Certainly we all want the fastest raw driver to win, but the reality is that there is more to a drivers championship than raw talent--a car is involved and technological data acquisition options are involved - which all contribute to final results. There is a reason Hamilton has consistently broken cars over his career which has cost him championships and may cost him this one also. Not blaming him, just revealing a pattern. There's more to the game than just raw driving skill.
As a hypothetical example to make the point...If I ride the redline the whole lap which offers me pole let's say, of what use is that pole if the engine dies because I rode the redline more than my teammate? There is an element of knowing the environment within which are the car limits that must be understood and adhered, or the raw talent will not find it's full realization come the end of the year when trophies are handed out.
No blame, rather, looking at driver characteristics as a role in a championship that considers these attributes in its assessment of points. Sure, embrace the old days when there was no telemetry and there were no options to copy another driver...but the old days are no longer and contemporary driving involves an element of non driving data acquisition that can be utilized to gain advantage outside of raw driving skill sets.
Unless Hamilton begins to honor technological limitations and data acquisition as a part of his skill set package, he will find himself in the same position again and again...no championship despite a larger raw driving talent pool from which to draw. Sad but true.
Not sure if I am the only one who agrees its not Perez's fault. Also, the stewards did not consult either driver as they were in hospital. Perez moved left for the backmarker who Massa did not see. Perez is entitled to defend his line and he moved only once...
For me Perez move was a try to overtake Vettel on the next corner, unhappy he didn't see Massa and they crashed. Maybe only Massa could avoid that crash. A race incident for me with no punishment to both drivers.
(Edit)And Perez looks faster than Vettel on video.
Chuckjr wrote:
Yea I get it that just raw talent is a beautiful thing to witness and certainly Hamilton meets that expectation, but in today's racing f1 formulae, there's more to the game.
Right. Here we go again. The "Hamilton-is-talented-but-not-smart-or-patient-enough". Not true anymore. That may have been the case earlier in his career, but in recent years he has matured and can bring it home just as well as the next guy.
We should conveniently ignore the fact that he got screwed by RC today.
Sebastien Vettel was ahead of both Williams drivers ahead of the first round of stops.
Bottas came out in front of Ricciardo and was 3 seconds in front after each of their stops. Bottas was a similar time away from Vettel who was in front of him.
Massa's 1st and Bottas' 2nd stop did appear slower than others. Both drivers were very close towards the end of the race though, however Bottas faded with 14 laps to go for some reason, finishing closer to Vergne in 8th than Alonso in 6th.
The only reason Massa was 'far ahead of his teammate' was because Williams were toying with having Massa do a 1 stop, but ultimately felt they would stand to lose more then gain (with which I agree with), while Bottas went with 2 stops. Before Bottas' 2nd stop, Bottas was ahead of Massa by about 4.5 seconds. A couple of laps later, the Mercedes cars started experiencing problems, so eeryone gained on the leaders.
I agree Massa did a fantastic job - both he and Bottas did. If Williams had gotten Bottas in front of the Red Bulls at the second stops then it would have been interesting, but by being slightly slower Bottas ended up being held up by Hulkenberg with little chance of getting passed. Massa too was stuck behind Hulkenberg after making his 2nd stop as well, and then later, Perez. If Massa had gotten passed Bottas earlier (either via team order or through his own pace) then it would have been very interesting end to the race (Massa was behind the Bottas/Hulkenberg battle for 7 laps (50-57)).
If Williams commited to a one stop from the beggining they would've won i think.
One stopping would give the Williamses track position over the RBs and they wouldn't be able to overtake, maybe not even catch them if the Force India's held the RBs like they did.
Pitting Massa that early having him overtake a couple of cars made 1 stopping harder, i'm surprised no one besides FI attempted 1 stop with such hard tires.
Williams also need to manage their pit windows better, sending Bottas out right into traffic on the second stop was terrible.
Morteza wrote:Sergio Perez has been hit with a five place grid penalty for Austrian GP after FIA deemed him responsible for his accident with Felipe Massa.
Good, he clearly cut across Massa and caused the crash, Vettel in front of the two was on the racing line, Perez was all over the circuit!
Brilliant win from Dan tho, he really made the most of everything to be in the right place at the right time by the end of the race - actually I was very impressed with Vettel too, both drivers really drove their slow a$$ Renault PU to it's very maximum and got a great result!!!
=D>
Honorable mention to Nico too for coaxing his clearly wounded Merc home to get a podium when Lewis was clearly too aggressive and DNF'd his Merc as a result!
I agree, trying a one stop when Massa had pit in the 2 stop window earlier would have been difficult. Looking at the race history graphs, the Red Bulls were catching at about 1.5s a lap, so would have caught with about 15 laps to go (barring any traffic). Had he one stopped, Massa's tyres would have had to do 75% race distance - by the last 10 laps the Red Bulls and Force Indias (notably Perez) would have taken Massa.
Well done and well deserved Ricciardo! Otherwise, thoroughly disgusted. Rosberg cuts a chicane, no further action. What BS. F—k Formula1 and Race Control. What a slap in the face.
I’m starting to doubt MercGP is a level playing ground, too. So they both have brake problems, causing Hamilton to retire, after which Rosberg’s brakes magically heal themselves?
I wouldn’t blame Hamilton if this triggers paranoia. I know it does for me.
Gutted for Perez, to be taken out like that. Not sure what came over Massa there. It could have been so much more for both.
Conspiracy theory much?
First of all, we've seen it many times that cutting a chicane isn't necessary a punishable offense when you're in the lead. Heck, we've even seen it in this very race...was it Bottas?
Secondly, Rosberg's brakes didn't heal themselves, he had problems throughout and had to push the brake balance all the way to the front in order to protect the rear brakes after the MGU-K failure.
