Ray wrote: Webber was doing what any good race driver would, stay as close to the leader as possible for a chance to pass him.
I'm sorry but I disagree, as far as I'm concerened if Mark thought Lewis driving was eratic he should have done what any normal road user would have done and stayed back. There was no need for Mark to be so close to Lewis if he really thought Lewis' driving behind the safety car was eratic. When the safety car is about to enter the pits, it turns its lights off with about a quarter of the lap still to go, more than enought time for somebody in Mark's position to catch up with Lewis if he'd backed off.
The safety cars lights were still on, suggesting that it would remain out for a little while longer, hence there being no need for Webber to be anywhere near Lewis at that point in time.
My point being that Webber has been critical of Lewis' driving behind the safety car, now if he really thought that at the time, with there being no benifit what-so-ever for Mark not to back off a little bit, why didn't he?
What I'm sugessting is that at the time Mark saw nothing wrong with lewis driving and after the accident sought somebpdy to blame (obviously he'd upset Mr. Mateschitz if he blamed the sister car of Vettel).
OR
Mark didn't like Lewis' driving behind the safety car, in which case he should have back off and preserved his only chance this season of a podium place. If mark didn't like lewis driving behind the safety car, by not backing off he is equally guilty of causing an accident, by not taking action which could have avoided an accident after (saying so himself) witnessing on track behaviour which could have contributed to causing an accident upon himself. (if you get what I mean - sorry but thats the best way i could phrase it).
Obviously its ludicrous to punish Mark for it, its an accident, and these things happen, but I still believe that if Mark thought Lewis driving was dangerous, he had it in his power to take evasive action, and he did not - thus he is just as guilty by not attempting to prevent an accident. i.e Mark doesn't deserve a punishment, so neither does Lewis.
So I guess you just STAB the brakes, come almost to a complete halt, and then not bother to accelerate again? Get real my friend. It wasn't a mistake. A man of his talent doesn't 'mistakenly' slam on his brakes, cause Webber to almost overshoot him, then NOT accelerate back up to the safety cars' pace once you have deemed that you aren't going to plow into the back of it.
Stabbing the brakes is a little bit of an egaggeration dont you think? I mean Lewis definately slowed, but an F1 car can deccelerate from 100mph to a standstill in about say 2-3seconds, that's what happens when you "slam" on the brakes in an F1...this was nearly nowhere near the case at the incident concerned. Lewis backe of the throttle, and quite possibly used the brakes, but frankly, Mark Webber was able to very easily see this and brake in time...so why didn't Vettel?
End of the day Vettel made the mistake. I do agree with you ray though that people are being a bit overkly harsh on Vettel. (One minute he's the next chumacher, next he cant drive). Vettel made a mistake, Big deal! people make mistakes, Fernando lost control of the car and spun off into a barrier, the FIA forgot to send Ferrari an email about the tyre situation (if you really believe that), Ferrari chose to start on inters regardless of emails or not, Mark didn't slow down behind Lewis and open up a safety gap, F1 was racing at Fuji insted of Suzuka
LOTS of mistakes were made that weekend. But Vettel has got the stick of it, just because he was unfortunate enough to take out a car run by his team owner's other team. Had he have hit say...i dunno, a Williams nobody would have batted an eyelid (relitively speaking) and if it was say...Nick Hiedfeld doing the "erratic driving" behind the safety car, again nobody would be complaining. It's just because it's the upstart rookie who's re-writing the history books, who also happens to be leading the championship in a car run by a team that has been stripped of its const. points that's why people are looking to work any angle to belittle Lewis, his driving, his persona, and of course work an advantage to help lever their way back into the championship hunt (or in RBR / STR - get some sort of compensation for some lost points).
Silence is golden when you don't know a good answer.
