This pretty much sums up my view on it. I would add that there is no rule about hitting the apex, in fact how often do drivers hit apexes when they're in a battle with another car? Your focus would be to keep the other guy behind you and not lap time so you'd be taking lines that you wouldn't normally take, the point about the apex is not particularly relevant imo.Polarit wrote: ↑20 Jul 2021, 21:37Alonso's comments perfectly illustrate the rationale that an experienced driver has and one that I often think is lost with the obsession with racing lines and calculation's on who specifically had the corner.
Hamilton did well and got his car alongside Verstappen going into a turn. Regardless of lines, hitting the apex and corner angle the car was is there. It's a problem and being the car on the outside once it's there you have to adjust what you do.
Verstappen see's him when he goes to turn in, then adjusts, then turns fully into the corner with full knowledge Lewis is there. He might've hoped Lewis would brake harder but he took the risk knowing he was there. Hamilton at this point is pulling out of the move knowing they're going to collide but it's too late and because he pulls out it's why it's front left to rear right.
It's a racing incident and a poor judgement on Max's part to defend like that given the championship situation.
Much like for years Hamilton has treated Verstappen with a wide berth because he wasn't fighting that fight, Verstappen should've been wise enough to not fight a driver who has to win so strongly when he had such a lead.
Great race though....
https://the-race.com/formula-1/alonso-h ... pen-clash/“It is difficult from the outside,” said Alonso. “It looked quite close, Lewis had more than half a car alongside Max.
“So, in a way, Lewis could not disappear from the inside line, it’s not that you can vanish.
Also, if LH did take a tighter line and hit the apex, where do we think MV would be? He'd just take up the space that LH gives him and who knows, it might still be a similar outcome. We know MV will take every inch (and a bit more) he is given, so my guess is LH was probably saving a bit of margin in case he was pushed off again (Imola), but not expecting MV to suddenly turn in so sharply.
Yes, LH could have given a little more space and avoided the collision, but equally, MV could have done the same. It's not like MV had no space to make the turn. In fact, he had much more space to use. I think the problem is, people focus on the outcome. Had they both been unscathed after coming together, would LH had got a penalty? Or if LH had sustained more damage than MV, like when he ran over LH's front wing at Imola, should that have been a penalty for MV?
It kind of reminds me of the incident with Ocon in 2018 where I just think MV expects the other driver to disappear and turns in like they're not there. It was unnecessary to battle EO, why risk winning the race for a backmarker FFS? So what if EO gets a penalty or race ban, you've lost the race. Same at Silverstone, it's lap 1, not lap 52.
Anyway, in my opinion, overall both had some fault in it but neither intended to collide. Racing incident.