GrayGreat wrote:
But in this case, Nico started moving to the right before Hamilton was not even close to being alongside. Rosberg kept moving right because Hamilton was not alongside, and Hamilton kept going there as well. After that, Lewis got alongside for about a fraction of a second, before going off the track, please keep in mind that we are talking about tenths here, 3, 4, 5 at max. Now Rosberg was supposed to look in his mirrors, see that Hamilton was alongside, and change the angle of his steering wheel, all within 5 tenths at max, now let's be fair, I think that is not possible. Do you think it is possible? Stewards described it as racing incident because of the same point. Lewis was alongside for such a short period of time that it was not enough to realize what was going on, hence Nico kept going right.
It doesn't matter if he started moving to the right before Hamilton.
Once another car is quick enough to fit into a gap then the defending car should stop moving over.
As for the rest of the post talking about fractions of a second, if Hamilton was fast enough to dodge Nico coming over, Nico should be fast enough to change the angle of his steering wheel. In fact he was in full control of what he was doing.
Following the regulations strictly, the key is to leave a 1 car gap if a part of the attacking car happens to be in that space. It does not matter who started moving first. First moves only apply to the defender. The attacker is free to move as much as he likes, provided he does not collide directly into the defending car.
Rosberg was simply going too slowly and simply lunged desperately. It's only a racing incident because Rosberg's race was ended. Had he continued he would have been penalized.
It's hard to apportion blame to Hamilton, who has not done anything illegal. Being aggressive is part of overtaking, and all attacking cars are free to be as aggressive as possible provided there is no contact, as there is no regulation against a strong attack or a surprise attack. It's not suposed to be a waltz where you ask permission to overtake. Reading some of the posts here, it's like F1 is supposed to be like a "merry go round" with a menagerie of saddled circus animals, with little children mounted and giggling, floating up and down till the music stops.
Aggression is a big part of the sport and Hamilton was in his right to attack where Nico least expected. Nico just ballsed up.
