Should race accidents be penalised?
At the Belgian GP at Spa-Francorchamps, Sebastian Vettel crashed into Jenson Button at the Busstop chicane when attempting a pass on the Briton. While Button was eliminated, Vettel could continue the race but was later handed a drive through penalty.
Early on after the race, there was talk about this accident, with comparisons being made with Michael Schumacher's move on Barrichello at the Hungarian GP. A that race, Schumacher was given a 10 place grid penalty for nearly causing a collision with the Brazilian.
Now, when asked how he felt about the accident, McLaren's Martin Whitmarsh said: "Obviously I would have liked he took out his teammate, rather than one of the McLarens. I honestly believe the penalty was quite easy for Vettel."
Personally I fail to see any possible comparison between Schumacher and Vettel. The Hungarian incident was penalised because Schumacher intentionally tried to fend off Barrichello in an unreasonably hard manner.
Today, Vettel was actually chasing Button for several laps, trying to find an opportunity to pass, and when eventually trying, he lost the car on a bump when moving out of the slipstream on a damp track. He lost the car consequently and crashed into the McLaren, destroying both of their races.
One needs to think of how the stewards want Formula One to be perceived, as a hard and fair sport, or rather a queue of cars driving circles to the finish. If decisions like these will keep coming, no driver will try to overtake anyone anymore.
