Re: There's a little bit of blame to spread around...

Geoff <geoff@geoffwood.org> wrote:

On 22/07/2024 9:49 pm, Yazoo wrote:

On Sun, 21 Jul 2024 16:09:11 -0700, Alan <nuh-uh@nope.com> wrote:
 

...but this one is mostly on Verstappen.
>
Braking as late as that, he was never going to make it stick.
>
This overhead does show Hamilton made a very early turn-in:
>
<https://x.com/hammertimev/status/1815070122312147356>
>
But the Verstappen was divebombing. Plain and simple.
>
What's ironic is that if Hamilton had really understood how late
Verstappen started his braking, he could have just stayed out of the way
and he'd have stayed ahead of Verstappen anyway.

 
Yes, I agree. It's easy for us later lamenting about such situations.
Drivers are focused on winning, so they tend not to let others
overtake them.
Thus, Hamilton closed the inner part of turn a bit, and Verstappen
tried to overtake with aggresive late break. So, they touched. How to
measure the blame? I don't know.
As Hamiltons supporter I would obviously be on the Verstappen's side
of blame, but honestly, it was a racing incident (Hamilton said that
after the race).

 
I though it was more of a cynical lunge, which would have ended with VER
wide/off whatever HAM had done. Not quite as bad as the previous
dodgems against NOR.

I read it as Verstappen driving "angry". He misjudged the braking (even
though he'd been on the radio just before complaining about rear brakes)
and lost control. Hamilton took his normal racing line and was taken by
surprise. I don't think either deliberately wanted contact (god knows,
Hamilton was lucky not to have damage to the front-end as a result). For
me, it's a racing incident where Verstappen was way too aggressive and
optimistic and Hamilton didn't spot him coming in time.

That said, I think the way the two responded directly afterwards is
telling. Verstappen immediately wants to mouth off and blame everyone
(but himself) while Hamilton shakes it off as "just a racing incident".

Compare and contrast to a race a few years ago when Hamilton was
overoptimistic at Silverstone and lost control. Verstappen insists he
was in the right in taking his normal racing line even though he knows
Hamilton is there. (Compare that to the weekend when he insists that
Hamilton is *wrong* to take a racing line). When the collision occurs,
not only does he not accept it as a racing incident, he (and the team)
accuse Hamilton of trying to kill him.

Hmmm...PKB