2010 Malaysian Grand Prix (Apr 2-4)

[Cotterik]

rules or no rules. it was great to watch him weaving. its the widest circuit on the calendar. so he was very vulnerable as was proven in the previous lap where petrov took the place back at turn 1. he had to shake him out of his slipstream otherwise it would be near impossible to defend it again. like he was swatting a bee (the renault looks like a bee ) great drive from hamilton, i was impressed by rosberg too who always seems to miss the headlines because he keeps out of trouble but as was the case last year he is one of the most conistently good drivers on the grid. well deserved podium finish. i have to say it again though as my opinion is being more and more established on this. i wish heidfeld had the 2nd mercedes seat as opposed to schumacher. rear tyre malfunction or not, he's just not got the same energy in his drive as the likes of vettel alonso and hamilton. it seems like a wasted opportunity to me. we're yet to see any real ex-champion moves from him this year.

as i said before the season had even started, its hard to see the season ending without red bull being on top. vettel just drives, acts and delivers like a champion. Webber has one of the best mentalities on the paddock and its hard to imagine a better team mate for vettel. always challenging him and pushing him that little bit futher. given that the car irons out its hidden reliability issues this is a team that looks as if they've been in F1 and leading the pack for a long long time. Its not a question of if they win the drivers and constructors championship but when..

@ twinspark it was petrov not kubica. i doubt it would've been the same situation with kubica as both petrov and hamilton both have their GP2 days fresh in their minds and that sort of racing mentality is exactly what you see in GP2. Cheeky and lots of risk taking.

[TheScrutineer]

Hamilton was clearly not under pressure in the braking zone into the corner, he weaved in front of Petrov down the straight in an attempt to break the 'tow' affect behind him. Petrov even weaved as well to try and keep in the tow as he was not in a position without it to overtake. Hamilton received a warning, but his intent and execution I beleive was fine. Though I can imagine if the FIA were clear it was acceptable drivers would start weaving to defend overtakes under braking.

[Dino Scuderia]

Good racing action in this one.

I thought Hamilton's zigging was excessive...and he chopped across Alonso later in the race when Alonso had the inside line into the next corner..but Alonso saw it coming and saved the nose.

Aside from that Hammy made a seriously good climb up. The McLaren was a rocket on the straights.

It's the first race I have seen this season so I didn't have a good feel where everyone should have been running.

[Matra et Alpine]

Weaving is banned not just because it's "blocking move" , but also because it IS about trying to break the tow.

A car getting tow is faster, so ANY driver trying to break that tow is creating a VERY dangerous situaiton made a LOT worse by the current near-useless mirrors.

I hope to read the stewards full report and specifically the driver "expert" opinion.
It was dangerous. VERY dangerous. Nobody crashed, but he chances of it BEING a crash at 190+mph were large and for that reason they have to for the safety of the drivers, marshalls and fans not let it happen.

[wwgkd]

I thought it was a fairly good race, at least up till about lap 30 when I had to stop watching. Anyone figure out what Alonsos problem was?

[Matra et Alpine]

I see we're going to have another "spirit" discussion

THe regs say

16) INCIDENTS
16.1 "Incident" means any occurrence or series of occurrences involving one or more drivers, or any action by any driver, which is reported to the stewards by the race director (or noted by the stewards and referred to the race director for investigation) which:
- necessitated the suspension of a race under Articles 41;
- constituted a breach of these Sporting Regulations or the Code;
- caused a false start by one or more cars;
- caused a collision;
- forced a driver off the track;
- illegitimately prevented a legitimate overtaking manoeuvre by a driver;
- illegitimately impeded another driver during overtaking.
Unless in the opinion of the race director it was completely clear that a driver was in breach of any of the above, any incidents involving more than one car will normally be investigated after the race.

SO is it "illegitimate" to prevent an overtake by weaving ?
We can't dispute it would prevent an overtake.
So I contend it should be getting air time.

BUT it won't .... coz F1 is terrified of losing "image" just now and it wans't Ferrari

The problem is, as with any "precedent" .... expect the next race to be a terrible procession of weaving cars and NOBODY able to overtake and the track being littered with those who tried

[wwgkd]

I see we're going to have another "spirit" discussion

THe regs say


SO is it "illegitimate" to prevent an overtake by weaving ?
We can't dispute it would prevent an overtake.
So I contend it should be getting air time.

BUT it won't .... coz F1 is terrified of losing "image" just now and it wans't Ferrari

The problem is, as with any "precedent" .... expect the next race to be a terrible procession of weaving cars and NOBODY able to overtake and the track being littered with those who tried

Well he was almost immediately warned. If he felt he could get away with it I imagine he would have done it again same race. I'm not expecting a carbon fiber armaggedon next race due to the lack of an actual penalty here.

[Matra et Alpine]

Let's see.
I am racing in the next race adn the car behind me is fastger and getting tow and WILL overtake me unless I can break it.
I know ... I'll weave, All they'll do is warn me and by then I'll be OK as he won't be able to get me again.
Now 22 drivers are racing in the next race and the car behing each of them is faster and getting tow...

You are one of the 22 ... what will you do ??

[Matra et Alpine]

All moot, the teams seem to think that now a warning is given then it won't happen again.

autosport.com - F1 News: Renault critical of Hamilton's weaving

We'll see Would love to hear the drivers briefing at Shanghai

NOw the questions I'd love to debate is .....
1. what if it had been Ferrari ?
2. Is Hamilton now the new Schumacher that nobody questions ??

[TheScrutineer]

Someone ban grovegiveaway!

A car getting tow is faster, so ANY driver trying to break that tow is creating a VERY dangerous situaiton made a LOT worse by the current near-useless mirrors.

Hamilton obviously had clear view of Petrov's car, as he could follow Petrov following his changes of direction. If Petrov's car actually had sufficient speed to make a move on Hamilton then Hamilton must respect Petrovs move and not block. In this situation you are having faith in the driver to judge when this is happening. Even a highly competitive driver such as Hamilton would have respected this if it happened.

If Petrov did have a sufficient run on Hamilton to make his move, then he would not have had to follow the path of Hamilton and Hamilton would not have been able to weave in front of him. But he didn't.

On another safety note, I did see a very dangerous incident in quali were a car was off in the gravel in the wet(can't remember who). The Marshalls ran over to the car, then a second car (think it was a Renault) flew off the track in the same spot. Luckily the marshall running over just spotted it and the car flew past across the path he was running towards. Just goes to show that stopping for rain is just not just the FIA party-pooping.

[Matra et Alpine]

I only add.

The drivers have complained that the outboard mirrors give them insufficient view of behind then. Hamilton's only view of what Petrov was actually donig was via the mirrors and thus should NOT have been relied on in the way he did.

Besides, weaving is NOT accepted. Hamilton is getting away with things as he and Button are the new poster-boys to replace Schumi.

Re the marshal and safety.

RUle #1 of marshal training ... you do NOT put yourself or other marshals in danger by your actions.
Rule #2 , if you are thinking of breaking #1 then DONT, get the yellow or red flag shown.
I've seeen a few marshal injuries while the drivers were never in REAL risk of behing hurt ( remember they're ensconsed in a safety cell ). Hard to not act the superman once you get the orange suit on. Keep having to shout it into the thick skulls of youngster on their first events

[TheScrutineer]

Besides, weaving is NOT accepted. Hamilton is getting away with things as he and Button are the new poster-boys to replace Schumi.

Hmm, comments like this and your cheating claims for McLaren's F-Vent make me sense we have a McLaren hater in our ranks!

[Matra et Alpine]

That would make sense if I hadn't been a member of McLaren official support and have the passes and t-shirts to prove it and an even "stronger supporter" during DC days

I'm not a fanboy of any driver , team or sport.
Unless you go back in history ... so no bad-mounthing JYS or you feel my wrath

[RacingManiac]

A question though, is weaving about at top speed(so not warm up lap) only dangerous with another driver following you? I seem to recall Button doing that quite often last season during the race to get tire temp.....

[Chernaudi]

I thought it was a fairly good race, at least up till about lap 30 when I had to stop watching. Anyone figure out what Alonsos problem was?

From what I heard, Alonso had a broken clutch that caused the gear selection problems during downshifts, and when he tried to pass Button, either the clutch exploded or more likely the engine handgrenaded, and judging by the lack of smoke out of the exhaust, it seemed to be a bearing problem or he ended up throwing a rod out the sump(if it smoked out the exhaust, it would've been a dropped/broken valve).

And as for the blocking/weaving, it was Lewis' intent to break the tow that Kubica had on him, but he did go to sort of rediculous lenghts in doing so.

Blocking is sort of a grey area in all motorsports exept for NASCAR where it's a case of the passing car should hold his line and if the offending driver wrecks, he took himself out, his fault, end of report, next case.

Otherwise, it seems to be a grey area-in the ALMS in '07 and '08, there were times that the LMP2 cars chopped off and weaved like drunks to keep Audi R10s from blowing by them down the striaghts at several tracks, the Penske Porsches being the worst offenders, and they were never called on it inspite of some pretty clear video from the R10s' onboards showing blantant blocks. However, I do remember an Acura pulling such a move on a R10 at Laguna Seca and got taken out, and the Acura driver was penalized and later parked for rough driving.

Also, remember Petit Le Mans in '08 late in the race between Allan McNish and Christian Klein. Was that blocking? I don't think so, since Allan held his line and gave Klein the whole inside of the track. What did Klien do? Drove off the road at 190mph and that could've been a big one. But that was Christian's fault for not realizing where the tarmac ended and the Georgia clay began, and Allan took advantage of his inexpericence, and suckered him, and didn't do anything questionable, as he held his line and Klein tried an inside dive bomb.

I'd say ban blocking, but I feel that one also has the right to defend his position as long as it doesn't go overboard.