What would have happened if Hamilton began to slow down with Rosberg even much closer to him, for sure it will be an even bigger smash.

It is a highly unusual for drivers to stop at the pit exit. So its highly likely drivers have no reference point or indicator as to where the guys in front of them would stop if they have to.

Hamilton didn’t say he did not deserve the panalty, he just said it was harsh. Rosberg just agreed that they deserved a penalty but he never said the one given to them was the right one.

It is very understandable. Not excusable.

And if you saw the red light too late, its your fault. Say its yours. Simple. Whats to lose?

Imagine he did the same to Michael Schumacher’s ferrari. You have seen what he does when it happens to him. Sato got it once.

If someone, who is aware, informed by the team that the pit-lane might be red signalled and yet is careless enough to not mind what’s in front of him/her. He/she would still cause a pile up, whether you’ll be queing ‘em up in one row, or, for that matter as many as you’d like.

One may even overlook this, Kimi did, yep, he and Rosberg have class. Kimi did not do anything rash, he rather politely gestured towards the light, which was ignored.

Tunnel vision is what they have, but they are supposed to ace. Each and every one of them. If some chappie errs, it could be written off as one, as mentioned above. What could not be withstood, is the fact that the chappie went on to say that “if” he ruined somebody’s race, he’s sorry. LOL!

Post victory party, 100,000 quids
McLaren F1 as a reward, 6,000,000 quids
Wrecking cars in pit-lane, priceless

Well, it did not come as good as i’d have wanted it to…

Another thing to note is that the pit exit isn’t a standard braking point, most drivers are already up to speed when they are exiting the pits, so even if its dirty, their momentum can take them through that point.

If you watched the reply of the incident, you see, both drivers in front somewhat searching for the exit line. And kimi was still moving when he was hit. Rosberg said in his defense that he saw Lewis moving so could Lewis not have seen Kimi And Robert side by side and moving, thinking they were racing each other, then when he saw they were stopping he looked at the lights saw they were red but in that short time had already moved forward getting even more closer to the already slowing down cars ahead, as he probably didn’t know the exact point cars come to rest at while waiting for the lights to clear.

I do not care who wins or loses and it doesn’t bother me to come to the defense of Lewis. What I am really interested in, is if there is a flaw the rules that can allow such to happen. If the pits were such that the cars will take only one line going out then I bet you we wont have something like this happening.

And if Kimi had not moved to be a feet or 2 ahead of Kubica, its Kubica who would have had his car hit.

There you go,I got in a Rosberg comment.

I assume that Lewis will have to fight for his grid position and keep to the fuel load in Q3 even after demotion… unless he doesn’t bother with Q3…but that would put him…last…

Hmm, as far as i remember, F1 cars could stop from a good 160kmph-0 in 3 seconds or so(this was about 7-8 years ago). I think things have advanced now quite a fair bit, even with “SLOW ‘em down” rules. So this argument is quite hollow. Pitlane speed limit is about 80-100 odd kmph, depending on the track. So this has to be one of the stupidest things ever, in the history of F1.

Also, i think most people do not dislike Hamilton as much as they dislike how he acts(this includes me). He could have apologised to Kimi, but he is too good for that, so he gives him a shrug(when Kimi approached him) and later suggested rather inaptly what he did. That is, “if” i ruined his race. Newsflash… if you shunt someone, you’ve ruined their race!

Now to people who wonder why Nico isn’t given much heat. What would you say about a guy who admits to the fact that he erred? Perhaps you could just state that he erred. Could you give him some **********, as you might to the other bloke(this happens to be Hamilton), who can’t get his head around to see the reality? Now please people, spare me the details that he is a good driver. I know that he is and this isn’t about it. I’m saying that he needs to see the reality and start behaving like a human being, before others start treating him like one. May be that’s why people do not like him(a good chance that it is).

HvK

The more we argue over this the more we see problems with the whole scenario.
There is a reason why each team has an individual standing with a marker indicating where each driver will stop on the starting grid. The drivers sit so low in the cars that they cant see a line crossing the road from a distance. Drivers coming from behind in the pits, can’t even tell where the drivers in front are going to stop.
The drivers in front had not even fully come to a halt before the impact

Hamilton hasn’t made that transition yet.

But lets not forget that Lewis is 23.
At 23 Senna was racing Brundle in Formula 3 and was very VERY ragged.
Also when Senna raced in the mid eighties the other drivers thought he was a dangerous lunatic, it was only when he got to his 30s that he matured and became a more admirable man and really sensational driver. Think of some of his drives in 1993 in an underpowered McLaren.
Athletes often become far more mature and agreeable as they reach their late twenties and thirties. The Australian Cricket Team being the big exception.

Hamilton on Tuesday is quoted as deriding his penalty as “harsh” and the closure of the pitlane “silly”. Rosberg said: “I think I deserve the penalty, the same as Hamilton. He didn’t stop, and neither did I, so we deserve the same fate. I saw the red lights too late, so it is natural that there is a penalty. I made a mistake,” Rosberg added.

It is true, however, that while Hamilton failed to see both the red light and the stationary cars of Räikkönen and Robert Kubica, Rosberg’s mistake was slightly different. Rosberg agrees: “Of course, if Hamilton had slowed, I would have been able to better understand what was going on. But he kept going, and then suddenly … [hit Räikkönen's Ferrari].”

There is different in attitudes between Rosberg and Hamilton. No matter if we are Ferrari or McLaren fans or what ever, but i am pretty sure that none of us want see race to be ruined by stupid accident in pitlane.

Good to see so much discussion on the topic. From what i’ve gathered, the braod issue of drivers leaving the pits under red lights can be attributed in part to three factors:

1. Poor light fixtures at some tracks, both in terms of the devices themselves not being big/bright enough, or in a bad position to look for.
2. Eagerness on the part of drivers to leave the pit lane and simply overlooking/forgetting the red lights.
3. Lack of information from the pit wall on the red light status.

I chalk up Hamlton’s shunt as an accident, but being that it took one of the top championship contenders out of the race through no fault of his own,perhaps this will raise awareness of the issue with the administrators of the sport.

Are there any other stops on the schedule where drivers have gone through red lights in recent years?

The safest places to stop can be discussed and flushed out during driver meeting although I do appreciate that incidents probably never unfold as expected and are usually quite quick and chaotic.

You are correct in that I guess it is my frustration with the status quo. It’s not often we go to a decent track where cars can actually dice and overtake each other, only to see that race unnecessarily ruined.