Webber hits Kovalainen and flips (Video)

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Mark Webber’s European Grand Prix came to a dramatic end when he crashed violently with Heikki Kovalainen.

The Red Bull and Lotus drivers were racing for position and collided at the fastest point of the track approach turn 12.

Webber hit the back of the Kovalainen’s car and flew through the air.

A very similar crash happened at the same place in the GP2 sprint race this morning, with Josef Kral the unlucky driver flying through the air. He was taken to hospital:

Webber suffered a similarly violent accident at the wheel of a Mercedes sports car at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1999. On that occasion the car flipped of its own accord.

Webber and Kovalainen were racing for position and there was nothing obviously wrong with Kovalainen’s defensive move.

But we’ve discussed before this year whether slower cars should bother racing for position with the front-runners. Should Kovalainen have got out of Webber’s way?

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    Keith Collantine
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    82 comments on “Webber hits Kovalainen and flips (Video)”

    1. It’s a different corner but very similar crash. Quiet scary.

      1. The collision was like one of those awkward situations where you run into someone in a hallway, and they go left, but you go left, then you go right, but they go right, and then someone eventually yields and you walk pass each other. The only difference being instead of at walking pace it’s at 320km/h, where awkward situations always end badly.

      2. are they both ok? looked like a hectic crash.

        1. Yeah, they are luckily both unscathed.

    2. Scary crash.
      I’m blaming Webber… being to aggresive again!

      1. That’s a very negative view, I don’t think anyone is to blame.

      2. From where I was watching, and after about thirty repeat runs of the sequence, I have to say that I don’t find Kovalinen in any way culpable.

        Ergo……….

        1. ditto 90% webber’s fault. he knew lotus had an early breaking point, but more than likely thought kovalainen would yield and head back on the racing line so he could out brake him. he gave no respect to kov and his slower car. he was slipstreaming for too long.

          that said, very happy everyone is alright

      3. OMG, Kovi change lines multiple times then brakes 80m b4 normal f1 or a good f1 teams braking point.

        1st point is why? why bother?
        rule is 1 move to defend not 2 or 3.
        Why jeopardize both cars by weaving and blocking considering the 2 fundamentally different braking performance, and never mind speed difference.

        Even if he wanted to race the RBR then again rule book says, 1 move to defend IT also says a driver may not deliberately block or impede a driver from passing.

        I dont need to see telemetry steering trace data to see Kovi and his multi weaves.

        The simple fact is it was a utterly pointless exercise in stupidity that was overly aggressive and extremely dangerous.
        Webber as stated though he was letting him thru…as most would, then as he got closer kovi has a brain snap and weaves and blocks, he then claims as does his clown team boss, that webber missed missed his braking point.
        LOL
        Lotus is not a RBR it didnt miss the braking zone it just CAN brake later.

        Lets just make this simple.
        Had kovi not had a brain fart, and not weaved and blocked—multiple times— webber would have been able to go left or right and braked at his point and past the GP2 car with zero issues.

        Lotus and the rest of the gp2 cars need to be banned untill they can display they can lap closer to the rest of the field. They are a joke and dangerous and have been since the 1st round. The fact why one would block and weave at one of the fastest points of the track to be all racey is utter stupidity.

        It’s like a gt car that some how managed to be in front of a LMP1 car and then wanting to race it….for all of 1,2,3 corners…

        idiotic

        1. talk about idiotic…

          kov was scraping the ground heavily and driving 180+ mph. the 1-2 meter weave you claim was ‘moves’ came from controlling the car normally. he held the inside line and was about to head back on the racing line (outside) to brake. mark came in extremely to fast and ignorant.

          ask yourself why this happens to mark at least once every 4 races?

          1. utter stupidity ….have you watched replay?

            Look at where the lotus brakes!!!!!!
            He is braking before the 100m marker…

            I have counted atleast 3moves and thats being kind to kovi…

            There is a reason Kovi has been dumped from 2 top teams and now in gp2…he is a below par in skill and mental aptitude for f1 competition.

        2. there is actually no rule stating 1 move to defend or anything of the sort, it was a gentlemans agreement made years ago. There are no real rule on passing/defending at all.

          1. ok LOL no rule huh..

            APPENDIX L TO THE INTERNATIONAL SPORTING CODE
            CHAPTER IV – CODE OF DRIVING CONDUCT ON CIRCUITS

            2. Overtaking, car control and track limits
            a) A car alone on the track may use the full width of the said
            track, however, as soon as it is caught by a car which is about
            to lap it the driver must allow the faster driver past at the first
            possible opportunity.
            If the driver who has been caught does not seem to make
            full use of the rear-view mirrors, flag marshals will display
            the waved blue flag to indicate that the faster driver wants to
            overtake.
            Any driver who appears to ignore the blue flags will be reported
            to the Stewards of the meeting.
            b) Overtaking, according to the circumstances, may be carried
            out on either the right or the left.
            However, manoeuvres liable to hinder other drivers, such
            more than one change of direction to defend a position,
            deliberate crowding of a car beyond the edge of the track or
            any other abnormal change of direction, are strictly prohibited.
            Any driver who appears guilty of any of the above

            1. Ha, nice one ap, well argued.

        3. I think it’s silly to blame either driver.

          It was the first time a Red Bull Car and a Lotus Car have raced for position – usually their only on track interaction is when the Red Bull’s are lapping the Lotus’ in which case the Lotus’ yield.

          As it was their first racing interaction Mark would not have been aware that Heikki needs to start braking in the Lotus 80m before the spot where the Red Bull needs to start braking. Similarly Heikki would not have been aware that the Red Bull is able to brake 80m later than the Lotus.

          So you have two drivers in an unfamiliar situation, in vastly different performing cars trying to race each other for the first time. It’s likely an accident is going to happen, and I don’t think it is anyone’s fault, even though Mark blames Heikki and Gascoyne on behalf of Heikki blames Mark.

          I also think that Heikki had every right to defend against Mark. It doesn’t matter that Mark was in the faster car. Due to the start and the early pit stop strategy Mark was at that point had done 9 laps slower than Heikki had. If you’re a competitor, which all drivers should be, you don’t let people pass, you try to beat them, even if you and everyone else knows it’s probably not going to happen, you at least try.

          I think if there is a positive to come out of this, it is that the cars and the tracks are a lot safer these days, kudos to the FIA for their research over the years into safety, to the teams for building safe cars, and to Tilke for designing a safe circuit. Without that runoff area before the tyre wall, and the safety cell in the car, Mark Webber would have probably been injured fairly seriously.

    3. Monetzemolo has said that slow back markers could be dangerous. Maybe there was some truth in that!

    4. Outsch! The Lotus brakes a little earlier…

      1. yeh, after watching the replay, it’s ridiculous how early he brakes. is the lotus’ brakes that bad? or was that his way of ‘defending’?

        as much as he has every right to defend (racing for position and all), seriously, what’s the point?

        i must say webber’s reaction was really quite fast, he changes direction straight away and jumps on the brakes very quickly but at over 300km/h, there’s only so much he can do.

        it’s just absolutely awesome how safe the cars are. and will webber be fined for jumping out so quickly? surely that triggered the ‘G-meter’…

    5. I am really insulted by the Australian commentators, they over cut the BBC for a fair period of time after the crash and constantly said how wrong Kovy was!

      Kovy had every right to be there, it was a racing incident and as DC said, it’s what will happen when the closing speeds are so high.

      Does anyone remember Hamilton weaving in Sepang in front of Petrov?
      How dare they attack Kovy when I remember them defending Hamilton. I’m Australian but unlike I do realise that they is more than one driver in F1.

      O god though, I was so happy when he threw the steering wheel out (Like Rubens)
      I thought he was dead for a second.

      1. Prisoner Monkeys
        27th June 2010, 14:50

        Now you know what I’m talking about when I complain about the Australians.

        1. damonsmedley
          27th June 2010, 15:00

          OneHD’s commentators are way to patriotic and opinionated. I see it as a 50/50 crash as to who is at fault.

          1. OneHD’s commentary team are a bunch of donkeys.

            Yeah they may have insight, racing experience and insider info but they are often too slow to report anything, always confused and like Mike said, way too patriotic towards Webber.

            Bring back Crompo. At least that guy has a clue.

          2. Webber was to hesitant when making the pass. I’d say it was more Webber’s fault then Heikki’s.

            BBC (and DC) were loving it when Glock re-overtook Schumacher and when Di Grassi was blocking Alonso in Monaco.

            Now suddenly Heikki doesn’t have the right to be racing when it’s for position?

            1. Prisoner Monkeys
              28th June 2010, 9:37

              Now suddenly Heikki doesn’t have the right to be racing when it’s for position?

              To hear the Australian commentators, no-one has the right to be racing when it’s for position with Mark Webber.

          3. Yeh they are clowns. I sit there thinking “can you please shut up and go back to the real commentators?”. Where the hell did they pull Baird from? NZ’s greatest “almost made it”?

            Re the accident I say racing incident. Scary looking crash and glad everyone is OK.

            1. Real commentators? Leggard is a disgrace.

            2. I much prefer the BBC team over the OneHD team

      2. i loved it though when darryl said: “why are they (lotus) posting on twitter? they should be spending their time working out why their more than 3 seconds off the pace” (or along those lines). haha

      3. Completely agree Mike. I was thinking the same thing (Australian too!)

    6. What does DC know about backing…Let me see Spa DC in front of Shumi … Oh! boy Shumi rear-ends DC and it sue looks like DC braked early.

      1. Yeah, but in Spa you could barely see your hand infront of your face due to spray, very different situations.

      2. Er, DC was recovering to the pits going slowly and MSC just ran into the back of him in the poor conditions (spray). No-one in F1 deliberately causes crashes with another driver – death or injury may well result. Nelson Piquet could have caused a tragedy even though he had his own (deliberate) accident.

    7. Racing incident in my opinion. I don’t blame anyone in particular, though I think Kovalainen may have brake a bit early which he shouldn’t have as it was a dangerous move, considering Webber was too close to him On the other hand, Webber should have been more careful considering that he was about to overtake a very slow car.

    8. To be fair, heikki wasn’t just a backmarker; he was racing for position.

      This wasn’t Heikki’s fault. He was defending adthere were no blue flags. It was a racing incident but Mark drove clean into the back of him.

      It can’t be that any slow car moves out of the way. They race in formula 1, the same league. What happens when at the front say a slow car gets a vibration and loses a few seconds a lap? Are they then allowed to defend or do they have to wave the second guy through? This is only an issue because it was a new team. It could have been any car in a different context. The FIA have seen how slow the cars are and it was deemed safe. There were no problems at harder tracks such as Monaco.

      I know DC will be shook up seeing his friend like that so I’m ignoring his immediate comments but if he continues to blame the new teams and expect them to just move over then I’ll lose a serious amount of respect for him. They were granted entry, this is racing.

    9. Haha at Coulthard and Jordan arguing about this on BBC2. I agree with Coulthard.

      1. Actually listening to it properly I agree with EJ much more. It was a racing incident, nothing more.

        1. It was no ones fault, just a racing incident. Eddie Jordan is an idiot, I don’t no what it is but he has somthing against Webber, everytime he is in an incident Eddie always blames him.

          Everyone calls to get rid of Legard, well I hope he takes EJ with him.

    10. I thought new circuits were meant to be super safe? Why have they made all the straights wiggle so it promotes weaving.

      We saw identical crashes in the GP2 and the F1. If the straights aren’t straight how are people meant to overtake.

      1. Webbers car did have a large way to fly before hitting anything. Just not got slowed down much after going in the air.

        1. It also shows the value of large tarmac run off areas – had the run off been gravel the Red Bull might have kept rolling…

    11. The incident happened in GP2 even though there isn’t a huge difference in speeds. Ambulance chasing Italian CEOs will blame this incident on slower cars, but it was Webber’s fault for following so close.

    12. damonsmedley
      27th June 2010, 15:16

      *that was supposed to be a “too”.

    13. A racing incident for me. Talking about Backmarkers here is nonsense. The Lotus was defending position, even if he braked pretty early as the car is not as good as Mark’s.

      If he would not have been allowed to race, then maybe Kobayashi should not have been allowed to defend from Button and certainly not to OVERTAKE the Ferrari of Alonso in those last laps. How would the fans like that, (apart from Montezemelo, we know what he makes of that).

      This is racing, the guy in front defends his position. Thank god the cars are as good as they are and Mark got out without any major health issues.

    14. Regarding the incident, i personally dont think its heikki fault at all. Although it is a fact that lotus is a slower car than the Bulls, he is lapping in the same lap as MW, which means he is fully authorized to defend his position and he should be doing so, if not, isnt it asking him to give up any possible chance to score points for the hardworking lotus team?

      I feel that MW is a bit insensible and he seems to be fond of other people’s car diffusers.. probably those diffusers “suck” him and the RB6s into it. Rmbr he did sometime similar to Hamilton in Aussie, and almost took LH out as well?

      I think the stewards should take a look at such incidents because it is happening too frequently to him.. prob FIA shld send him n the “hooning” hamilton for driving lessons..

    15. Firstly, what a testament to the strength of modern F1 cars; well done to the FIA and Red Bull.

      I absolutely think Heikki should have defended his place; his positioning was perfect to force Mark either to choose left or right. It was classic defending, no dodgy cutting in on the apex or weaving about on the straight. For me, Webber was a bit hesitant (perhaps wondering if he was lapping or passing)and then – crucially – failed to allow for the Lotus having a longer braking zone than his Red Bull. A compounded mistake, pure and simple.

      In my admittedly armchair-bound opinion, there’s no need for this ridiculous vibe we got from the BBC that some how a slow car should immediately jump out of the way of someone who is faster. If that’s the case, we may as well taking the result of qualifying as the result of the race.

    16. Webber’s fault but why was Hekki defending the position. It was only a matter of time before the Red Bull would of passed him and all defending would of cost him more time then just letting Webber pass.

    17. Kovi ‘could’ have just yielded but of course there should be no expectation of that so it has no bearing on the crash at all.

      At the end of the day Mark should have been aware that the Lotus would break earlier and, if he is that much faster, why did he need to be slipstreaming him so closely?

      Webber caused it and could have avoided it.

    18. What are you guys on? Its obvious that MW was approaching HK at a reasonable speed and was prepared to slipstream HK around the corner or MAYBE pull out and pass him under braking when HK braked suddenly for no apparent reason. MW’s incar camera showed MW steadily gaining on HK when all of a sudden the distance between them disappeared – nowhere for MW to go and HK was nowhere near the corner yet. You Webber bashers above……get real!

    19. Webber never would have made the pass. He had a run, but was too late to make it before the corner. I also think Mark was too involved trying to get around Heiki and misjudged the distance to the corner.

      To bad the race isn’t on in the states until 2pm.

    20. Mike "the bike" Schumacher
      27th June 2010, 16:27

      Strange, a couple of weeks ago some people wanted to get rid of blue flags, and now backmarkers shouldn’t defend their positions.

      1. I never thought I would hear anyone complaining about the back markers in F1. What about Schumacher? He was one today ha ha. Remember who gave Webber his F1 start – Paul Stoddart, and Mark regularly ran around at the back in the Minardi at least 4 secs off the leaders even back then. Webber has been in a strange mood all weekend. I think he is very frustrated – for example, he was the only driver NOT to congratulate Vettel on his pole. I think the team favours Vettel (pit wall hugs) and this pressure is beginning to show, but the incident was really down to Webber being far too agressive.

        I do believe Eddie is right – if they’ve paid their millions and got a car on the grid – they should race!

    21. Cmon guys , be fare with the australian. Was a racing accident. His maneuver was common in F1. No one could react fast enough. Lotus was slow , nobody’s fault.

    22. This crash reminds me of the Patrese Berger crash in Portugal 92.Here it is
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e5A55atmAc
      It was a hard smash but it was a racing incident.It is a blameless incident.Kovalainen should have moved over but Webber should have been less agressive.

    23. Webber all the time proves himself useless in making decisions in close combat, in Australia he was terrible from start to finish, more recent example is Turkey, where I completely lay the blame on Webber, and now this, I’am sure he is never gonna win the WDC because he always crumbles under pressure!

    24. How hard should Heikki Kovalainen defend his position? Considering his team mate finished 4 laps down.

      I’m almost certain he could not have defended his position for the remaining 49 laps. But you never know…

      1. It is worth reminding that Trulli had a problem at the beginning of the race, and was 2 laps down already when he came out of the pits at the beginning of the race, and also rest of the newbies finished only 2 laps down.

    25. Unlucky for Mark Webber there. Just a small error.

      Imagine if the kerb was one of the high ones they use at Monza etc. Could have been a lot worse!

      1. May I also add a kudos for the modern safety standards of F1.

    26. Well it’s a racing incident for me, but if there’s any blame it’s got to be Webber really. Kovalainen weaved away from Webber, it was his own decision to follow him.

      1. Its not Webbers fault. Its possible that HK was moving aside for MW to pass, but he has mirrors too, so to brake hard early before the corner was just stupid when MW was up his behind. It is so obvious from the incar camera that HK braked at the wrong time for the wrong reason. Many above have bagged the Australian commentary team for their comments, but I agree with them. I would rather listen to experts who have been closer to F1 than any of us than opinions of backseat drivers who have no idea. Look at the incar camera, it is obvious that the space MW left for safety disappears in an instant because of HK’s actions. HK’s fault without a doubt.

        1. In a post-race interview Webber said that he doesn’t blame Kovalainen for the incident.

          Webber mentioned that the Lotus had braked 80 metres earlier than he (Webber) had braked the previous lap. But given that Kovalainen was 1) well off the racing line and on the dirt to defend his position and 2) in a slower car, perhaps Webber should have taken more account of that.

          Some of the commentary just after the incident asked why Heikki had bothered trying to defend from a much faster car. Turn the point around – why was Webber so desperate to pass a much slower car? Webber himself said he’d have been past in 15 seconds anyway so a bit of patience wouldn’t have hurt – no more than landing on his head, anyway.

    27. Kovalainen shouldn’t have to yield like DC is suggesting but IMO he was jinking around a bit too much while defending. More Webber’s fault, but Kovalainen wasn’t completely innocent.

      At the end of the day, it was a racing accident and the most important thing is that both are OK. What would have happened in the “good old days” doesn’t bear thinking about.

    28. this was a scary crash,everyone I was watching with stopped breathing when the car started flipping, shook me up for a good couple of minutes.

      but it goes to show the amazing safety features these things have, how do you flip a car at that speed ani walk away from the crash?

    29. Thank God for the massive amount of runoff area, i’d hate to see what would have happened if there had been a wall right on the side of the track.

    30. Well, as tragic as it was, this accident reminds me of Gilles Villneuve hitting Mass at Zolder after both swerved left at the same time. Villneuve sadly died, but Webber was unscathed. This shows how much F1 is advancing saftey-wise, because it was only last year where Glock suffered that horrible cradh at Suzuka where he broke his leg and vertebrea, and it was also last year when Massa’s freak accident occured. This year, no one has been injured in a crash, especially this one and that Chandhok-Trulli incident at Montecarlo.

    31. Racing incident for me. Classic car of much faster car overtaking a slower car in a tricky spot. Kova undoubtedly has to brake earlier in a Lotus and his slight weaving completely blinded Webber’s braking spot, who was then caught out by Kova braking.

    32. Of course, no-one is to blame, as such. The OneHD commentators sounded a little ridiculous lambasting Kovy – but did I find Daryl Beattie’s comments about Gascoyne amusing.
      It’s much like Webber said. He was simply caught out with where the Lotus had to brake. Another car, he would have been able to come back on the right like he was trying to, and attempt to out-brake on the pass.

      A lot of us (including me) have previously disparaged the amount of run-off these newer tracks have in the name of safety, but I think we’re all extremely thankful in this case it was there!

    33. John Cousins
      28th June 2010, 1:55

      Well, as one of the worlds biggest Mark Webber fans, It hurts me to say that it was probably Marks fault. The channel Ten (one) commentators really are too emotional and patriotic to be commentating fairly. The fact is that when Webber gets a REALLY bad start he gets a kind of red mist and just goes crazy trying to win back positions. He goes from being calculated to being overly aggressive. Kovi’s lotus really is a bucket of poo compared to the RB and Mark should have considered the fact that Kovi’s braking point would have been much earlier than his own. You have allowances for the fact that they are doing 300kph but really it comes down to Mark not giving enough room. My heart was in my mouth as Webber hit the tyres! Never have I been so glad to see a steering wheel tossed from a car. As for Kovalienen moving out of his way… Well… we all must race by the rules, whether you like them or not. They were racing for position and quite frankly that’s all there is to it. If Kovi let Webber past he wouldn’t be doing his job. Remember De-grassi and Alonso in Monaco.. I love watching that stuff. Congrats to all the people past and present who have worked to make F1 cars so indestructable!

      1. Frank from Oz
        28th June 2010, 2:20

        I’m a Webber fan myself and I agree with you 100% on this one. Here’s hoping for a better start at Silverstone!

        1. Agreed. I love Webber and my heart was in my mouth when I saw that car take off (with the strangest feeling of deja vu) but I have to say that I thought it mostly Webber’s fault. He needs to work a bit more at keeping a cool head when things start to go pear shaped, a la Melbourne & Valencia. He also has to work hard to ensure that the setbacks of the last two races don’t derail his WDC challenge.

          I’d have loved for BBC to have interviewed him after the incident though – what pearler of a comment would he have come out with?

    34. I think maybe the f duct could have done something to the balance…. i dunno it just seems weird that redbull ran the f-duct and that happend

    35. wong chin kong
      28th June 2010, 3:18

      No, Kova certainly should not let Webber through. Kova is racing for position. Webber is no novice, should be able to gauge how fast he was approaching the car in front, adjust his throttle and brakes. This is pure poor judgement by Webber and hopefully he doesn’t repeat the same mistakes or there will be some more airborne F1 cars. In F1, you can’t have a sign flashing at the back of the car “Slow car ahead, exercise caution.”

    36. I’m an Aussie and a Mark Webber fan but even I am prepared to say it was a racing incident. Kovalainen had every right to be defending track position regardless of who was behind him because they were racing for position. So what if the Lotus was 3 or 4 seconds a lap slower than the Red Bull? Does that mean that Heikki is only allowed to race his teammate, the Virgin’s and HRT? IMO, no. The back markers have as much right to “race” for position as anyone on the circuit, despite the opinions of people like David Coulthard.

      Now, if the Lotus was being lapped it might be a different story. But, it wasn’t being lapped and was under no obligation to yield simply because Webber was in a faster car.

      An unfortunate incident the crash may have been, but that’s all it was, a racing incident with neither driver any more to blame than the other. Kovalainen braked early, Webber misjudged the situation. End of story & move on to Silverstone IMO.

    37. I wouldn’t lay the blame on any individual. It was just a racing incident.

      Kova braked about 120-130m before the corner, 40m+ earlier than Webber (and most other cars) had been at the time. But that (I’m assuming) is simply due to the car.

      People saying Webber couldn’t have made the move obviously didn’t realise how early Kova braked.

    38. Red Bull gives you Wiiiiiings

    39. From the reply I saw (on the BBC site during the Webber interview) Kovalainen was weaving left to right before the incident, preventing Webber from getting Alongside. He then braked 80m earlier than Webber normally would. Terrible driving from Kovalainen, there’s no excuse for weaving across the track, especially when the performance differential is that extreme.

    40. i like webber – but this is the second time he has failed to move the steering wheel – once when he was been passed (vettel) and now when he was was trying to pass – sure webber is a great guy, charming and nice – and i am thankful that he made it out of that horrific crash today – but common webber! turn the wheel when you have too!

    41. Red Bull gives you wings!!

      1. Ya,but they sure didn’t last long…this is pay back for his bad move in Turkey.

    42. DC’s comments about lesser teams/slower cars should let faster cars through reminds me of his (non)performance at Monaco in 2001 when his McLaren was stuck behind Bernoldi’s Arrows for an interminable time. I recall him requesting Bernoldi to be asked to let him past – and he failed to tag along when the leader lapped them both. His views obviuosly haven’t changed, but his (worthwhile) involvement in the drivers’ safety aspects have (in his eyes) justified and strengthened his opinion.
      It is racing – if you want to get past, you have to use your speed/power advantage and skill to pick the moment. A racing accident – and it would not truly be racing without them.
      Webber is presumably looking to develop the aura of Schumi – when you see him in your mirrors you know he will force his way past, so you might as well do it the least painful way to the both of you. Webber presumably had his dander up after his poor start – I’m all for s*** or bust racing al la Mansell, who always performed best when he’d cocked it up and the red mist had decended.
      I likewise am relieved that the chassis strength and integrity resulted in no injury.

    43. Both accidents were scary especially Webber’s one as he landed on his head & if you see the video you can see how deep did his care hit the tyre barriers. I will blame Webber for the incident he should have been a bit patient as the Lotus is 3-4 second slower than his Red Bull he didn’t needed to slip stream his car, he misjudge the speed of his car. But thank heaven he is ok.

    44. 1. Lotus are supposed to race for the position and allowed to move to the inside to defend before taking the corner.
      2. By moving to the inside, the Lotus had picked up ‘marbles’ which are bits of rubber that come off all the cars tyres and when these marbles stuck to the Lotus tyres, their grip would have been reduced for a few corners – this is why the Lotus had to brake a little earlier, so as to allow for the reduced grip.
      3. Webber simply made the mistake of following the Lotus to the outside in an attempt to maximise the slip streaming gain in speed: he already had enough overtaking speed and should have stuck to the inside and attempted to outbrake the Lotus.

      Webber’s mistake and an embarassing one at that.

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