Hamilton: Button “just kept moving across” in crash

2011 Canadian Grand Prix

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Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, Montreal, 2011

Lewis Hamilton retired from the Canadian Grand Prix after colliding with his team mate.

Hamilton was squeezed into the pit wall as he tried to pass Jenson Button.

Hamilton said: “It was tricky conditions, I was doing the best I could to keep the car on-track.

“I had pretty good pace and plus I fell back behind Jenson and he made a mistake into the last corner.

“So I got the run on him and I was on, I guess, the outside. I haven’t seen the footage but I felt I was halfway up the outside of him and he just kept moving across, whether or not he saw me or not, and I was in the wall”.

He added he was unhappy at being told to retire with damage when he felt he could have continued.

Hamilton said: “It was only the tyre that was busted.

“I tried to drive it back to the garage and the team told me to retire. I thought the suspension was gone, that’s what they said, and it turned out it wasn’t”.

McLaren managing director Jonathan Neale defended his drivers, saying: “I think that final move you can see on Jenson’s car the contact that they make and it makes it look worse than it is.

“Putting Monaco to one side, Lewis has driven really well here this weekend. I think it’s extremely difficult conditions out there. In the dry it’s a difficult circuit, we’ve seen good people stick it in the wall here”.

2011 Canadian Grand Prix

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    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    145 comments on “Hamilton: Button “just kept moving across” in crash”

    1. I think it was mostly Button’s fault, but I don’t think it deserves a penalty for it. Very, very tough call. Either way, I am still in shock. :(

      1. Button was angry after the crash but he forced Hamilton on the grass. Maybe he was expecting Lewis to pass on the right?

        1. Button didnt expect Lewis to try force him off the racing line.

        2. Button was half way across the track when Hamilton tried to go through on the left. Anyone could have clearly seen that there was no space to pass on that side

          1. There was plenty of space, but Button just couldn’t see him. He apologized to Lewis afterwards. I think the case is closed.

            1. yup, exactly… nice to see the respect between them

            2. poor lewis. mclaren had done a wet setup and if he hadnt retired, probably wouldve been a mclaren 1-2. Sad.

      2. Agree, Button more at fault, but can’t be blamed too much. Of course he doesn’t deserve a penalty, but neither did Di Resta. Stewards are a complete joke, and show no consistency.

        1. Can someone PLEASE explain to me why Di Resta received a penalty for making a move on Heidfeld in to the final chicane? There is contact between them but Di Resta does not gain an advantage and he does not cause damage to his competitor. We saw collisions like this many, many times during the race (Sutil-Rosberg, Heidfeld-Koboyashi, etc etc). So why punish Di Resta alone?

          Far worse incidents where driver’s punted their competitors in to a spin (or in to the wall) go unpunished!

          Indeed, it seems that the stewards are far too happy to penalise mid-field Rookie’s. They certainly don’t take half as long to deliberate these incidents as they do with the “big boys”.

          Once again infuriated with the stewards. :(

          1. I like your point – I’m convinced the stewards are punishing drivers when they can as opposed to when they should.

        2. yep, Button get no penalty for either of the accidents but Alonso gets one for destroying his front wing at Sepang? Among other things. These stewards are messed up. For sure IMO mistakes should very rarely be punished, but consistency is what’s needed. You can’t have one escaping.

      3. Trenthamfolk (@)
        12th June 2011, 23:03

        Hamilton knew he was driving into a wedge (Martin Brundel’s words). It can’t always be some other guy’s fault… who said that?

        1. ya he couldve simply lifted off the throttle instead of tryin to squeeze past. I think once he hit the grass he lost traction.

    2. DC: “He didn’t take an unusual line”

      But he must have seen Hamilton, surely?

      1. Ever sat in a racing car and seen what you can actually see in the mirrors? It’s very little at the best of times and must be virtually zero in the wet.

        1. but you can tell by listen to the other engine and you can tell there is another car next to you .

          1. I’m only assuming that it is impossible to hear car next to you. Drivers have ear plugs and barely hear they own engine sound i don’t think anyone can tell anything from engine sound in F1.

            1. According to drivers, you can hear another car

            2. The car infront not behind, for sure only your own engine behind

            3. You can quite clearly see from the replay that Button looks over immediately before moving across. Rain or no rain, he would have seen Hamilton.

            4. JP, are you actually suggesting Button hit him on purpose?

              It was a mistake, a big one to take out your own team mate too, but that’s it.

              I think after Monaco, Lewis should take it easy to be honest. He hasn’t exactly been on best behavior himself!

          2. @JP

            I initially thought the same, however on replays you can see that when he looks in the mirror it is a fraction of a second before hamilton pulls out from behind him. It was clearly just one of those things, If hamilton had pulled the move fractionally earlier Button would have seen him, if a fraction later then Hamilton would have had time to back off. Unfortunately for Hamilton it happend too close to the barrier otherwise he may have simply sustained a broken wing.

            It does put in to question though why the FIA allow such tiny mirrors as they are practically useless and there as a token gesture. With all the other safety rules you would have thought that they would like drivers to be actually able to see what is behind them….

      2. Button actually did take an unusual line.

        Button pulled the same move on Webber later in the race and there was plenty room on that side.

    3. Button’s fault, racing incident, don’t really care at the moment to be honest!

      1. Same here.

    4. Racing incident but if you must blame someone, blame Button.

      I want to hear what Button has to say about it after the race. If it starts again.

    5. As Brundle pointed out, Button was looking in his mirrors on the side Lewis was trying to pass. Case closed I think.

      1. The verdict is in:
        “the Stewards have concluded
        that it is reasonable to believe that Button was not aware of Hamilton’s position to his left.”

        Racing incident.

    6. It was Buttons fault but wasnt deliberate, its not his style to take someone out on purpose let alone your team mate. No action should be taken in my opinion

    7. It was buttons fault bloody drove into him.

      1. :D fanboi

    8. button was looking left when hamilton was directly behind and then looked ahead

      1. Spot on bassbar, I’m surprised the other posters here haven’t also seen that. I expect they are all Hamilton fans though.

        1. Just because button didnt see Lewis doesnt mean that Button isnt to blame. Nowt to do whether i support Lewis or not. Cheap argument.

        2. Yeah true JB looked left but LH was directly behind him and he took the racing line. I don’t think it was JB’s fault LH went for an ever decreasing gap.

        3. i’m a big fan of hamilton’s but it seems pretty clear from the head-on replay what happened. lewis is far too impatient this season and needs to relax a bit

          1. Gotta agree. Maybe it was Jenson’s fault for closing the door , but then again what was Lewis trying to do by getting his car is the most impossible of gaps?

            1. Trenthamfolk (@)
              12th June 2011, 23:06

              If you’re coming from behind and doing banzi moves, diving into spaces that aren’t there, it’s your fault if you come a cropper! Hammy will have to learn!

      2. Mouse_Nightshirt
        12th June 2011, 22:31

        From what I see from the replays after the race.

        1. Jenson gets bad drive off the final chicane and Lewis closes right behind.
        2. Jenson checks his mirrors to see where Lewis is – Lewis is directly behind at this point.
        3. Jenson takes the normal racing line (which is steadily getting closer to the pitwall) as he believes Lewis to be behind him.
        4. Lewis moves up the inside.
        5. Collision.

        Conclusion? Racing incident.

        1. The thing is though, the racing line isn’t THAT close to the wall.

          I’m guessing Button saw Hamilton and tried to close the door just as Hamilton put his front in.

          1. I agree, the normal racing line is far from the wall, or at least if he would have take the racing line, Hamilton could have put his car next to him without hiting the wall.
            I’m not saying Button did it on purpose, just that he tried to close the door a tad to late, that’s all

    9. How can it be Button’s fault. He was in front and didn’t change his line. I know Lewis is McLaren’s bright-eyed boy but if he wants his team mate to dive out the way for him he should drive for Ferrari.

      1. It’s Button’s fault because he turned into Ham, Ham was on the very edge of the track driving straight, Button steered into him.

        You’re not meant to ram cars passing you on a straight, hence Button’s fault.

        From footage, Button didn’t see him.
        Looks like Button checked his mirror while Ham was in the tow and then didn’t see Ham move onto the far side and start overtaking.

        Will go down as a racing incident with the stewards but if anyone will be getting a reprimand over that one it’s Button.

        1. Button didn’t steer into him. If you see it closely, Button chose a line and was just going straight down there, while Hamilton tried to squeeze past. I could be completely wrong though, but I’m pretty sure it will just go down as a racing incident.

        2. GQsm it was not Button’s fault he was taking the racing line. No way yo ucan expect a driver to do any of the following.

          A. Deviate from the racing line when a car is almost totally behind them.

          B. See a car behind them clearly in conditions that wet.

          C. Deviate from their normal racing line when they have track position (i.e are clearly ahead).

          For this reason it was Hamilton’s fault as it was his fault when he smashed into Massa at the Hairpin at Monaco.

          Hamilton is a great driver and I would love to see him win another WC but in my opinion he doesn’t deserve to until he tones down his aggression to the controlled form.

          As DaGoaty said, if Lewis wants his team mate to move out of his way he should go drive for Ferrari.

          1. Button HAS in the past driven out of the way (or reduced speed, or saved fuel, call it what you like) for his team mate, while driving for McLaren. Funny, how selective memory works.

            1. I was at the track in Montreal, and it was indeed disappointing to see Lewis retire but it’s the aggression for the 9 laps or so, that was very exciting to watch at the hairpin before the DRS straights. I thought after, that Button was actually trying to make space on the other side for Lewis to pass, but didn’t see nor expect a pass on that side.

      2. Hamilton had his front wheel alongside Button and contact came from Button moving across. It doesn’t matter if the preferred link – which Schumacher took – involves veering to the left, if a car’s already there and he’s not totally in front then he has no right to move over.

      3. ‘If you see a gap and don’t go for it, you are no longer a racing driver,’ said Ayrton Senna

        Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/formulaone/article-2002861/Martin-Samuel-Jenson-Button-Lewis-Hamilton-team-mates.html#ixzz1P8WUEqpp

        1. yeah i wish Senna was alive to witness the criticism Hamilton has been getting over the past couple of weeks. I’m pretty sure he would defend him to the hilt.

    10. Clearly Hamilton’s fault. Doesn’t look like Button was looking when Hamilton actually moved out, and even if he was I doubt he could see. And even if he COULD see Lewis, why should he move off the racing line? Lewis has to drive AROUND the cars ahead, not THROUGH them. As with all car activities, the following driver is ALWAYS at fault.

      1. How did you feel about Schumacher and Barrichello at Hungary then?

        1. +1

          The same thoughts crossed my mind when i saw the first replay.

          1. Schumacher deviated from the racing line and made more than one move. Jenson stayed on the racing line and did not change trajectory. Completely different

            1. go back and look at the hungary replay and then comment. he moved only once and stuck to the line.

        2. Schumacher knew that Barrichello was trying to pass on that side and was still squeezing him whilst he was well up along side him. Button checked his mirrors, didn’t see Hamilton and moved onto line. Hamilton got impatient and tried to put it into too smaller gap too early in the maneouver.

        3. Yeah, but Schumacher knew Rubens was there didn’t he? -.-

          1. IIRC Schumacher claimed that he hadn’t seen Barrichello.

      2. As with all car activities, the following driver is ALWAYS at fault.

        Thats just simply not true.

      3. “As with all car activities, the following driver is ALWAYS at fault.”

        This line shows that you have no idea what you are talking about.

      4. It’s never quite that simple. If you close the door on the car coming from behind, then whose fault is that?

        In this situation, I can only imagine Button didn’t see Hamilton (due to the conditions) and so continued to move across and Hamilton ran out of room – which I reckon makes it a racing incident.

      5. If you watch the replays, you’ll see Button’s head clearly turn left, so he was looking in his mirrors. Even if Button moved across the road, he certainly didn’t need to make contact.

        As with all car activities, the following driver is ALWAYS at fault.

        So, you blame Hill for Adelaide?

      6. That is on the roads mate. And even there its not completely true.

        Button moved over, probalby didn’t see much of anything in those mirrors, but he would have known Lewis to be somewhere out there.

      7. I do get that, but this isn’t Scalextric. If you are going along the racing line and there is something there, you don’t just keep moving onto it.

        Whether Button realised something was there is another matter, and Hamilton should have realised that he was possibly not noticed, so its just a racing incident.

      8. Excuse you, Button did the exact same thing Lewis did, to Alonso later. He put his car on the racing line and Alonso had to get out of the way, to let him go, unfortunately, wasn’t enough. Why when it’s about Lewis, it’s ok to smash into him and it’s Lewis’s fault, but when other drivers do it, it was the other guy’s fault for not giving him space?
        How come everytime somebody catches Hamilton sleeping and gets on the inside of him, he manages to give space, but nobody but Schumacher is able to give Lewis space? How come only the two of them are able to see in the mirrors and the rest drive like they ******* own the road?

    11. So that’s the fourth time in two races that Hamilton deliberately drives into another driver. The FIA has to revoke Hamilton’s license if it wants to show that it doesn’t condone this sort of dangerous behaviour.

    12. Well even if Red Bull lose their dominant pace, Lewis will have it hard to win this championship with such luck.
      Except from a good car, the stars have to be a little with you when you go for a championship contention and they sure seem to favor Vettel until now.

      I’m disappointed because really Hamilton seems like the only possible guy to bring the fight to Vettel and with such horrible luck the championship will finish too fast.

      1. Horrible Luck? The only possible guy to fight Vettel? Really? He only does these things to himself. It must kill McLaren to see their golden boy constantly throw it away and have old man Button beating him regularly.

        1. “Beating him regularly”? As I recall, Lewis Hamilton has, by all standards, dominated Button as a teammate, this year as well as last year. Button is a very good driver, but he gets far too good of a reputation from you fawning Brits. He’s good looking, tall, charming, and is seemingly a very cool guy. But we all just need to wake up and look at the stats. Lewis beat Jenson 15-4 in qualifying last year, mostly by margins of 3 tenths, and has been doing the same this year (if not for the monaco fiasco, would be 6-1 in qualy this year).

        2. Agree. What is becoming increasingly clear this season is that there is ONE McLaren driver with a problem, and he’s the one with a beard.

    13. Racing incident.

      Hamilton could have chosen to go the other side, i.e. not in the direction Button was clearly moving towards. Not an easy call for him at that point, though, as the racing line was about to carry Button across the other way.

      Equally, Button should have been aware that, having made an error at the last corner, Hamilton would have been trying to pass him. A degree of circumspection wouldn’t have hurt – especially in the knowledge it was his team mate behind him.

      1. Glad that you have a balanced perspective Keith. I think Button was quite clear in moving across to the left once he saw Hamilton was still behind him, I believe that’s why he looked in his mirrors (to check he could still move across).

        Having realised Button was moving across Hamilton should have tried to go right side rather than left, or if he had already tried to go to the wrong side he should have backed out.

        Basically it would have been easy for Hamilton to have backed out of the move and try at a future corner. He shouldn’t expect a driver to be able to see him in these conditions and deviate from their usual racing line when he was still so far behind.

      2. Yeah, certainly not a need for any penalties. They are getting quit a bit too strict already. No good punishing this kind of moves as well.

      3. I think it was a little bad timing and bad luck the reason the incident happened. Button looked to the mirror and stopped just as Hamilton started making his move.
        Hamilton had enough space when he started the move but by the time he started overtaking the space almost dissapeared. You can say why he didn’t choose the other side but when he initially started the space was actually in the side he tried to go

      4. I mostly agree with you, except for LH pointed the inner line just after chicane, as he saw JB error. The only way he had to avoid the incident was to easy the throttle.

        Button: where does he think his mate was on that straight? Drivers have to know that if they can’t see someone chasing them, most probably they are on their blind spot. It’s basic racing. And an avoidable error even for a kart racer.

        Also can’t think Button did it intentionally. Too dangerous manouver.

        1. If he hadn’t been watching in his mirrors to see where Hamilton went, it’s possible he didn’t know WHICH blind spot Hamilton was in. He probably did though.

    14. It just looks like a racing indecent to me. Unfortunate for Lewis as it didn’t look like Jenson was attempting to push him into the wall. Just one of those things I guess.

      Which is a shame as Lewis looked like he was going to give this race a good old go.

      1. *Incident

        haha

      2. Nigelstash (@)
        12th June 2011, 20:13

        Yes, ‘RACING’ is what we turn out TVs on to see. All this rubbish about ‘causing an avoidable accident’ needs to be reviewed – ALL accidents are avoidable if you don’t try to overtake or if you move over like a coward every time someone comes alongside you. Reckless driving should be penalised – the rest should be encouraged.

        1. +1,

          perfect

          1. A-men to that statement

        2. But isn’t it commonly accepted that Schumacher pushing Rubens into the wall was NOT fair play?

          Or would you prefer an anything goes situation?

          1. Gotta agree with you… not all contact are just racing incidents. I think the stewards were right in not investigating the Lewis and Jenson incident, as it was a racing incident, but Schumi and Bari was not fair play.

        3. What I hate most about these penalties is that it rewards drivers for turning in when they are being overtaken.

          Hamilton makes more room for Schumacher in the hairpin to prevent a colission. Had he turned in, Schumacher would have gotten the penalty.

          That’s just wrong. It’s like saying that driving through a red light is OK as long as you don’t cause an accident.

          Either overtaking (outside of DRS zones) is illegal or knock it off with these penalties. At least when cars are next to each other in the braking zone.

          I can understand that crashes like Sutil caused last year in Korea and Barrichello this year in Australia should be penalised. When they are that far back and still attempt an overtake they have to understand that a crash can be the only result.

          On the other hand, Kobayashi made a few of those stick …

    15. The head on replay clearly shows Button looking in his Left mirror then pulling hard to the left as Lewis made his move. Button clearly put Hamilton into the wall!

    16. Ahhh well…, racing incidents do occur. There won’t be a big war that ensues. They will get past it and continue good relations. I know that thought bothers the many negative visitors of this and many other sites, but don’t hold Your breath for a meltdown.

    17. Button was way off the normal racing line and in that weather you could have been in a London bus and he wouldn’t see it behind him so he has to at fault

    18. Personally I think Hamilton is at fault. If you watch the replay Button looks in his mirrors see Hamilton directly behind, Button looks back ahead then Hamilton pulls out. Button is on the racing line, the same line that Schumacher in front of him took and Hamilton goes for a closing gap that was no longer there when he arrived.

    19. Two things crossed my mind the instant I saw tge accident followed by Buttons outcry “wgat on earth is he(lewis) doing?”
      1. Buttons knee-jerk outcry is to me that of guilt!
      2. This – Lewis’s first half F1 2011 season – is shaping up much like Vettel’s last one the championship winning season 2010 which also was marred by calamity of his own making in the first half only for Vettel to come through and beat the odds.

      So, I’m hoping Lewis can see the silver lining in all this.

    20. The fact that Button said “What is he doing”, leads me to believe that he saw Lewis and knew he was there. The accident could have been avoided by Button, Button chose not to.

    21. Schumi did a little tricky dirty move to Lewis though. His just so good at them it’s almost undetectable but he can’t fool me.

      1. Not really. Hamilton just outbraked himself and if it wasn’t for Schumi’s quick-thinking, Hamilton would ahve crashed into him as well.

      2. And Hamilton took Webber off. “Undetectable”, but “he can’t fool me”.

        1. Did i hurt your Shumi fan feelings?
          And the Hamilton-Webber incited was anything but undetectable considering it even went to the stewards.

          1. Why would I be hurt? It’s you who made a claim that hasn’t been agreed with or listened to by anyone.

    22. sid_prasher (@)
      12th June 2011, 19:47

      Wow, I thought people will be saying more Hamilton’s fault…
      Anyways for me its a racing incident but Hamilton was just too eager. He was clearly quicker and should have picked a better place (or side) to over take.
      Its like he was thinking – “these bunch of amateurs are delaying me while Vettel runs away….move over”

    23. I am so angry, sad, frustrated(just name it) right now with these two fellows… What were they thinking!!!? I guess I had better start watching ice hockey!!! This sport will give me a heart attack!!!

    24. As usual everyone wants to find Hamilton at fault..including the BBC live reporters until they looked again at the footage.
      give Hamilton a break guys.Button clearly turns and sees Hamilton but still swings his stearing wheel to the left.
      WHY do you then blame poor Hamilton.?

    25. I love Button, but he has to admit error onthiss on. He clearly looked in his mirrors and would have been aware of how close Lewis was. If he was moving onto the “normal racing line” he looked to move across extremely abruptly.
      My heart goes out to Lewis entirely. He has had such rotten luck of late and really deserves better. He is probably one of the few drivers to have the passion of a TRUE driver!

    26. sid_prasher (@)
      12th June 2011, 19:56

      If they weren’t team mates every one would be backing Button, what was he supposed to do – just move over?

    27. Button should have left more room. Any driver with a run on the car in front would have made the same attempt to pass, Button included. Had it been the other way around with Button in the wall he would have been stating Lewis moved over on him. I feel gutted for Lewis at the moment, its just not falling for him at the moment.

    28. Some drivers move full left on the straight to set up for turn 1 some don’t. All move at least to the middle. So its not clear whether Button was keeping his line. Button was so slow coming out of the chicane, he had know Hamilton would be on top of him. But Hamilton had to know it would be 50/50 whether he would have the room on the left, if Button didn’t see him. But, we all know, 50/50 is good enough for Hamilton. That is why he seen as both the passing king and often seen in the steward’s room. This accident was similar to the Rockenfeller accident at Lemans.

    29. Button was looking for Lewis, couldn’t see him so took his line. Racing incident, unfortunately for Lewis he is starting to look dangerous out there. It make work for him in the end, it worked for Senna after all.

    30. Are some people BLIND or just Hamilton funboys??Button LOOKS at mirror but Hamilton at that point is 100% behind him and Button didn’t see him for sure at this weather.He only saw that Ham is not there and he continues after his racing line.I am certain that he new it is gonna get passed by Ham because of slow exit and he expected that he will go outside.That’s why he looked so annoyed when he said on radio:”what is he doing”.I don’t really understand some people.How can this be compared with Schumi and Barr last year in Hungary??? Barr was ALREADY side by side and then Schumi almost put him in the wall.One more thing,it was CLEAR DAY and not waterfall behind your rear wheels and your mirrors.

      1. Well if you cant see what is going on behind, and you know you were slow out of the corner, wouldn’t it be a good idea to just leave a team mate seized gap on each side of the straight?
        It is not like it is a turn where you can only take one line though without messing up your lap times.

    31. Such a shame, Lewis looked to have a lot of pace, would have made for a good race with him attacking the ferrari’s and so on. No one’s fault, Hamilton had a run on button and went for the gap, Button didn’t see him and closed the gap, happens a lot, just unfortunate he was up against the wall.

    32. Buton buy him the dioptre.Penalti for Lewis becouse deliberately hit the wall.This is not Formula 1.Lewis please bee clever and go NASCAR with Montoya.

    33. I’m surprised most people blame Button for the incident. He took the regular line and Hamilton jumped down the left hand side knowing Button would go to the edge of the track. Button had every right not to move to the right; it is the responsibility of the chasing car to make an overtake stick, ergo Hamilton should either have backed off once he realised Button would close the door, or try to overtake on the right. As long as the leading driver doesn’t weave more than once (and of course endanger the driver behind), he is entitled do take whatever line he wants – Button obviously chose to take the regular line. I fail to see why one would blame him.

    34. It was clear that Hamilton had more pace and was about to overtake Button. But we should also give Button a chance instead of accusing him of not giving way, because it was pouring heavily. You either look in the front or you look in the back with a rain like that.

    35. what about hamilton pass on webber? he destroyed webber’s race webber gave him lots of room but hamilton still hit Webber’s rear tire.
      then he crashed with button, and was speeding once again under the safety car, i mean three illegal actions in about 10 laps, in the accident with button he hits button in the back, so he is responsible for that too.
      He is never going to learn.

    36. For those who watched the LeMans Race, a great race, we saw two aggressive moves to the inside that resulted in contact and accidents involving Audi cars. They seemed in retrospect to be poor decisions based on poor judgement. The speed that the cars are moving at makes it the responsibility of the drivers to make that split second judgement. When a driver gets it wrong and results in contact with another driver which affects that driver’s race adversely there must be a penalty. I say this because without any consequences drivers will not learn that there are situations where it is not only their concern’s that matter. In my opinion the driver ahead has the racing line and never is responsible for giving the car behind a pass. When a car moves off the racing line the driver behind has the right to dive in and the corner must be shared and the turn out is won by the driver that gets it right. In Hamilton’s situation he is out and will not get to make that choice.
      I wish this race would begin.

    37. Button started veering to the left AFTER Hamilton had a wheel alongside him. It’s debatable whether or not Button knew where Hamilton was when he started veering, but the fact is Hamilton got a good run out of the corner and chose his line early, once he got his wheel alongside Button, that line was his and Button had no right to move – whatever his preferred line for the next corner – over unless he was totally in front.

      Also on the Webber contact, Webber leaves the door wide open, sees Hamilton coming through, then tries to cut across Hamilton – a fact conveniently ignored by Brundle – only to veer away when he realizes it’s too late, after which they make contact. If Webber had stayed on his initial wider line and hadn’t tried to chop Hamilton up it’s debatable if the would have made contact.

    38. WHO CARES! EVERYBODY SHUTUP! THEY’RE ABOUT TO START THE RACE AGAIN!

    39. Well no one has won a championship on excuses. The drivers or the fans.

      1. nicely put motocan…

    40. Well I guess this kind of puts paid to the championship unless Vettel falls off the track.

    41. That has to be a lesson for Hamilton.

    42. Racing incident.

      1. Sure it is…had Hamilton been in button’s position you would have been one of the first here to assign blame to Hammy.

    43. SennaNmbr1 (@)
      12th June 2011, 22:10

      WHen Button looked in his mirror, Hamilton was squarely behind him. That’s all that needs to be said.

    44. Now we can say that this move by Ham and lack of patience clearly cost him a victory. I just can imagine his pace in damp conditions. He could have been miles away from VET…

    45. Disappointing for Lewis. A racing incident above everything, Lewis went for a spot that wasn’t there but he liked to think it was. Cannot fault the guys tenacity!

    46. Pretty clear, to me, that it was Hamilton’s fault. Jenson was holding his line, it was Lewis’ responsibility to find a way round him. Instead of which he decided to find a way through him, which was always going to end badly. Just glad that he didn’t end up wrecking both their races.

    47. 50/50 for me. Lewis was entitled to have a go because he got a decent run on Jenson of the chicane. There’s no breaking point where contact was made so it’s not like he had a lunge in a far-away breaking zone.

      Perhaps if it had been dry Button would have seen him coming, and they would have gone into turn 1 battling for position.

      There were many racing incidents that were just as ‘clumsy’ and it would be a travesty to tarnish this race with controversy.

    48. this is ridiculous! I think everyone had enough of Hamilton! Ban him for a few races and you’ll see he will learn to behave! never was a fan of hamilton but i started liking him last season and he definitely ruined that with last couple of races…enough is enough! it’s simply not always someone else’s fault.

      1. Did you watch the incidents he was involved in today?

        * Webber – said he thought it was a racing incident, in tricky conditions (stewards agreed).

        * Schumacher – Hamilton got pushed on to the grass by him at the hairpin. No wrong doing on Hamilton’s part.

        * Button – said he didn’t see Hamilton, or he would have left him more space. Quickly apologised, and called it a racing incident.

        Unless you think F1 should start banning drivers for being involved in racing incidents? Or just any over-taking, perhaps?

      2. I would think Hamilton having done about 1/5th of all overtakes so far will have a large part to do with him being more often than others having questional moves.

        I do not want to take that away by bannin him for racing!

    49. Weber- Survived finished 3rd – 15 points
      Schumacher- Survived finished 4th – 12 points
      Button- Survived finished 1st – 25 points

      Point is you have to finish to get the points.

    50. Unfortunatelly Hamilton tried to do the same in Monza 2010 and you remember what happened again. I think Button, Alonso and Hamilton are the best drivers in the championship but Hamilton should be more cool in the races because in the most ofthe times he loses places, not anyone else.

    51. Button is saying he didn’t see Lewis. I am sure he had at least heard Hamilton’s engine. Fact is Button just closed the door suddenly.
      Sad to see Button acting like how Massa and Maldanado acted in Monocco. Team mates give each other more room than that. Very selfish move by Button there. I am not defending Hamilton, i think he should have waited but as Ham says he was half a car length alongside Button so only Button could have avoided contact there but unfortunately Button made contact and banged Lewis to the wall.
      Hop Button won’t complain to the stewards when it is going to be vice versa.

      1. What?!

        You reckon that Button heard Hamilton’s engine over his own engine which is firmly planted inside his own car?

        The drivers also use ear-peices which cancel or otherwise nullify most of the sound around them. If this wasn’t the case they’d all be almost deaf.

        Fact is Button just closed the door suddenly.

        I don’t know what race you were watching but its clear as daylight to see that Button was on the racing line and very gradually veered over to the left side of the track, which is still on the racing line by the way.

        Jenson has always been a very respectful and fair driver when racing other drivers for position.

        To suggest that Button intentionally closed the door on Hamilton once the attempted overtake was in progress is just completely rediculous, to the extent that it’s not even worth clarifying why – it’s blindingly obvious.

        1. You hear it quite often that the commentators mention the fact that a driver can actually hear when there is other cars around him.

          1. Hewis Lamilton
            13th June 2011, 15:32

            I can’t comment on a Formula 1 car, but in a formula ford and in a formula continental you can hear a car next to you.

    52. Lewis, you should calm yourself down and figure out why you’ve been involved with so many incidents with so many people. In my opinion it’s because you’ve been making stupid choices and stupid moves. Go home and change into a clean set of panties and start using your head for something other than always putting the blame on someone else.

    53. DEJAVU Tuekey 2010 but this time it was the Silver car.

    54. I think the fact button apologised for it says who fault it was. Jenson was slow out the corner, Hamilton went for the gap and jenson didn’t see him and moved over to racing line. Had it have been dry it’s obvious Lewis would have simply overtaken jenson. And jenson given him room. If the position were reversed in this incident I wonder how many people would still be saying it’s still Lewis fault that he moved over on jenson?

    55. Remember Hamilton squeezed Glock onto the grass in Monza ’08? People were calling for Hamiltons head despite there bein no contact.

      Anytime Hamilton is involved in _any_ inncodent, some people will _always_ hold him accountable. Wether hes the car infront, or the car behind.

      Jenson appologising for the inncodent says it all really.

    56. It was so obviously just one of those things that there is no need for further comment.

    57. Both Senna and Schumacher, 2 of the greatest F1 drivers have all been under fire at the time for certain “controversial” moves they have made in their career, yet still regarded as 2 of the best drivers to grace the sport. To me it just shows how much it means to them, and quit frankly it’s what I want to see. The stewards will decide if its unjust. Here Is one example of senna besides the obvious 89′ 90′ Suzuka incidents. 

      “At the 1988 Portuguese Grand Prix, Prost made a slightly faster start than Senna but the Brazilian dived into the first corner ahead. Prost responded and went to pass Senna at the end of the first lap. Senna swerved to block Prost, forcing the Frenchman to nearly run into the pitwall at 180 mph (290 km/h). Prost kept his foot down and soon edged Senna into the first corner and started pulling away. Though Prost was angered by Senna’s manoeuvre, the Brazilian got away with a warning from the FIA. Senna would later apologize to Prost for the incident.”

      Don’t see all those people saying senna was a danger to F1 now he’s gone. Just rightfully up there as one of the greatest f1 drivers to have lived.

    58. Just i question who is Di Resta managed by ?

    59. Oh come on. how naive are people here? Button took Hamilton and ALonso and people still saying he is not at fault. You know how do you know he is at fault and he did it on purpose on both incident? First just before he pushed Hamilton to the wall he was saying on the radio !what is he (hamilton) doing?! plus that is not the usual race line, you do hear engines, and button is ease on the steer and that manuever was unusual of he is driving style/ ANd on Alonso he did the same thing that he did last year to Alonso and everyone is blaming Alonso on both incident because turning early which was not the case in both. Finally, in the press conference he was asked twice about BOTH incidents, he avoided the question and said he didnt see anything. Button is a liar, Hamilton is a reckless driver and F1 stewards are a joke for inconsistencies in their calls. So they penalized Di Resta and Hamilton but never Button, you guys kidding right. You know, Hamilton joke about Black people was a bad taste but this call inconsistencies you will see it will turn into a valid point. This is just a charade…stewards didnt have the balls to penalized button but they did have it to do it to hamilton in Belgium…you give it sometime, it will backfired as usual…

    60. Did anyone remember that they are team mates and the slower driver HAS to allow the team mate to pass. They are paid to work for the team. If Lewis was faster surely was in a better position to help the team. Jenson got the benefit of pretending he was a blind man! Fair play, he’s forgiven. After all he went on to win for his team. all the experts here comparing this to a normal racing situation between opponents must have a weird brain.

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