Hamilton accepts blame for Kobayashi crash

2011 Belgian Grand Prix

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Lewis Hamilton has changed his view on his collision with Kamui Kobayashi and now says the accident was his fault.

Hamilton posted on his Twitter account:

“After watching the replay, I realise it was my fault today 100%. I didn’t give Kobayashi enough room though I thought in was past.

“Apologies to Kamui and to my team. The team deserves better from me.”

Kobayashi said: “After he overtook me it was not my intention to get my position back, so I stayed on my line and didn’t expect him to move over.”

2011 Belgian 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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    134 comments on “Hamilton accepts blame for Kobayashi crash”

    1. just trying to escape a post race penalty, it wasn’t 100% his fault

      1. The stewards said during the race no action was being taken.

        1. Well done to Lewis for taking responsibility. It was definitely his fault, and it was rather amusing seeing Martin Whitmarsh blindly trying to defend his driver.

          Lewis obviously just didn’t see Kobayashi in his mirrors. However, there is an interesting, and possibly explanatory aspect to this which I don’t think any of the commentators picked up: the unexpected straight line speed of the Sauber. Hamilton had already made his pass early on the straight, but even with DRS deployed was strangely unable to pull clear of the Sauber. Obviously not what he expected!

          1. I disagreed with Martin Witmarsh, but it was nice to hear him have an impassioned stance on something instead of the PR-speak you get so often from the Macca team.

            1. But in my opinion blindly ignoring the fairly obvious truth in defence of his driver who was in the wrong was a kind of PR speak, the king they often use to refuse accepting blame. And it was fairly infuriating to her Jordan speak sense for once but not be able to show Whitmarsh that you can’t turn in on another driver.

          2. No wonder he didn’t see him in his mirros, he was looking in the righthand mirror while KOB was on his left :)

          3. I believe Kobayashi said they were running much less downforce, which allowed a faster speed on the straights.

          4. Agreed, I love how Hamilton said, “the team deserves better from me.” That shows a driver taking on responsibility, and I think previews a more mature Hamilton.

            1. Unfortunately that’s all Lewis has been doing lately – taking responsability for his mistakes. It’s time he gave his team what it deserves – consistently good results. Maybe Withmarsh should give him some lessons on “championship management” because if he continues like this the 2008 title will be his first and last one.

        2. To me, it looked more like a racing incident, with a bit more to blame at Hamilton.
          I was suspicious about that right after the crash, looking at his reactions – he was unusually smooth.
          Anyway, it’s always bad not to have Hamilton in the race.

      2. oh batador you amuse me. It seems even when Hamilton apologises and takes the blame, he gets stick for it.

        Hamilton haters really are hilarious

        1. wait i totally take that back. i misread your comment lol

          1. Agree with “batador” it wasn’t 100% his fault, it was more like 85%.

            1. Hewis Lamilton
              29th August 2011, 14:58

              85% + 15% = 100% Hamilton’s fault. Disagree… argue with Lewis himself.

          2. soundscape (@)
            29th August 2011, 12:22

            just trying to avoid post comment backlash, it wasn’t 100% your fault

      3. beckenlima (@)
        28th August 2011, 18:57

        I think FIA should really ban him for the rest of the season.

        1. Oh, common every sport like bad boys. For example what is the most memorable action from World Cup final when France played against Italy. Do you remember penalties, no! You have Zidane head action against Materazzi in front of your eyes. Bad boys like Montoya or now Hamilton makes races more exciting

          1. There is a kind-of-funny Vodafone ad in Spanish TV during F1 races. You see Hamilton’s face while a voice reads a list of bad guys from movies and fairy tales. Then Hamilton says (rather quietly) “Boo!”. Then the voice says: “Admit it, the badder the bad guy, the better the movie”. That’s it. They have a point, I guess.

          2. its not really bad boys. its exciting crash-a-holics that f1 loves. sato, kamui and lewis althought kamui has cleaned up. love him or loathe him, lewis is fun to watch. he either wins or its the teams fault or he has a big crash. Lewis doesnt fit the bad boy bill.

        2. Seems a bit harsh.

        3. Seems a bit ridiculous.

      4. To be honest, I agree that in my view Hamilton certainly was not completely to blame.
        But as he was wrong certainly wrong not to look in his mirrors there, its good to see him tell Kobayashi (and the world in general) that he is sorry about it.

        1. I also agree with your view, so that makes two of us :-p

          Good for him for taking blame after seeing the replays though, I like it when drivers do that and not ask for others to be banned from the track. Let’s hope he can have a nice clean race next time around to keep our illusions of a WDC fight somewhat alive :-p

        2. The view via a mirror on an F1 car is very limited. Big blindspots, even if you have time to look.

          Hamilton’s car was slow today – I think he misjudged his timing (safety window) slightly and moved across fractionally too early.

          Thus it was Hamilton’s error that caused him to retire – I think that’s what he’s saying, that he made a mistake and caused an accident. I don’t think that the speed and apparent aggression of KK are relevant to his “100%” comment.

          1. Well that’s not right. For starters, he’d already passed Kamui cleanly and retaken the racing line before any of this occurred.

            Secondly, Kamui approached from one side, Lewis’ left. I think it’s fair to reason that if the mirrors couldn’t be used to see where Kamui was, the mirrors might as well not be on the car at all.

            Kamui did absolutely nothing overly aggressive this time and had every right to be where he was. Lewis got careless, didn’t pay attention, and took them both out of the race because of it.

            I think you also have to remember is that between his first post race comments and this apology, the Mclaren PR boys have been drilling into him what he is meant to say.

            I’m not saying he is in the wrong. He just made a mistake. But I don’t see why excuses need to be made for him. He made a mistake. Not anyone else. And it was avoidable too.

            1. Hate or love it, Lewis was consistent with his thoughs. Back in Canada, he made a similar move on Button and everybody came here to say he was “over ambitions”, “there was no gap” and bla bla bla. Then Lewis says he was wrong fro not giving enought space to the atacking driver and we still have people calling him “careless” and bla bla. Give him a break.

            2. I agree with JCost. In my opinion this was very similar to Montreal, where Hamilton got stick for Button moving across on him. Button couldn’t see then due to spray, but it was still his fault and Hamilton had every right to stick his car slightly alongside. The same happened here, with Lewis being at fault for moving over across Kobyashi without checking his mirrors.

        3. Ditto with BasCB and bosyber.
          It’s actually very refreshing to hear a race driver say “it was my fault”. A sign of maturity from The Wild One, perhaps?

      5. :) incredible! :)

      6. just trying to escape a post race penalty, it wasn’t 100% his fault

        I see some people think Lord Lewis walks on water.

    2. Well said, mate. We don’t need another “Trulli-Sutil-pictures” incident!

      1. I don’t know – that was pretty hilarious. ;-)

        1. Haha, that makes me wish Hamilton never accepted responsibility for the incident now.

          1. Au contraire, I think that besides DRS’s and whatnot, a little aggravation is exactly what’s missing… a pinch of contact sport mentality, if you will

        2. F1 just needs drama sometimes ;)

          1. And Maldonado didn’t provide that yesterday?

            1. Not really outside the track, bring on Montoya for action-drama

        3. yeah, but it bordered the embarrasing :P

      2. A nice comment by Lewis, maybe too harsh on himself though!

        1. Yeah I agree. It takes a lot of courage from a man to admit he’s in the wrong. Especially considering most people view it at as a 50/50 incident (including me).

          1. “most people” might be an exaggeration. i am not sure how you can attribute 50% of the blame to kamui.

            1. ‘Cause, there is brake pedal if you’re aware of it. He could have hit brakes or just going off the throttle would help… If Lewis stayed on his line that would help as well.
              Consequently we are easy on Kamui attributing half of the blame when there was 2/3 on his behalf.
              No matter of blame precentage, Lewis lost the race. Considering Jenson’s performance MP4-26 was the best car again. Damage has been done and no empty talk will change it.

            2. So Kamui should just give up his position on the track?

          2. Hewis Lamilton
            29th August 2011, 18:00

            It’s easy for a man to admit he is in the wrong when he actually is in the wrong. 100% in the wrong in this case. I have nothing but respect for Hamilton, but I find myself not wanting to see him succeed simply because his fans think he is perfect.

            Fopr the record, I don’t think Hamilton will win another Championship in his career.

    3. I wish I could copy all of the posts from the first discussion (Hamilton: “I was ahead and got hit”) and just point out how some people blindly comment and protect Hamilton. “It was 100% Kobayashis fault” is an ignorant statement from everyone who said that.

      1. hehe yeah. +1 to all of those who said it was not Kobs fault and -1 to all of those who blindly defended him.

        1. Geordie Porker
          28th August 2011, 19:21

          Even accepting that Hamilton has changed his view, I still see this as Kobayashi’s fault…there’s no other driver on the grid who would have put his car there. Hamilton didn’t see him so took the racing line.

          But hey, clearly Hamilton thinks it’s better to claim the blame and apologise

          1. He stayed on his racing line, i don’t see why he should yield his position on track when he was side by side with another car, regardless if no other driver on the grid would be there or not.
            Its simple Hamilton had the run into the corner there was no need to move to the left, he misjudged where Kobayashi was it was a racing incident.

            1. But they weren’t side by side, KK’s front wheel touched Lewis’ rear wheel. If people regard Canada as being Hamilton’s fault (as I do) then they must see this as KK’s fault, surely?

            2. Because his position was lost already…

          2. Oh, I think Hamilton would have put his car there without question. If he didn’t go for gaps like that, he wouldn’t be Lewis. Obviously he doesn’t expect to be racing himself, but I admire his fairness and consistency here.

        2. And for those of us who said 50/50 – are we stuck on zero? :P

          Still a 50/50 incident for me, I sense a bit of PR in action, or at least some sensitivity to how the public perceives him.

      2. koby'sleftfoot
        29th August 2011, 1:05

        Yeah, I usually don’t bother with the comments on this site but reading back through today’s posts by the blind Hami crowd on this site was a funny way to end to a great weekend of racing.

    4. So much for all the stick the Lewis fans gave Kamui. Looks like to me they should apologize now!

      1. Looks to me like they shouldn’t. First of all I didn’t see anyone calling Kamui names. Secondly, the fact that Lewis takes the blame, doesn’t mean that he’s right. It was completely unnecessary and it’s making Hamilton’s fans less likely to defend him in the future.

        I still think that avoiding contact is the responsibility of the driver who’s behind. Kobayashi had plenty of time to assess the situation, but did nothing to avoid contact. And it’s nothing personal against Kamui. Actually I quite like him, but that’s how I see this particular situation.

    5. Huh…!The usual lewis..saying somethin after the race and then negating it thru tweets… Lewis is a exciting driver to watch in a car but i am getting bored of lewis statements more than Vettel’s race wins

      1. After watching the replay

        Post race it may have felt he did nothing wrong (see in car footage for that), then he comes out and says publicly he was wrong and it’s not good enough.

        Come on, I mean give the guy at least a smidgen of credit once in a while for doing the right thing. Jeez.

      2. If the press were looking out for Lewis’s best interests, they’d give him time to get his bearings after races like this before approaching him. But they know it makes great copy if he hasn’t had a chance to step back.

    6. I think McLaren would save a lot of money bringing to Hamilton. In addition, his time has passed. There are new drivers. Hes not dispensable.

      1. I think what you’re perhaps saying is that he is disposable. I hope it is sarcasm because he definitely is within the top 3 drivers in the world (I would rate him the best between Vettel and Alonso, but we can never agree on that). Furthermore there is quite a margin from those 3 drivers to the rest of the field.

      2. He might be ‘dispensible’, but then so too are half the grid,like Alonso, Webber, Sutil, Rosberg. Schumacher, Barichelo, Button. Are you really suggesting an influx of 50% rookies next season?
        That was deliberately incendiary comment Chack, and one that has neither supporting argument or logic.

    7. Got to admire his honesty. This was unexpected and after the whole Maldonado affair it’s given me a little more reassurance that F1 isn’t as callous as I thought.

    8. I bet the fanboys (or Whitmarsh) will still find a way to blame Kobayashi… seriously though, it’s good to see a driver swallowing his pride and admitting a mistake.

    9. Wow. I’m surprised and impressed by this.

      I’m a Kobayashi fan and even I thought it was a pure racing incident. Completely 50/50 in my book. Respect to Lewis for coming out and being honest, even if I think he may be being a little too hard on himself.

      1. My thoughts exactly.

      2. I agree with you 100%. Why cant a crash be a racing incident anymore? In a way I blame the FIA and the stewards because they have been quick to hand out penalties and aportion blame to drivers recently. This has led to the situation where a crash must be someones fault and calling a crash a racing incident doesnt sit with people anymore.

        1. i feel very much the same way about it. and it has been like this for quite a while now

        2. I very much agree with this.

      3. Agreed. I’m a fan of both of them, but I think it was at most Lewis 60/40 Kamui. I wonder if Lewis is a bit dejected knowing that he’s probably blown his last championship hopes… :(

    10. How can this and Canada be Hamiltons fault, and how is this 100% Hes fault, this is just PR talk Hes been instructed to say. This isnt the first time KOB as wiped out someone at 140mph, think it was Brazil 09 against YAM?.

      1. He just said it was his fault 100%, he knows more than we do what he did in that moment.

        1. Exactly, it obviously wasn`t 100% Hes fault, Its PR prepared stuff, which is worrying in a different way.

          1. Oh God, just remembered who He`s manager/PR is.

      2. Brazil 09 incident was with Nakajima. Considering that Kobayashi hasn’t had such an incident since that race, the example you brought up doesn’t really back up what you’re trying to say. And it is possible that you can be at fault for two incidents, though I’d say Hamilton was unlucky in Canada really.

    11. I think Lewis is being a bit hard on himself, I’d say it was a pure racing accident. Hamilton should have checked to make sure he was clear of Kobayashi, Kobayashi should have just slotted into place.

      Shame, Hamilton could have been on the podium, and Kobayashi’s race seemed to fall apart when he came in on the 2nd safety car lap due to a “miscommunication”.

      1. I agree its a racing incident but i don’t see why Kobayashi had to slot into place when he got a tow and had the speed to move alongside Hamilton. In reality there was no need for Hamilton to move across on Kobayashi when he had the optimum line to the corner.

        Hamilton wasn’t being hard on himself he knew it was a racing incident its just in hindsight he realised he misjudged the whereabouts of Kobayashi(i really doubt his mirrors would’ve helped him).

    12. Lewis’ first reaction made me think, there he goes again…crybaby…always somebody else’s fault. But after seeing what really happened, he has owned up to the truth, and I am very proud of him. A hopeful sign of maturity.

    13. Can not be coincidence, Hamilton crashes in every race. It is the first time he says it is your fault, so not forgiven the amount of money lost. I am seriously concerned for the lives of pilots, because of the despair of Hamilton. I think he should go for the good of others.

      1. A bit harsh dont you think? Also if Hamilton leaves something would be missing.

        1. Repair bills?

      2. Come on Chack that is just hatetalk, try to look at all teams and competitors fairly, you will live a longer happier life.

      3. In Canada I think he said he was partly to blame, or no one, and it was a racing incident, didn’t he?

      4. Er, apart from Canada a few races back, when he said it was 100% his fault also.

      5. Hamilton crashes in every race.

        You’re so right, Chack. I don’t know how we all missed that. That must be why he has so many DNFs this year. I mean TWO. It’s, like, totally every race!

        :D

    14. Well I said it was a racing incident before and I stand by that. Just unfortunate.

      1. Anybody has a good video link?

    15. Great comment by Hamilton, but I have this minor feeling that it is fake…

      1. Do you think they faked the bad grammar?

    16. “Apologies to Kamui and to my team. The team deserves better from me.”

      I think he is being a tad harsh on himself. He destroyed his teammate in qualifying despite the damage Maldonado to his car and was doing well in the race. Although I would “blame” Hamilton for moving across the road in this instance (much like I blamed Button in Montreal), it was a racing incident, and does not owe his team any apologies.

      1. Button only missed q3 because of a tactical error by the team. He lead in q1. So he wasn’t destroyed at all by Hamilton. I can’t believe you think this.

        1. Ok, but I maintain that Lewis did a great job in Q2 and Q3, and considering Button’s usual pace, I did not see him doing better than Ham’s 2nd.

      2. This is closest to my feelings on it, too, but I like that he apologized to the team anyway. He hasn’t always been so thoughtful of them this year. It’s like Schumacher in qualifying yesterday – “At first, I wasn’t sure what had happened, as I just felt myself lose the back end suddenly which is why I instantly apologised to the team” – that an apology was his immediate instinctive reaction to dropping out of competition is classy. The teams work hard on these cars, even if they’re mainly faceless to us, and I like that Hamilton seems to appreciate that, too.

    17. The time will prove me right. while discussing if Hamilton is hard on himself or not, McLaren loses money fixing your car in every race. coincidence? I think not. Greetings friends, still enjoy the F1. :)

      1. Considering the huge cost of running a top F1 team, I doubt that repairing a car is a big deal, so I would question your understanding of Formula 1. This isnt a privateer team in the BTCC you know.

        The greater cost is not finishing the races, which admittedly needs to be addressed!

    18. i know that Martin Whitmarsh said to Lewis:
      blame yourself, not Kamui cause we need it to have a good strategy of McLaren marketing :D

    19. Hamilton has so much bad luck and so many races he crashes out from, some through his own ambitious moves and some through no fault of his own, i know this isn’t the case but it seems to me like he either wins spectacularly or just crashes out and doesnt finish, it’s as though theres no middle ground..he never comes home in like 6th or 7th for example, it’s all or nothing. But yet i remember in 07 & 08 him being so consistant on the podium…gone are the days :(

      1. I agree, in 2007 he was the rookie, he had a lot more respect for the other guys and i think that also played a big part as to why he was so consistent. I loved seeing the Lewis from back then because he was the good and nice guy back then, not the bad boy like now.

      2. It’s easy to be consistent when you are in pretty much the fastest car. Like Hamilton had in 2007.

        It’s when there is a need for overtaking or when being overtaken that problems arise.

        The McLaren wasn’t fastest in 2008 and Hamilton was hardly consistent then.

        Vettel is probably the best example of this effect. He’s fine when there is no one around him. Perfect perhaps even. Put another car around him and it’s almost certain that crashes or spins will be the result.

        1. It’s hardly certain, since Seb dealt with multiple cars today.

      3. Hamilton is having a crashaholic year but he is still fun to watch. a few more dnfs might be the lesson he needs.

    20. Very big from Lewis. It was his fault by the fact he didn’t look in his mirrors but at the same time I hope he isn’t beating himself up because it’s just one of those racing incidents which could happen to anyone and it’s understandable that he thought he’d be ahead of Kamui.

    21. it was racing and a shame as lewis was right in the hunt.

      i really thought he knocked himself out because after the first impact surely he would of braked before the 2nd impact with tyre wall. the car travelled along way and didnt de-acclelrate at all. it was then a long time before he seemed to move.

      and his post race interview seemed very groggy, also he didnt know who he had crashed with.

      anyways good he is ok, and fair play to him for admitting his error.

    22. it has reached the point when hamilton will start accepting the blame when it is not his fault. thanks to everyone who has contributed for the arrival of this moment. In montreal, button was in the same position when lewis crashed into him. lewis was to blame in my opinion (in fact lewis annoyed me so much then). in today’s race, lewis was in button’s position when koboyashi crashed into him and now he is to blame again? it is about time F1 should check themselves. And Eddie (BBC) what are you talking about?! Word to David Coulthard (BBC) Word!!

      1. TheScuderia (@)
        28th August 2011, 21:03

        Problem is, this incident was Lewis’ fault. It’s his job as a driver to know where the other drivers are on the track. Had Lewis known where Kobayashi was, he would have taken a tighter line entering the corner instead of moving back into the racing line where Kobayashi already was.

        Of course, the mistake that Lewis made was understandable. So I wont be too hard on him. But the fact is, there would not have been an accident had Lewis known where Kobayshi was. Lewis now realizes that having watched the replay.

      2. This is not the same case. In Canada the weather was a lot worse, and Hamilton was trying to pass Button who was just keeping the race line, but Hamilton tried to pass him on the outside where there was no room. Here again the race line belongs to the other driver. Hamilton’s fault in both cases. IMO Vettel’s crash with Webber last year was similar to this one, he wanted to get to the racing line but there was someone else there. Obviously Vettel’s mistake was to think that Webber was going to brake and let him pass, this one was just a misjudgment of Koba’s position cause Ham couldn’t see him anymore.

      3. I actually feel the opposite to you with regards to the 2 incidents. I saw Canada as Button’s fault. Yes it was wet and Button didn’t see Lewis. But the action of moving across the track by Jenson caused the collision. In this case, Hamilton moved to the left to take the usual racing line (presumably not seeing Kamui), but clearly in a situation where Kobayahi was there, hence causing the collision.

    23. To quote Murray Walker’s comment on Jenson Button during his first race: “Gigantically mature young man”. In light of the way Hamilton has handled incidents in the last few races I believe this comment could quite easily apply to him now. There has been a huge change in character and he is all the better for it. I think this is another case of the mirrors being limited, and perhaps inadequate. One thing for sure in my mind however, is that Koboyashi is entirely innocent.

    24. Worst consequence of Hamilton’s crash is that the Venezuelan strong-man earned a point as a result. Remind me not to fill up at a Citgo station again.

      At the end of the day, when you are trying an outside move, unless you are truly along side the braking zone, you are are rolling the dice. You know the guy ahead has the right to assume the line, having made his one move, so you are really counting on him assuming that you can brake harder than him. Kobayashi is just as tenacious and opportunistic as Hamilton when it comes to passing, which is terrific, but sometimes it comes to tears.

      As I don’t have Whitmarsh and a uniformed Vodaphone McLaren Mercedes press officer looking on in the room as I type this, I will call it 50/50.

      1. you can have your opinion but lets leave the xenophobia off the forum. there is no need to diss Venezuela.

      2. I know its a joke but there are way stronger reasons to not fill up at Citgo than Maldonado. Well that Maldonado is racing in F1 is one of the sub-products of those reasons.

    25. I think its clear lewis had made the pass and then kobi came back up his inside and had no where to go, lewis would not have expected kobi to be there and moved over without looking and should not have done that but kobi should have known he’d move over and should not have come up his inside…racing incident for sure but also slightly more lewis’ fault

      good to see race stewards making better decisions, wonder how much influence ex-drivers are…perhaps there should be 2 ex-drivers on pannels for an even more balanced opinion

      I am a big lewis fan and its gutting to see him DNF so often, IMO he takes to mant risks when over-taking but he’s also been unlucky a lot towards the end of last year and this year too

      lets not forget he lead the championship for most of start last year and im not even sure he’d won a race…at that point lewis was the most consistant driver out there

      his team does not help because they just egg him on about being aggressive…i’d sure like to hear his expination of saturdays incident…and why exactly he was reprimanded, was I for the pass before the flag or something he did after

      I just hope his form returns soon…and we get some dry practice sessions, wet races are fun but wet practice are just boreing

      1. He needs to be agressive. The car is just not fast enough to take it easy.

        He would have finished China in P6 if he didn’t take risks. he did take risks and won the race. Realisticly, winning a race here and there is all he can do this year anyway.

    26. I’m a big fan of both drivers, especially Hamilton. Both could have avoided the incident. Both didn’t. Neither had much to gain competing for that bit of tarmac. But Hamilton did not leave Kobayashi room. There is nothing to say he should have backed out of that. He had little to gain by doing so, but still had every right to try. Hamilton closed the door and paid the price – if he’d kept straight he’d have been away – probably to the podium at the very least. So while I can see the arguments for 50/50, I have to lay the blame with Hamilton – he did not leave space and had no reason to close the door. A basic (mis)assumption about his speed vs the Sauber’s cost him very dear.

    27. If Hamilton had wiped a fellow drivers front wing off in a red mist moment then recreated Canada would we not be talking about the end of a driver?. Yet those involved walk away smelling of roses.

    28. Kobayashi’s performed well in the races he performed badly last year. Vice versa for the bad races this year.

    29. i think its at;east 50/50 you cant blame hamilton or kob, remember hamilton on maldonado monaco? brings up the argument why did maldonado not look in his mirrors?? same with button and hamilton at canada, why didnt button look in his mirrors?? and i remember hamilton trying to almost do the same on schumacher and getting forced on the grass!!! I think these were all 50/50 but everyone was quick to blame hamilton on these, I just wonder why?

      1. koby'sleftfoot
        29th August 2011, 1:10

        If it wasn’t Hamilton’s fault he wouldn’t have accepted the blame. Spare me the conspiracies that would suggest otherwise.

    30. I still feel it was 50/50.
      Hamilton should have ensured Kamui wasn’t coming up that side, and Kamui could have done with yielding (He was on the outside, putting too much faith into passes like that is somewhat ambitious)
      But then again, if you don’t do everything you can to overtake, you may as well as just park your car in the pit. Props to Kobayashi for giving it a go :P

    31. The most worrying part was that in the press conference after the incident he look like a bit shaken,did he had a minor concussion? Good to see that he understood that it was his problem.

      1. I think he was OK. Perhaps just a bit shocked his race ended so early!

    32. If KK’s front wheels were side to side with Hamilton’s rear it is still considered side to side. Like KK said and the replay shows he kept his line and was following the white line, it was unnecessary for Hamilton to move over.when he had the corner covered.

    33. I’m really liking Hamilton of late. He’s mature and responsible when he’s making mistakes.

      That being said, I still don’t think it was entirely his fault.

    34. I didn’t expect Hamilton or Kobayashi to make an apology and accept blame, I don’t think it warranted much of a response, just one if those racing incidents!

      However, if Lewis honestly believes he has something to apologise for then respect to him for going through a more personal medium than professional one.

    35. I am reminded of Hamilton’s incident at Glock at Monza 2008 after looking at this crash.

      He overtook Glock and then kept moving left and left Timo three options – back off, go to the grass, or crash into HAM. Timo chose no.2 KOB chose no.3

    36. Regardless of who’s to blame, does no one else feel that Hamilton “had left the building” so to speak? He looked in his right hand mirror for KK but there appeared to be no further reactions from him but to drift to the left. There was no movement of his helmet when heading for the first impact, then no attempt (I know his suspension was damaged) to turn away from the second impact and no attempt to brake to avoid the third impact; he then was very slow to react once stationary and had long since moved his hands off the steering wheel. I’m wondering if he passed out or was knocked out on first impact, especially given the first marshalls reaction. Very odd.

      1. I went over the video several times and I have come to the conclusion that LH was unconscious momentarily. He hit the 1st barrier very hard at just under 200km/h and notice his hands were off the wheel after the 1st impact. It’s not natural for any driver to not steer or brake when in motion. I’m hoping he wasn’t injured.

    37. I would like to know if lots have the opinyon that having just your front wheels beside someone is side by side then what was all the argument a few races back with 1) Di resta having his front wheels up the side of someone in canada (i think) and getting a penalty? 2)Hamilton and massa in monaco (where everyone blamed hamilton) 3) Micheal schumacher (in canada i think) doing what hamilton did to kob to hamilton but hamilton avoided on grass? 4)hamilton with more than the front wheels up the inside of maldonado at monaco??? This must be a big argument for consistancy from the stewards to not hand out penaltys for some (di resta) and not others. My view is like hamilton did to schumacher in canada but not button the person behind has a responsability to not hit the person infront, if the person infront moves to much to defend they will get a penalty. Basically after all that i want to know how come it was hamiltons fault with button but still his fault with kob??

    38. Good question, Wilky. Very observant of you…

    39. Indianapolis2007
      29th August 2011, 16:28

      Simple really, he thought he had the pass on Kobi done and dusted, but he did not check his left mirror causing him not to see that Kobi’s front wheel had passed Hamilton’s back wheels, meaning that Hamilton was not pass Kobi.

    40. It’s funny that KK’s onboard camera view was never revealed. Would still love to see his onboard camera at the time of the incident with LH. Any links anyone?

      1. I forgot to mention on previous post that that I too thought it very strange we saw no in car footage from KK’s car.
        Whats going on?

    41. 100% Kobayashi‘s fault. Kobayashi clearly turned in on Hamilton, Hamilton just took the racing line into that corner.

      It’s strange how everyone here just piled in blaming Lewis for this.

      Also funny the comments that Lewis would never get another wdc!

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