Perez hits back at “misguided” criticism over crash

2014 Canadian Grand Prix

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Sergio Perez has responded to criticism of his driving after his collision with Felipe Massa during the Canadian Grand Prix.

Perez was given a five-place grid penalty by the Canadian Grand Prix stewards following the last-lap crash which put both drivers out of the race.

“It was very disappointing to lose such a strong result through no fault of our own,” said Perez.

“I was following the same line and braking patterns as in the previous laps and I just got hit from behind by Massa. There was plenty of space on the left of my car to attempt a clean overtake and I cannot understand why he had to scrape by.”

Despite the verdict of the stewards, Perez said he holds Massa responsible for the collision.

“I watched several replays of the incident and I can’t help but notice how Felipe turns right just before he hits me,” Perez continued.

“I can only think he must have changed his mind and wanted to rejoin the racing line, his misjudgement cost us a big amount of points.”

The Force India driver also refuted claimed his car was in too poor a condition to finish the race.

“I’m not happy about comments saying we should have retired the car,” he said. “It was perfectly driveable with just some adjustments and we showed it up until the moment in which we were taken out.”

“Other cars out there had been in similar conditions for way longer than us and they finished the race without problems.

“If someone thinks you can keep two Red Bulls behind for as long as we did with so-called ‘terminal’ problems, they are clearly misguided.”

2014 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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171 comments on “Perez hits back at “misguided” criticism over crash”

  1. Liam McShane (@)
    9th June 2014, 16:28

    I think he makes a good point. I think both drivers where at fault but Massa mostly was at fault as he was the car behind.

    1. @motor_mad Yeah, Massa should have just pressed the hoover button and went over Perez instead of into him.

      1. Liam McShane (@)
        9th June 2014, 16:41

        Or, he could have predicted Perez might have to brake earlier than normal due to his brakes and the fact he might want to be moving left to defend his position. I don’t appreciate the sarcastic comment.

        1. And that Perez had been taking a similar approach laps before. I feel Massa was in control of that situation and failed to gauge it correctly. Perez made the majority of the contact but I feel Massa should of been wise to it, seemed to close for an experienced head like him.

          1. I don’t agree. Perez had an entire car’s width to his right and must have known Massa was going to be challenging him. How often do we hear professional racing drivers talking about leaving just a car’s width and that being fine? Perez had two.

            If Perez was actively defending, he should have moved earlier. If he was just taking his normal line, then I’d like to see some video of his “normal racing line” on other laps, because right now I don’t buy it, it doesn’t look right.

          2. Watch this video… it’s 200% clear that’s Perez fault…

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0PuSoufowQ

        2. Massa was behind Perez for the last chicane and the start/finish straight. Hardly time to study Perez’s braking habits and racing lines. IMO if you plan to defend going into T1 then you make it obvious before the kink, not at the last second. If you leave the guy behind no time to react then he will hit you and that’s exactly what happened.

          1. I agree that Massa himself really couldn’t study Perez’s braking strategy, but his team should’ve radioed him to say Checo’s brakes weren’t exactly playing along. That probably could’ve changed Massa’s mind. I figure Massa’s would’ve passed him at some point on that last lap, anyway. Of course, I also thought of this as a “racing incident.” I doubt I would’ve punished either driver, as the dual-DNFs and lack of points seem like punishment enough.

          2. Oh, but he left Massa time to react, it’s just that Massa turned right ! It’s something you don’t do when racing: pass a driver but at the same time try to push him off-track.

          3. Corrado: Massa was turning right because he was coming off a right turn. Perez turned left coming off a right turn. I’m pretty sure this is the reason the stewards hit Perez with a penalty. It was a late decision to block that led to an avoidable crash.

          4. Perez left it too late to move left to defend the inside line. At the speed Massa was travelling at that point, and expecting Perez to move onto the racing line for the corner he had no time to react to Perez moving left.

          1. I must say that the replay from checo’s onboard shows no left steering input to my eyes,
            from the top it looks like checo moves , but his on board tells me otherwise,
            im not calling it, just making a point

          2. @Greg He doesn’t turn left, but he does relax, right before the incident happens his wheel is straightened while still going through the right bend before T1.

        3. “Earlier than normal” what a crap…

      2. Or Williams should install a “common sense” button on Massa’s car.

        1. jorge ortiz (@jorgeairesortiz)
          10th June 2014, 3:32

          Felipe has 11 GP wins under his belt. And what about Checco?Maybe one day he can achieve his first win and then can try to get another ten…

          1. yes. and he was driving a ferrari

          2. Felipe has been racing for 10 years, he hasnt won in the last 5 years, while driving for Ferrari.

      3. Massa was looking for that hoover button…..but they for got to install….they again looking for that common sense button….again it was missing…….it was to late…..five-place grid penalty for Perez….:)

        1. LotsOfControl (@for-unlawful-carnal-knowledge)
          9th June 2014, 19:17

          @alexdell
          Thanks for making me laugh :)
          cheers

    2. I think this is where I am with it too. Whilst Perez does make an adjustment to the left at a crucial point, it was not an unreasonable adjustment to make in and of itself, and it only became a problem when combined with Massa deciding to attempt his overtake so ridiculously close to Perez’s car. Massa undoubtedly did this so as to keep as close to the racing line going around turn 1, but ultimately he was too close resulting in the collision.

      The leniency of the punishment also tells me that the stewards acknowledge that any blame in this fairly major accident (27G) was very evenly spread out and they’ve decided to shade it on the side of Perez. A 5-grid punishment is hardly a punishment at all. I could be wrong but they haven’t even dished out any penalty points either. And they were giving those out like smarties earlier in the season.

      1. A 5 place grid drop is a massive punishment under the circumstances when you consider the teams involved. There is a huge scrap going for the 3rd, 4rth and 5th in the constructors championship and every point is vital, especially in this early part of the season. Williams and FI will not be able to sustain their development why Ferrari and Mclaren should be able to overhaul them pretty easily towards the end of the season. Very very tough penalty imposed the the stewards.

        1. I disagree with you. others get 10 place penalities for less dangerous incidents. and what about things like mechanical failures (engine, gearbox) leading to penalties. checo he should have thought about the points you are talking about in the constructors battle at that moment and stayed far away from Massa, it was obvious to anyone with how close massa was that massa was going to try to pass. the penalty is fair.

      2. @bealzbob ,
        the drivers complained that giving out penalty points like smarties was unfairly adding calories and therefore to a drivers weight, thus breaching their anorexia clause in some contracts :)

        1. Good point. I never thought about the minimum weight limit :) Poor old Hulkenberg wouldn’t be able to get any penalty points!

    3. @motor_mad I agree and it is a simple concept to understand. Also Perez defense is very strong. I would be outraged. I guess the stewards like Massa and Williams better, it’s discrimination in my view. The stewards don’t like FI, Perez and the way they raced. The stewards excuses are poor but I can’t blame Williams for the dramatization, they played well and that surely helped with the decision. The Stewards should know better, massively disappointed here.

      1. Maybe because he is black! if you look from the helicopter view its clear Perez try to block way too late while breaking way too early causing the accident, and its not the first time he has caused that kind of problem just ask a couple of drivers about last year, he dosent need a breaking problem for that, how many times will Perez have to repeat that this year ?

      2. Perez moves slightly left & away from the turn. Massa is going ‘straight’ or towards the turn. This brings contact.

        Moving in the braking zone is forbidden for whatever reason. Decisions have to be made in milliseconds and Perez gave Massa no opportunity to respond and hence the inevitable crash. To me, I think Perez attempted to ‘steer test’ Massa into backing off and failed for both of them.

        Massa 10 Perez 0

        1. Actually, they both have zero points

    4. I don’t see how Massa was at fault. He wanted the inside line, but he wasn’t going to give Perez the whole track to his right, because that’d have put Felipe in a very difficult line for the turn 1 and 2 complex.

      Perez is the one that moved on the braking zone, far too late, and far too quickly, for Massa to respond.

      Plus, he was having troubles with his car, that should be taking into account. He knew what he was getting into, the bad tyres, the faulty car… put Nico Hulkenberg in the same situation, and he could’ve even held Massa behind…

      He drove a fantastic race, but spoiled it (not for the first time) with 1 costly mistake.

      1. But also Perez wasn’t going to give Massa the whole race line just because the is having break problems or the William were faster at that point. If Perez don’t move to the left, Massa will push him off the track or crash him anyway…
        In yout point of view Rosberg should let Perez pass earlier because he was having problems, thats non-sense. All F1 driver, include Nico wold held other drivers behind to defend their position.
        Massa were faster even thn the Red Bulls but, they mde their way to pass Perez without putting them in a compromised position, like Massa did.

        1. To me this is 100% Massa fault. The knob-head got frustrated and probably didnt pay attention and decided to drive through another car. You can analyze it whichever way you want, but Perez had every right to do what he did, who knows what the reason is. To me it looks more like Massa simply didn’t brake. So I say to Massa , maybe next time you should just drive straight into the barrier and save us the trouble.

    5. jorge ortiz (@jorgeairesortiz)
      9th June 2014, 23:56

      Perez swerved right to avoid hitting the rear of Vettel.

      He knew that if he let his own rear wheel hit the front wheel of Massa, it would bring less risk to him than for Massa.

      At the opening of the final lap he simply ruined his P4 as the deserved Massa’s podium.

      Last year, Perez has already done this kind of stuff (not only but also) to Raikkonen…

    6. Mansell's_Stache
      10th June 2014, 3:15

      Given the rate at which Massa caught the front runners he should have been around most of them well before the incident. So really, it’s Massa’s fault for lacking overtaking prowess.

    7. Massa should have been given the grid penalties.. he was the one who turned right into the back of perez even when he could have gone left and took the position. Perez might have slightly turned left but massa was to blame as he did not take the gap in the left

      1. Massa turned right because it was a right hand corner, Perez just gone straight instead of turning.

    8. I’m sorry, but Checo obviously hasn’t seen this replay. It was his fault, 100%.

      http://gfycat.com/RegularIllinformedHyracotherium

      1. @geemac
        That is a cool post , I don’t agree with you but that’s ok,
        i love the slow motion option,
        What I want to know is what portion of the blame does Maldonado get in all this?

        1. I would say at least 96.3% of it @greg-c… ;)

    9. In the post race interview, Perez stated (http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2014/6/15937.html):

      “On the final lap I was defending my position going into Turn 1 when I suddenly got hit from behind.”

      In this article, he states:

      “I was following the same line and braking patterns as in the previous laps and I just got hit from behind by Massa.”

      I guess he could have also been defending his position in the previous laps, but if he’s making a move to defend in the braking zone, then why wouldn’t they penalize him?

  2. Massa turns right because the track does so. Perez turns left without reason, though Massa was unnecessarily close to him. I’d have deemed it a racing incident.

    1. @fixy ‘unnecessarily close’, do I have to explain how racing works? Sometimes, out of the DRS zone, we have this things called ‘overtakes’.

      1. So, in the hypothetical case that Pérez never moved to the left, Massa, in order to overtake him (with a car that went much faster than Pérez’s) is to move to the right, right behind him. Yeah, “overtakes”.

    2. @fixy What are you talking about? The chicane with which the accident occurred goes with left hand turn first, then a right hand turn. Why would you turn right at a left hand turn?

      1. @beejis60 The accident occurred at a right kink, not a left turn.

      2. @beejis60
        The normal line is to stick to the right side of the track to square off the first left of the chicane, whereas Perez was heading straight towards the apex when Massa hit him. In effect Perez deviated from the racing line in the braking zone which is why he was deemed to be at fault.

        It is a close call though, Massa was coming from a long way back so it was always going to be a bit of a desperate lunge.

        1. It was a close call but ultimately Perez is to blame. However, i don’t agree that Massa came from too far back. If he did anything wrong it was leaving no room for error. If he had come from too far back he may of had time to avoid Perez’s late move to defend.

        2. Yep, came here to say the same thing. Fastest racing line through a left-right chicane is to enter on the right and exit on the left. I honestly thought it was Massa’s fault then I watched the replay a bunch of times. Perez totally tried to block Massa.

    3. Stewards got this 100% right IMHO.

      Craig Scarborough posted this link to a graphic which I think pretty clearly shows what Perez did wrong:-

      http://i.imgur.com/WRTu05L.jpg

      1. jorge ortiz (@jorgeairesortiz)
        10th June 2014, 0:12

        cool!

      2. “if Perez had stayed on line there would be no collision”

        Rubbish,
        Racers defend, and you defend by blocking the way through, and he was only a cars width over from prior, he was in his rights to be another 3 cars width left,

        “Perez had no reason to go off line other than to outbrake Vettel”
        Rubbish
        How about defending position from Massa,
        Remember folks, defending is also a requirement for a skilled racer,

        “Regardless of his reasons he didn’t check his mirrors and caused a collision from this movement”
        Rubbish
        What movement, he defends a cars width off the racing (ideal) line, hardly enough I would have thought, In the heat of the battle the racing line is whatever line it takes to win,

        “this frame shows how far perez turns into massa’s line”
        oh crap !!!! since when does the car behind get priority to the line ,
        check out the arcs, checo was always heading out there,
        massa tried to hold (even turn back in a little, images M2 M3 show massa heading left images M4 M5 show tightening line

        The facts are, Massa hit Perez front right to rear left,
        Perez didnt reverse into Massa
        Perez had the right to defend
        Massa had the right to attack

        Racing incident , go home , lick your wounds, get back on the horse,

        Checos arc looks pretty constant to me, he was always going to defend,
        C,mon 1st corner – last lap, Checo got no radio msg saying ‘” Checo- Massa is faster than you-let him through”
        Look at Massa’s arc compared to Checos,

        Massa has the experience and brains !!!!!!

        1. @keithcollantine
          Can we have an edit function plz, I know were supposed to proof read but I had said enough after “get back on the horse” and in error left it in,

        2. “Racers defend, and you defend by blocking the way through” if you gonna cause a collision by doing so its too late you should have blocked earlier.
          ““Perez had no reason to go off line other than to outbrake Vettel”
          Rubbish
          How about defending position from Massa,” same principle applied in fact the “skilled” has caused that sort of collision several times last year with or without breaking proplems.
          “What movement,(seriously?) he defends a cars width off the racing (ideal) line, hardly enough I would have thought, In the heat of the battle the racing line is whatever line it takes to win(its not gonna win if you gonna crash) .
          yes it is true he has the right to defend his position but if you gonna cause a crash specially by going away from the racing line it is too late, the facts are Perez made another mistake Breaking too early and blocking too late. He has a history of doing so and will probably do more this year.

          1. Perez braked when he had to , he had no tires to brake any later , did you see the pic from massa’s onboard ? He’s turning into a gap filled by a car , he’s waaay faster due to tires ,
            Im struggling to defend checo as he is my least fave pilot . Heck i was glad he lost his Mclaren drive , surprised he even got it!!!
            But this time i cant help but feel he didnt deserve to be punted off the road by a far faster car .
            Talk about action ,
            Kinda keeps the heat of the mercs and their issues hey!

            Right wrong
            Left right
            I enjoyed that race 100%
            Even 110% if im allowed to say that !! ;)

  3. After studying both sides of the argument looking at both video and still frames they’re both on pretty even ground. Considering that Massa did have a lot of space & turned to the right + Perez moved over onto his line even though he had been doing that for a few laps I think it turned out to be a pretty heavy racing incident in my eyes.

    Massa is being a bit of a brat about it, some of the posts he’s been putting out have been really heavy on the finger pointing even though there was some room for error on both accounts. I can’t blame him to some degree because the impact was pretty hard and it could of turned out to be much worse but I don’t think it’s fair for everyone to lance Perez considering what was a risk for him too. Perez had so much to deal with for those 20 odd laps of defending or whatever it was with a car that was degrading in performance every lap. give the boy a brake. Massa caught them up in about 3 laps but failed to make a decent & safe move even though he was much faster, I kinda think it was a bit banzai/do or die from the Brazilian.

    1. I agree and add that Williams should have warned Massa about Perez problems with the rear brakes… And to add that not only they messed up both their races, was by an inch that Vettel’s race have it ended too…

      1. A lot of people are saying Massa should have been warned by the team about Perez’s breaks. I have a serious question: Can the teams hear each other’s radio messages? I know we can hear them them on TV but are the teams allowed to listen to each others radios???

        1. Oh yes. They hear everything said on the radios.

    2. jorge ortiz (@jorgeairesortiz)
      10th June 2014, 0:18

      Perez is dangerous with his steering wheel and people which support him must learn to deal with that

  4. Come on checo. The amount of incidents you get in to.. Notice how he doesnt mention his certain change of direction to the left…..

    1. It is better for him to keep silent if he wants longer F1 stint and avoids a punch in the face.

  5. Yeap, Massa turns right following the track, Perez goes left without a reason! Anyway, that was a great race by Massa and Williams, with a solid car and a renewd attitude!

    1. dude have you seen the onboard of perez he NEVER move left chek it on yt

      1. Yes, he did. The onboard shows Perez steer left moments before the incident, it is also very clear from the overhead shot, which provides the clearest view of the incident.

        1. jorge ortiz (@jorgeairesortiz)
          10th June 2014, 0:20

          yeap, he did it to the left

          1. The left steering input is when massa decides to lift his left rear off the car !!!!!

  6. He hasn’t seen the footage then?

    1. Quoted saying he’d seen it several times. He’s got a point there’s plenty of stills of Massa making a obvious effort to turn right. Be it because the track direction required it he still made the decision to pass there considering the circumstances, Perez had been taking that line frequently.

  7. I have to say I agree with Perez on this one; there was plenty of room for Massa if he wanted to complete the pass. I don’t think Perez made a significant jink the left from the onboard footage. It was a racing incident, albeit a fairly dramatic one.

    1. jorge ortiz (@jorgeairesortiz)
      10th June 2014, 0:37

      not significant but enought to break the rule

  8. Here is what I think

    1) Perez was ahead, so he has the right to choose his line
    2) Indeed it was a right hand turn but that was quickly followed by a sharp left. Vettel was breaking and Checo was trying to do an undercut on him to regain position. He has the right to do so.
    3) Massa was fast but was not still ahead of Checo
    4) There was enough room on the track for Massa to take evasive action but there was no way Checo could have realized that Massa was there.

    I think although it can be said a racing incident but I still think Massa is to blame here. He clearly could have avoided that crash if he would have been careful.

    1. I don’t agree that he was trying to regain position on Vettel, it would make no sense to try and undercut him there because Checo would have ended up on the outside at the exit of the chicane. I think Checo tried to block Massa but misjudged how close they were. Or basically Checo decided to close down the gap at the same time Massa decided to go for it. Definitely a racing incident but I think Checo is to blame. The 5 grid spots is a bit harsh tho.

  9. I admire Perez for having the gumption to stick up for himself, which in the PR robot generation is a breath of fresh air.

    But I also think he’s wrong. Massa was turning right because the track bends right there. Going straight on would have been voluntarily spoiling his line for the following corner.

    Perez, however, allowed his car to move left (relative to the curvature of the track and the racing line) at a point where he should have been aware that another car was pulling out to overtake him. That was always going to be risky, and I’m not at all surprised the stewards penalised him for it.

    And I say this as someone who thinks the criticism Perez received for incidents with Raikkonen in China and Monaco last year was completely unreasonable (and, it should be remembered, he did not get penalties for either of them).

    However I do think the claims Force India should have retired Perez are way over the top. There wasn’t much wrong with his lap times and there was only one lap to go. You’d have to be seven kinds of crazy to retire a car in fourth place on the final lap when it’s quite capable of reaching the flag. Williams were able to alert Massa to any potential problems Perez might have.

    1. I have to agree. If you watch the wide shots you can see Vettel taking the normal line and is way to the right of where Perez was pointing his car. Massa was cutting it pretty fine and not leaving a lot of room but I don’t see why he would expect Perez to be moving across off the racing line like that. Arguably it was a bit of a racing incident and the 5 place penalty seems a bit harsh, but I would say that the burden of responsibility lies more with Perez than with Massa.

      The comments from Smedley do seem a bit ridiculous – Rosberg had major braking issues and nobody was suggesting he should have retired or not defended his position. But remember that Smedley and Massa are very close friends, and nobody wants to see anyone go into the barriers like that. It seems a sad way for the race to end for both the drivers, but I feel like Perez would be better off trying to be a bit more objective about it, as it does seem pretty clear that it was him moving across the track which was the biggest factor in the accident.

    2. This illustrates really well how Perez changed his line, while Massa and Vettel remained consistent

      http://i.imgur.com/WRTu05L.jpg

      1. We have a winner! Thanks for that.

      2. Sorry, don’t agree. The drivers have the right to defend their position. You know, there’s a rule for max left-right-left moves when defending a position. The way that photo investigates this case, Perez should have left Massa pass him w/o minimum fight.

        BTW, take for ex MSchumacher’s pass on KRaikkonen in Brazil 2006. Kimi turned left and squeezed Schumacher to the fence. Still, Schumacher did not turn right towards Kimi ! The cases are pretty similar, but different outcomes. But Massa is no Schumacher either………

        1. Drivers are allowed to defend, but don’t jink around in the braking zone. If Sergio wanted to defend on the left, he should have moved left down the straight, not a last second block in the braking zone.

          Massa braked 10 meters earlier than his previous lap so he had plenty of space to make that corner down the inside. He wasn’t moving to the racing line – he was following the track as it curved. Sergio jinked left in the braking zone.

        2. The drivers have the right to defend their position.

          No one’s disputing that. But Perez only made his left movement when Massa started to get alongside, which suggests either Perez didn’t check his mirrors, or Perez was preparing himself for a divebomb on the car ahead, when he was further behind Vettel than Massa was to Perez.

          1. And that’s the most troubling part for me @david-a. Perez appears to have the spatial awareness of Maldonado, which is to say none at all. Someone as experienced as he is in open wheel racing ought to have a better idea of not deviating from the racing line when another driver is already along side.

        3. What has Schumacher in 2006 has to do with this. New set of rules means those examples are worthless.

      3. Fernando Deutsch (@)
        9th June 2014, 17:59

        Actually you can see that Perez is kept in straight line to the Apex. It may look that we dives to the left but that is really because the track opens to the right.

        I think Massa was just unaware of that or was to confident on his move. He was not even at Perez side, not even his front wing. A dive bomb we call it in SimRacing.

      4. Very simple, massa had a truckload of space to his left which he could have utilized to avoid contact

      5. Quite a nice illustration, @mazdachris

      6. @mazdachris Great image, but its still open to interpretation. However, from what I glean from the images is that Massa maintained that curve to the right where Perez, as @keithcollantine suggests, allowed his car to move over. Ultimately I don’t think it was a conscious manouvre on Sergio’s part, and whether you like it or not, it was a high speed impact that resulted in a very serious crash.

    3. I don’t know Keith, but Perez had no right to defend his position ?!?! To do that, the only way was to move to the left, no doubt. Isn’t that called “closing the door” ? Also, Massa had a big speed advantage and it’s quite clear he wanted to pass Perez there, but at the same time he wanted to join the racing line -> move to the right. Isn’t that something you just won’t do when racing ? I mean, make the pass, but at the same time move towards the other driver ? Wouldn’t that be called pushing a driver off-track ? Just my opinions, but I think it was just bad racing from Massa. He approached the corner with more speed than normal, realised he’s gonna miss it (so he had to turn right), but at the same time he wanted to pass Perez. It was like a conflict. If he wouldn’t have had turned right, he would have passed Perez but missed the corner and Perez would have passed him again when exiting the corner. We’ve seen this kind of moves many times… but nobody was fool enough to turn towards the other driver when passing in the braking zone.

      1. You have the right to defend your position, but do so by moving over while the other car is still entirely behind you, otherwise you’re just turning in on another car- which is what happened.

    4. Fault on both sides. It was a pretty desperate move by Massa at that point, having spent eight laps in the Rosberg train without overtaking a single car, despite arriving on the scene with the fastest car. He was determined to make something happen and he put the car in harm’s way. I think Perez was not thinking about Massa’s position and was best positioning his car to possibly take the fight back to Vettel in case the Red Bull pushed into the corner.

      That pit straight DRS zone should not exist, there is really not enough length and the braking zone and curves at the end make for a dangerous situation. It was scary enough as it was, but the result could have been much worse had Vettel been another .05 seconds down the road.

    5. They both deserved to lose their points. Perez deserved it for moving in the braking zone; Massa deserved it for taking an unnecessary risk when overtaking a car with obvious braking issues.

      But is any additional punishment really necessary? Personally, I don’t see why an incident like this has to result in further penalty when both drivers have already been penalised heavily by the loss of their WDC points.

    6. For once Keith I agree with you 100%

      Force India have acted childishly and unprofessionally on social media regarding the incident.

      I really don’t understand why people think the mass was unreasonably close to Perez. They clearly don’t understand the track layout.

      1. think that Massa* Grrr

    7. Would you have moved to the right, to open the door wide for the guy behind?

      Obviously, No. So why do you blame Perez for closing the door.

      1. @w-k Because Perez closed the door when Massa was already alongside.

        1. Massa ran into the back of Perez’s left rear tyre, how the h*** could he have been alongside.

        2. Nope! Massa wasn’t alongside when Perez was moving to the left! Check again! He was already moving to the left while Massa was still behind him. Only the stupidity of Massa that caused this collision by forcing to take the racing line. I would agree it was Perez fault if he was moving to the left after Massa was alongside him, but not in this case. I don’t know about you, but if I’m driving and I see a car in front of me moving to the left towards my path, I certainly wouldn’t try to go to the right to meet it.
          I think this is the problem of most people that support the view that Perez was the one more at fault. They always says Perez moved to the left against the racing line. They forgot that at the split second before the crash, Massa was making a sudden turn to the right as if he has the right to take the racing line with or without Perez being there. Even in the picture posted by MazdaChris above, you can see that Perez trajectory is relatively straight while Massa make a sudden turn. Yes, Perez wasn’t taking the usual racing line. But I don’t like this racing line argument because it implies that other than the usual optimal line, you can’t use the road. In this case, Perez was penalized because he took unconventional line. It was within his right as he was the car in front to take whatever damn line he wants to take. It was up to Massa to react to whatever car in front choose to do.

          1. @w-k @frans
            Perez only starts to move across at the point where Massa’s nose is level with the rear tyre of Perez’s car, as you can see in the above images (M4, P4). Had he done so earlier, as he was entitled to do, Massa would have adjusted to the left to make the pass.

            Massa’s line was consistent with the road (though indeed relatively far to the right), but Perez changed his line in the braking zone, with another car partially alongside. You just can’t do that.

          2. What’s wrong with Perez’s move, and why he was penalized for it, is that he made the move at the same time as he hit the brakes. This is stupid and dangerous. I watched the end of the race again and it’s clear that on previous laps, Perez stayed way right just like every other driver does. It’s the racing line. He was already offline, and then made a further defensive move in the braking zone. That’s why he deserves a penalty. And who are these people that think he was considering a move on Vettel? Vettel already passed him because his brakes were shot.

    8. The criticism Perez received for the incident with Raikkonen in Monaco last year was not unreasonable. He escaped a penalty because he was driving for McLaren and the victim was not in a Ferrari or a Red Bull. If it was Raikkonen in the McLaren and Perez in the Lotus it wouldn’t be the same.
      Penalties are not there to make a team or a driver look stupid, but to make the game fair and safe. For a lot of reasons, it’s very difficult for F1 drivers to accept that they were wrong, thus we shouldn’t claim something like that after a race.
      I think that teams should give the stewards whatever evidence they want and respect the stewards’ decision or appeal to F1 or FIA, no press releases, no tweets, no “leaks”.
      It would be very good for the sport if the full statement (and not only the penalty) is published because our (amateurs) analysis lacks evidence and knowledge of the rules and is always under the preconceptions of personal favorites.

    9. I agree. I think Sergio was so fixated on Vettel that he simply did not see Massa make the move, which resulted in the accident. It was a racing incident, nothing malicious. These two drivers are just cheesed off because they were both on for a good result on Sunday, and all they had to show for it were two smashed up motor’s and bruises.

    10. Looking this incident from the chicane (before finish line), you will see that Perez got a mistake and in the straight, he got less speed than Massa and Vettel. Thats why Massa tried to pass him there.

      And Massa wanted to squeeze Perez at the right to take more room to enter turn 1.

    11. Thanks to @geemac for the link
      you can do frame by frame

      http://gfycat.com/RegularIllinformedHyracotherium

  10. Not a fan, but I really feel sorry for Perez. He did a strong race. I read all kind of opinions, facts… but I still keep my opinion: mostly, it’s Massa’s fault. We must think about main racing rules and the cars positions, before thinking who turned left, who turned right etc. Perez was in front, therefore had the right to choose 1st the “racing line” and to defend his positions. Also, he didn’t do more than 2-3 left-right (or viceversa) moves in order to defend his position. So, being behind, it was Massa’s obligation to find a way past Perez w/o pushing him away off track and also keeping in mind that Perez will (/has the right to) defend his position.

  11. i normally would disagree with perez but i fully agree with him for this particular incident. i think it was massa’s fault. he went for a desperate lunge that wouldn’t have worked anyway and destroyed both their races.

    i don’t care how many of you will try to prove me wrong, i’ve watched the replays severable times and came to this conclusion. massa is at fault, not perez. it’s an unjustified penalty for perez. also my disrespect for massa for making comments to sergio about ‘how he still has to learn’ and was ‘driving dangerously’ for an incident where peoples opinions differ by quite a lot, has now grown massively.

    1. this incident kind of reminds me of monaco 2013, where grosjean crashed into the back of ricciardo. ricciardo seemed to break early and so did perez, grosjean and massa couldn’t avoid the crashes. everyone blamed grosjean in monaco, here everyone’s blaming perez. someone said ‘whoever hits a car in front is at fault’ and i think this applies here, too. perez may have moved over to defend his position (which he is allowed to do) and it may have been a bit late but massa was still behind him at that point. the problem was that perez was having brake issues and had to brake early, massa was caught off-guard and hit him.

    2. Yeah – I agree.

      I think Massa should retire. He had the speed to be able to get on the podium but he couldn’t keep a cool head and get a decent exit onto the straights to use his tyre advantage to get past the slower cars in front. Then he wipes himself and Perez… awful.

  12. Those who are telling that the track turns right and massa was right to turn right should see the footage again, he was so close to perez when making the right that he would have crashed on the back of perez’s car, which actually happened regardless of perez moving to the left.

  13. The stewards have spoken and it’s time to just move on, just as with Rosberg and Hamilton in Monaco, which smelled bad as well as looked bad. As for this incident, I think this is just a racing incident, just as when Button and Hamilton came together a little ways up the road in 2011. That piece of track snakes and there are in fact a variety of lines to take around the right hand kink and a number of ways to get into T1. That’s kind of the point, I thought, of the design. You could take a shallow line and “diamond” the corner” and be very compromised coming out of T2 possibly. Or you could take a wide line and come out of T2 very strong. The amaizing thing about the wreck was not so much where Perez put his car, but Massa’s speed at the collision. Could Massa have even made the corner if not for the accident?

    1. Given Massa braked 10 meters earlier than his previous lap, yes – he had plenty of space.

  14. I think Massa was to blame.

    It was a shame, because at one point of the race, we, Brazilians, think of a victory that ever happens not too long.
    But thanks for the fastest lap and especially that overtaking on Alonso.

  15. clearly a racing incident IMO .. Clearly Perez being the driver in the front has all the right to defend .. i don’t think he was moving around for Massa to be unable to make up his mind… Massa didn’t want to let go of the racing line and still attempted to come out in front
    If anyone it shoud be Massa who should be taking the blame

  16. “I was following the same line and braking patterns as in the previous laps”

    I’d like to see some onboard footage of his previous laps because I’m not totally sure about that statement, he takes a really strange line, to me it’s just a very late defensive attempt.

  17. It’s not the first time Massa has turned into a car that was ahead of him. Come to think of it, it’s not the first time the stewards have it dead wrong too…

      1. Perez may be trying to make a move on vettel.

      2. Your pics don’t show Massa’s turn to the right. Where the heck did he think he was going, with Perez right in front of him and to Massa’s right?

        1. It shows Perez not rounding the corner on the normal trajectory, veering into Massa’s path.

          1. As the guy ahead, Perez is entitled to take any line he wants to through the corner. He did not veer left, he was heading in that direction all along. Any veering that was done was by Massa – a jink to the right, that could only take him into the back of Perez’s car.

          2. Perez changed his line coming out of Vettle before entering the corner. After apex he made a slight steering compensation – under 4 degrees. The car did moved some just 15-20 cm closer to Massa’s line when Massa pushed Perez to left by touching his left rear wheel. That’s all Massa’s fault for leaving Perez no place to act. He had more than 8-meter wide racing line. But he kept turning right into Perez even after apex.

      3. Time for Massa to call it day.
        He clearly should have won that race: With 10 laps to go, he had the freshest tyres and fastest car.
        All he had to do was pass the 2 red bulls – giving away at least 30kph on the straights; Perez who had no DRS and Rosburg who was dealing with being down 160bhp (apparently).
        You lot thinking Perez was at fault clearly have never raced before. There’s a car to my right, going slower than me…maybe I should turn right!!!??…eh, No!
        What a moron, Massa is past it, no longer knows how to race and is clearly a danger to the other drivers. Should be excluded from the next race…

  18. It’s obvious that Perez’s minor swerve to the left caused the collision.
    I wouldn’t blame him though, he was probably concentrating on Vettel and not aware of Massa’s charge.
    Massa is definetely not to blame at all. He took avoiding action (steered away to the left and slammed the brakes) just before the impact. (Clearly visible in the overhead video)
    As for Sergio’s comments, I don’t agree with him blaming Massa, but I wouldn’t have penalised him. It’s a typical racing incident, but the severity of the crashes probably urged the stewards to assign a penalty.

  19. A following car never brakes right behind the car infront because of the risk of locking up and driving into him, that is why you brake slightly to the side of the car ahead to prevent that from happening. That is what Perez was doing. He knew that his brakes and tyres were not that good so he braked beside Vettels line. And also because right before the slight turn to the right before turn 1, Vettel took the wide line so Perez could not follow there and that is why he turned slightly to the left. I like you to read again what Perez said: “I can only think he must have changed his mind and wanted to rejoin the racing line, his misjudgement cost us a big amount of points.” Massa was not going to have time to make an overtake there so that’s why Massa rejoined the racing line but the braking zone was already there and Massa outbraked himself..

  20. I…think it’s a racing incident.

  21. Massa would never had made the first corner without running ‘inside’ turn 2

  22. ““It was very disappointing to lose such a strong result through no fault of our own,” said Perez.”

    He’s kind of like maldanado, this guy won’t consider possibility that may be both were wrong.

    Perez initiated crash by going away from racing line towards middle of the road, in braking zone no less. He knows massa is right behind at that point, who had speed advantage with both traction and top speed along with braking performance of williams, and he still think nothing can go wrong if he just move without looking into mirror?

    I understand force India’s POV to defend their driver and position, but c’mon its common sense to not move or change line abruptly in braking zone, they must acknowledge perez mistake or he will keep in repeating it just like he did in mclaren, just like maldanado keep on doing.

    Thankfully grosjean did learn something.

    In my view its racing incident with perez to blame, but because of perez history with this type of move, he deserve penalty.

    1. Because of perez’s history? What about massa’s?

      1. I don’t think massa has history in changing line in braking zone. On other hand perez did similar move a lot of time.

        Both driver are clumsy in my opinion, i’d say racing incident but perez need to understand certain driving etiquette and thus Penalty is deserved, its not very harsh either just 5 place grid drop.

        If i remember correctly massa received penalty for crashing with hamilton during 2011 Indian grandprix where he turn into hamilton’s mclaren.

  23. I think both drivers were at fault. Massa had the responsibility as he was the car behind, and he also had to take into account that Perez was close behind Vettel and having brake problems on top of that, drivers try to avoid the “normal” racing line going in and out of corners when following even when everything is in order.

    I don’t agree with Perez’s analysis, but I agree he was not at fault, well, not the most at fault of the two anyway.

    Perez did not break the, as Alonso put it, “all the time you have to leave the space” rule. Nor did he move in the braking zone, not that they got that far. So I don’t see any offence was committed, just clumsy racing by both. Yeah Perez did not take the “normal” line that Massa was expecting, and Massa was turning right when he already had started passing Perez, who was going straight.

    I would also like to mention something important to anyone who makes or looks at one of those videos or gifs, that over-impose driver lines taken on top of the video feed. (Or wheel movement for the same matter)
    It is important to understand that as soon as there is the smallest contact like this, the car in front tends to rotate, so that can exaggerate the apparent movement prior contact. I have not yet seen one (I have seen quite a few of this incident) where this mistake is NOT made. Most of them analyse up to the point where Massa already has properly rammed his car into Perez. This is a general rule, this also happened all the time with the Vet-Web incident in Turkey, 2010. Annoys me.

    1. Look what I mean: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BpoqzP6CQAAkvM-.jpg:large

      A picture of supposed lines, that are incorrect to begin with, because Perez was more on the left all the way, but at this point the crash has already happened, Massa has no front wheel! And the trajectory and rptation of Perez’s car has been affected. (it’s this moment: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/06/08/article-2652297-1E95E57900000578-345_634x350.jpg)

      Pictures like this being tweeted by top journalists, top in terms of popularity, not intellect.

      Having more closely examined all the videos, at slow-mo , I would put even more blame on Massa than initially.

  24. Massa had no chance whatsoever of overtaking at that point. His only option was to try and slot in behind Perez on the racing line. But he failed to brake sufficiently and moved into Perez before he was clear of Perez’s rear. If Perez had not jinked to the left Massa would still have hit him, IMO.

    100% Massa’s fault. Massa should be fined WDC points and they should be given to Perez.

    1. This statement contradicts the video images.
      There’s a 20 meter rubber trail from Massa’s locked right front wheel visible before the place of impact. You can also see the Williams move to the left again at that point. I find it even applaudable that Massa reacted so quickly, since the time interval between Perez’s swerve and the moment of impact is probably less than a second.

  25. Not the first time Perez has closed his line too late, China last year with Di Resta and Kimi, Monaco with Kimi and Button, Spa with Romain… Also, people seem to be unwilling to remember that the reason Massa’s turning right is because that’s the way the track goes!

    1. also monza 2013 with kimi, he was lucky kimi manage to brake into turn 1 while putting his left front on grass and damaging his wing and race, if it was massa in place of kimi it would have been heavy crash since it was monza level downforce, long straight(speed near 300kph or above) and no front downforce because of car infront.
      monza 2013 clip
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYigDYoChe4

      Look how perez just move to the left totally ignoring if he left space for other car or not. Remind me of spa 2012 crash where grosjean turn without care.(spa 2012 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7452Y_-XKk)

    2. Kimi lovers how many times Kimi has crash this season ? He loves to crash Mclaren’s mostly with Perez or not. This is the worst case against a Massa can’t make it stick, look at Riccardo a Vettel overtakes. Massa was in the other side in Monaco and his view was way different, he had to blame someone for his lack of knowing when to limit damage, I bet he would be happy with 5th now !

  26. One of the things that makes crashes like this so inevitable is the (very poor) line of sight that drivers have from the cockpit. I am surprised the teams have not found some technology that would help prevent this kind of thing. In particular, why don’t drivers wear head-mounted displays? The cameras could be placed up by the air intake, giving the driver a much better field of view. Data from the pits could also be projected, along with virtual guide lines, lap delta signals, and all sorts of other aids.

  27. Vettel was the one taking the correct racing line. Perez for some reason decided to turn left approaching the braking point. He might have seen Massa and tried to block him but it was late for him as he was already at his wheels.

    Perez probably saw Massa very late but should have been sensible and just left him by to gain some points. I am not sure Massa could have done anything more to avoid the situation. His only mistake was to not take Vettel when he had the chance at the back straight leading to the finish line.

  28. Between this, the Bianchi/Chilton incident and Nico’s chicane-miss, I’m coming to the conclusion that the stewarding system could do with an overhaul. Introducing a driver ‘representative’ was a good step, but I don’t think its enough. Many accidents which once would have been dismissed as bad luck or just racing are now investigated and sporting penalties often given out. Presumably, this has to do with the sport’s business and commercial side taking over, rather than the old (rose-tinted) garagistas and gentlemen racers. Teams demanding penalties for others’ mistakes helps compensate them, hopefully minimising the commercial damage. This passes down to the drivers’ mentalities, too, and soon it feels like everyone is out to get everyone else. The same problem exists in feeder formulae. Accidents end up with penalties, whilst dangerous driving (Pastor, I’m looking your way) is overlooked or let off with a warning.

    For me, if a driver or team does something which unnecessarily endangers another person, or is intentionally unsporting in the eyes of the steward(s), then action should be taken. Stewards should always be able to justify their decisions, but if they believe a move was intentional (for example) and the team, telemetry and driver cannot categorically prove otherwise, then a ruling could be given. Driver penalties would be monetary, points on licenses and race bans, leaving races undisrupted and results decided on track. Team penalties could be fines or even resource restrictions (unsafe release loses you a set of tyres next race, anyone?). Removing grid and time penalties might also help dissuade other teams from aggressively campaigning for penalties, because there’s less to gain.

    As for the stewards themselves, I think an older ex-racer combined with a young up-and-comer and ex-sporting director would give the most balanced view, kept the same for each season, with a strong characters being essential.

  29. petebaldwin (@)
    9th June 2014, 20:24

    It was a racing incident. I would put the blame at 60/40 Checo/Massa but that means they were both to blame. They both lost a lot of points so that should have been it.

    These constant penalties are rediculous. I can’t remember the last one that was deemed a racing incident!

  30. I remember when Massa and Hamilton collided in India (Massa penalised, Hamilton attempting to pass) Massa was hissing with rage as he was just taking his racing line. I vaguely recall a few similar incidents. The guy has to get it through his head that he doesn’t have a divine right to the teaching line if there is another car there. Generally a defending car will move to the inside of a passing point, and by all means you can pass that person round the outside (Ricciardo did) but a passing car needs to make sure there is room, the defending car needs to give room only to someone that is already alongside. I don’t believe the track turning right is relevant because Perez would still have comfortably made the corner.

  31. Race drivers have a right to defend, but you can’t change your line while on the brakes. That’s a big no.

    If he wanted to defend, he should have moved to the left earlier, before braking. I for one am glad that idiot and reckless defending is being punished.

  32. It’s reported on Sky that Perez was still at the hospital when the hearing took place. So no chance to put his views forward.

    Don’t know where Massa was.

  33. Sergio is spot on; rear ended whilst minding his own business and he gets the penalty? Insane!

  34. I’m a Perez fan (so I was gutted about the result, but at least they walked away) but I have to say it was more his fault than Massa’s.

    I don’t get this argument that Massa was unreasonably close to Perez. If he’s going for an overtake, this is what happens, cars get close to each other. People are saying it was too risky, but there’s always some risk with an overtake, as seen with this incident. Both drivers have to be compliant.

    And I’ve seen the argument that he was defending his position, but such a late move is hardly going by the letter of the law. Taking a defensive line earlier would have been a clean manoeuvre, making it clear to Massa. With Massa in close proximity, Perez’s move was very dangerous, as we have seen.

    It pains me to say all this because I really like Perez. He was having a mighty race up until then and I’m sure he’ll have more before the end of the season. I’ve been impressed by him once again this season, giving a good account of himself against Hulkenberg. Onto the next one!

    Just on a side note: Did anyone else see the onboard clip of Vettel? I didn’t realise he had steered so as to avoid (or help to avoid) Massa. I thought Massa missed him by luck. Vettel’s quick reactions may have saved them from a different, horrible accident.

  35. I think that Pérez went to gamble with his luck and tried a “holy mary” trying to regain his lost position with Vettel, while at the same time Massa maybe changed his idea about overtaking him and tried to go back to the racing line. One goes left, another right and kaboom, with Vettel with first seats tickets to see the show.

  36. Perez should look at this brilliant analysis-
    http://imgur.com/WRTu05L

    1. I think everyone here commentating should also.

  37. Massa was the car behind a pair going into a corner. He tried to late-brake it and did not allow nearly enough space for a rather predictable move from Perez. We can slice it up any number of ways, but if you’re late-braking you’re responsible far as I’m concerned.

  38. I think Massa misjudged.
    He looked desperate/impatient trying to catch Vettel
    He went too fast-too-close to Perez
    He was destined to pass along the chicane- braking too late
    I will blame on Massa fir his poor judgement

  39. I’m neither a Perez or Massa fan but in this case I totally agree with Perez. I don’t know how he got stuck with a penalty.
    If you saw the Vine loop that Brundle retweeted – a shot from above of the incident it seemed pretty clear that Perez was moving left to make a re-overtake on the corner which looked kosher, and Massa screaming up from behind — waaay to fast to make the corner.
    At the very least it should’ve been considered a ‘racing incident’ since Perez likely wouldn’t have seen Massa coming so quickly.

    Honestly, Massa had a race-winning car and he choked. His driving before the crash was erratic and inefficient. Makes me wonder how Bottas would’ve done if the condition of the two Williams’ car could’ve been reversed. He’s less experienced than Massa on that circuit but he keeps his head better.
    I bet Sir Frank rolled away on Sunday night with a tinge of regret for hiring Massa.

  40. I will not argue much with the decision of the stewards as they don’t often get it right.
    Rosberg vs Hamilton lap 1 shows the driver on the inside can take a narrow line into turn 1 and still come out ahead.
    Massa is an experienced driver but he gets too emorional.
    He was only a hair’s width from Perez when making that attempt and considering cars move about under braking it was very risky.
    Massa was just desperate to get ahead and didnt leave himself any margin.
    The real reference is Vettel who was ahead and hovering at the corner.
    Massa was too focused on Perez not realising Vettel’s actions couid also affect Perez.
    I even doubt if Massa would have easily made that corner with his very late braking.

  41. Got to agree with Perez on everything he said. It was Felipe’s illogical driving that caused the accident, and there was no reason to retire the car. He had tyres that were really finished, and slight MGU-K problems, but I’ll eat my socks when a driver retires a car due to degraded tyres and a slight loss in power.

    1. You forgot that Perez let his car slide to the left. A tinny fact.

  42. I think Perez is mostly at fault as he clearly changed his line in the braking zone and angled his car towards the apex of the corner (compared to Vettel who is running parallel to the edge of the track some 20 feet ahead). But i think Massa is partly at fault too because he left no margin for error on his overtake – as Perez said there was a huge amount of space on the inside and Massa could have comfortably made the pass without compromising his line into the corner too badly. But that wouldn’t have mattered if Perez held his usual line so i think the penalty is fair.

    What is slightly worrying is that to me, Perez shows more than a little unwillingness to accept blame for any of his incidents, and there’s been quite a few of them through his career. He’s been a mixed bag for me this year, i’ve been impressed with his pace generally, and surprised that he’s outperformed Hulkenberg a couple of times, but he’s still having these accidents which is hurting his points tally badly. We’ve seen from Maldonado that if you never accept responsibility you will never learn, so if Perez wants to do himself justice he needs to reconsider his approach and make sure there is always margin for error when he is wheel to wheel with other cars.

  43. I think massa has cost both himself and perez. Every racer has the right to defend.
    if see other videos where racers are defending then if massa is correct there should be lot more accidents every race and every racer has the right to push from behind to a car defending itself.

    Massa should have avoided this, as ricciardo said FI drivers were very good in defending through corners he could have tried a similar move but thats the difference between a champion who wins and one who goes out. Both RBR’s did there moves on straights!

    1. In this case, Perez was not defending himself. And the defending manoeuvre you point out is very different. Perez should be careful, as his car was having braking problems, and specially, he should have prevented his car from sliding to the left. What Massa should have done or not is irrelevant, as Perez’s sliding was in fact very dangerous, and therefore illegal. So, to stay with “ifs” is not relevant.
      And, by the way, that could happen to any other pilot. Its to much pressure and need to win. So, don’t say that Ricciardo is different. Every pilot can make mistakes.

      1. The debate of defending or not can go on forever but the point you said is right Massa was certainly on pressure, may be he wanted to get a podium and get pass vettel as well and the laps were running out which made him take this risk…
        The game itself is great all the drivers have pressure, even the back runners are fighthing against each other. It’s the ability to handle pressure and taking right decisions which makes the drivers great of which we all are a fan of..Canada gp clearly showed that Massa did a wrong judgement (that day) as with the pace he had he could have taken Perez anyway. It’s this wrong judgement that cost him and Perez too..
        I am blaming Massa since he is the only one who could have avoided the accident and he is the one who lost more than Perez in the race.

        Disappointing is both had a great race and deserved a better finish!

        1. Rahul, you keep saying that Massa could prevent the accident, but that’s not true. One thing to say is Massa should have made a better approach, another entirely different is to say Massa did a dangerous manoeuvre and caused the accident. The first could be right. The second is not at all.
          The element you tend to “forget” is that Perez let his car slide to the left, making a dangerous, therefore illegal, move. He was not defending the position (and such a late call would be illegal too), he was distracted. So, even if everybody considers that Massa could have done a different manoeuvre (which is irrelevant for the case), the truth is that the one he has made was not dangerous or illegal, therefore trying to “punish” Massa for the incident is unfair.

  44. Is it just me, or is it never Perez fault. (Button Kimi and now Massa to name but three)

  45. Im my opinion, it’s Perez’s fault. He can defend that Massa was moving his car to the right, because he was, as he was making a turn to the right, and probably preparing the attack to vettel, but the problem was that Perez also changed direction to the left, without anything to justify that move. And that’s very dangerous to do. He probably didn’t do it with an intention to cause an accident. He was having problems with the brakes, sob I guess he let the car slide to the left, without noticing it.
    But, let’s be honest. At those speeds, and with so much pressure, a tinny slide can be very dangerous. Result of that? Two pilots to the hospital.
    Next time, Perez, use the rearview mirrors. And Massa, stop putting yourself in a problematic situation.
    That said, I agree with the penalty. And the reason is that, not only because Perez dod the wrong and dangerous move, but mainly, because Massa did a legal and a non dangerous move, and to defend that Massa should be penalized is to subvert what we like to watch in F1. Massa was very fast and Perez had braking problems. Who should have to be extra careful? Perez, of course.

  46. “Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear” ;)

  47. If this situation had happened 10-15 years ago, both drivers would have concluded: “this is racing”, “a racing accident”, or “Perez should have known overdefending is dangerous” or “Massa rushed his attack beacuse he wanted to get Vettel too and was not able to anticipate Perez defending his position”. Period. Nothing more. But drivers nowadays know the FIA better than to put up to a “racing accident” scenario.

    For the last 3 years the FIA has implemented a “safety driving” campaign that does nothing but one thing: generate controvery, a lot of controversy. There is almost no bold move by a driver that goes unpunished or receives a warning. I am not saying that is wrong, drivers safety is very important, but there must be a manoeuvre criteria that takes into account the “human factor”, F1 drivers are professional athletes (but first human beings) competing against each other for a position, persons who get tire as the race goes on and struggle with a deteriorated car. This is part of racing! And that is a huge factor which makes me love the sport.

    Both Sergio and Felipe were racing at their best, Sergio trying to survive with a deteriorating car after heroically holding off the 2 faster Red Bulls for many laps, and Massa heroically trying to put himself and the Williams on a podium because, God knows, they deserve it!

    FIA policies are just encouraging drivers to risk less, and the worst thing is that they know it! I’m afraid in the next years we will see less heroic overtaking manouvres (Senna anyone? Hakkinen? Alonso at 2005?) because of this lack of “human factor” criteria in sanctions. And then the FIA-F1 worries about fans trolling them at the social media for watching racing cars “parade” with each other.

  48. Adrián Chávez
    10th June 2014, 15:34

    Clearly it’s a racing incident product of coincidence of two separate maneuvers.

    As such, there is no blame, but two drivers were responsible for their own maneuver. Such a discussion (as that we can read in this forum), without reaching agreement, strongly indicates the impossibility to point out of a single responsabile.

    Most striking is the irresponsible behavior of both drivers evidenced in the discussion held between the two parties after the fact. Such a shame!!!

    Regards,

  49. another import thing to notice is all three cars are travelling at the same rate – equal distance travelled through each frame in the sequence, then Perez’s car clearly and noticeably slows while Vettel and Massa continue at the same rate. It is very easy to see even without slow motion, the cars on either side of Perez continue at the same pace while he quickly slows).

    So Perez has clearly moved off the racing line (ok, maybe his one defending move – fair enough) and then slows to the point where Massa has no time to react to slow or change direction. This is clearly unsafe and unsporting at that speed and location.

  50. I quite agree. I saw many videos and pictures and I think that Perez doesn’t deserve the penalty. Massa made the mistake.

  51. Massa can’t stick it and is Perez fault ?

    Perez had no DRS working, brakes low, electrical issues, old tires and didn’t broke down behind BOTH red bulls pressure, defend great against them, but allow the overtakes when fairly defeated.

    Ricciardo/Vettel knows how and WHEN to make it stick.

    ALO/BUT wouldn’t have left that 5th slip, in fact patience got them a free 4th & 5th.

    Hot Massa ruin his and Perez race. Massa has forgotten everything, he is not looking for WCC or WDC, he wants a last win, whatever it takes and hope he doesn’t hurt anyone

    Gutted for failures this race should have been HAM, ROS, PER.

  52. Two things I didn’t read in the first chunk of comments.
    1 – Perez was way off the racing line, and made a move even further from it. Look at Vettel’s position on the track relative to Perez.
    2 – Are you allowed to defend under braking? The F1 website says that
    “20.4 Any driver defending his position on a straight, and before any braking area, may use the full width of the track during his first move, provided no significant portion of the car attempting to pass is alongside his.”

  53. I watched the crash incident between Perez and Massa many times and here is my conclusion.. The blame is on RedBull.
    RedBull in that specific race had placed a Voodoo Button in both cars and drivers were able only to use it once in the Race. The Hawaiian Oracle who had gave the schematics for the configuration of the button said to the team that if the Drivers will use it then must be prepared of some Side Effects like losing hair in the feet or growing τails. As we all saw both drivers used it once with great success.
    1st was Ricardo who pressed it and both Merc’s where doom and 2nd was Vettel who maked the Perez and Massa to both crash.

    No one knows if RedBull will use this again but Rumors say that Ferrari is watching closely this trying to figure out a way to do the same but all knows that these things need time to prepare to work straight away with this kind of success.

    P.S. Inside info from Aussieland say that Riciardo was not able to sit for the 1st 2 days after the race but now the situation getting better.. Unfortunately we don’t have info from Vettel side.

  54. In my view:
    Perez didn’t turn the wheel to the left from dead centre- check the in-car video. He straightened to probably have the best braking performance from the position he was in. Also a defensive move which was probably instinctive.
    Massa, for some reason decided to go back to the racing line and didn’t realise how quickly he was gaining on Perez and how close he was running to him as well.
    The very fine freeze frames do seem to suggest that Massa went into the rear left tyre of Perez but there was such a large speed differential that it appears he went into the sidepod proper. We all need to remember that the footage we see is only 24-25FPS depending on region.
    Racing incident in my view and should have been a stern warning to Perez i/o a penalty- giving due consideration to the decision that the stewards did take on the matter.

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