Rosberg lucky not to retire as Hamilton did – Wolff

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In the round-up: Mercedes executive director Toto Wolff says Nico Rosberg was lucky he was able to finish the Canadian Grand Prix after his team mate Lewis Hamilton retired.

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Wolff: Luck was the difference (Sky)

“They had exactly the same problem and I think, at the end of the day, that Nico was just a bit luckier.”

Lewis Hamilton vows to hunt down Nico Rosberg but admits he’ll need better fortune to recover from second DNF this season (The Independent)

“There was nothing I could do about our issues. We were managing the loss of power, but as soon as I finally made the jump on Nico in the second pit stop, my brakes failed.”

The secrets to Mercedes’ 2014 F1 success (The Way it Is)

“Cowell confirmed Niki Lauda’s recent declarations that the Mercedes W05 F1 car is more efficient than a Toyota Prius hybrid road car. ‘Absolutely, by a long way,’ Cowell said.”

Montreal gets sweet deal to keep GP until 2024 (The Gazette)

“The $17 million annual staging fee that will keep the Canadian Grand Prix here till 2024 is cheaper – by far – to what is being paid by most other host countries on the 19-race calendar.”

Rosberg wants corner-cutting rethink (Autosport)

“I went straight, and didn’t get an advantage. I did initially, but I slowed down in turn one and two as is the norm to do.”

Williams driver Felipe Massa Perez penalty not enough – Massa (BBC)

“It was dangerous and we could have had a very serious accident, so for me the penalty is not enough.”

Ferrari F14 T – Montreal engine cover (Formula One)

“In an effort to improve the efficiency of their overall package, Ferrari tested a much tighter-fitting engine cover in Montreal.”

Adrian Newey’s Red Bull move will be celebrated by F1 rivals

“I just feel, to be perfectly honest, the current regulations are very restrictive, which is a shame. It’s difficult to find new areas to explore as they are so tight, more engine orientated. They need more of a fundamental rethink in my opinion.”

2014 Canadian GP report (MotorSport)

“Typically the diameter has been reduced by around a centimetre and the thickness is usually around 3mm less than the maximum allowable 28mm. Six-pot calipers have been replaced by four-pots at Mercedes, Red Bull, McLaren and Sauber.”

Mattiacci: “React and continue with developments” (Ferrari)

“Another major target is to speed up our reaction time, which is something our competitors seem to manage to do.”

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Comment of the day

In my view Perez was responsible for the crash with Massa but Brian disagrees:

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.
Brian (@Bealzbob)

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On this day in F1

Happy birthday to Dave Walker who turns 73 today. The Australian driver’s racing career was badly affected by two road accidents which left him with broken limbs.

Prior to that he’d made his F1 debut in Lotus’s difficult turbine-engined car in 1971. The following year he endured a point-less season in the team’s conventional V8-engined 72, which suffered a string of technical failures, leaving him with an unenviable score of zero while team mate Emerson Fittipaldi scooped the championship.

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109 comments on “Rosberg lucky not to retire as Hamilton did – Wolff”

  1. He was lucky not to hit the wall at one point! It was a fantastic save by Nico on his outlap.

  2. Alonso was hugely lucky not to take himself and Hulkenberg out there!

    I have to say I agree with the COTD. In my view the accident was a racing incident, but I lay more blame with Massa. He’s the car behind, that’s how it’s always been. If you look at the full overhead video you can see Sergio visibly closing on Vettel, so it wouldn’t surprise me if he was moving over to try a move down the inside, hence why he didn’t follow the curvature of the track.

    I also don’t think Massa’s earlier exploits helped him in the mind of many who lay the blame at his feet. He proved his race craft wasn’t really up to much when he reached the back of the Red Bull’s. He had a quicker car, and fresher tyres, and made a complete hash of it.

    1. I agree, it’s a situation where it’s not really fair to blame either driver in particular. I think Massa assumed that Perez would take the normal racing line, which was Massa’s mistake. However there is an equally powerful argument that Perez moved off the racing line too late, which is off course due to the nature of the track. But then you can say as you did that it’s Massa’s responsibility to avoid the crash, but again, some of the best moves are ridiculous and only work because the front car see’s it coming and avoids the crash.

      I think it’s fair to say that neither driver has been particularly dastardly. It’s unfortunate because it ruined two very strong races for those teams.

      However what is disappointing, is that rather than playing it down both drivers have come out swinging in the media, both certain that it’s the others fault and that they deserve a huge penalty…. Real mature guys. -.-

      1. I don’t think Perez/FI have been making a fuss over nothing, they’re just responding to Massa’s ridiculous “Penalty is not enough” statements. Massa tried to throw it up the inside in a desperate move, Perez wasn’t totally compliant/suffering a faulty car that meant he wasn’t driving normally, and so they collided.

        I think Massa must be well aware that he/the team did not get the result they should have this weekend, and all this hot air and bluster is just an attempt to divert attention from their monumental underperformance.

        1. I think Massa is seriously letting Williams down. The first timer in a decade they’ve had a decent car and they’re throwing it away.

          1. Actually, they had quite a decent car in 2012 also. But it was the same story, although Maldonado deserves all the praise for taking a chance when it was presented to him. The problem was that there were many other chances for just a slightly lower position that they threw away many times.

            Seems same this year, although we’re yet to see if they will win one.

          2. Williams really need to attract a top tier driver on the way up to start winning again. Since JPM left they haven’t really had that (exepting Webber for a couple of years but the car wasn’t up to scratch then) and with a constant parade of journeymen in the car, they need to be on the look out for the next big thing & sign him/her and develop the driver and car both into a winning formula.

  3. After rewatching the race I just realized Massa threw away at least the podium, if not the victory. When he went for a move on Vettel on lap 64 and even put his car next to him on the long straight, he forgot to use the DRS – and it certainly worked as he used it on the pit straight. I don’t know if it was because he realised he could pass Vettel that he forgot to press the button, but it seems a bit like a rookie mistake from one of the most experienced active drivers.

    1. I noticed that when he couldnt pass Vettel. He probably threw away his first win in 6 years right there I think.

      1. I also noticed that. My impression was that Massa (with fresher tires but no DRS) was unable to pass Vettel because Vettel, less than a second behind Perez, was down the straight with the DRS activated.

    2. This is why Massa is the driver that he is. He isnt, and frankly never really was, in the league of your Vettels and Hamiltons. Top drivers take opportunities that are presented to them…Massa didnt, because he isnt a top driver.

      1. Yeah, the guy has 11 victories under his belt, a decade in the most competitive sport, lost a world championship for one point, but hey, all that must have been a coincidence…

        1. Michael Brown (@)
          10th June 2014, 1:35

          And then almost died in Hungary… and then had his confidence stomped on by Ferrari for the next four years.

          1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
            10th June 2014, 2:11

            @jaymenon10 he was a good racer before the accident, but he never was a top-notch talent. Remember that in 2008, Hamilton won the championship not really being the best, but the one with the fewest mistakes. Let’s accept that Hamilton in 2007 and 2008 was a rough diamond, and he still had terrible mistakes as Canada 2008. Massa made more mistakes and that’s why he lost. Hamilton evolved more after that, but Massa’s progress was cut by the terrible accident, so he’s a “must have been a top-notch driver”.
            And remember Webber had 9 wins (just 2 less than Felipe) but was not really a superb driver.

          2. @omarr-pepper

            “Massa made more mistakes and that’s why he lost.”

            You gotta be kidding me, Hamilton made more mistakes than Massa in 2008, Massa lost it mainly because Ferrari made more mistakes like the engine failure in Hungary and of course Singapore, both those cost him victories. Sure he made mistakes as well, but I don’t think it’s fair to say that he made more mistakes than Hamilton.

        2. @aldoh I had some free time and done this board that shows some of the top drivers, and give us percentage beetween races and Podiums, points per race and win percentege between all the GP:

          Nico Rosberg – 27% Podiums, 4,6Pts p/race, 7,7% wins
          L. Hamilton – 80% Podiums(h), 8,9 pts p/race, 35% wins(h)
          Alonso – 42% Podiums, 7,4 pts p/race, 14,2 % Wins
          Vettel – 50% Podiums, 11,8 pts p7race(h), 30,7% wins
          Button – 19% Podiums, 4,3 pts p/race, 5,8% wins
          Kimi – 38% Podiums, 4,9 Pts p7race, 9,9%wins
          Massa – 18% Podiums (L), 4,1 pts p/race (L), 5,5% Wins (L)

          From here i think it’s safe to say that Massa given the cars he drove the teams he went, should have done a lot more…

          A bit off topic or not, the tweet from Force India really shows that Massa isn’t innocent in the accident, and that bad talking Perez is just wrong…Perez is a gutsy guy and has my respect for that, if he makes mistakes, yes he does, but we all do…and that’s racing, taking chances and beeing constantly in that thin line, trying to handle speed, aerodynamic and trying to overtake and avoid other drivers…

          1. I honestly have no idea what your stats are about to be honest. Either that or your stats are just wrong. Has Hamilton really stepped on the podium 4 times every 5 races. And Rosberg, with just 5 time GP winner in almost 150 races, has a win rate of 7.7%? Could you please explain the stats to me? As well as what (h) and (L) stand for. I would say that Rosberg, Hamilton and maybe Kimi’s stats are wrong as I have checked the others are they are more or less correct to what the heading state.

          2. I’m not sure what these numbers are supposed to mean?

            Are you saying Lewis Hamilton has finished on the podium in 80% of his races and won 35% of them? If so, your maths and or the numbers you’re working with are wrong.

            Hamilton has started 136 races, won 26 and finished on the podium 59 times. That comes out to a win percentage of 19.1% and a podium percentage of 43.4%.

            Vettel has started 127 races, won won 39 and finished on the podium 64 times. That comes out to a win percentage of 30.7% and a podium percentage of 50.4%.

            So your Vettel numbers seem correct, but your Hamilton numbers are far better than they should be – you might want to edit your post.

          3. @dan11124 Thanks Dan, it was the hour, done that alos 2am, the Hamilton stats are wrong, its 43% Podiums, 8.9 pts per race, 19,1% Wins….
            Nevertheless i think the numbers talk for them selfs

        3. With 11 victories, he is in league with the likes of Montoya, Webber and Barrichello, all of them were very successful, but in the end couldnt make a championship.

          And his last win was all the way back in 2008, two technical generations ago.

      2. err… Massa was a match for Hamilton in 2008. Massa then nearly died, so he has an excuse for not being as great a driver anymore. at the same time I do not believe Hamilton has improved since 2007/08 – his most impressive driving was in that era – ie when he did not have to worry about tyre wear.

        1. Hamilton has had great years after that. 2010 is one of them.
          2012 wasn’t bad either.

          The 2008 Ferrari was a better car than the McLaren, I’m pretty sure about that.

    3. The DRS did actually open for about a second then it shut itself.

      1. I saw this, he opened drs and went for the overtake and vettel scared him with a little shimmy so massa hit the brakes which closed his drs?

    4. As Martin Brundle and his way with words puts it, his race tactics were a little rusty.
      I guess he hardly ever had a Ferrari with that kind of speed in it, and thankfully there’s still a bit more to F1 racing than pressing the DRS button at the right time. Even at his best in 2008, Massa still had some silly accidents like the clash with Hamilton at Fuji.

      It’s a shame it wasn’t Button catching the leaders, or Alonso. Michael Schumacher too was pretty useful around Montreal 2 years ago.

      1. Even at his best in 2008, Massa still had some silly accidents like the clash with Hamilton at Fuji

        Wasn’t that Hamilton – and on Kimi instead of Felipe?

        Or are you referring to a crash other than that 1st lap one?
        @keithcollantine I can’t see the tag buttons here in the article comments (if you’re returning them please bring physical rather than logical tags).

        1. @davidnotcoulthard
          I believe that he is referring to the incident on lap 2, where Massa spun Hamilton off in the chicane.

          1. Yep, thanks Kingshark, it was an avoidable low-speed crash early in the race. Can’t remember the Kimi one now.

          2. Massa only remained in the hunt for the 2008 title because of the questionable decision at Spa. I take nothing him away from his performance of being good enough to be WDC for about 5 seconds, but really, he was gifted the opportunity to still be in contention at the end of the season. Were it not for Spa, then in all likelihood he would have been out of the running by Japan.

            Having said that, although I think Massa is a good driver, certainly a good ‘second fiddle’ if you will, I’ve never rated him past that. And the accident at Hungary has sadly dented what talent he had and he has never been able to recover from that. So whilst we can speculate what could have been, I still don’t think it was on the cards for him to be a serious challenger to the likes of Alonso, Raikkonen, Hamilton or Vettel.

          3. Oh, that on. I think I remember now @kingshark

  4. Todd (@braketurnaccelerate)
    10th June 2014, 0:25

    Force India’s tweet proves absolutely nothing, other than that they are willing to stick up for their driver, right or wrong.

    1. Yep they neglect to mention the track is curving to the right at that point. Racing incident. I also agree with COTD that the stewards were relatively lenient IMO. But I’d be careful about trying to start a fight with the stewards over social media, if it escalates its not a battle they’ll win.

      1. That is not the point. They are starting a fight with Williams, Smedley and Massa who made statements that the car was not safe to be on track and that FI were deliberately putting everyone at risk of death.
        That’s like looking at a man who just sneezed and saying – “OMG, He is a zombie and is gonna eat our brains. KILLl HIM!!!!”

    2. Exactly. In the very same picture you can clearly note that Massa is in exactly the same line than Vettel, but the Force India is clearly moving to the left. Ridiculous.

      1. Massa is in the same line as Vettel? In this picture?? Now that, is ridiculous. Massa is almost 2 cars to the left of vettel’s line.

        1. No, in terms of the direction they are going compared to the track. Vettel followed the normal racing line, Perez did not. Massa acted as if he expected Perez to do so.

    3. In all honesty, I think Massa was way too close to a car with brake problems. If Perez moved a little bit to the left, he would have no time to react. And obviously, thats exactly what happened.

    4. Force India’s tweet pic proves massa is turning right , straight into the back of a car, how much room is to massa’s left ?

      1. Todd (@braketurnaccelerate)
        10th June 2014, 5:10

        Yes, Massa is turning right, because the track curves to the right. Same thing RIC did, same thing ROS did, same thing VET did moments before…

        1. > same thing VET did moments before…

          Yep, but was he in the same position as Massa? I don’t think so. (see http://i.imgur.com/WRTu05L.jpg)

          Also, I still wonder, looking at the replays, if Massa and Perez didn’t crash, would Massa be able to break for the corner and not push Perez outside the track? In my opinion he tried to cling to Perez as much as he could, otherwise he would have overshoot the corner. He was way off the racing line which made his 50% share in the incident.

      2. Plenty of room to Massa’s left. But also, importantly, plenty of room to Perez’s right, which is where the normal racing line would be – as demonstrated by Vettel hugging the line to the right in order to maximise the entry into the corner. The issue is that Perez simply chose to drift left by straightening the wheel. The Force India tweet even demonstrates as much. Of course it’s his perogative to try and defend his position etc, but you can’t just cut across like that in front of a much faster car, especially when you’re nursing brake problems which mean you have basically no hope of outbraking the person behind you. Massa didn’t squeeze Perez, in fact he left him more than two car-widths on the right hand side; on the clean racing line. It was only getting close when Perez drifted across right into Massa’s path. Defending or not, if you move across the track right into the path of another car, especially one moving a lot faster than you, you’re gonna have a bad time. Arguably Massa could have reacted and swerved left, or braked in order to avoid him, which is why I feel that Massa also bears some responsibility for the incident. But ultimately it was Perez who was moving erratically across the track, and should have been looking in his mirrors and realising how close Massa was and how fast he was going.

    5. @braketurnaccelerate Now everyone is looking stupid for jumping to blame Perez. I think Force India should appeal and should make a real fuss about this matter. This steward decision is pure discrimination. It’s shambolic. There’s only 2 decisions here. Racing incident or penalty for Massa. In the end he could and should’ve make a pass there and not revert to the racing line.

      1. Or fair penalty for perez. Dont fall for thr propoganda photo

  5. I agree with Rosberg, corner cutting rules do need a rethink. But my feeling is that mistakes like that need to be punished. I think it’s barmy that a driver makes an error and the question everyone asks is “did he gain too much of an advantage?” The question should be “did he get enough of a disadvantage?” The fact is that if Rosberg locked up and went straight at any other corner, he would’ve probably lost the position to Hamilton. It’s not the slightest bit fair that a driver who makes a mistake can get away with it.

    I think a lot of these chicanes with all the runoff would benefit from having styrofoam boards that a driver has to navigate around before rejoining the track, like at Monza’s first chicane.

    1. Michael Brown (@)
      10th June 2014, 0:42

      Or sleeping policemen

      1. There is a sleeping policeman on the runoff of that chicane, but it’s positioned poorly to slow a driver down. It actually forces a driver to make a diagonal line across the run-off, which makes the run-off line faster than making the chicane.

        as JackySteeg says, if the sleeping policemen or styrofoam boards were located in a way that forced the driver to make the same chicane, but later across the run-off, there would be no advantage to cutting the chicane. Rather it would be a disadvantage, because the driver who cuts will be at that point on the straight with less speed than the driver who makes the chicane.

        This is how it should be. Cutting the chicane needs to be a disadvantage, otherwise drivers can push their luck, knowing that they can get away with it if something goes wrong.

        1. The only issue with putting more sleeping policemen on an area like that is that the runoff isn’t just there for drivers bailing out of a botched overtake, it’s also there for cars which are out of control from a crash or a failure of some sort. Consider the Massa/Perez crash, then imagine one of those out of control cars slamming into sleeping policemen while it’s scraping along on its plank. It’d be a disaster waiting to happen.

      2. Or big pits full of gravel to slow the cars down. No, that would never catch on…

      3. @lite992 They’ve got one there, which leaves a gap between itself and the walls – give me a break.

    2. A black flag seems a bit harsh @jackysteeg, but his are right that Rosberg only slowing in corners after straight where his opponent could have overtaken him and thinking that settles it seems altogether a bit too convenient.

      We will probably hear Coulthard explain that placing the sleeping policemen such that they are effective is dangerous because drivers tend to go so fast over that runoff …

    3. Or did he gain ANY advantage. Or even did he avoid any disadvantage.

    4. Alex McFarlane
      10th June 2014, 15:57

      The solution already exists at the Paul Ricard HTT – highly abrasive tarmac that slows any car going through it right down. At that circuit it’s a safety feature but it could be used to stop cars gaining an advantage by going off the track. I guess most circuit owners have no incentive to spend the money to implement a feature that, strictly speaking, is not a necessity.

  6. Perez & Force India should look at this brilliant analysis of the crash-
    http://imgur.com/WRTu05L

    1. Now THAT is what I call analysis! Awesome job, whoever did that.

      I just can’t imagine FIA providing anything even remotely this informative to the fans. Hell, I don’t even think they had anything like this in the yesterday’s meeting to show the drivers and team representatives. At least both sides would have been less vocal about the aftermath if there were no lingering doubts.

      Of course, this analysis doesn’t mean that Massa paid enough attention or that Perez was driving blind, and those things will always be subjective, but it gives you the facts of who turner where and when.

    2. Good analysis, images and diagrams there. Thanks for the link.

      Looks like Perez was trying to move on Vettel while Massa was moving on Perez. Massa was closing on and faster than Perez. Perez must not have anticipated Massa or checked his mirrors. Massa did not anticipate Perez moving on Vettel. They both tried to occupy the same space, which never really works out well.

      I think if either side says they are blameless in this, they are not being realistic. One could say Massa had a better view of the situation being the car behind and could have prevented it by braking or moving more left to give room. One could also say that Perez should have been aware that Massa was right on his gearbox and was faster than him. If he didn’t check his mirrors, he should have. You can’t just assume the faster car behind you will just stay out of your way no matter how quickly you change your position.

      I see blame on both sides. Of course, I’m sitting here with my hindsight while this incident took place in the matter of seconds at high speed with the race on the line.

      1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
        10th June 2014, 2:41

        When I saw the video linked by @aced (some lines below this) I deduce a couple of things (and I’m not a steward of course)

        1. The road goes to the right, and Perez keeps his steering wheel straight. He doesn’t turn left, he keeps straight so he “apparently” moves to the left deliberately.
        2. It looks as if Perez goes through a bump, because his car twitches a little before the cras so Massa takes him out.

        Just my 2 cents here.

    3. Even if you look at that picture, you can see that while Vettel trajectory is curving very smoothly and Perez trajectory is relatively straight, Massa trajectory is not either. Basically Massa moved to the right relatively sharp. Why the analyst only analyzed Perez and not Massa is the question. He seemed to have make up his mind to blame Perez. If you look at the overhead video in real time, you can see that Massa made a sudden move to the right. Perez was already moving to the left before Massa was there! So why a car can’t use the full track width and should only stay at the racing line?

    4. Good analysis, as I saw it on the day, 100% Perez’s fault changing line going into a braking zone with a car behind.

  7. Still regarding the Pérez-Massa crash, according to several stories, Pérez said that Force India questioned the presence of his former manager, Adrian Fernández, at the meeting where it was decided to punish him. The relationship between the two went south years ago and for some reason Pérez said he believes Fernández was at the meeting only to push for a harsh punishment.
    Does anyone has any more on this?

    1. From what I’ve pieced together, this guy Fernández was there, Pérez himself wasn’t (he was at the hospital)…sounds like a proper kangaroo hearing!
      Don’t Force India have any right of appeal? Easy to reverse a grid drop and it seems wrong to ruin his chances in Austria when they could use penalty points instead.

    2. Presumably Force India and Perez knew before the weekend that Perez’ ex-manager Fernandez was to be on the stewarding panel. If they had any objections over his impartiality, they should have raised it then.

      1. It seems that the driver invited to give an opinion on the crash was Derek Daly. Charlie Whiting said that Fernández was there as an observer as he will be acting at the russian GP. In any case, Pérez twitted clearly suggesting that Fernández went to the meeting just to be sure that Checo receive a severe punishment. Andy Stevenson, from Force India, was quoted as saying: “I don’t know why they asked for Fernández’ opiniion”. Today, I read quotes from Fernández in which he confirmed that he was present at the meeting but had nothing to do with the punishment to Checo.
        Really odd story.

  8. Re Rosberg’s chicane cut, if they extended the yellow ‘sausage’ kerb all the way to the pit wall then drivers who cut the chicane would have no choice but to slow down.

    1. The gap is deliberately there so they don’t have to go straight over it, as it could damage the car. What they need it to create a chicane within the run off area, out of sausage kerbs, that force the driver to slow down.

      1. Daniel (@collettdumbletonhall)
        10th June 2014, 15:45

        Or a gravel trap.

        1. Or a concrete barrier so driver’s physically cannot run wide!

          Of all the time watching F1, I never realised what a difference it makes to have the barriers right up against the track. I knew it added excitement, but not this much!

  9. I honestly can’t tell if people are actually serious in blaming Perez for the crash. Just look at the damn steering input before they collide. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BObcBrAe-ro

    Now if you could explain to me where in the hell was Massa trying to go I just might agree with you on this.

    1. The one blaming Perez always points out that he was off the racing line… which is stupid. It’s like you can only put your car on the racing line. They said Perez moved to the left, which for me there was nothing wrong with that because when Perez moved to the left, Massa was still behind him.
      They always fails to mention that Massa made a sudden move to the right, which is stupid of Massa.

      1. The issue with moving off the racing line is that he did it in the braking zone – the rules say you are allowed to move once to defend, but not in the braking zone or while the attacking car is alongside. It was too late to move to defend, which is why the stewards penalised Perez, and i agree.

        Massa is not entirely blameless either imo, as he left no margin for error and made the move much later than he needed to. But i think everyone who cares has now seen all the evidence and made up their minds so probably not much point debating any further.

        1. Sorry, but is the rule really saying you can not move on the braking zone? Now what defines a braking zone, because to impose such rule you really need to define the braking zone which in turn is very dynamic along the race.

          1. @caci99 i don’t know the exact wording of the rule, maybe the term braking zone isn’t used. Here’s an extract from the regulations from this link http://www.formula1.com/inside_f1/rules_and_regulations/sporting_regulations/8683/fia.html

            “20.3 More than one change of direction to defend a position is not permitted. Any driver moving back towards the racing line, having earlier defended his position off-line, should leave at least one car width between his own car and the edge of the track on the approach to the corner.
            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. Whilst defending in this way the driver may not leave the track without justifiable reason.
            For the avoidance of doubt, if any part of the front wing of the car attempting to pass is alongside the rear wheel of the car in front this will be deemed to be a ‘significant portion’.
            20.5 Manoeuvres liable to hinder other drivers, such as deliberate crowding of a car beyond the edge of the track or any other abnormal change of direction, are not permitted.”

            I think under 20.5 the term “abnormal change of direction” was maybe the key point in penalising Perez as he clearly didn’t use his normal line into the corner, even though he maybe started the move a fraction before Massa could be considered “alongside”.

    2. @aced, the other thing people neglect to mention is the several mistakes Massa made when behind the Red Bulls like almost colliding with Vettel. Highly over eager about the entire situation that he had a chance for, which was victory. Let’s not even mention how he was forgetting and missing his apex points, and bad turn out exits when trying to put the power down.

      He was getting too excited over a victory or less a podium that hadn’t formulated yet unless he did his job, which he didn’t.

  10. Perhaps the rethink about corner cutting should be to ban it altogether. Black flag for cutting corners. Imagine there are brick walls lining the track and if you go 4 wheels off, you’re gone. We’d see more DNFs each race, but that’s ok. It would reward the ones who keep it together and mix up results a bit more.

    I say this not as a reaction to this current incident. I think what Rosberg did legal with the rules and precedents as they are.

    1. I think we do not need more DNF’s and I think more to the point if there were the threat of a DNF for going off there will be a lot less risk taking, a lot less racing to avoid DNF’s and F1 does not need that. I think NR’s penalty, a warning, was perfect and F1 does not need to take extra measures to discourage racers from racing in the pinnacle of racing. It’s not like he decided to simply intentionally run through the chicane to stay ahead of LH. He locked up doing what we want our drivers to do…go for it…especially on the one team that is running away with the Championships.

  11. Hey, Hulk also turned to the right while braking! Just kidding, but seriously I’m surprised that this Pérez-Massa incident is so polarising, @keithcollantine we should have a poll to see what the majority thinks.
    Personally I think that if it had been Vettel or other driver with a cleaner track record they would’ve considered it a racing incident, but let’s be honest Pérez has a history of doing moves like this and a 5 place grid drop is a fair punishment.

    BTW, the fact that Sergio didn’t get any penalty points shows that the stewards also struggled to make a decision on this.

    1. The real answer is to publish the stewards findings so that justice can be seen and understood. Unfortunately all the commentators in the world can only give opinions based on one dimension ie what they saw / video replay, this ignores data / telemetry analysis and driver interrogation (by the expert stewards). Opinion polls are not the answer – the next thing we know we will have X Factor (British talent show) style phone -ins to vote for who deserves a win or a penalty!

  12. Long time been thinking black flag for cutting corners should be a go.

    1. Time was when gravel traps at the edge of the circuit used to be spiked with large wooden stakes. Surely they can make something similar like rubber reeds to stop corner cutting.

  13. Rethink the corner cutting rules?
    Senna would have a lot to say about it. He was stripped of a championship for “cutting” the chicane at Suzuka. A rule made up on the spot.

    1. Didn’t he get disqualified for the push start? Don’t remember outside assistance ever being allowed. I think running up the back of Brundle at Adelaide didn’t do his championship any help either. Or forcing himself and Berger off at Brazil or defending against the black flagged Mansell at Portugal and wrecking Mansell. Losing that championship was all Senna’s fault although he was good at laying blame on everyone but himself.

      1. I thought he was penalised for not rejoining the track where he left it.

        1. Yeah, I looked it up and you are right. Still he got pushed started as well and that would have worked just as well to disqualify him. I don’t get where all this bs about being “stripped” of a championship comes from though and all the unfairness fisa supposedly directed at him. He was lucky they let him start Spain after the danger he caused by blasting by a bad accident with marshals in attendance in the qualifying so that he could finish his lap that got dropped anyway. It was much more dangerous than what Mansell did the race before and Senna only got fined $50, 000. I just don’t understand where people get all this about fisa cracking down on Senna. He wasn’t stripped of a title he never won and didn’t even finish the last race of the season that he had to win in order to win the championship.

  14. massa is an infamous troll. When he was hitting Hamilton every other week in 11 he was calling for Hamilton to be banned. Meanwhile he was getting pasted by Alonso and could not make a podium while the other car fought for a title. Perez should have ignored his yakking and simply pointed to his history of histrionics. The stewards spoke. Why pile on with invective?

  15. I find it funny every year when something goes wrong with Massa and his over eagerness at times and even if not his fault (or the other driver Kobiyashi in the Caterham) he’s quick to want the driver to basically lose everything but their racing seat. It gets quite tiresome to see him cry this much over these things like the ultimate victim.

    1. And then they claim his a nice guy. The guy is anything but that. His a sore loser than never takes the blame for anything except the most obvious he can’t deny and his also vindictive shown by his crazy attitude every-time he saw Hamilton in his mirrors after 2008.

  16. “I just feel, to be perfectly honest, the current regulations are very restrictive, which is a shame. It’s difficult to find new areas to explore as they are so tight, more engine orientated. They need more of a fundamental rethink in my opinion.”

    F1 rule makers should take a look at LMP1 for inspiration.

    1. Yes, but the Le Mans regulations have performance balancing – if F1 had that, Mercedes would’ve already had their fuel flow and ride height meddled with, to bring them back to the rest of the field.

      For me, that would be too artificial. OK, I know we have DRS, comedy tyres and rules that help the cars further down the grid (by getting those Force India death-traps up at the front…) but F1 should reward the best as well.

      1. Le Mans rules don’t have performance balancing. They have an equivalency formula, which is different. The reason it’s there is to balance the inherent strengths and weaknesses between different technologies. So where the fuel consumption differs between diesel and petrol, they adjust the maximum fuel tank size so that the stints are roughly the same length. Likewise, choosing from the various ERS options will mean different options being available on the engine front. The idea is that no matter what route you take, technologically, you’ll end up with broadly similar performance. But this is, crucially, mandated before the season and before the teams start designing their machines, so they can make their decisions in full knowledge of the rules beforehand.

        What it isn’t, is a system designed to make all of the cars the same speed, as you see in the likes of BTCC with ballast and boost adjustments every other week. So as we see Toyota have chosen the options they feel have the best potential, and as a result have a reasonable power advantage over Audi, they won’t be pegged back by the ACO, on the basis that Audi had the option to go down that route too and chose not to.

        The reason you have the equivalency formula is simply because it’s not good for the sport to build rules where one technological route will naturally have a big advantage. We saw that when Audi first started using Diesel cars and enjoyed much longer stints between fuel stops and a significant torque advantage over petrol powered cars. Which stopped manufacturers who didn’t want to build diesel engines from competing. Once the equivalency formula was put in place and started working, all of a sudden you had Porsche, Toyota, and Nissan all joining up, with a clutch of other manufacturers wanting to join the party. It was a great example of an organising body looking at why things aren’t working so well, and taking logical, sensible action to address the issues. It’s something the FIA desperately need to look at and learn from, because it’s central to why car manufacturers are all gearing up to go sportscar racing, while F1 is in financial and political meltdown.

        It’s not perfect – the LMP2 class isn’t too healthy right now. But I fully expect the ACO to be able to take similarly logical steps to address the problems there too.

        Ultimately it creates a situation where constructors have the freedom to build a car according to their own technological ethos, and know that with the right amount of development and investment, they can compete at the highest level. By contrast in F1 the cars are so heavily mandated that there is very little difference between the different cars. It’s building a race car by numbers, and relying on a Newey-spec genius to be able to find the very tiny areas in which you can find advantages. It’s certainly not an environment where creativity is allowed to flourish, and so the creative types are quite rightly getting a bit sick of it.

    2. @andae23 Adrian Newey is hardly an impartial authority on what would be best for the sport though. He’s an aerodynamicist, so ofc he would like more freedom to play with the cars’ aerodynamics, and he doesn’t have to consider how it might affect the other teams or the sport as a whole. He might not even care what makes the racing better, as long as he can compete and win. And also, he probably feels frustrated at the moment since despite having a very good chassis his team cannot compete (reliability aside) with Mercedes due to the power unit – which is an area he has little influence over.

      1. @keithedin I tend to disagree. AN is a huge icon of F1 and is a great authority to listen to. He needs to be challenged in order to enjoy what he does. I remember reading years ago that he was considering leaving F1, have won some titles, in favour of yacht design, for the new challenge. There is simply not enough room in F1 for innovation for his liking. And he’s been there done that so what better authority to know. I think you are wrong to assume it is all about him. I think he believes in something better for F1, and I certainly don’t think he is just frustrated at the moment. I think his frustration has been building over the last handful of years as he went through having EBD curtailed, and has known what the new chapter they are in now would bring. Ie. as he put it much more PU oriented.

        AN experienced a time in F1 of bottomless pockets for him to go all out with, and he has been extremely successful with his designs. Now with the talk being of bringing costs down etc etc…a whole new era with much less freedom, he’s not having any fun. He’s proved his worth, now he likely feels there’s little reward anymore and little his ilk can do within the regs to really explore their talents and potential.

  17. I am with Perez this time, 100%
    In a bigger picture, I reckon it’s a racing accident, but looking at Massa’s insisting so much on his non-fault, I feel like expressing myself:
    1) Massa had a huge amount of space on his left
    2) If you want to overtake, you have to leave the racing line, not the guy in front
    3) Perez had all the rights to defend himself, if he felt so, closing to the left, which he probably did, very little
    4) When you brake from 300+, you focus on the corner to come as a priority.
    As a side note, not relevant, but making a point on Massa’s poor focus:
    He caught the group of Vet, Ric and Per, with a car which was at that moment more than 1.5 secs per lap faster. Once he reached them, he just waited, instead of trying hard a pass. People like Ham, Vet, Alo would have made the passes much earlier, without waiting so long. Yes, it was DRS following another DRS but he surely had the fastest car at that point and he made continuous small mistakes. If he was a true champion, he’d blame himself for not having taken the multiple chances he had in the previous laps and he would not waste so much time and air asking for a bigger penalty to others. Quite petty stuff and he lost quite a chunk of my respect.
    Just my opinion

    1. Exactly – I agree with you 100%

      He should have been on the podium and could have potentially won the race. Instead he made a raft of mistakes and ends up crashing into Perez. For a driver of his experience that is very poor.

    2. 1) Perez had space on his right, and considering the left hand corner ahead, moving left is stupid.
      2) He was off the racing line
      3) He is allowed to make one defending move, and not in the braking zone – there’s an overhead overlay of multiple frames that show Perez taking an unusual and unexpected line
      4) Alternatively, not crashing should probably come as a priority

  18. Another advantage of the quieter engines: we can actually hear when the cars have lock-ups. We don’t get it every time for some reason (probably microphone placement), but it’s good to hear it when we can.

  19. i truly feel for Williams they are doing a great job but are screwing to may things up,
    they haven’t been in this situating for a long time and it is adding up to lots of mistakes,
    so many missed opportunities it is not funny anymore,
    yes i to believe Mass could have been on the podium alongside Riccardo,
    he was too close when he tried to make the pass on Perez,
    it could have been even more exciting than what it was “Just if” such a shame.

  20. That interview with Any Cowell is great, the key is this paragraph:

    “The key thing for me is how our people have reacted to that situation. It’s the whole team, not just the power unit development group. It’s integrating everything into the car and the whole team reacted very much in a positive way. The question was, what are we going to do? They weren’t going to sit there in denial and ignore it. They weren’t going to point fingers at each other. We were going to work out what we were going to do.”

    Mercedes have the best car at the moment because they seems to have done the best preparation for the new rules. They thought everything through and worked out the best compromises all round. They deserve credit for this. The “pointing fingers” quip is a good one too and I think is directed at red Bull who have been keen to blame everything on Renault rather than trying to work with them to remedy problems which seem to have arisen because they did not work closely enough with their colleagues in Viry when the RB10 was first laid out.

    1. I agree, great interview. Respect to Mercedes

  21. In regard to the Massa-Perez accident, I can only only agree with a friend of mine who said that it was avoidable had there been Vettel, Alonso or Raikkonen, for example, in Massa’s place. This shows exactly that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=sDnnfizWCm4#t=86

    I view it as racing incident because Massa could have avoided it and Perez should’ve kept his line.

  22. I wonder if that statement about the Mercedes efficiency is true. I think for the engine, it probably is true (i read even the old V10s were incredibly fuel efficient just by being well engineered), but not for the car. Assuming fuel weighs about 0.75kg per litre, then 100kg is about 133l, or ~30 gallons (UK). The race is typically about 190 miles long so that’s ~6.4mpg – not exactly Prius-like.

    A formula one car is just not an efficient shape (too much drag) and also they are driven like racing cars (using full throttle everywhere, not like (most) road drivers). it would be interesting (to some people…) to see what kind of distance an f1 team could get in the Eco-marathon – they current record is something like 12,000mpg!

    1. @frood19
      6mpg for an engine with 700’ish HP at racing speeds is incredible though.
      On Top Gear they tested a prius at full speed to 17mpg. Which is less then three times better, while producing a less then 1/6th of the power. (110hp for that generation prius)
      So in that respect, the F1 car is a lot more efficient at making power. Even with all the drag.

      1. @mads I didn’t think of it like that, that is amazing. and especially given that they are under-fuelled on some circuits

  23. Ben (@scuderia29)
    10th June 2014, 10:04

    nice to finally see how button made it to 4th, because ive been confused ever since i saw the result lol

    1. Yep. The director was awful this race.

      1. How about those dives into the hairpin and the director would shoot off into the crowd ? WT?

  24. As much as I think it was half and half here, I am fed up with Massa’s constant “they need to punish him more” reaction for the next 2 weeks, every time something happens. He does seem to lash out a lot against people to the FIA. It was the same with Kobayashi’s crash, and with Hamilton a few years ago. As much as I agree that sometimes the other driver is at fault, his reaction really irritates me, and he seems to forget that he isn’t faultless either.

  25. Daniel (@collettdumbletonhall)
    10th June 2014, 12:55

    If they had more gravel traps this wouldn’t be a problem.

  26. Of course the current F1 cars are more efficient than the prius. The V10’s were more efficient than the prius. The problem here is to be able to produce a car that will last 200.000 miles in every weather condition and that is affordable. F1 engines use exotic materials that are beyond peoples wallet, their rate of efficiency grew alot with the direct injection that said their efficiency was already 20% higher than normal cars but you don’t need 800bhp to run in the road.

  27. My overall take on the Massa/Perez incident is – was Perez aware of how close Massa was, or how eager Massa might have been to pass? Also, was it reasonable for Perez to move over at that point of time?

    I agree that Massa move to the right. I agree that in the end Massa was close to Perez. However I feel that Perez’s move to the left is largely undisputed. The accident occurred due to Perez moving left, and Massa moving right.

    If one were to consider what would have happened if Perez stuck to the same line as Vettel in front of him, would there have been contact at all? My initial feeling is that there would be reduced risk of contact, but hard to say whether the risk would be removed at all.

    In the end, it doesn’t matter why Perez was moving over to the left, whether it be to have a look at Vettel, to defend against Massa, to get out of Vettel’s air and cool the brakes and engine a bit, or any other reason. It doesn’t even matter if they were in a braking zone or not. I don’t think it is unreasonable for Perez to defend his line, nor is it unreasonable for Perez to try and see if he can overtake Vettel. What I find unreasonable is that Perez moved over to the left, against the direction of the circuit and racing line, at a point where he was so close to another driver.

    Which brings me to my original questions. Did Perez know how close Massa was? Did Perez know that Massa was eager to try and pass him? In addition, did the team let Perez know that Massa was quick and likely to challenge? Did they let Perez know that Massa was gaining on him? Conversely, did Williams let Massa know that Perez had potential brake issues?

    It seems like Perez had no idea that Massa was so close, either because Massa got a better run out of the final corner or because the team a failed to let him know, and moved over either to defend into T1 or to have a look at Vettel. All in all I feel that the move to the left was ill-timed if it was either of the above.

    People need to keep in mind that these car are going in excess of 300km/h at that part of the circuit, and drivers cannot predict the actions of others. It is fair to say now that Massa should have left more room, but Massa was not aware that Perez would move slightly to the left. For me it feels like Massa’s decision move to the right happened a bit before, if not at the same time as Perez decided to move to the left. It is entirely possible that both actions happened at the same time and did not influence each other. If both drivers stayed true to the cure of the circuit, there would be no contact between them. For whatever reasons, Perez moved to the left (relative to the circuit), and Massa moved to the right (again, relative to the circuit).

    All up, racing incident for me. I am more interested to know why Perez was veering off the racing line, and if he knew how close Massa was at the time. In hindsight, it perhaps would have been a better move to move to the inside off of the S/F kink right after the start line, rather than stick to the racing line and move left.

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