Raikkonen surprised Verstappen was not investigated

2016 Hungarian Grand Prix

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Kimi Raikkonen says he has seen drivers penalised for less than what Max Verstappen did in defending his position in the closing stages of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

After attempting a pass in turn two on lap 57, Raikkonen made slight contact with the rear of the Red Bull, losing part of his front wing, before complaining over radio that Verstappen was illegally changing his line in the braking zone.

“It’s not my decision whether it was correct or not,” says Raikkonen. “I have seen people penalised for much less but, like I said, it’s not my decision.”

Raikkonen made great use of a long opening stint on soft tyres to move up from 14th to sixth, but after catching Verstappen he was unable displace the Red Bull driver.

“I am disappointed because I couldn’t get past him [Verstappen] and catch the rest,” says Raikkonen. “But the car was behaving well and I had a good speed but obviously it’s not the easiest place to overtake.”

After holding on to sixth, Verstappen says he feels he was not overly aggressive in his defence of his position.

“I think as a driver, you always try to find excuses or something,” Verstappen says. “But I think only moved once very time, so for me there was no issue.”

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Will Wood
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103 comments on “Raikkonen surprised Verstappen was not investigated”

  1. Really Max?? Kimi always make excuses??

    Not the right approach to validate your argument LOL

    1. Yes. He does. Just like Vettel. Always complaining about other drivers. This was just another fight. Nothing major happened, come on. If this is not allowed, than stop telling people F1 is about racing cars.

    2. Thats not what he said kid, read it again.

    3. He was referring to himself.
      He meant to say that he, as a driver involved in the situation, is biased about its meaning and whatever happened would always seek a way to explain it in a complimentary way.
      Acknowledging that, he still thinks this is a clear cut case of moving once, then following the racing line into the corner.

      This is a classic example of a defensive strategy made possible under the current rules.
      To defend against being overtaken you take the inside line towards the corner so your opponent cannot take the inside.
      When you see him move outward you do the same to block that approach; the one move allowed.
      You cannot move back at that point; you can however stop moving outside at any point.
      When you reach the normal racing line you can follow that into the corner, unless your opponent is already fully on the inside; then you have to leave one car width of space as not to force him off track.

      This approach can be countered by the following car taking the outside line towards the corner, braking early for the undercut or going around at speed if the leading car breaks early.
      Kimi did not do that. He tucked in behind Max, allowing Max to move the last pawn in this corner chess game.

      1. Deja vu moment…watch Raikkonen defending action against Max after his pitstop….

        Looks remarkably the same. Only the two cars in different positions.

        Seems to me Raikkonen’s moves account more for moving all around the track.

  2. I will say that at times Verstappen’s defending was too aggressive, but Kimi should have also then adopted a similarly aggressive approach. Nowadays Kimi is far too conservative. The dive bomb on Verstappen into turn 1 was definitely possible, but he never tried it, even when he was close.

    1. @ultimateuzair He tried it, but Verstappen moved across him in the braking zone.

      1. Still I Rise
        24th July 2016, 17:14

        Exactly..Mad Mad moved in the braking zone, what you want Kimi to do…disappear.

        1. Arnoud van Houwelingen
          24th July 2016, 20:31

          Who is mad mad? but seriously he had to make the corner .. what did you want him to do? go straight in a corner and not turn in. The fact that he was not penalized is proof enough that there was nothing wrong with his defending.

          1. In the Turn 1 incident when Kimi more or less went off the track, I’m pretty sure Max reacted to Kimi’s move to the inside. He only moved by maybe quarter of a car’s width, and still left plenty of room for the pass to take place. But it was enough to make Kimi think he was going to block and bail out of the attempt.

            It was one move in the braking zone, and it left enough room for the pass, so it’s in the letter of the rules. I’m still not a fan of the tactic though.

          2. Still I Rise
            25th July 2016, 1:07

            Mad Max (a compliment by the way) this phone spelling words for me lol need to disable that.

    2. Dive bombing just reminds me of what he did to Bottas at Russia last year! :-)

  3. “But I think only moved once very time, so for me there was no issue.” So you’re not too sure are you.

    1. And your point is…?

      1. He is thinking, stop being rude!

  4. But Max, of course you will lie to defend yourself.

    1. So he lies? About what? Tell me where he did something wrong? People wanna see racing but please guys: not to aggressive please!

      1. Still I Rise
        24th July 2016, 17:15

        He moved in the braking zone….that’s illegal. Hence the reason why Kimi hit him.

        1. Madmaxholland
          24th July 2016, 19:01

          It was a reaction to Raikkonens moves…..show what do you expect Max should do???? just let him pass???

          1. The rule for all FIA championships is you can move once off the racing line to defend your place, not move once, then move again as Max clearly did.

          2. Max moved TWICE, first when Kimi went to the outside and then when Kimi switched back to the inside, He his max on the switchback because Max moved again. Why dont you watch it again and pay attention this time.

      2. Go watch the replay. He moved twice.

        1. I was surprised it wasn’t at the very least investigated. Race control has better footage than anyone of us gets to see.

      3. When Kimi was trying to pass Max into turn 2, Kimi first went to the outside and Max went to the right to cover him. Kimi then went for the inside line since there was no room on the outside anymore. That’s when Max moved to the left to defend his position and at that point it was too late for kimi to back out of it. According to the rule a driver is only allowed one change of direction when defending a position and Max had two, that’s a rule violation right there. He even caused a minor avoidable contact while doing so. If the drivers were allowed to move from side to side while defending, overtaking would be nearly impossible and there would be no close racing whatsoever. That’s why the rule exists in the first place. That, and to avoid contact like Kimi and Max had.

        There’s nothing wrong with being aggressive. Later in the race Max was aggressively defending from kimi into turn 1 and Kimi was forced wide. It was aggrerssive but not against the rules.

        1. Although stupid, Rule states before going back into racing line, you are allowed one move to defend, which is two moves, but a stupidly wild rule that is up to interpretations… Like Ros did many times driving people off track not even on racing lines… and when people next to him…

          1. That’s why i actually do think it’s legal. He makes one defending move and then just steers in the corner on the racing line and that doesn’t count as weaving or two moves.

          2. This! May be a stupid rule, but this is probably the reason the stewards didn’t take any action.

        2. Arnoud van Houwelingen
          24th July 2016, 20:36

          you got it all wrong. The rules are very clear. You can make one move and then you are allowed to move back in to make the corner. Sky and the stewards agree apparently.

      4. The replay is absolutely clear: Verstappen moved twice in the braking zone, then lied about it. Utterly appalling driving from him today, and a terrible job from Charlie Whiting as usual.

        1. Really? So the pro’s agree and dont back your opinion? Thats weird eh, they should listen to you when you protest… shouldn’t they?

          1. Your comment is more stupid then sarcastic, as many HAVE mentioned, spoiled max moved twice, the second one was not to make the corner, hasn’t even near it yet. He’ll get his karma one day, I have no doubt.

  5. Adam (@rocketpanda)
    24th July 2016, 16:55

    I like Verstappen but his on-board feed does look like he switches line several times in the braking zone during their collision. Tend to agree with Kimi, people have been penalised for less.

      1. If your dad is an ex F1 racer, the rules apply differently to you :) as seen in races with two people fitting the criteria!

        1. * Mystics: Nah, Mag was penalized for a minor incident with Kimiin 2014 I think it was and Mag’s father is also an ex F1 driver. Maybe Verstappen is receiving favorable treatment, but if so it isn’t because his father is an ex F1 driver. On Danish TV another ex F1 driver thought that Verstappen shouldn’t be punished, but he admitted that if Mag had made that move, he would maybe have been punished for it;-)
          But the last defending move Verstappen made on Kimi, where he only moved his car half a car’s width after Kimi made his first move, was genius. It is very nice to watch F1 when defending ability actually matters, i.e. when DRS isn’t very efficient and they can’t just drive by with DRS help in stead of actually taking a risk to make an overtake stick.

  6. Personally the only good thing about this race was this fight. Never saw anything wrong with it, not for a minute. The stewards didnt either. Thank god that these days you can fight again and not get penalised every single fight, like a couple of yrs ago.

    1. I tend to agree with you. We want to see a good fight, and we got one. In fact it was the only good thing of a very boring race. So let’s not moan about it to much on how Verstappen defended, otherwise the FIA will kill this kind of fights as well…

  7. I think kimi is right. In the corner where kimi broke his fron wing. they came out of the corner on with Max staying left to block the overtake, Kimi made a fake overtake move for the right and max moved to the right (block 1). But with that move Max also moved onto the ideal line. Then Kimi tried the overtake on the left side and Max moved of the ideal line well before the corner. You do not move of the ideal line before a corner other than to block and that makes it block 2. An illegal mode.

    Also Max moved in the braking area what is also illegal.

    1. Actually he only did one move and then streed info the corner. It was Kimi who was ging wildly from right to left and back. He is allowed to do that, but if you only look at Max, and ignore the wild moves bevind him, Max does not move twice. The second move is just steering into the corner, which he is allowed to do.

      Just racing. There used to be so many penaltys for all sorts of little incidents like this and the FIA was getting all sorts off critisism. Now they let them race more, they decided that two years ago I believe, but still, there is critisism. This was an fairly aggressive battle, But come on, this is what we want to see.

      1. You need to go and watch the replay again, and this time with your eyes open. There were two very clear moves from Verstappen, as mhoog.

        1. That should say “As mhoog said.”

        2. Read the rules. Watch the replay. Take notice of the stewards and sky. Than decide if you actually like racing or not. If you like it: dont bitch about it.

    2. I’d say he made one move to block the inside and then he went back to the racing line. That doesn’t count as two moves.

      What I do agree on with Raikkonen is that Verstappen moves after Raikkonen makes his move. Not sure what the rules say on this, but normally the drivers pick a side to block and the attacking car can then try the opposite side without the cars running into each other (unless the defending driver is determined to crash rather than being overtaken).

      Now Raikkonen sees an opening on both sides, he picks a gap to move into, then Verstappen blocks that move and Raikkonen is heading for a collision. I’m Dutch and of course a Verstappen fan, but I feel that’s just not fair play.

      1. I am Dutch also, and i say his first move was from inside to the racing line and the second back to the inside.

  8. I was surprised he got away with that, he appeared to make two defensive moves just before Kimi hit him, and was also moving around in the braking zone for several laps.
    It’s hard to disagree with Kimi this time.

    1. Red Bull seem to always get away with it. Ricciardo on Kimi Monaco 2015 was same as Kimi on Bottas at Russia 2015 but no penalty. Ricciardo on this race last year dived down the inside and caused a collision with Rosberg. Maybe just perception on my part but they seem to have usurped Ferrari in terms of FIA favours.

      1. Maybe it’s the drivers, Schumacher used to get away with all sorts, then Seb got the special treatment, and now it’s Max’s turn.
        Not that they’re not very good drivers, but the FIA (and its predecessor) do have form when it comes to favouring certain drivers, going back to Prost when I was younger, and probably others before then.

        1. My feeling says that Hamilton shouldn’t complain either. He also got the benefit of the doubt on a regular basis ….

  9. Max moved twice that was clear and then he lied on camera saying he moved once..he is arrogant and liar..Either FIA scrap the rule or clarify it.

    1. Arnoud van Houwelingen
      24th July 2016, 20:42

      He didn’t lie .. it is Max interpretation and mine that he made one move and then turned in to make the corner and that one doesn’t count als weaving. Because Max has another interpretation then yours doesn’t make him a liar. Even if you do not agree with him it is stupid to call him a liar.

      1. yes he lied, a spoiled kid who thinks he’s above anyone else, if the situation was reversed and Kimi defended like that moving twice, max would be kicking and screaming to the officials before someone had to shove a pacifier in his mouth to shut him up.

        1. Marcello Concu
          26th July 2016, 17:06

          If you read the gazetta della sport (Italy) you will see what Ferrari thinks about this situation. They said it was on the edge of racing and that is racing all about. They did not complain by the officials because, according to Ferrari, Max is allought to stear in at the corner and than it does not count as a second move.
          I am a Ferrari fan and ofcourse i hoped Kimi would pas Max, but i have to say that it’s realy good to see that a young driver with less experience with a slower car and harder tires can hold a world champion behind him.
          I think that says enough about both of them and i realy hope Max wil be the next Ferrari driver.

          Ferrari had complained by the way after qualifing because of the fact that Rosberg did not lift under yellow and got pole. The FIA did not do anything about that. Maybe we should listen more to people who understand what racing is all about and only watch and join the fights.

  10. @Jim Manna who are you? Verstappen’s manager? Why do you attack everyone who believes Max was at fault? I also think that he should at least be investigated. And the fact that he lied blatantly afterwards poor sportsmanship. But on a day he was humbled by his teammate he had to retain some dignity I guess.

      1. -1 the fact the stewards didn’t even investigated him shows VES was right when he said that. The stewards have all the video feeds from every angle to make a call for an investigation. They didn’t see him move twice, apparently.

        1. Oh really? So what you are basically saying is that every decision made by the stewards is always the right one! Man you are hilarious.

          1. And you say that I attack people? I’m calling no one hilarious. Im just expressing an opinion, without insults.

    1. Dont mean to attack anyone. But the thing is: a few years ago, people (me as well) were all over the FIA causa lots of fights were penalised. They decided two or three years ago to intervere less with the racing. Thats probably why they did nothing today. Which is a good thing.

      This was racing. On the limit, maybe even slightly over it, but still: this is what we (I) wanna see. I understand Kimi cause he wants to score more points, but not all of these racefans who think this was soms sort of idiotic move from Verstappen.

      In my opinion it really wasnt. It was the only good thing from the complete race and I love to see battles on the limit. Im a little bit baffled with all these reactions

  11. The fact that FOM are more concerned with handing out penalties for teams telling drivers which switch to use, rather than punishing drivers for moving around in braking zones and taking only the smallest of lifts through yellow flags, shows me that they have learned absolutely nothing from the death of Jules Bianchi

    1. Arnoud van Houwelingen
      24th July 2016, 20:44

      FOM doesn’t give penalty’s .. the stewards give penalty’s and they are governed bij FIA not FOM .. FOM does the business side of F1. FOM is Bernie and FIA is Charlie.

    2. Really, what does Jules Bianchi have to do with this race situation?

  12. Look at the onboard from Kimi and it’s pretty obvious Max double blocked. He’s lucky he didn’t take a puncture from Kimi’s wing. The stewards must’ve been asleep from the lack of overtaking, because that looked like a penalty to me.

    1. Arnoud van Houwelingen
      24th July 2016, 20:46

      turning in for a corner doesn’t count as weaving. Only on a straight line you can’t move twice. How hard is it to read the rules.

      1. “More than one change of direction to defend a position is not permitted. If a driver has moved off the racing line while defending their position, they may move back but must ensure there is at least one car’s width between their own car and the edge of the track.”
        https://www.formula1.com/en/championship/inside-f1/rules-regs/Licenses_driving_protocol_and_penalties.html

        Where does it mention the straight ?

  13. Well done FIA and stewards, you guys have proven again your incompetency to use common sense. Penalty for button who clearly had safety issues with brakes at that point of time but no penalty for max who moved twice which might have caused a fatal accident. They are protecting max cause he’s the “future” of F1. It’s so great to see the “future” of F1 having dirty lying drivers, F1 is becoming a joke. Disgraceful decisions.

    1. +10 so true, but time will tell. For you are on the dot..

  14. Well I do feel that Max’s moves were legal but right on the edge. There are always unwritten racing rules and when you see drivers like JB or Lewis or Fernando fight, it’s evident that it’s 99.9% of times clean.

    Max comes from this new generation of drivers that with that GP2 GP3 mentality who push the boundaries to the point of being dangerous.

    So Max probably thinks what he did is fine while a driver of Kimi’s generation would think otherwise.

    I see Kimi’s point and have to agree with him.

  15. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
    24th July 2016, 18:04

    I don’t like the way Verstappen defends – he is practically impossible to pass and no one is impossible to pass.

    As Hobbs said, there’s a difference between making the car wide and making the car extra-wide. I have to agree with that. You really have to wreck your race to pass him as Kimi proved today.

    He moved twice there – it’s obvious and the fact that he wasn’t investigated only proves how inconsistent and irrelevant the stewards are. We could put 3 monkeys as stewards and probably get better stewardship.

    Like I said, I just need a F1 driver as a dad and I would have dominated this sport like no one else ever had.

  16. I think this one isn’t very clear and as such should at least be investigated. I doubt the usually not so fast stewards had this one figured out right away.

  17. I am surprised Ferrari havent complained about it….they are usually a joint first to the box…..sharing that honour with Red Bull….who if it was the other way round today…….

  18. I said straight away that he moved twice and that I’d seen him do it before.

  19. MG421982 (@)
    24th July 2016, 19:02

    This commentary might be 110% subjective, but this is my impression: I think Ferrari is losing significant places/points because of their strategies. Many of us still think Vettel gave away an almost surething win because of an uninspired strategy adopted by his team… and while their car seems capable in race trim but still losing to some other teams, I think their strategies are still at fault. So, again… why pit your drivers if they are in front of the RBRs and the pace is good?!? I think Ferrari pitted their drivers 5-10 laps too early. Very probably, having 5-10laps fresher tyres, while the RBR drivers 5-10laps more used tyres would have that little more speed needed for a successful pass, especially for Kimi Raikkonen.

    1. I agree, Ferrari were very poor this season with their strategies. But I think today they were spot on. Vettel simply didn’t have the pace to really threaten Ricciardo whatever strategie he was on. It was only Ricciardo’s early stop that allowed him to close up at the very endlich.
      Kimi was superfast on supersofts and they gave him the opportunity to use them for about 60% of the race.
      They couldn’t stop him later the first time because he started to fall away and maybe would have endet up behind Sainz as well. On his second stint he stopped as soon as he reached the back of Ricciardo.
      Nothing they could have done in my opinion…

      1. It is as if Ferrari are trying to be unpredictable with their strategy calls this year, and then sometimes (many times) end up being irrational instead. Too many cooks?

  20. jpvalverde85
    24th July 2016, 19:08

    Scumbag moves from Max, i have to agree with Kimi, could have caused a crash in both moves. Far worse than Button switching modes for security reasons, which was harshly penalized.

  21. Personal opinion, Verstappen was a bit naughty. He jinks in the braking zone which is pretty dangerous.

    Also, don’t know if anyone else noticed this but Ricciardo was also weaving down the straights to break the tow from Vettel. Also naughty. He was being smart about it and doing fairly small weaves but it’s already been ruled upon that you aren’t allowed to weave…

  22. Unbelievable. Worthless stewards. Button gets a joke penalty but this doesn’t. I have zero respect for the stewards of the Hungarian GP and hate them very much

    1. Agreed ..

  23. MG421982 (@)
    24th July 2016, 20:13

    BTW, another “funny” thing: RBR/VES was complaining about RAI exceeding track limits after last pit-stops, but VES was exceeding track limits even more than RAI. It looks like some teams don’t mind playing it a little dirty. What they were thinking, that the stewards will see RAI exceeding track limits and penalyze him for that, but won’t see him… especially when they were separated by 1sec and exceeded track limits in the same corner, same lap?!

    1. I thought that exceeding track limits were electronically checked for this race. I’m surprised that there were no penalties as I saw more than four for a few drivers.

      1. It is simple.
        Leaving the track in corner 4 and 11 gets detected, as those are the only spots where doing so can potentially generate a benefit to the driver.
        The first 3 times lead to a warning, the fourth time means a penalty.
        But when the driver is forced off the track by another driver or lost control, resulting in no net gain, then that off will not be counted as a breach of the regulation. Alonso’s fourth off was not penalized for that reason.

        Apart from that, you cannot overtake another driver by going off track; track limits are to be respected anywhere on the track during an overtake.

        That is why Max said what he said when he saw Kimi gaining on him after Kimi (just) went outside the track with 4 wheels. The short off (with no loss of speed) might invalidate the impending overtake attempt.

        The rules are the rules and everyone involved agreed there was no reason to inquire the situation.
        Ferrari could have requested an investigation but they did not, because they knew it had no chance.
        Kimi will no doubt tone down when he has spoken to the team and watched the replays.

  24. It seems that a lot of things that were agreed upon 10-15 years ago with regards to defending now no longer count & this is why you hear some of the more experienced drivers who were around at that time & involved in discussions about those things at the time complain about a lot of what some of the younger guys are doing.

    For example something that was drilled into the drivers a decade ago was that you must not move in the braking zones & especially mustn’t move across in-front of another car in the braking zones because in doing so you take the air off his front wing which has a significant affect on his braking (See Montoya & Monteiro at the 2005 Turkish Gp for example).

    One of my biggest concerns the past few years has been the declining driving standards in some of the lower categories & how as those drivers have moved up they have brought that trend with them. The FIA F3 series for example has been shocking with how low driving standards have been at times & the same has been true with GP2 where drivers like Sergio Canamasas & Johnny Cecotto Jr were continually allowed to drive with zero regard for other drivers & you saw the same with Pastor Maldonado when he moved upto F1 & had a few instances where he intentionally swerved into other drivers (Hamilton at Spa & Perez at Monaco for instance).

    1. Actually they have restricted the rules to enter f3 this year and it has improved. Last year was a mess. I think young people might miss the refinement but that comes with age and experience. And defending was much more agressive and dirty in the old days. This thing wouldn’t even be regarded as a thing.

  25. I personally feel if Kimi attacked turn 14 like he did on lap 70 several laps earlier, he would have passed Max using DRS with ease then pulled away. Then again I’m sitting on a couch watching so what do I know.

  26. I am not an expert but seemed to me like he moved twice, and did that two times when Kimi tried to overtake.

    First time Kimi lost part of front wing, second time he had to abort a move… Clearly forcing Kimi to crash or abort.

    Experts on Sky seem to consider it double move, Kimi a well experienced F1 driver think it was a double move… Why was it not investigated?

    And he did similar to Rosberg in Silverstone…. Quite a little Schumacher this young one.

    If within the rules he is either very close or slightly breaking them. Just enough to get away with it.

  27. FIA rules explained:
    Taking the one-move rule to its limits
    The one-move rule seems totally umambiguous, with no possible gray area to exploit. However, drivers have often bent the rule by arguing that their second move is part of their racing line for the corner that follows the straight.
    The first is when the defending driver makes their first move to the outside and then they pull back towards the inside of the track to pick up a more favorable racing line at corner entry.
    This move is seen very frequently and is considered acceptable

    Another addition:
    the move can be made as slowly or as quickly as the driver likes

    This more than often is up for debate, a driver can’t be to aggressive.
    Verstappen used the rules perfectly… not to anyones liking, but it kept him on P5 within the regulations.
    Third race Kimi is stuck behind Verstappen, logically he is frustrated, he kept on going, but there really never was an acceptable gap. Kimi made hid own choice going in like he did

    I am dutch, but this race I would go for Kimi as DOTD, it wasn’t Verstappens best performance. but awefull good defending from both drivers made this race worthwhile watching.

  28. In italian telly there was quite a storm about this, but I see the situation is not much different here…

  29. I think Kimi is right, to me driver standards is much more of an issue than track limits, the inconsistency in driver standards is appalling especially if you are driving for a big team. I think Max defended perfectly from Kimi but technically there’s no doubt that Max was blocking Kimi and moving on the braking zone. The fact Max was able to run on the middle of the track then defend either side is quite remarkable and a great quality as is most definitely the most efficient way of defending your position.

  30. Sorry, but what a fuss about nothing. Glad VES showed he’s got the guts to defend. Aggressively? Maybe, but this is what defines being on a championship track or just racing laps. Still think that F1 would have been extremely boring without VES showing his skills. VET always complaining, RAI with his typical cynical remarks, HAM and ROS racing in another league and the rest? Racing their laps. BTW: what happened to BOT? you dont hear a lot about him anymore…

  31. I agree with Kimi and this is not about Max should get penalized or not, but I’m as surprised as Kimi why there haven’t been any investigation at all. I can’t say for sure if its illegal move or not, but its certainly dubious move. Whatever the stewards decision whether its illegal or not, I can accept, but it seems they not even interested in looking further on that “accident”. Also any contact between cars, especially when there’s bit flying off should warrant investigation and its not like there’s a lot else happening out there too.

  32. Verstappen drove like a complete a-hole

  33. Marko van Dalen
    25th July 2016, 12:46

    I agree with Raikkonen it was surprising the incident wasn’t investigated: “Causing a collision”. It should have been Raikkonen though who should have been penalized. He defended just the same earlier in the race against Verstappen on fresh tiers, but unlike Raikkonen Verstappen is mature enough not to run into the frontrunner.

    1. Raikkonen only moved once whlie defending against Verstappen…..not twice.

  34. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
    25th July 2016, 13:06

    The fact that some view the 2nd move as moving to the racing line is such a joke because I can then make the claim that I overshot the racing line and needed to move again for a 3rd legitimate move and so on and so forth.

  35. Had Max stayed to the right (middle) and Kimi had come in on the left: what would have happened?
    Was a far too aggressive crazy move from Kimi. Max probably had already made up his mind about how he was going to take the corner = move from middle to left.

    Hamilton made same sort far too aggressive move on Rosberg in Spain and crashed both.
    Max was too aggressive on Grojean in Monaco and payed the price.

    So was it aggressive defense or aggressive attack?

  36. Isn’t the rule that “you are not allowed to change direction while breaking”?

  37. I find it telling that Max said drivers are always “trying to find excuses or something” I take it that this was an attack on Kimi’s complaint but it shows the lack of character and maturity in Max because he is the one making an excuse. Fortunately his words show his true character . In a post race interview Max said that he did nothing wrong to Kimi because he ( Max ) only moved once in defending before the cars collided . Max said to the reporter : I saw Kimi was trying to pass on the inside so I dove to the inside to block him,it was one move a so it was proper , I would be surprised if the stewards found anything wrong ( said Max ) but, Max ignores the reality that the tape clearly shows that before he moved to the inside Max darted to the outside blocking Kimi and only after the quick move to the outside( in the braking zone I might add ) did Max “dive to the inside “( his words). Max’s own words show he made two moves in defending because the move to the outside is obvious and he admits making a move to the inside .Thus he violated the Sporting regs which state in reg 27.6 that in defending only one move is permitted.
    .
    Before this race I was a Max supporter,impressed that a teenager could be so mature but,he is spoiled by success and acts as if he can ignore the rules,cheat other drivers and lie to the public because he feels that he can get away with all of that and apparently he can.
    before the race I believed that F1 was an honest racing circuit and not just a form of entertainment which while not scripting but, encouraging outcome to suit its economic plan of maximizing income by creating stars which it can market. the teenage phenom is better viewing than the veteran who paid his dues so lets allow Verstappen to cheat Raikkonen,it is better theater and thus makes more money .
    Until and unless the powers that be in F1 put integrity, fair play and sportsmanship above the monetary benefits of creating a child-star ( and other market rather than merit based personalities )to sell to the public I will be correct in dubbing them the “WWF1” because they are more theater and exhibition than sport and remind me of the WWF , athletics on display but, not real ,honest competition . Their fingers are on the scales and as such it can never be more than Hollywood type like entertainment and a hollow reflection of true sport.
    Kimi was right but, because F1 can make more money off Max,he( Max) is allowed to ignore the rules to Kimi’s detriment. You know at first I used the WWF1 moniker as a joke but,upon further reflection I must say that it is more accurate than I realized . What a shame.

    1. Agreed. I have nothing against max, i do like his racecraft but the way some of his fanboys defend him irks me greatly. The decisions these days make me feel that F1 is rigged to a certain extent. It makes me angry and i feel that i’m wasting my time watching F1 with idiotic decisions by stewards and i have never felt this way in the past 17 years watching the sport. Check my comment up top if your interested in my view.

    2. Arnoud van Houwelingen
      26th July 2016, 17:14

      you should go to drama school .. this is not Hamlet just one incident and now this kid is getting accused of murder seems like. Totally overblown if you ask me. You have never been a Max fan because a real fan doesn’t drop a driver for one minor incident so i am glad you are not a fan anymore.

  38. Jan Hendricks
    27th July 2016, 3:56

    Max was making one move to the outside then back to the inside. Sounds like twice, but the inside is the apex turning left. Remains one. Allowed.
    Kimi moved outside, then inside followed by an outside. But still had to catch the apex. Yes, inside again.
    Did nobody see Kimi running wide? The collision was due to difference in speed. Kimi ‘s tactic was wrong. He should have gone inside, out and in. That corner is not made for overtaking on the outside. To short and to fast.
    The commentary from Kimi might have come immediately after a frustrating race. Nevertheless, I voted Kimi as driver of the day.

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