Webber Blames Hamilton for Crash

[sidney]

Did I miss something in the last F1 race. I realize that Vettel and Webber both race for the same rich and powerful mogul, but come on give me a break. The FIA is now looking at penalizing Hamilton for his behavior under the Safety Car. If they penalize Hamilton, which is great ploy to make the final race in Brazil exciting by letting Fedinand back into realistic contention, Fuji may have been my last F1 viewing. What a bunch of rich, arrogant, power-hungry dumb-@sses!

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/041020...er-threat.html

[Keith Carter]

I read that it was off camera and a YouTube clip was posted of what he had done. I can't seem to find it though as all footage seems to have been yanked by F1. I'm not sure what constitutes unsafe driving behind the safety car. Webber and Vettel talked about not being in a rhythm of some kind. Maybe he wasn't brake checking in an even pattern? Seems like someone was following too close for the conditions...

[Joefisherff]

Are the stewards from the Sprints now over-seeing F1?????? This seems like one of their stunts!

[DanW]

BBC sport has a video clip and some speculative commentary. Link to the clip is below the first paragraph.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/moto...ne/7027743.stm


"The wierdness continues" - Hunter S. Thompson

[John Duke]

It may be that the story is not so simple. Webber is in a Renault powered car and is therefore a proxy warrior for the Regie, Vettel is in a Ferrari powered car and is therefore a proxy for the Prancing Horse. Luca is spewing fowl stuff that is, frankly, irresponsible and damaging to the sport (and I am a Ferrari fan). Stepney is alleging that the flow of information was going to Coughlan AND in the reverse to Ferrari. Much remains to be uncovered in the current flap between McLaren and Ferrari.

If Lewis is docked for his driving, all the drivers should be. A brief look back at the tape reveals that most of them were desperately trying to get/keep heat into their brakes for T1. This is no different from what they do in dry races. If a similar accident occurred in the dry, the fault would accrue to the driver behind.

Lewis addressed Webber's erratic driving in the post race interview. He was driving defensively to avoid being hit while trying through the radio to get Charlie Whiting to get the other drivers, notably Webber, to put some distance between them to avoid contact.

Lewis was boxed in between the safety car and the field. He was not responsible for setting the pace while behind the safety car. The driver behind is responsible for avoidance, which is why Kubica was penalized in this race.

McLaren have suffered a serious assault on their integrity and their pocket book. They are not likely to sit idle whilst those around them, across and likely all the way down the grid, are 'guilty' of precisely the same 'crime' as they are AND MUCH MUCH WORSE. This is likely to be particularly true of Ferrari and Renault but also likely at Toyota, Honda, and BMW.

A lot of the antics are positioning to provide negotiating room when the boys sit down together in a meeting room at Heathrow or Orly to settle this before it blows the lid off the game. All very predictable and unsavoury. It is one of the things that makes F1 so intriguingly interesting, such well dressed and well paid gentlemen handing each other the other's head on a platter while smiling and telling the world what a good bloke he is/was.

High stakes and high drama. All good fun.

[Ted Idlof]

"The wierdness continues" - Hunter S. Thompson

Hey Dan, this is right out of a Fear and Loathing scenario, ain't it?

I saw that Youtube video yesterday and think that Hamo was indeed screwing around; pulling way off line and nearly stopping so that Webber would pass him. Of course Hamo could say he was just trying to get Webber to back off for safety reasons as well as just phuqing with him.

Bernie has an agenda for rekindling the season end's drama, so given all the phony offtrack BS and melodrama this year, I wouldn't be surprised if Hamo does get docked some points or grid spots this weekend.

[Matt M.]

The games people play...... The should dock him 10 points It was pretty clear he was playing a yo yo game

From today's press conference
edited to keep my account.....

Q: (Ann Giuntini - L’Equipe) To Mark and Sebastian: without any desire to get into politics, would you say that Hamilton’s manoeuvres in the last race were not very far from being unfair or not under the agreement you generally have?
SV: In the end it was my fault for crashing into Mark’s car, so I’m not here to blame anybody but I think it’s clear that the rhythm was not there. In the end we are all sitting in the same boat. It’s raining, there is a safety car for a long time and it’s quite complicated to keep the temperatures in the brakes and avoid glazing them. But at that point I was just distracted, you could say. I was looking to the right and I was sure he (Hamilton) was retiring, there was no power anymore and yeah, all I can say is that by the time I looked back I was already in Mark’s rear end so… It’s not to blame anybody but for sure the reason was the rhythm was not there.
MW: I think he did a $hit job behind the safety car. He did a $hit job and that’s it. He spoke in the drivers’ briefing about how good a job he was going to do and then he did the job the opposite way, so we know for next time, it’s no problem.

[HazelNut]

unsafe driving penalties???? did anyone actually watch the last lap of the race? If they penalize hamilton they need to penalize p2 to p6 as well. How many off course excursion happened in the last lap? Guys flying down escape roads, with no lift, and darting back over the grass onto the track for position!!! come on!!!!

hamilton did go WAAAAY to the right in the chicane right before webber got popped. BUT that wasn;t the only "erratic" driving in the race.

[turnbaugh]

The idiots. Penalize Hamilton? What would be better for the sport than to have a rookie win the Championship?

[Ted Idlof]

What would be better for the sport than to have a rookie win the Championship?

Have him win it in the last race instead of this weekend . Keep the drama going. Oops, I said that already.

[Allen_W]

Have him win it in the last race instead of this weekend . Keep the drama going.

Have him win without antics worthy of the WWF.

[Matt M.]

I doubt they will do anything at this point....


Crash.net actually has and article about the head of RedBull directing the FIA to the video below!! FIA is saying it is under review in lite of new evidence "Tost prompted Hamilton's 'trial by YouTube'"

This video is from a fan's perspective.... unfortunately the dope moves the camera at the contact....... But its pretty clear

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QJurnfxRm4

[Brian]

Well, I noticed Lewis taking exactly that line on most of the previous laps, going well to the outside and almost stopping - I noted it because it seemed such a weird line and pace to take through that chicane. So Webber et al had ample time to learn that was what Lewis would be doing.

I also noticed Webber being what I thought was far too aggressive in line behind Lewis, passing him on several occasions. I thought that Webber was trying to play mind-games with Lewis.

Brian

[Allen_W]

They should leave this alone. If they penalize Hamilton for poor driving, what about Massa's offs during the first lace lap? What about the various other craziness in crazy conditions? For example, I thought the penalty given to Kubica was absurd--of course, I was hoping for Kubica to be the rookie winning the championship, so I'm biased. At most the video shows that Vettel didn't simply drive over Webber. But why didn't Webber and Vettel say something about Hamilton right after the incident, if they were so upset with his driving? In fact, Webber was all over Vettel after the incident; I don't recall his saying a word about Hamilton until the YouTube video popped up.

[Matt M.]

Somebody must have laid into Webber after his comments yesterday - this was released with part of his driver quote today.....


“Away from today's events, I would just like to make it clear that, although I criticised Hamilton's driving in yesterday's FIA Press Conference, at no time have I made any official complaint about anyone's driving following Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix.”

[Ted Idlof]

But why didn't Webber and Vettel say something about Hamilton right after the incident, if they were so upset with his driving?

Well Vettel did, or so rumor has it, when he was called into the SOM after the race. And, rumor has it, the stewards debated the evidence at hand then for 7 hours before calling the results official.

It seems some officiating protocol has been lost or screwed with if they did in fact reopen the case because the Youtube video came out. It's interesting to note that the stewards are apparently locals and different for each race. As Hobbs and Varsha alluded to in practice yesterday, fair play would suggest that one set of stewards travel to all races and provide better consistency throughout the season. Oh wait, did I just say fair play? this is F-1. Nevermind.........

[VehDyn]

Looks like Hamilton has been cleared and Vettel's 10 place penalty in this weekends race has been removed. Apparently they decided the conditions were so bad that there should be no penalties.

[Allen_W]

Proper result