2016 Formula 1 Japanese Grand PrixFormula 1 

Samus
I don't see how you can penalise him, by the rulebook there is nothing wrong there, but it's still highly questionable the way he waits to make his defensive moves. The veteran drivers don't like it.
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If Rosberg didn't get penalised for Spain, then Verstappen can't be penalised for both this move, and his moving along the Kemmel straight in Belgium. Simple.
 
The clutch has been hit or miss all season, literally. Not sure there's much that Lewis could have done but to hope it went his way. There has to be something more to it than him missing his points. It's too much of a recurring theme. But the race was decent. Better than average, which isn't saying much. ;)
 
Honestly, Max's "dirty" blockage has to be stopped ! He cannot just defend when others have committed to a move. This's dangerous, and most of the drivers trying to overtake him end up off the track !
 
Jimlaad43
If Rosberg didn't get penalised for Spain, then Verstappen can't be penalised for both this move, and his moving along the Kemmel straight in Belgium. Simple.
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Rosberg was on corner exit down a straight, and from memory his steering wheel was turned right the whole time. Its not like he was running straight, checked the move and reacted, he knew he was in trouble mid corner was was on defense from there.

Verstappen has done Belgium, Hungary, Suzuka and Germany. I don't feel it's right, even if it's not written in the rules. Funnily enough, in Germany, Rosberg got the penalty as his resulting overshoot of the corner ran Max wide and off the circuit. I think he needs to be talked to before there's a more serious accident
 
Betty blue
Honestly, Max's "dirty" blockage has to be stopped ! He cannot just defend when others have committed to a move. This's dangerous, and most of the drivers trying to overtake him end up off the track !
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This can only be stopped by creating a new rule. Max's using a grey area, and non-regulated part of an already existing rule. Is it dirty? Absolutely. Is it illegal? Strictly speaking, no. At least not AFAIK.
But for me that's also what makes him a great racer, and for which Senna was celebrated and idolized to this day. He too used every dirty rule and grey area in the book in order to gain an advantage or defend a position.
 
Lion-Face
Rosberg was on corner exit down a straight, and from memory his steering wheel was turned right the whole time. Its not like he was running straight, checked the move and reacted, he knew he was in trouble mid corner was was on defense from there.

Verstappen has done Belgium, Hungary, Suzuka and Germany. I don't feel it's right, even if it's not written in the rules. Funnily enough, in Germany, Rosberg got the penalty as his resulting overshoot of the corner ran Max wide and off the circuit. I think he needs to be talked to before there's a more serious accident
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Alex Yoong on Star noted that it could be considered "moving in the braking zone", though he also noted that Lewis sold that move very early, perhaps realizing that Max would... uh... "pull a Max"... perhaps hoping to catch Max out? Lewis sold him a move, reacted instantly and jinked to the outside... but simply outbraked himself, unable to make the corner.

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While I agree all the troubles Lewis has had were of his own making, you still have to give some respect to the guy for coming back from what was a pretty "meh" first stint, where his head simply wasn't in the game at all, putting the stirrups in and driving an excellent middle and back half of the race.

Lewis is an annoying, brash and often arrogant driver, but he's under a lot of pressure, and his demeanor both before and after the race showed it. He's shown some semblance of his former self... coming back from way behind to nearly match Nico in Q3... then driving pretty well at the end of the race. I think it's about high time he stopped worrying about the bad press and criticism and just get on with the bloody driving.
 
Interesting stat I've seen on Twitter, over the past 3 years, the Mercs have 54 podiums split evenly between Nico and Lewis 27-27. Surprised by that but Nico's one lap pace is underrated.
 
20832
This can only be stopped by creating a new rule. Max's using a grey area, and non-regulated part of an already existing rule. Is it dirty? Absolutely. Is it illegal? Strictly speaking, no. At least not AFAIK.
But for me that's also what makes him a great racer, and for which Senna was celebrated and idolized to this day. He too used every dirty rule and grey area in the book in order to gain an advantage or defend a position.
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While all the sporting rules in F1 are written as vague as possible to create drama, Perez vs Massa judgement, for example, clearly stated that what the rules mean is that moving in the braking zone is prohibited. They are letting it slide because Max obviously brings a lot of exposure to F1 and he is fast enough to be racing against the kind of drivers who are capable of avoiding him, but someone is gonna get hurt. There is no other possible outcome. You juke like that enough times and the other driver will make a mistake eventually.

It's also a ridiculous comparison to Senna. That was a different time. Everyone took more risks, everyone drove more aggressively. Otherwise why not bring up Ascari and his love for actually bumping other cars. lets go for that.
 
Lion-Face
Funnily enough, in Germany, Rosberg got the penalty as his resulting overshoot of the corner ran Max wide and off the circuit.
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I have my doubts about what happened in Germany. Rosberg was clearly quicker, so it would have been all too easy for Verstappen to "accidentally" run wide.
 
Dhalism
While all the sporting rules in F1 are written as vague as possible to create drama, Perez vs Massa judgement, for example, clearly stated that what the rules mean is that moving in the braking zone is prohibited. They are letting it slide because Max obviously brings a lot of exposure to F1 and he is fast enough to be racing against the kind of drivers who are capable of avoiding him, but someone is gonna get hurt. There is no other possible outcome. You juke like that enough times and the other driver will make a mistake eventually.

It's also a ridiculous comparison to Senna. That was a different time. Everyone took more risks, everyone drove more aggressively. Otherwise why not bring up Ascari and his love for actually bumping other cars. lets go for that.
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Which I certainly would love to see more of. It's certainly more dangerous, but if you're not willing to take risks (to a certain extend) then you shouldn't be a race car driver. It's a risky business and it's actually sad to see everyone lose their minds when they see some proper racing these days simply because it's that rare.
 
20832
Which I certainly would love to see more of. It's certainly more dangerous, but if you're not willing to take risks (to a certain extend) then you shouldn't be a race car driver. It's a risky business and it's actually sad to see everyone lose their minds when they see some proper racing these days simply because it's that rare.
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There is a reason why moving in braking zone is frowned upon. It requires little skill and its very dangerous. We lose absolutely nothing by losing that technique. Otherwise why not allow people to weave.

It's a truly ridiculous stance. It's like claiming UFC needs to go back to fish hooks eye pokes and ball kicks.
 
sems4arsenal
Nothing will come out of this, but wouldn't hurt to try.
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I should hope that nothing comes of it, because I think that prosecuting Verstappen will set a really poor precedent. I think that there is an emerging attitude among the senior drivers that so long as they put themselves in a position where an overtake is likely to happen, then the pass can be considered to be done.
 
How many laps was Hammy trying to over take Max on the pit straight for?

Just a theory, but based on how bad the FIA was this week with rules(how many ignored blue flags) Hammy might have just done a dive bomb similar to what Kimi did last week.

And Max might have had damage in some shape or form and Hammy might have used that to gain a time advantage so if he did get a time penalty he could afford it.
 
prisonermonkeys
I should hope that nothing comes of it, because I think that prosecuting Verstappen will set a really poor precedent. I think that there is an emerging attitude among the senior drivers that so long as they put themselves in a position where an overtake is likely to happen, then the pass can be considered to be done.
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Max is too dangerous for me though but this time it was passable, Lewis would've been better off selling the dummy and overtaking from the outside imo, but that's with the benefit if hindsight and not being in a car that fast :D
 
Dreadmed
Just going to add, it's not over 'til it's over... Nico could have a terminal failure next time around, and then it'll be all to play for again. Don't count the chickens until they've hatched!
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I'm a Hamilton fan, and I think they've hated. Singapore sealed that deal and last weekend made it a reality. It wasn't meant to be, and to be honest, I felt at some point Nico could be a WDC and hoped for it (more so in 2013 than now). So good on him.

Grayfox
How many laps was Hammy trying to over take Max on the pit straight for?

Just a theory, but based on how bad the FIA was this week with rules(how many ignored blue flags) Hammy might have just done a dive bomb similar to what Kimi did last week.

And Max might have had damage in some shape or form and Hammy might have used that to gain a time advantage so if he did get a time penalty he could afford it.
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Wouldn't have worked, so close to the end of the race would have resulted in a grid penalty for next race. And I'm sure he realized any hard slightly unclean racing done would put him back in a track he's even better at than Japan.

sems4arsenal
Max is too dangerous for me though but this time it was passable, Lewis would've been better off selling the dummy and overtaking from the outside imo, but that's with the benefit if hindsight and not being in a car that fast :D
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He tried that, the entire point of the move wasn't to pass on the inside. He knew Max was going to move late in the braking zone and that's why he was able to do a switch over so fast. Problem is he over cooked the corner and judged it wrong to make the outside pass. Also if you watch Max ticks it back to the left slightly to get a better entry, after he just went right to block Lewis.
 
Good to hear Mercedes dropped the protest. Yes, verstappen has done some stupid stuff on track this year, but his move to defend against Hamilton looked fine to me. He didn't just dart across the track at the last millisecond like with kimi at spa. You could see his move come from a mile away.
 
This is what Lewis said:

"There is no protest from myself. Just heard the team had but I told them it is not what we do. We are champions, we move on. End of!"

Great comment,nothing dirty happened,move on... :cheers: to Lewis!

I whas surprised he tried it there,and not do it on the straight with DRS after the chicane...he was closer to Max then all laps before...mistake by Lewis,Well defended by Max.

Great race 👍




Spy.
 
Q: How hot was the breath of Lewis on your neck at the end?

MV: It was not as hot as in Malaysia.

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Just watched the highlights. Sublime seemingly from Rosberg, just totally unphased as it stands. Being a bit bland in your racing style has its benefits by the looks of it. Surely his title now.
 

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