Overtaking

There was overtaking yesterday and, since the retirement of M$, the standard has been, with a few notable exceptions, of the highest sporting standards.

We have seen hard, but fair driving, with one or the other pulling out when it was obvious they were on the losing track. For me, this is a BIG improvement on the wheel-banging and cutting off/shunting off, that was so prevalent in the M$ era, long may the resent trend continue.

Where have you been. Did you not watch the same race as I did. LH had at least 3 or 4 blocking moves on Petrov yesterday. There is defending your line but that was ridiculous.

Imagine what that petulant prick would have said if the situation was reversed.

No, Louis has banged wheels, and pushed out enough people over the years as has Webber. That is what it usually takes to win, with the 2 notable exceptions of Button and Kimi.

Lewis was not blocking, he was making it hard for the other driver to slipstream him.

If he was blocking, or making more than one defensive move, he would have had a penalty.

I agree with Danny. At first I thought Lewis was swerving until I saw Petrov follow him all the way down the straight and never take a look down the inside. It looked weird but there was definitely no blocking at all. If Petrov had really wanted to overtake Lewis, he would have stayed on the racing line while Lewis moved away from it.

They gave Lewis a warning. It was a gray area, and I think the stewards should put a stop to it in future races.

If MS had done it, they would be asking for his head. Since it was St. Lewis - it's OK.

Louis was right in his approach to breaking the draft. Petrov followed.

If they guy isn't close enough to pass you, and he's trying to get a tow...I think you have the right to break the draft. It does look silly.

RDD wrote:If MS had done it, they would be asking for his head. Since it was St. Lewis - it's OK.

+1 He got a warning, wow. I mean, I even noticed it, and I'm very slow to notice those types of moves (ie, my miss of whatever it was Massa did the other race).

Faaaack, tow, pass, its all semantics isn't. Either way its dangerous! The rules say one move and then you can go back to the racing line. Petrov was setting up for the pass, ie he was going to pass. You don't even see that bullshit in Nascar!!!

Werner wrote:Faaaack, tow, pass, its all semantics isn't. Either way its dangerous! The rules say one move and then you can go back to the racing line. Petrov was setting up for the pass, ie he was going to pass. You don't even see that bullshit in Nascar!!!

I got to disagree with you Werner.

In a pass the driver behind is moving away or to the opposite side of the driver in front. Following directly in the tracks of the car in front is not passing it is Following....wherever Louis went Petrov followed. Petrov never pulled out to pass...he reacted to follow.

Having not seen the race, and just read the comments on here, it seems to me there was no blocking. For blocking to occur, the driver who is behind needs to move away from the driver in front first, then as the driver in front sees this move, he in turn moves to the same side of the track so as to block the attempted pass. From what I am reading here, Petrov was slipstreaming behind Hamilton, and Hamilton would then move to the other side. At this point, Petrov would then follow the move to maintain the slipstream. In a sense, you could say then that Hamilton is opening the door.

The rules however limit the number of times you can change your line, and regardless of what was going on behind him, if Hamilton changed line more than what is permitted he should be penalized. It is in a way, yet another fucked up rule put in place by the FIA...

You got the jist of it, Henrik. Hamilton chose his line but Petrov followed him. Then Hamilton changed again, and again Petrov followed. This happened twice or three times and Petrov never, ever made any move that showed his intention to overtake Hamilton. So IMO there was no blocking.

But you are also correct on the last paragraph. Rules are rules and if Hamilton broke it (I'd have to see the exact wording before commenting on that), then he deserved to be penalized.

I saw A bourdais interview last night, and he had the same point as some of us:

1) Swerving more then once, to block, is illegal.
2) Louis just try to get the renault out of his slip stream, not blocking.
3) Nothing illegal.

BUT:
4) This is as dangerous as blocking
5) They should put an end to this right now.

and btw, Louis swereved 4 times. 4.

At 300 km/ph.

He is a great racer, but he went to M$U...
Same win at all cost ethic then M$...

They are the two dirtiest racer on track...and M$ is getting old....

I agree SRRH, the rules didn't state make it illegal, but it should be fixed.

I read an article on Pitpass about passing. The author stated that a great way to fix the passing issue was to make the tyres rock hard. If the tyres were rock hard the cars couldn't take advantage of the power, and breaking advantages some teams have. It would also put more on the driver since they would have to control the throttle more.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/82932

Huh, vindicated.

Jarno Trulli told AUTOSPORT: "It is written in the rules that you cannot move more than once, but he got only a black-and-white warning flag. Most of the drivers think that, no matter whether it is Lewis or anyone else, you shouldn't do it.

"And if you do, Charlie should not give a reprimand but a penalty so that we all know not to do it. We don't want a yellow card, we would prefer to have a red card.

"I think Charlie got the message and he's happy with it. It's just a clarification of the rule."


The FIA Sporting Code states that "manoeuvres liable to hinder other drivers, such as more than one chance of direction to defend a position, deliberate crowding of a car beyond the edge of the track or any other abnormal change of direction, are strictly prohibited."

Trully, a never has been driver, I bet the racing world will be longing for his next pearl of wisdom.

there was absolutely nothing unsporting in his trying to brake the tow... but that was very strong swerving at speed on a very populated section of track - spectator-wise - with a system that is designed to stall the rear wing (still tons of downforce though... no big deal)... i don't think it warrented anymore than the warning it got but i think maybe a more gentle maneuver is just as effective and the preferred side of appropriate... that looked like slalom skiing... it was just a bit ott...

still it was satisfying to see that fkn spastic bbc cunz0r shown up for the lack of any fkln idea whatsoever on what constitutes racing... hysterical journalistic nob end.

EDIT - "moving once"... "to block a passing move"... big difference... trying to break the tow is not an abnormal action... trulli should stfu if he doesnt want to sound like an idiot.

The upshot of all this today was that overtaking became possible because the long draft worked, and even Hammy benefited.

jPo

I think they should lock the stewards in a windowless room for each race.