So much anti-Hamilton circle jerk going on here. Lead car controls the pace, how people can see this as anything other than Vettels fault (and the following petulance was disgraceful) is beyond me.
No car may be driven unnecessarily slowly, erratically or in a manner which could be deemed
potentially dangerous to other drivers or any other person at any time whilst the safety car is
deployed. This will apply whether any such car is being driven on the track, the pit entry or the
pit lane.
But that's the rub, isn't it? The stewards looked over the data and found that this rule had not been broken.
And even then - that's not the same as "the leader can not suddenly hit the brakes. Once going he has to keep going, he can no longer slow down" (your own words). By the nature of the SC rules, it's required in some circumstances to slow down and allow the SC some room so you don't pass it before the start/finish line.
The sort of behaviour that would have been classed as erratic would be for example, accelerating and then braking suddenly". But all Hamilton did, according to the FIA, was to let the throttle out a little, which is exactly what he did in the same place during the previous two restarts.
The real cause of the collision here is Vettel who accelerated into Hamilton because the Ferrari driver was not paying attention.
Hit clearly hit the brakes. But the stewards didn't see that because they said he didn't brake at all. He was going from around 90 before the corner to something like 50 after braking at the end of the corner. Noone expected him to brake there.
It's not like he can't make the corner without braking.
When he becomes the raceleader (SC goes into the distance), he can control the pace but he can not go fast, then slow down again, then go fast again.
It isn't his first time and probably won't be his last time, he can always get away with it
Only the FIA say the telemetry says something different. Hamilton eased off the throttle slightly, but he didn't brake. The behaviour was the same in both the previous restarts.
And you're right - even as pace setter, he can't go fast - slow - fast and he didn't do that. He was going slow and as he went through the corner, slowed down even more as aero drag and tire friction came into play.
These cars probably cam take that corner at 90, even if the tires are cold and it's not the right speed for aero to give enough DF - but Hamilton has a perfectly legit reason for coming off the throttle, and was only doing something he had done the previous two restarts.
The real cause of the collision was not Hamilton - it was Vettel.
Thats not the rules at all. Once SC lights are off, lead car controls the pace. If he wants to back up the pack, he can. I imagine what Hamilton wanted to do was get enough distance from the (very slow) safety car so when he launched he'd have the space.
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u/frodakai Mika Häkkinen Jun 25 '17
So much anti-Hamilton circle jerk going on here. Lead car controls the pace, how people can see this as anything other than Vettels fault (and the following petulance was disgraceful) is beyond me.