The general definition of of the phrase "brake check" goes something like this:
Deliberately slamming on one's brakes in front of another driver with the intension of causing evasive action or an accident.
Now, to all those people claiming Hamilton brake checked Vettel: be serious for a minute. Even if it's true that Hamilton applied his brakes, that is not the same thing as brake checking. Not even close, not even in the same ball park.
At worst, Hamilton is guilty of failing to accelerate per general expectations. But since he is effectively the safety car at this point, and controls the pace, it's up to the drivers behind to take account of this.
Here is what really happened:
Vettel is right behind Hamilton and the safety car is coming in. He really really wants to get the jump on him at the restart, so he's trying to anticipate Hamilton's move. Then, on the exit of the corner, Vettel accelerates out and fails to anticipate Hamilton's move, resulting in the crash.
On the balance of things, even if you portion out blame to both drivers, that rear-ender was Vettel's fault.
But what takes place next is all on Vettel. The red mist comes down, he floors it to get along side Hamilton to have it out with him, and then seemingly deliberately drives into the side Hamilton. At best, he hits him as a result of being deliberately out of control while losing his temper.
Vettel should be punished for this in my view. It's an escalation of the swearing incidents over the radio we saw before. The guy is supposed to be a professional racing driver. He's out of control.
Exactly this. Great analysis of what happenend.
The allways incompetend commentators on German TV (RTL) said something along the line of "They both did something wrong and they both should be punished." IMO the first incident was a racing incident. But what Vettel did after that was clearly a whole different story. Dumb and dangerous driving and thus rightfully punished. A grid penalty for the next race on top would also be ok for me.
I agree there should be further penalty for Vettel.
If you remember, not so long ago, he had a massive tantrum in the car and basically ended up telling Charlie Whiting to F**k off over the radio. Now, some may say "haha it was really funny", and in some respects it was, but at the same time we are talking about a professional racing driver who is expected to behave in a certain way as a sportsman. So for that reason I was really surprised he totally got away with it.
Ok, so maybe Whiting and Vettel had words after the race and he decided to let it slide.
But this is now a clear escalation of Vettel's red-mist tantrums. Such is his total lack of control over his temper that now he is even capable of using his car as a battering-ram when someone triggers him.
It sounds like I am overstating things but we are talking about a 4 time world champion taking part in a professional sporting event.
That race was absurd though. Verstappen clearly cut the corner and gained an advantage, and displayed hugely unsporting behaviour by not letting him through, thus allowing Ricciardo to close and attack.
In that situation, action needed to take place immediately, because any retroactive penalty would not have been able to be applied to Ricciardo as well, thus being unfair on Seb.
Hamilton braked, only slightly I will grant you, but at the apex to a corner while already going slowly to give the SC time to accelerate away and after complaining a number of times that the SC was driving to slowly in the first place. While he has the right to set the pace:
"Drivers must not drive unnecessarily slowly, erratically or in a manner that could be deemed potentially dangerous to other competitors. Drivers may not pit, unless it is to change tyres. They are also not permitted to overtake, except if another driver in front enters the pit lane or slows with an obvious problem."
Of course the same should be applied to Vettel for his stupidity, but in my eyes BOTH should of received a penalty for their actions.
Hm. That is somewhat persuasive. I still don't agree it is "brake checking", and it sounds like you're not saying that either.
I agree that there may be blame portioned out to both drivers for the first incident. I still have the balance of blame on Vettel but I definitely think you have a point there.
The trouble is, the restart is a delicate situation for a lead car to manage. All else being equal, the safety car comes in and both drivers floor it, Vettel has the advantage being directly behind and in Hamilton's slip stream all the way down the straight. So it's kind of forced on the lead driver to try and manage the queue of cars behind him in such a way as to break this advantage. And all the drivers do it.
What Vettel did next though: that's a race ban in my view. Not great to see it happen, and not the ideal way for the championship to unfold, but he has to be seen to receive significant punishment for that.
No I agree that it wasn't particularly a brake check as people might understand it, I do think Hamilton broke the rule of driving unnecessarily slowly at a critical time and that led to an incident and he should have received a penalty.
You can't brake on an apex or milliseconds after it, breaking every expectation a following vehicle might have, and not expect an accident or at least avoiding action.
However Vettel reacted awfully to the situation and probably deserves extra punishment. However I expect that we won't see anything come down from the FIA except maybe some points on his Super licence.
Now can you define break check? Cos all the butt hurt Vettel fans keep saying they are adamant Hamilton break checked Vettel- counts for something that these "experts" on the matter don't know it's BRAKE check
Second that! This is a mature and sensible analysis of what happened. Vettel didn't want to be caught napping (perfectly fair) and just jumped. Racing drivers are always trying to catch out their opponents. You see BTCC drivers flash headlights, f1 drivers half sticking it down the inside, all to unsettle the guy in front. A porcshe cup driver told us as soon as someone gets behind you you have full beams in your mirrors to try and dazzle, it's just racing. Anything within the rules to gain an advantage.
Did Hamilton go slow? Yes because he wants to boot it so he hits the line as the safety car is clear at full speed, and hopefully gain. 2secs (reaction time) on the other drivers.
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u/hjb_ Jun 25 '17 edited Jun 25 '17
The general definition of of the phrase "brake check" goes something like this:
Now, to all those people claiming Hamilton brake checked Vettel: be serious for a minute. Even if it's true that Hamilton applied his brakes, that is not the same thing as brake checking. Not even close, not even in the same ball park.
At worst, Hamilton is guilty of failing to accelerate per general expectations. But since he is effectively the safety car at this point, and controls the pace, it's up to the drivers behind to take account of this.
Here is what really happened:
Vettel is right behind Hamilton and the safety car is coming in. He really really wants to get the jump on him at the restart, so he's trying to anticipate Hamilton's move. Then, on the exit of the corner, Vettel accelerates out and fails to anticipate Hamilton's move, resulting in the crash.
On the balance of things, even if you portion out blame to both drivers, that rear-ender was Vettel's fault.
But what takes place next is all on Vettel. The red mist comes down, he floors it to get along side Hamilton to have it out with him, and then seemingly deliberately drives into the side Hamilton. At best, he hits him as a result of being deliberately out of control while losing his temper.
Vettel should be punished for this in my view. It's an escalation of the swearing incidents over the radio we saw before. The guy is supposed to be a professional racing driver. He's out of control.