Azerbaijan Heroes and Zeroes

[Robem64]

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the LH/SV restart scenario it makes for a great needle match through the rest of the season. Bromance has no place when a championship is up for grabs. You never know, they might spend so much time and energy on each other that Bottas or Ricciardo might sneak up and grab some championship spoils while they aren't looking.
Looking forward to Austria already 

[Monty]

Zeros
- anyone that suggested Hamilton 'brake checked' Vettel  . He consistently went through that corner at that speed for restarts. He could go at any speed he wanted (within the rules) in preparation for a restart. He was so far away from the restart there was no need for anyone to be so close to him.
- anyone that tried to justify what Vettel did. Even if he had been 'brake checked' (which evidence proves he wasn't) he had no right to go alongside Hamilton gesticulating let alone using his car as a weapon against Hamilton. He should have been disqualified on several counts - causing an accident by driving into the back of Hamilton; unsportsmanlike like behavior - gesticulating at Hamilton; dangerous driving and causing an accident - driving into the side of Hamilton; overtaking the lead car before the restart line (I know he dropped back behind Hamilton before the restart but that spoils my rant).

The race itself was awful but the fun & games kept it interesting and I was really pleased that Ricciardo got the win, Stroll (and Williams) got good points, Alonso (and McLaren) got into the points.

[Dare]

Nothing is going to change my mind and I'm
not a Vettle fan. I'm going by what my eyes see.

[Scott]

Vettel was behind Hamilton for the other restarts, so for whatever reason, Vettel must have had an idea what was about to happen, and it happened differently.  I say Hamilton lifted off for the corner, but then didn't accelerate to even a reasonably slow speed after the corner.  That surprised Vettel.  Maybe technically Hamilton shouldn't share the blame, but we know he doesn't have wings or a halo, so lets not pretend he wasn't hoping that change in pace would throw off Vettel, and was intentional. 

But Vettel was anxious and following too close, and anyone who has ever been involved in a rear-ender (front or back) knows perfectly well how they happen.  Completely the fault of the person behind, but this is racing, and unless you want to finish last, you have to be aggressive and try to anticipate what the guy in front is going to do.  He blew it.

As for Vettel's move afterward, he is an idiot to do that, and should be yelled at quite a bit in Italian. 

[Dare]

Wouldn't it make for a exciting rest of the season it
Vettle is suspended a few races or banned for the rest of
the season? Would basically hand the WDC to Hamilton
without Bottas having to back cars up for him,which no one
thinks is wrong.

[lkjohnson1950]

The data showed that Lewis didn't brake check Seb, but he was driving differently. His pit told him he was too close to the pace car on the previous restart, then as Scott said he did not accelerate out of the corner; partly because this is the way to gain a jump on the field, but partly I think to let the pace car open a bigger gap. Was Seb at fault, sure; but Lewis can take a tiny portion of blame. I don't know about you but when I see someone right on my bumper, I usually accelerate a bit to give myself some room.

[Scott]

...using his car as a weapon against Hamilton...

Calling bumping tires at 10mph turning your car into a weapon is like saying bumping someone in a Sumo suit is committing assault.

[Ian]

  I'm lovin all this. 

[John S]

The bit I'm not loving is Vettel being allowed to pooh pooh the race stewards in the post race interviews! 

Just pathetic that's what I call it and a triple world champ should know better. 

He may have a differing opinion for his team as to what occurred but to suggest the officials are wrong about his dangerous driving charge so publicly is surely bringing the sport into disrepute.

There's an appeals procedure if he feels the decision was so wrong. However I don't think he will risk an appeal as they may award an even harsher penalty.

Any footballer who criticises or questions the validity by the match officials over a penalty, booking or sending off, immediately after the match or not, faces severe punishments from a disrepute charge.     

[Andy B]

Nothing is going to change my mind and I'm
not a Vettle fan. I'm going by what my eyes see.

Your eyes cannot see the data Dare which the Stewards did and if LH had been anyway in the wrong he would have received a penalty, nothing can vindicate what SV did he was in the wrong and that's exactly why he was so aggressive.
I know I'm an LH supporter but I would say just the same if the roles were reversed as there is no room for this in F1.

[Andy B]

It seems the FIA are not happy either!

http://www.planetf1.com/news/fia-thinking-of-citing-vettel-over-baku-contact-2/

[Monty]

I can't claim to be a 'neutral', not because I am a Hamilton fan (because I'm not) but because I do not like Vettel. However, I find it hard to understand how people can support Vettel's actions under any circumstances. Hamilton did nothing wrong. More to the point they were all so far away from the restart line that Vettel should never have been so close (at that distance he was risking hitting Hamilton under any circumstance).
But in front of millions of viewers to then deliberately drive a car into another car is completely unacceptable - and yes, as such, he was using the car as a weapon - in the same way as throwing a punch is using a fist as a weapon. I'm not suggesting there was huge risk but it was deliberate and could have been dangerous (wheel to wheel contact has thrown cars into the air/wall previously even at low speeds).
It simply wasn't professional and I honestly believe that if it wasn't him and he wasn't driving a Ferrari he would have been disqualified. I believe immediate disqualification is the sanction the stewards should have imposed.
I should add that retrospective action (if there is any - which I doubt) misses the point completely. It should now just left in the past.

[cosworth151]

The FIA is going to get involved     :

“Following the recent incident in Azerbaijan in which car 5 (Sebastian Vettel) was involved in a collision with car 44 (Lewis Hamilton), on Monday, July 3, the FIA will further examine the causes of the incident in order to evaluate whether further action is necessary.”

No worries, Seb. The FIA would never, ever rule against Ferrari.

[Andy B]

The FIA is going to get involved     :

“Following the recent incident in Azerbaijan in which car 5 (Sebastian Vettel) was involved in a collision with car 44 (Lewis Hamilton), on Monday, July 3, the FIA will further examine the causes of the incident in order to evaluate whether further action is necessary.”

No worries, Seb. The FIA would never, ever rule against Ferrari.

Was Schumacher not driving a Ferrari when they sanctioned him!

[Dare]

The FIA is going to get involved     :

“Following the recent incident in Azerbaijan in which car 5 (Sebastian Vettel) was involved in a collision with car 44 (Lewis Hamilton), on Monday, July 3, the FIA will further examine the causes of the incident in order to evaluate whether further action is necessary.”

No worries, Seb. The FIA would never, ever rule against Ferrari.

Was Schumacher not driving a Ferrari when they sanctioned him!

And when he parked his car during qualifying at Monaco!!Wait I'd better not
give Lewis any ideas