Vettel, Verstappen and Raikkonen cleared over crash

2017 Singapore Grand Prix

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The Singapore Grand Prix stewards have cleared Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen of blame for the first-lap collision which led to all three retiring.

The stewards reported they “examined video evidence and heard from Sebastian Vettel, the driver of car five, Kimi Raikkonen, the driver of car seven, Max Verstappen, the driver of car 33 and
the team representatives.”

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“[The] driver of car seven had a very good start and was able to attempt overtaking of car 33 on the left-hand side,” noted the stewards.

“At the same time, car five which had a slower start, moved to the left hand side of the track; car 33 and car seven then collided resulting in a chain collision with car 5 and ultimately car 14 (Fernando Alonso) at the next turn. Cars seven, five and 33 had to retire immediately as a result of the incident; and car 14 retired some laps thereafter.”

“The stewards consider that no driver was found to have been wholly or predominantly to blame for the incident and will therefore take no further action.”

However Max Verstappen said he “doesn’t think it was a racing incident”.

“I think both of the Ferraris misjudged how much space they have to leave on the track,” Verstappen told the media after the race. “I couldn’t move because they started to squeeze me between their tyres so you cannot back out.”

“And then we had the crash. I understand that Kimi was going for a good start and he was going for the inside line. But he started to squeeze me to the right and Sebastian came quite aggressively to the left.”

“I don’t understand, when you’re fighting for the championship and then try to be that aggressive at the start when Lewis [Hamilton] is behind you, quite comfortably, it’s not I think the smartest move to do.”

“At the end of the day I’m happy that three of us retired and it’s not only me.”

2017 Singapore Grand Prix

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    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    120 comments on “Vettel, Verstappen and Raikkonen cleared over crash”

    1. Seems fair enough.

      Looked like it just about remained within the boundaries of a racing incident, and the only one who was ever going to shoulder any blame – Vettel – ended up receiving a more than adequate punishment in the race result.

      1. I agree, racing incident, though I definitely think Vettel was the one who pushed the issue, moving as much to the left as he did, even though he didn’t know Kimi was there. The problem is it didn’t just effect those three drivers. Pity for Alonso…perhaps the one race he had a shot at a podium this year, his horrid season just keeps going from bad to worse.

        1. The stewards must have had their eyes closed. Vettel is clearly at fault and undoubtedly cost Ferrari the championship.

      2. Yeah. Vettel fails to anticipate Kimi might be there. Probably could not see him in all the spray.

        Classical race start incident. Vettel really should have paid more attention and give more room to Verstappen.

        1st because he needed a win and not a DNF.
        2nd because Max often finds himself in accidents.

      3. The idiot Max clearly moves to the left and hits Kimi, Vettel barely moves from a straight line, and it’s Vettel’s fault? Wow!!!

        1. Paul. You are so right. We are the minority i wonder why. Stewards are just being kind?? Maybe coz a redbull was involved.

          No coincidence verstappen was in the centre of it, again!

        2. Sky guys talked to Max and he said “I didn’t think Vettel would push it because he has to worry about the championship.” To me that clearly implies that Verstappen knew the regular blocking move to take the racing line that someone in Vettel’s position would do (just as he tried to move to the inside across Vettel at the start) and was committed to playing chicken with Vettel, forcing him off the line. Don’t know how many times I’ve seen Max do that, usually barreling down the inside of a corner and forcing someone off the track to avoid his late braking and a crash. When Vettel didn’t give way from the racing line, Max flinched without ever looking where he was going. Kimi was already mostly past him, Max just assumed he was ahead of everyone else, arrogant twit. Hard not to notice a red car filling your entire left side vision but he managed it.

      4. And what about the other two? They all stand with Vettel? Nonsense. Vettel’s obsession with the title is turning him onto an amateur. If he had taken only himself out that would have been just fine. There’s no logic behind your apologies on behalf of Vettel guys. We’re not participants, we have no stake in any of this and making excuses for people we don’t know makes no sense.

    2. I’d put more fault on Vettel but it’s not uncommon for drivers to swoop across to protect their lead so no penalty is probably the right call. There’s no doubt Vettel caused the reaction but under the conditions I think losing 25 points is enough punishment.

      1. Vince Duggan (@vince-dugganvirginactive-co-za)
        17th September 2017, 16:46

        All very well, but he ruined 2 other driver’s races, (as well as ruining the race for the fans). This is very far from the first time Vettel has swooped onto the racing line when someone else was in the way at the first corner of a race.

        1. He did it on the second corner of Brazil on senna a few years back and senna got a penalty

        2. I don’t see how this was mostly Vettel’s fault. It looked like he was ahead enough of Max, while Kimi wasn’t.

          1. watch again. Kimi was 3/4 past Max; Verstappen’s front tire caught Kimi’s rear.

        3. Also Alonso’s
          poor Alonso’s only probable chance to score a good finish ……. Vettel ruined it

      2. “Losing 25 points” should never be the judgment in any way. You as a driver know that and still knowingly make the judgment call to cut to the inside. The only thing Vettel can’t be blamed for was the fact he couldn’t see Kimi was next to Max.

    3. Not surprising, but also letting Vettel of a bit easy, I think. I guess the drivers will have something to discuss at the next race’s drivers briefing – wonder what Alonso will say about it, as an acknowledged innocent by-catch of the collision(s).

    4. Not too surprised. Most of the blame is shouldered on Vettel but he probably couldn’t see Raikkonen, so racing incident.

    5. Well this is highly disappointing, if not really that unexpected.
      Vettel is really due a serious penalty. He’s been making way too many mistakes that been costing other people.
      This was an incident which wasn’t caused by anything outside anyone’s control. It was a deliberate move by Vettel, even though he didn’t know it was bound to cause a collision.
      But the issue is, that the move itself is rather unsportsmanlike one, which is at best tolerated. Covering off a line is one thing, but intentionally going into the side of people and counting on the to move in order to avoid a deliberate sideways hit, is not something to forgive as just “an incident”.

      1. Couldn’t disagree more. It’s quite common to see drivers move across to cover off another driver who had a slightly better start. You see this multiple times a season and many other drivers would have made a similar move had they been in Vettel’s position. I agree with the stewards interpretation of this incident. An unfortunate racing incident.

        1. I think all of these moves should be penalized (which will prevent them from occurring because drivers don’t want penalties). It’s one thing taking the racing line or a defensive line, but you can’t go pushing people that are already besides you. I sometimes think the safety standards these days have a flip side: deliberate accident-inducing moves that used to be able to get others killed are not avoided any longer. On the contrary, it’s a hustle for whoever proves to have the biggest cojones of the field so everybody else stays away from you, because you know they’re not going to give way and will just take out the both of you if you attempt to overtake. It’s high testosterone scare tactics.

        2. I am not so sure. If you pull across someone’s front like that then you are asking for a crash. Vettel has been the most aggressive drive in this respect at starts for quite some time. Yes pull across but not that late that you risk hitting someone. Remember the Webber days when vettel would aim his car directly at him? I was amazed more crashes didn’t happen back then. This time he ruined the race of a number of drivers and although I don’t think he purposely hit anyone, he didn’t have to see kimi to realise that it was a risky move…

      2. Exactly. It’s staggering how he keeps getting away with this nonsense. But then that’s probably why he just keeps giving into his bouts of “read mist”.

        If he had been ahead of Verstappen he could reasonably make that move and expect to stay out of trouble, but not when there clearly is a car next to you. There is always a huge chance that there are other cars around too.

        It’s just like Spa again and again Ferrari has the audacity to blame Verstappen.

      3. Covering off a line is one thing, but intentionally going into the side of people and counting on the to move in order to avoid a deliberate sideways hit, is not something to forgive as just “an incident”.

        You mean like 80% of the overtakes we praise Verstappen and Ricciardo for?

        What you both (@patrickl & @sihrtogg) really are saying is that a driver cannot defend his line, which was all he was doing. He left plenty of space for Verstappen to operate within, it just happens to be that Kimi was there already. Something Vettel could’ve never seen.

        So let’s already cut the nonsense of his ‘red mist’ and ‘dangerous temper’, and call it what it really is. An unfortunate racing incident.

        1. @flatsix,

          Yes, I’m saying you can defend your line, but you cannot ram people off track on the straight. Bizarre notion, I know, but there you have it. He could also imagine that if he had a bad start and Verstappen was away from the left that there might be another driver next to Verstappen as well.

          Just like in Spa 2016. It’s not the first time that Vettel pulls a dumb stunt like this. You cannot keep saying you didn’t see someone when you know it’s the start and cars are always bunched up.

          It is red mist, because violent moves like that are unsportsmanlike to begin with when you are completely in front (like what Schumacher always used to do or what Hamilton did in Monza to Stroll), but Verstappen was well besides Vettel already and then a move like that is just ridiculously dangerous. It’s appalling that the stewards don’t take proper action against it. Especially since it’s clearly a pattern for Vettel.

          Still, I’m glad he potentially ruined his own WDC hopes. Perhaps he will finally learn from that. Doubt it since it’s really “red mist” and not some thought out plan I’m sure, but still one can hope.

          1. Ok Mercedes boy. We got the point!. You don’t.
            At Spa, there was a corner if you remember. Some drivers say you have to turn your wheel at that point.
            Please refer to google and ask for “blind spot angles for f1 cars” and come back with your thoughts. VES didn’t ever look to the left. And when he realised that he lost the position to RAI, he did nothing. Just to remind you, VES is involved in many first corner incidents, just for 2017.Even with his teammate. Also refer to “backing off”.
            Last but not least, stop watching skyf1 so much. They get to you, big time.

            1. You’r not really a f1 fan are you?

            2. Well said, Psi. SkyF1 guys gave Verstappen the line “he didn’t have time to back off” but Max mangled it and said, “there’s nothing I could do, there were cars on both sides of me so I couldn’t back off” Huh? what? Oh, you mean without losing position. Basically he admitted to doing what he usually does, threaten a wreck.

        2. i agree
          AND
          i just hope no one gets killed by “INCIDENT DRIVES” of vettel
          he has done so many dangerous drivings and NO PENALTY
          please do not leave it till some driver gets killed

    6. Best outcome and one that encourages drivers to continue to race in the future.

      It’s easy to say that both of the Ferraris were more to blame than Verstappen when looking at their actions combined from an outsider’s point of view, but in isolation and in the heat of the moment neither did anything out of the ordinary.

    7. Yeah, correct decision. Racing-wise, nobody did anything unreasonable or illegal. Just the same old story of too many cars trying to squeeze into too little space.
      Vettel does have to blame himself for not playing it extra-safe, though. His defense was pretty aggressive, and there’s always a risk of something unpredictable happening. He could’ve scored big points against Hamilton even by finishing second, but he ended up losing so many points that the championship might be lost as well.

    8. Smells like politics but Vettel throwing away the WDC is punishment enough

    9. Vettel’s penalty is that he’s almost certainly blown his WDC chances for this year. That said, racing incident is a sensible decision.

    10. Probably the best outcome for the investigation after all.

    11. The collision is remarkably identical to the one at the 2003 German Grand Prix between Ralf Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello and Kimi Raikkonen. Sebastian (Ralf) had a poor start meaning he had to cover off Max (Rubens) but Kimi (Kimi) was on the other side having made a great start, and a collision happened as a result of Sebastian’s defence. In 2003, the stewards gave Ralf a 10-place grid penalty which was reduced to a fine, but in 2017, no such penalties were given, so I do question the consistency.

      1. Michael Brown (@)
        17th September 2017, 16:58

        Are you sure the standards were exactly the same then as now?

        1. Not at all, it’s just a historical point I wanted to raise because I felt the two incidents were a carbon copy of each other.

          1. You my friend is an astute F1 fan… Well Done.

      2. It’s also slightly similar to Spa 2016 although then they weren’t still on the straight when Vettel slammed into the side of the other two. Also then they blamed Verstappen

      3. @brickles wow, just viewed 2003 German GP start on the internet, is this a party trick of yours, instant recall of stuff that happened 14 years ago?

        Spot on though, pretty much a carbon copy today

        1. @frasier – I’d say it’s more of a curse ;)

      4. @brickles If you have to grab back to an example of 2003 there should be not doubt about consistency as it has been 14 years since and thus close to irrelevant really.

        1. I think you should thank@brickles for sharing this and accept that some things are as relevant as 14 years ago.
          Stuff like sportmanship and the fact that cars still cannot vanish into thin air.

          Thanks @brickles, great memory!

      5. @brickles Really great (re)call there. Indeed a carbon copy, and quite amazing that again, Kimi’s great start was a sort of catalyst for all that followed (I’m not blaming Kimi!)

      6. in 2004 last race michael schumacher didn it to damon hill and became world champion!

    12. that limping horse driver already paid the ultimate price by getting DNF after a great quali lap yesterday. Though to be fair looking at the conduct for last last years, he certainly deserves a race ban.

    13. Another bad decision by the stewards. It was the perfect moment to clear all the wrong decisions from the 2017 season… Baku especially. Yeah, overall it was a racing incident… but quite an extreme racing incident… and didn’t came out of nowhere either. Let’s be honest, this resembles a lot to 2012 Spa and we all know what happened to the driver who triggered that incident. VET triggered this incident, it’s obvious, and took out 4 cars totally. That’s a lot of cars. The WDC is pretty much lost anyway for VET and, in my opinion, this was the perfect moment for the stewards to clear this champ of all suspicious decisions by giving VET another 3 penalty points and a race ban. He’s the one who threw away his own champ chances in the end… and not the stewards.

      1. Yes, in every radce, the car ahead shoould lift. Tell that to Hamilton if he was the one being ahead and he would laugh like has laughted today with his result

      2. @mg1982 Giving him 3 penalty points would actually do nothing as he lost 2 in Austria.

    14. Common move if looked individually..but going that fast into a corner with wheels in between each other is matter of luck..had kimi tried to pass max more cleanly knowing leader might try to cover his lead could have made it simple…even lewis n nico used to cover each other with same or higher aggression..
      No ones fault it seems but all being too aggressive at same spot.. i think kimi could have passed max more cleanly though

      1. yep, as I was watching I was trying to will Kimi a bit further left. Later I thought Kimi knows Verstappen and if he wasn’t in his face then Verstappen would have hit him in Turn 1 or at least threatened enough to force him off track…but it’s a street race so no real off track place to go. That’s all I could come with to explain it.

    15. Meh. VET was the main (but not the lone) responsible party, and probably has his punishment by being a -25 vs. HAM, not to mention the -40 for the WCC, too.

      1. That’s not the correct line of thought. The rules are the rules and should be enforced irrespective of any WCC standings or names of the drivers or teams. Equality before the law is essential if the stewards want to take themselves seriously at all.

    16. It was clearly Vettel’s fault – he moved across and started the collision.

      Let off too lightly.

      1. He was ahead of ver, what driver would have not did that?

      2. @viscountviktor Moving across is not against the rules, no fault there

        1. It should be if there is a car already moving in the line!!!! Makes sense that if the line did not have VER in it, VET would have been leading the race on turn 1.

        2. Moving across when there is a car already there is either a fault or intimidation…even Mark Webber said today that vetted thinks his car ends at the back of his helmet……

      3. Blind spot people. Don’t forget blind spot. You will need to know what it is while driving safe a road car. Stop blaming without knowing

        1. Vettel needs to know

        2. @psi – exactly. I remember that one time I caused a multiple car pile up because I cut across in front of another car, pushing him into the car on the other side of him. The police gave me a hard time until I pointed out that it wasn’t my fault because the car was in my blind spot, they promptly apologized and confirmed that it was indeed perfectly reasonable of me to cut in front of another car on the assumption that they probably didn’t have another car alongside them. Remember it folks – don’t forget the blind spot – it means you can always assume that if you don’t look properly it’s safe to assume there’s nothing there and don’t ever have to accept blame.

          1. Well I can see what you mean by a blind spot(and he probably used that as an excuse) but Max was well up the inside on Seb as was Kimi on Max …..and Max saw Kimi…so we know that Seb had seen Max…so not much of a blind spot…..I prefer to think of it as deliberate intimidation….The stewards may have found no punishment was necessary…..probably as it cost Seb a world championship..and that outcome will keep Max happy as well

        3. You can get mirrors in the pound shop that eliminate blind spots. F1 spend millions and yet a simple solution eludes them. I think F1 like using the ‘Sorry mate, didn’t see you’ excuse too much.

    17. “At the end of the day I’m happy that three of us retired and it’s not only me.”

      I love the way he says what all the other drivers would probably think (but not say). Too right.

    18. IT’S A JOKE!

    19. For me Vettel solely to blame for the turn 1 incident, aggressively and needlessly chopping across the field and taking out 3 other cars including your teammate is not the actions of a world championship drive. Vettel bottled the championship today ruining season best finishes for Verstappen and Alonso along the way. Up there with Baku for me in terms or right royal F-ups!

    20. Chris Efstathiou
      17th September 2017, 17:58

      Vettel protected his position as he had to do. Kimi had great start and easily was abt to take Ver. But video shows clearly the intention of Vertappen and the slighty move left to close Kimi on purpose. That kid is clearly known for his recklessness. VERSTAPEN has all the blame. He is good driver and in future surely will be champ but he is very nervous and immature.

      1. +1
        Also had nothing to lose. So, no lifting it is.

      2. Wow Chris. Super astute! Sharp observation. Agree. But seem to be a minority viewpoint.

        Are u a racer? Haha.

    21. How does Vettel not get penalised for this move. Again!

      He cuts all the way across the track into a car right beside him cleary not leaving enough space on track.

      Either ways. This incredibly dumb move is his own biggest loss. At least I hope he lost the WDC as a result of this.

      1. He cuts all the way across the track into a car right beside him cleary not leaving enough space on track.

        @patrickl He is allowed to cut all across the track as a first defensive move. On top he did leave plenty of room for Verstappen to operate, it was just that Kimi was already there. Also just google some Fernando Alonso or Hamilton starts, you’ll see plenty of ‘chopping across the track’,…

        Also here’s the start and just look at what Alonso does, …

        1. @flatsix, Did you read the bit where I wrote “into a car right beside him“? That’s a bit of a distinction.

          Alonso does nothing wrong at the start. If Vettel had moved IN FRONT OF Verstappen it would have been fine too. Unsportsmalike perhaps, but otherwise fine.

          Doing that to a car next to you when you know from previous accidents (which Vettel caused in the past) can be an issue is a completely different thing.

          1. @patrickl & @david-br, again you’re both completely ignoring there was plenty of space for Verstappen to operate within, it was just that Kimi was already there. If Kimi had not been there, Verstappen had to go the inside and only a naive person believes Vettel would’ve continued coming to the left…, it is a very normal defensive move after a mediocre start, really nothing more.

            Certainly not your fantasy red mist, @patrickl

            1. I understand why Vettel thought it wouldn’t cause a collision – Verstappen would get out of the way (he’d be able to) – but that doesn’t negate the fact Vettel did cause a collision.

              The fact is stewards clearly take in a lot of extraneous factors when making their decision, e.g not giving a penalty so often when it’s two cars from the same team, deciding whether the driver causing the accident came out worse, and evaluating the effects on the championship (lenient for contenders, more severe for other drivers hitting the leaders). All those factors were in play, I’d guess, in the decision to not penalize Vettel further.

        2. Vettel’s angle and speed meant that Verstappen would have had to deviate from his line to the corner or break, fairly heavily, to avoid an imminent collision. Sure, Vettel counted on him doing that. On anything other than the first lap, Vettel would probably have been penalized as it was close to reckless. He didn’t count on the fact Verstappen couldn’t avoid him, though, because his own team mate Raikkonen was ‘unexpectedly’ on the other side (quite what RAI expected to happen at the corner is another question) and Verstappen braking heavily at a manic start like that would have its own highly unpredictable consequences. Raikkonen actually turns slightly into Verstappen moments before the collision, which is even more bizarre given that he did know Vettel was on the other side.

          At the moment it happened, I thought ‘double Ferrari brain fade.’ Still looks like that. Absolutely crazy.

    22. I’m surprised nobody blames Kimi. Once he was along side Max, he tried (too soon) to get a better line for the first corner, but to do so he had to squeeze Max to the right. At the same time, Seb tried to squeeze Max to the left, to put him in a worse line to tackle the first corner, in order to have a chance to regain the first position at the exit of the corner just in case of being overtaken by Max at the entry. Max did not attempt any move of his own in the process, he was a puppet in the hands of the two Ferraris. So, if there is one to blame, is Kimi who misjudged the space and tangled his rear right wheel with Max’s left front.

      1. to do so he had to squeeze Max to the right. At the same time, Seb tried to squeeze Max to the left

        @janderclanderr that’s probably why

        1. Seb move was legal, although not the nicest one out there. Kimi was behind, he is the one who have to deal with the movements in front, and he had plenty of space to his left.

      2. Kimi doesn’t actually change his line, not until the two cars collide.

      3. Sorry, RAI has no blame here. After rewatching some vids, I had the impression too that RAI steered a little to the right, squeezing VER into VET. Found another vid – complete front view – and RAI car is completely straight. Maybe the only blame we can give him – but I think it would be an exagerration tho – is for not foreseeing the collision and turning left to avoit it. That’s because he came from behind (4th position) and from on-board camera it seems he saw VET steering into VER, so maybe RAI should have foreseen that VER would turn left too at some point in order to avoid a collision with VET. But he didn’t foresee VET would squeeze VER so much. In the end, it doesn’t even matter I guess, most blame goes to VET, he should have known there’re some other drivers on-track.

        1. Kimi steered slightly to the right as seen here: https://imgur.com/a/nQSIX
          Anyway, that’s not my point. Kimi was coming from behind, should have been aware of the moves in front of him and had plenty of space to his left to avoid contact, just as Max avoided contact with Seb. And again, Seb move was not nice, but it was legit.

          1. OK, if they’re right and it’s legal, then Ferrari should keep doing that over and over again. But it won’t win them any champs, that’s for sure. If I were HAM, I would joked about this situation and wished Ferrari duo to keep it up ’cause they’re doing great.

    23. How anyone can agree with this is beyond me.

      Vettel moved deliberately and sharply to the left. He should know that at the start there is a high chance of multiple cars across the track.

      I’m fed up with seeing drivers use their cars as weapons to force each other off the track or to back off. It was such a stupid move that I’m hoping he realises how foolish it was and looks back when he loses the championship and realises that this move was why. It’s more evidence he is not a good wheel to wheel racer.

      And his quote afterwards was unbelievable: “I had an average start and moved slightly to the left trying to fend off Max and the next thing I know I felt a bump on the side. I’m not sure what happened.”. Is this guy serious?? If he genuinely doesn’t know what happened then he shouldn’t be in an f1 car. He deliberately drove towards another car, what did he think the bump was. If this was Maldonado everyone would be going crazy at him.

      1. @julian284

        If this was Maldonado

        No they didn’t, though to be fair it did end well.

          1. I stand corrected, thanks @davidnotcoulthard

            But..
            a) I’m still fed up with drivers driving at each other to defend position and
            b) if Alonso had spun/hit a wall/hit a car I would’ve considered Maldonado to blame.

    24. It was more Vettel’s fault however I think the problem was that Vettel didn’t know that Kimi was on the inside, He moved over & squeezed Max thinking Max was the only car there. If he had known about Kimi I don’t think he’d have moved over as much as he did.

      It’s easy to look at an incident like this from the outside & think that he should have known, However you don’t have enough visibility out of the mirrors in an open wheel car to see a car alongside a car thats alongside you. This is why on the ovals in Indycar (As well as Nascar) you have the spotters who are able to tell drivers where other cars are & in the odd case where they do go 3 wide its critical for the spotters to tell the drivers that there 3 wide because the car ahead especially won’t have any idea there 3 wide based on what they can see from the cockpit.

      I recall that BAR used to give there drivers spotter calls at the start of races informing there drivers where other drivers were. Have always been a little surprised that didn’t catch on for the start & 1st corner.

      1. @gt-racer

        It was more Vettel’s fault however I think the problem was that Vettel didn’t know that Kimi was on the inside

        That’s pretty much how I see it.

      2. I don’t think Vettel should’ve known Kimi was there as that’s obviously impossible. BUT he should’ve been smart enough to realise that there was a high chance that there was more than just Max and so driving across the track so hard was probably unwise.

      3. Vettel should know by now that there are more cars on track besides himself and the car next to him. He already rammed Verstappen and Raikkonen in Spa 2016. Then he also claimed he didn’t realize there were three cars abreast. There are three cars side-by-side all over the place just after the start. Especially when the front driver has a bad start like Vettel had here.

        It’s baffling how this keeps coming as a surprise to Vettel. It really doesn’t say much for his quality as a racer that he doesn’t realize things like this will keep happening if he blindly keeps pushing people off track just after the start.

    25. Vettel has shown that he can be ruthless at the start of the race. I’ve at times commended him on his ruthless starts. But sometimes when you’re ruthless, it can come back to bite you. That’s what happened today. Time will tell if will prove costly

      1. It bit him because Verstappen no longer falls for it. This is what Rosberg should have done against Lewis. Just hold your line and let them learn their lesson. It’s almost like bullying, Schumacher was the master of it.

        1. Schumacher was the master of it

          no, he was the pupil of a certain guy. Ayrton by name

        2. You are comparing yielding on the racing line with driving on a straight. If anyone was pushing people off on the straights it was Rosberg. They actually changed the rules that drivers need to leave enough room, because Rosberg kept pushing people off on the straight.

          Yield the racing line when you are behind is just standard practice. You can “keep your line”, but you will get penalized. Like when Rosberg tried being brave in Austria. It’s just sad that people think this is a good tactic.

    26. Can’t comment on the lack of punishment until I’ve got over what a complete Tw#t Vettel was when his priority should have been getting the car home ahead of Lewis.
      Why the hell Ferrari didn’t coach him on this. Yes sometimes you can win the race on the first corner but you can also lose the championship.

      I reckon he did know Kimi was there. He recklessly swooped hoping all and sundry would get out of his way.

    27. Vettel along with raikkonen attempted a pincer move on Vestappen that went spectaculatly wrong. Thank you Ferrari for gifting Hamilton the race..next time don’t cheat just race…

    28. How many more races will Max Verstappen ruin for spectators by taking out leading contenders due to selfish, inconsiderate, and crazily aggressive moves? I would ban him for the rest of the season, minimum. The only reason he still has a licence to race is he draws the crowds. The organizers believe they can’t afford to let him go.

      1. PS. – 10 to the organizers for not having a Safety Car start. It was obvious there was going to be trouble with the unfamiliar conditions and the mixed-up grid.

      2. Seems like majority of people do not agree with your opinion. Little bias maybe?

        1. SkyF1 opinions everywhere.

      3. Yeah really crazy, driving straight and getting hit by 2 red cars.

        1. I am sorry bit VER moves to the right leaving space for KIMI and then moves back to the left. So no straight line at all there.

    29. If this was 2003, Vettel would have gotten a 10 grid penalty for the next race .

      Ralf Schumacher got one in 2003 for exactly the same kind of incident in Germany.

    30. Vettels move was to aggressive for the wet conditions, and having Max on the front row with Vettel I didn’t expect anything else!

      1. This. It was only ever gonna go up in sparks…

        Also Kimi, a well know incident partner of Max.

    31. So now it is TEFLON Vettel.

    32. Wet or dry, it was odds on going to happen between VET and VER.

    33. F1 racers like the spoiled beauty contest, kind and less evil. The race became less interesting because young man like Verstappen did not angry and not blame for the seniors.

    34. To say that Verstappen and Raikkonen were let off is incorrect. There was only one driver who was causing that incident. Only one driver was driving across the track.

      Vettel’s history of trying to run people off track, but failing, comes back to bite him yet again. This had all the reminders of Turkey 2010.

    35. After hearing Verstappen’s childish finger-pointing regarding the incident, he showed me what he truly is, and, while it does appear Vettel was quite reckless, one only need look at Verstappen’s list of DNF’s this year: mechanical failures, wrecks, you name it, while Ricciardo, driving ostensibly the same car, has only one, and that, indeed, at the hands of the boy wonder himself. It is Verstappen who should undergo scrutiny, not Kimi, not Vettel.

    36. Max has scored same number of points as Perez..
      Luck may have played a role but he has half the points of his team-mate.
      On top of that he clarified his racing philodophy saying that Vettel should have been careful because he is fighting for the WDC, that highlights the fact that Max can afford to gamble and doesn’t care about crashing.
      All this ‘cool attitude’ doesn’t do him any favour and 68 points in the WDC reflect that.

      1. Philosophy, sorry

        1. You are doing well to apologize. :-)

    37. I classed the crash at the start as a racing incident but if you did want to blame someone then it would be Vettel, no way could any blame be placed with Verstappen or Raikkonen.

      Vettel made a relatively bad start, so to cover Verstappen he made a move to the left but Verstappen had nowhere to go as Raikkonen had made a great start and was on his left so Verstappen was caught in a Ferrari sandwich.

      Vettel obviously didn’t know where Raikkonen was and that Verstappen could not move over but it was still an aggressive move from Vettel especially considering Vettel is fighting for a title and so you would have thought he may have been thinking of the long game, it was more important to finish ahead of Hamilton than it was to win the race at all costs.

      I do not think the wet conditions contributed to the crash, if all three drivers made a similar start in the dry and Vettel made a move to the left the end result of a big coming together and retirements would have been the same.

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