Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Interlagos, 2018

Hamilton accuses Sirotkin of “disrespectful move”

2018 Brazilian Grand Prix

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Lewis Hamilton branded Williams driver Sergey Sirotkin “disrespectful” following an incident between the pair in qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The Williams driver put two wheels off the grass when he caught Hamilton at the end of a lap in Q2. However Hamilton claimed Sirotkin had not been on a timed lap when the incident took place.

“Everyone was on an out-lap,” said Hamilton. “Me, Sergey and everyone in front of me.

Valtteri [Bottas] was ahead of me and he was backing off to get his gap so I had to back off. I was making sure I had the gap but then all of a sudden I saw a car coming at high speed and I was like: ‘Oh my God. Is that someone coming on a lap?’

“So I went left, but he was going left. But he wasn’t on a lap, so I don’t know what his thinking was.

“We all know to keep a gap. It was a disrespectful move. I was trying to get out of his way and then he got to the corner and slowed up.

“It was kind of strange. It was completely unnecessary because behind him there was a bit of a space so ultimately his lap and my lap weren’t great so hopefully he can learn from it.”

Sirotkin said he was trying to increase the temperature in his tyres ahead of his flying lap when he caught Hamilton.

“We went into Q2 thinking the rain would come and when I exited the pits, due to the changeable conditions the scrubbed tyres were cold meaning I had to push hard to generate temperature,” he said.

“On my lap, I had to slow down to avoid Lewis, which in turn meant putting a wheel on the grass and ruining the lap. Overall, it was a good session and we are happy with the performance.”

There has been no official indication as yet that any incident involving Hamilton has been noted or is under investigation following the qualifying session.

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Keith Collantine
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56 comments on “Hamilton accuses Sirotkin of “disrespectful move””

  1. Since when is there a rule on outlaps? Come on Lewis, it was dangerous driving from your side. You deserve a penalty for that from my point of view.

    1. Vettel got a penalty for it in Austria, so judging FIA’s consistency Hamilton will start from pole tomorrow

      1. Vettel penalty was for impeding Sainz on his qualifying lap, not his out lap.

        1. Dangerous driving.. the lap kind should not matter for that!

          1. Actually it does matter. Because if it’s not a qualifying lap, there is no need for the car in front to leave the racing line. If Sirotkin suddenly decides to overtake during the outlap he can, but he shouldn’t expect others to read his mind and leave the racing line.

        2. What about Ham impeding Raik in Q2 then?

    2. The circumstances make all the difference. Surely you understand and expect the maneuvers of cars on a highway to be different from that of a parking lot. Drivers have an understanding. An outlap and a qualifying lap are are managed differently. What’s dangerous is unusual maneuvers. Vettel on a hotlapping car and Lewis on an outlap car should be viewed differently. Would lewis have gone to the left if Sirotkin was on a hot lap?

  2. If I’m not mistaken, Sirotkin has the right to go whatever speed he wants on his buildup lap, hardly disrespectful

    1. What does respect have to do with anything? What is Hamilton, a mob boss?

    2. Yup, floor it for no apparent reason on an out lap and whoever is in front of you must dive out the way or get a penalty.

      1. Regardless of the type of lap, to dawdle on the racing line is not on. If you’re hanging back for space, do not be on the racing line. Cars warming up for a lap need to be on the racing line and still going at some speed to get heat into the tires and brakes. Anyone waiting for a gap shouldn’t be in their way.

        Finally, it wasn’t the only time he did it. Kimi was on a hot lap at the time and had to avoid Hamilton who was parked in the middle of the track. On both occasions when it was already too late to move because of the relative speeds, Lewis moved anyway making it harder for the faster drivers to choose a lane to avoid. Both of them had to take avoiding action not to hit him. Both of these incidents should be investigated at the very least.

  3. You MUST NOT do such a move against a 5-time world champion! EVER!
    I love Hamilton’s sense of humor. He impeded 2 guys on the same lap – started with Kimi who was on a quick lap.

  4. So according to lewis you can play bumper cars on outlaps.

    Note Lewis will not get a penalty

  5. It brings to mind Alonso and Magnussen in Monza. If you wanna race Hamilton then follow Alonsos example otherwise stay out of the way if you are just intending to be a slow car on the track.

    1. @rethla

      Exactly my thoughts as well. Alonso was just keeping a gap before Parabolica to get a good exit and start his hot lap … meanwhile Magnussen chooses to dive bomb in to parabolic to start get his awkward start to his hot lap.

      While watching the quali session, initially, I thought Lewis had impeded his hot lap, which is a definite penalty. But, it was Sergei’s outlap, and then you’d have to blame Sirotkin for not just playing the role of a gentleman and respecting the que.

  6. I’m sorry what? If anyone deserves a penalty for that move or was disrespectful it was Hamilton…

  7. Aren’t there any rules for drivers building gaps before they start their qualifying laps? What was sirotkin hoping to achive?

    I didn’t see all of the incident, but if Sirotkin wasn’t on a qualifying lap then there was no real reason for him to be going at pace.

    It made sense for Hamilton to be going slow as he was building a gap before starting his fast lap, whilst preserving the tires he would start the race on. Also Hamilton would not have known who was behind him, and may even have been trying to find ‘the best line’ into the corner which allowed faster drivers coming up behind him their best chance of completing a fast lap.

    If you think about it, the only real impact these back markers can have on the race is to take out one of the leading drivers. Lets see what Sirotkin does tomorrow.

    1. I didn’t see all of the incident, but if Sirotkin wasn’t on a qualifying lap then there was no real reason for him to be going at pace.

      Sure there is. The whole point of a warm up lap is to get the tires and brakes into the operating temperature window. That requires some pace, even if it isn’t flat out.

      On the other hand, when waiting for a gap as Lewis was doing, a driver should not be on the racing line or sat in the middle of the track, and definitely shouldn’t jerk to one side or the other after it is too late for the following driver to change their line.

      1. But the following driver did change his line, and there was no contact, therefore it wasn’t “too late”.

        1. Go back and watch it again. Hamilton was right on the racing line at the far right of the track, going very slow. Sirotkin had no other place to go but left, then Ham moved toward him when Sirotkin was already upon him, and he had to put on more steering lock to avoid him.
          Same with Kimi, but less dramatic. He even said he didn’t know which way Kimi was going by way of excuse, but he shouldn’t have been in the middle of the track going that slow in the first place.

          It’s a tautology to say if there was no accident, there is no problem. Just because Sirotkin was able to avoid an accident doesn’t mean there was no problem.

          1. But it does mean that he didn’t ” jerk to one side or the other after it is too late for the following driver to change their line.”

  8. RebelAngelFloyd (@)
    10th November 2018, 19:01

    Would be a disgrace if Hammy doesn’t get a penalty.

    1. Some day the guy’s going to machine gun down all the competition and they’ll only pat his back

      1. What a weird thing to say.

        1. I fear hyoko is projecting here, him and his other accounts tend towards the dramatic insanity

  9. Facepalm of epic proportions.

  10. How dare Sirotkin do this to Tupac Christ. Its blasphemy. Sirotkin must be a racist.

    1. Says the guy comparing him to a rapper… that’s rich, thanks for the lol

      1. LOL if that’s another comparison…

      2. Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
        11th November 2018, 0:37

        Lewis is also a rapper Xcm (under the pseudonym XNDA)

    2. I don’t think Sirotkin is a racist. But thanks for confirming what you are.

    3. Another one of those dog whistles.

  11. LOL. I can only laugh at this claim. Sirotkin did absolutely nothing disrespectful out there. 100% Hamilton’s fault.

    1. Yep, but u gotta admire the chutzpah

  12. Maybe Sirotkin already knows he doesn’t have a drive next year and thought “this could be my last chance to send one up the inside of Hamilton!”

    1. Ahah, possible!

  13. Maybe Lewis mistook him for Timo Glock and thought he was letting him past?

    1. That hurts…

  14. Same situation than in Monza with MAG and ALO. 90% Sirotkin’s fault, it’s common sense to let a gap to the driver in front on an outlap.

  15. The nerve…

  16. As a HAM fan I’m trying to look at this objectively. I guess if I’d seen another driver involved in 2 incidents like this I may think they should at least have to answer to the stewards. Maybe it’s my unconscious bias but I believe both incidents are down to simple confusion by both drivers. Ham moved Off the racing line for the SIR incident and SIR was on an outlap. The RAI incident is a little worse for me but again Lewis was in a queue of traffic and tried to avoid RAI as best he could. Bad judgement by lewis on the RAI incident I think.
    A penalty for HAM wouldn’t be ridiculous although IMO a bit harsh.
    Great lap from lewis. As is often the case he can be nowhere prior to Q3 then he pulls a HAM special from nowhere.
    The best qualifier & the quickest driver F1 has seen.

    1. Don’t think hamilton can compete with senna on pure qualifying pace, it’s not only about the numbers, it’s also about the ratio. IMO senna > hamilton > schumacher on qualifying and that’s as a MSC fan.

  17. It wasn’t intentional, but it was late and in the wrong direction.

    Then Sirotkin was very fast, but – you can go that fast there. It is the normal speed for that section. If you go very slow you are putting other drivers at risk, then you do need to watch your mirrors and make sure you don’t get in the way. Even if other drivers up front are also going slow. Those too need to watch their mirrors and get out of the way.

    We’ve seen Alonso and Magnussen race each other on an outlap during qualifying, but there Alonso was only holding back slightly, and it was to line up for the run to the starting line. Sergey and Lewis were in the midfield, there should be no reason why it should be forbidden to pass a slow moving car there.

  18. Gasly got a penaulty for almost the same incident. His move brought Sirotkin in danger and that is it almost causing a accident. (slow driving and moving into the path of a faster car) Or 2 penaulties one for hindering Raikonen his fast lap which he did almost the same turning into the path of a faster car.

  19. Di Resta explained what happened. Sirotkin was on an outlap, then suddenly started going very fast.
    So there was no impeding, but much room for confusion.

    1. Isn’t he – they all – supposed to go very fast?
      It is why I follow the sport rather than tortoise racing.

      1. Have you followed the qualifying since Pirelli got involved with the sport though, because it sounds like you haven’t been.

      2. I agree, it would be nice if they were fast all the time.

  20. This whole story summarises the selective prosecution and elitism of F1, which is the cancer of this sport.
    And don’t forget the ridiculous rule, that for things like that, the stewards are needed to be notified by the team, or they won’t even bother to look at the incident.
    Guess a Mercedes customer when will accuse Mercedes with anything, even if it is clear for the untrained eye, that something bad happened.

    1. Yes, that has importance too I guess.

  21. “Disrespectful” – interesting choice of word there.

    “I am the class World Champ fool,
    dont dis my rule,
    respec my ass or kiss my tool”

    Vettel looks down for what’s loose between his legs

    “If I ain’t front runnin,
    you know I’m comin,
    so step aside,
    and get back slummin with the other Finns”

    Kimmi and Valtierri go “Huh?”

    “I’m born to wins,
    or make sharp clothes,
    or bust a rap in ……………………

    You know what – I’m posting drunk again – I must stop this :P

    1. So, racist then. Good to know. I’ll remember that every time you post.

      1. Oh dear – jump to conclusions do we?
        I must try to remember that every … etc etc etc ;)

  22. HAM was going intentionally slow, on the racing line, during qualifying. How on earth is the incident not on him but on Sirotkin I wonder?

    1. Because Hamilton thinks he is untouchable…..as does Vettel it would seem.

      You know, Senna used to do a similar thing in his early years. After setting a fastest lap (he didn’t always set pole right at the end of a session), he would troll very VERY slowly around back to the pits either on the racing line or right in the middle of the road and make anyone else on a fast lap have to either go offline, or slow down, either way they had their laps ruined.

      Now I know Sirotkin was only on his out lap and not a flyer, but he was on the last turn so it makes sense to me that he would be going fast at that point. Hamilton did send him off the road in a dangerous matter and for mine he should be penalized.

      1. @holdenv8 Sirotkin had no issue and explained that he had to go fast on his outlap as the tyres weren’t properly up to temperature. Moreover when he reached Hamilton he said that he assumed that Hamilton wouldn’t have time to react and so went off the racing line, while Hamilton did in fact react and tried to give Sirotkin the racing line – hence the near collision. Neither driver was doing anything wrong.

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