I did not find it amusing at all and when the accident initially happened my initial thoughts were that Alonso was whacked in the head and when he did not get out of his car I was glued to the TV set hoping that he emerged unscathed, sure enough he emerged with a bruised back. Grosjean was at fault because what could Hamilton have done? Grosjean moves so far across that before Hamilton can react he is already alongside Hamilton with Hamilton's front left occupying the same space of tarmac as Grosjeans front & rear. If Hamilton had braked (which I suspect he did) the same incident would have occured, if Hamilton had gone right he would have hit Grosjean and still caused a big collision, if he had gone left he would have spun and again caused a collision and if he had accelerated hard and gone forward his brakes would have failed to stop him and, you guessed it, would have resulted in a collision. Hamilton could do nothing and as such the fault is fully on Grosjeans shoulders. Even after the crash I still cannot see the funny...
With regards to previous moves not resulting in a incident, those previous moves should have been stopped and handed out harsh penalties. The reason why this one was seen in such a dim light was because it could have cost the lives of multiple drivers had the conditions been slightly different. Read the following blog post on why the FIA should get a lot stricter on this sort of thing.
http://willthef1journo.wordpress.com/20 ... nd-safety/
Spa, Stewards, Standards and Safety…
The start of the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix was not Romain Grosjean’s finest moment. It was by no means the worst thing he’s ever done in his career, but it wasn’t the best either. If we look at it in simple terms, he pushed a rival to the limit… actually slightly over the limit, and the resultant accident which his move sparked has, quite rightly, resulted in a race ban.
He’s held his hands up, admitted fault, and for that he must be commended. But now the vultures will start to pick at the bones of the incident. They will point to the fact that he’s had X number of contacts in his Formula 1 career, what percentage of those have occurred on the first lap, and how many other drivers such moments have affected. He’ll be cast into the role of young hothead, a GP2 graduate who doesn’t understand the finesse required in Formula 1. He’ll be dubbed a cocky upstart who had the temerity to turn down the offer of counselling and coaching from Sir Jackie Stewart.
He’ll have to read those column inches and suck it all up, watching from afar as his rivals compete for glory at the Autodromo di Monza. He’ll have to learn, and come back stronger.
Of course he’s not the first and won’t be the last driver to be banned for such a faux pas. Michael Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen were both parked in 1994, and they both went on to become world champions. Eddie Irvine was parked that season too, and he very nearly won a world title. But perhaps it’s the fact that an unsuspended ban hasn’t been handed down in 18 years that is causing the greatest shock. It marks Grosjean out as a danger, the likes of which the sport has not felt it correct to punish for almost two decades.
I don’t think such a picture is fair on Grosjean. I don’t believe for a moment that he is a danger. I don’t believe that he is thoughtless or reckless. In the vast majority of instances this season I believe he has been desperately unlucky. But for Spa alone, and purely on its own, I still feel he deserves the ban.
Punishments in Formula 1, no scrap that… punishments in single seater motor racing need to be far harsher than they are right now. And they need to become clearer and be applied with increased standardisation. From F1 down to entry level Formula Ford, even karting, a racing action of questionable moral standing must have the same regulatory reaction. Inconsistency between categories, and inconsistency even from a race to race basis in an individual category must be stamped out.
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Motorsport racing needs to clamp down hard on dangerous driving. Maldanado deserves a race ban IMO...
Onto the Sunday race...
I enjoyed all the ups & downs of the race and to those of you who say Vettel is unable to make passes I reckon from 13th on the grid to 2nd proved that he can do overtakes and can drive a car well enough to conserve the tires and pull off a 1 stopper. Kimi baffled me, a fast car in quali turned into a very slow car during the race. Lotus Renault need to fix the racing setup because it has been letting them down time and time again. Loved watching Massa finally have a good fight and a good drive. I still think he needs to leave Ferrari and give the drive to a more determined person but yesterday was a good day for him, maybe it was because Alonso was not racing. MSC had a good race despite falling back in the results, Mercedes still have a lot of work to do on that car to get it up to Championship winning speed but it is looking good at Spa.
All in all it really makes me want to visit Spa for my first F1 race to watch over any other track. Would love to sit at the top Eau Rouge, its by far the most thrilling combination out of all the F1 tracks...