Thread: Formula 1 2020
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Old 07-08-2020, 06:06 PM   #312
sperry
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I didn't watch those videos. It seems really simple: when they made contact, Albon was well ahead of Hamilton and in his vision. The pass was made. Hamilton, now as the following car has a responsibility not to crash into the car ahead. If he simply couldn't, due to understeer or whatever, that's unfortunate but it doesn't make it less his fault. Remember, "fault" doesn't explicitly mean "intent". But you can easily make an argument that Hamilton did intend to run Albon out over the curbs in order to slow down his run onto the next straight, since that's something Hamilton's done plenty of times before... it's savvy racecraft really... Albon just didn't capitulate.

Now, whether or not +5 seconds is the correct penalty is a different conversation. But there doesn't seem to be much of a valid argument that Albon hit the car behind him after passing on the outside of the corner.

Regarding the penalty, +5 seconds is the smallest penalty they've got. I think if Albon doesn't get spun to last place, there's no penalty at all. But since he did, the stewards gave Hamilton the minimum penalty. Seems hard to argue that logic IMO, but I can understand that the loss of a podium might seem too harsh for a little (assumedly) unintentional contact.
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