Oliver WhiteBelow is the video footage of Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton from the Bahrain Grand Prix. The footage shows the incident on lap two where Lewis collides with the rear of Alonso’s Renault. Many people, including Mark Blundell, have said that it looks as though Fernando backed off. However, Alonso has denied blame saying that the McLaren was simply faster than his Renault. Take a look and have your say in the comments.
So, who do you reckon is to blame?
[poll=2]
I think only onboard with Alonso will answer it once and for all – onboard with Lewis doesn’t really show anything conclusive.
In the past it was easy to say that Alonso should have been on 100% throttle as soon as the corner was over but nowadays without TC, slides mean that it may not have been possible to just plant his foot.
We saw from Lewis later on just how hard it can be, even in a decent car like the McLaren – which the Renault isn’t.
I’m an Alonso fan, so I’m biased, but trying hard to be neutral, I can’t see Fernando braking or doing something unusual. I would say that’s completely Lewis fault. It reminded myself playing with the PlayStation where those incidents have no consequences…
I would have to agree Pedro. Brake-testing is risky and I don’t think Alonso would be that silly, particularly when he was in a position to sit tight and possibly collect a point or two at the end (had his car not been damaged).
I don’t think Alonso did anything intentional, but that’s not to say he didn’t back off for some other reason, unaware that another driver was right behind.
FWIW: I was the person who voted ‘a bit of both’. Maybe Alonso slipped and maybe Hamilton should have been paying more attention?
I wouldn’t mind seeing information published from the data recording box. No, didn’t think you would somehow, Renault! Maybe we’ll get some more quotes this evening/tomorrow.
This is a tricky one. There is no way (imho) that Alonso brake tested — that would just be stupid.
Saying that GP cars don’t have *that* much difference in speed. Plus Alonso was coming out of the corner first he should have been on the throttle faster than Lewis.
The really bizarre thing is I remember watching it thinking Lewis, you are far too close, pull out or you will hit … and he hit. I guess I’m saying I felt Lewis could have avoided Fernando. That means Lewis was expecting the Renault to pull away faster. Now, Lewis hasn’t driven much behind a Renault this season so there is a good chance he forgets how fast he is relative to the rest (plus the fuel difference will have an impact) … but I suspect that is only half the story. Alonso *must* have come out of the corner a bit slow. Was it deliberate. I don’t think even Alonso could be that stupid. I’m giving Hamilton 70% of the blame and Alonso 30%
Racing accident. I guess. Usual racing accident. Don’t search anything more. Itš my opinion.
as far as i can tell, the only people claiming this was alonso’s fault, were ITV. not one other person so far as i can tell thinks it was fernando’s fault, and renault can back it up with data.
itv should be ashamed. even brundle was too quick to jump to conclusions.
Well looking at the speed differential, you would initially have to say Alonso backed off simply because you can make a car go considerably slower than normal, but you can’t really make a car go considerably faster! But after thinking about, it is likely that Alonso got it a little wrong coming out of the corner and Hamilton got it just right. And that was enough for a wham-bam. Hamilton also appears to be dilly-dallying about when he should have been turning the wheel.
Care to provide a link to this data, or quote from Renault saying what the data says.
“Care to provide a link to this data, or quote from Renault saying what the data says.”
of course, pat symonds words:
“Fernando was coming out of the turn and accelerating down the straight, he reached fifth gear, at 227km/h, on full throttle, no touching of the brakes or anything like that. And you can see on the accelerometer the impact. He got hit from behind.”
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/66448
also, i didn’t hear this myself, but:
“According to Maurice Hamilton, he states that he has seen the telemetry of Alonsos car when he was hit by Hamilton and there is no indication of brake testing or failure to accelerate.”
http://www.sidepodcast.com/2008/04/06/f1-digest-bahrain-gp/#comment-63972
the stewards didn’t investigate, and mclaren didn’t protest, nor make any mention of it in their post race press releases.
itv = journalism gone bad
🙂
Cheers “me”. No wonder I missed it, being lost in the kazillion articles posted to Autosport this afternoon.
From the same article:
No s*** Sherlock! Anyone know what the difference in speeds were upon impact?
Its fairly easy to not accelerate and cause mayhem when the driver behind expects you to do the norm, which is pull away through the bend. Its the equivalent to lifting the foot off the accelerator and even adding handbraking on the motorway when someone is tailgating, it guarantees a positive outcome to the insurance investigation.
Autosport have seen the telemetic data it is not only allegations from Pat :
“Autosport.com has seen the telemetry data of Alonso’s exit from the first corner, and it shows that the Spaniard was flat on the throttle from the exit, did not touch the brake and gained speed in a totally predictable manner.”
(http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/66448)
End of story 😉
‘Tis now. Apparently Pat Symonds was actually showing journalists the telemetry at the circuit to make it clear to everyone. Lewis has also spoken about it; BBC article.
“‘Tis now. Apparently Pat Symonds was actually showing journalists the telemetry at the circuit to make it clear to everyone.”
renault also have that live data on their website. although it’s seven shades of useless this year, and i avoid it at all costs. somebody must’ve been watching it at the time, and they’d have witnessed exactly the same readout pat’s passing around.
that’s why all teams should give us this info (although preferably in a format similar to what renault did last year), then there would be no argument.
It’s a shame I didn’t get to see the live data from Renault last year. Like you I have tried this year but your sum-up is justified in my opinion!
It would be great to aggregate all the teams live read-outs on one site, F1 Live Timing style, so we can actually see what the cars are doing when it isn’t entirely obvious from the cameras.
I’d even pay a small fee just to see that. Alas, I don’t think all the teams would agree to do it.
Alonso takes a wider line out of the corner . Hamilton takes as finer line . Must got in his slip stream earlier then he predictedand couldn’t pull out in time.
last year it looked like this:
http://www.sidepodcast.com/2007/10/03/the-burden-of-proof/
which fitted nicely alongside bernie’s live timing window.
I was watching it on Star Sports, as usual, and without following the LiveBlog (as long as my connection lasted) I would not even notice there was anything to complain about re Alonso. It looked a bit more like Hamilton falling asleep for a while but judging from the reactions of both drivers is was just an accident…
I think Coulthard did more wrong to Button and even there both remained quite calm about that …
If it were not Alonso and Hamilton but Kovalainen and Piquet, nobody would probably even open this topic …
I think it was fair to open the topic at the time. At the time of writing the post Renault hadn’t released their telemetry and had Alonso lifted, even for the briefest of moments, then it would have been more serious. Alas, we now know he didn’t.
I saw this one as a bit of both. Coulthard’s move while in the braking zone was definitely questionable, but Button was having a moment of his own, struggling to slow the car. I think if Coulthard hadn’t squeezed over, Button would have had more breathing space which would have helped him avoid DC. And had Button controlled his ambition more, he would have been in a better place to avoid DC, maybe even double-back and sythe up the inside on the exit of the corner. Six of one, half a dozen of the other.
I couldn’t believe my ears when the ITV guys began seriously questioning Alonso and then went on about it. Apparently Saint Lewis simply CANNOT make a mistake. It was on a par with last season’s finale when an obviously gob-smacked James Allen ungraciously grumbled about the championship result. The petty parochialism is getting tiresome, like Martin referring to ‘our Brits’ half a dozen times during the Bahrain race. The ITV commentary is carried by channels around the world – not just within the UK.