j man wrote:
Fiki wrote:
Johnson wrote:
Fiki -
The rule you quote is exactly what makes Vettels Austria move not legal. The bolded part is exactly why, the kerbs are not part of the track. The track ends at the white lines.
"Any driver moving back towards the racing line, having earlier defended his position off-line, should leave at least one car width between his own car and the edge of the track on the approach to the corner.
However,
manoeuvres liable to hinder other drivers, such as deliberate crowding of a car beyond the edge of the track or any other abnormal change of direction, are strictly prohibited.
Any driver who appears guilty of any of the above offences will be reported to the Stewards."
That would also make this legal -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AzpYilkKrA under your interpretation of the current rules. Which to my interpretation is illegal.
You'll have to explain to me why you think, or why you would be able to think of an interpretation of any of the rules, that would make what Schumacher did there legal.
I think the question being asked is why you believe that the aforementioned manoeuvre by Vettel does not constitute deliberate crowding of a car beyond the edge of the track, which is clearly stated in the rules to be prohibited. No one is suggesting that that block by Schumacher was acceptable.
Ah, that may indeed be the angle Johnson came from. I didn't understand how any of the rules quoted could possibly have allowed what Schumacher did. And for the attention of Pokerman: I didn't bring Schumacher into the discussion.
I had already explained which rule states when a driver has to leave at least a car's width of space to an attacker. There are more lines in that paragraph, all of which are important, but not all of which refer to leaving at least a car's width of room. That means that in cases not covered by that rule, such as on a straight, that particular line is not applicable. (Yes, "on the approach to a corner" is on a straight, but the specific meaning is clear enough.)
I think that many fans believe Max Verstappen was given a penalty for not leaving a car's width of space, but that is not correct. He left Bottas enough room, just as Bottas left Max plenty of room. Max caused an accident, i.e. he ran into Bottas, not the other way round. The stewards' report can be found on the FIA site under Timing and Event information for the 2018 Italian GP.
The problem of the difference between Max last Sunday, and Vettel at the Austrian GP - the OP question - is not the car's width of space, but whether Vettel ran Hamilton off the track, or rather whether Hamilton went up the kerbs on his own.
Like Bottas did in Monza, Hamilton could have stopped making room for Vettel, instead of going up on the kerbs to his left. Had he done so, Vettel might have hit him, and Vettel would have been given a penalty for causing an accident.
To my mind, the rule Johnson quoted in relation to Schumacher's manoeuvre at the Hungaroring was the correct one; crowding Barrichello off the track as forbidden. I can't say what the stewards' exact verdict was, as the FIA archives don't go that far back.
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