Should Rubens have received a penalty?

[paused]

Gentlemen,


Given the stewards propensity in recent times to dish out penalties, was anyone else suprised that Rubens did not receive a penalty for playing bumper cars twice? I thought the first turn was completely avoidable and left the luckless Webber and Heidfeld making up the numbers while also ruining Heikki's day. The second incident (was it up the back of Kimi??) was also clumsy.

Since everyone thinks every stewards decesion is biased do we dare suggest (whisper) that we may be seeing the first stage of a pro Brawn (or Diffuser 3 bias). As we all know the FIA/Bernie are quite acustomed to using wedge politics. Is this just another test for FOTA unaminity?

PAUSED!

[Scotracer]

Well the fact that it was Heikki that rear-ended Rubens starting the entire crash-sequence I can't see how it's fair to put the blame on Rubens. If anything, it is Heikki's fault.

[De Jokke]

Yes he should have for hitting raikkonen. It was a bit too clumsy

[lkocev]

I think there is a little blame for 3 drivers in this situation. First off I think that both Rubens and Heikki was going a little bit quick on the inside line of the first turn, there is no way that you can carry that much speed and then make a tight turn that they had to make. Second, I think that Webber could have made a little bit more space on the inside of the turn for them. Above all I think it is just an unfortunate racing incident, and I think its pretty unfair that Scotracer see's Heikki as to blame... (Although I am biased because I'm a big Kovalainen fan) ...

I think also that perhaps Rubens braked really hard before the first turn, and Heikki simply couldn't slow down in time to avoid kissing his rear. I mean think back to Hungary 2006, when Kimi Raikkonen ran into the rear of Tonio Liuzzi. Tonio completley took the blame by saying he backed off in a place where he shouldnt have, and that with the poor visibility at the time, Raikkonen couldnt see him slowing that much, when he did it was too late and he couldnt slow the car down in time. I know this is a verry different situation, but I'm trying to point out that some times the car ahead slows unexpectedly to the car behind, basically leaving no where for him to go, and still the guy behind get rewarded the blame.

Like I wrote, I think no driver alone is to blame, but I do think that perhaps there are conservative measures that Webber, Barrichello and Kovalainen could have taken to avoid this. I think it really is just an unfortunate racing incident.

[ISLAMATRON]

99% of time if you hit someone straight on from behind it is your fault.

Heikki effed up, Heidfeld squeezed Webber.

Once again Webber has the worst destiny.

As for Rubans its kinda hard to steer with you back wheels in the air... he got tapped pretty hard.

[Rob W]

Once again Webber has the worst destiny.

True. The force doesn't exactly run strong in Webber does it? He seems to be a magnet for dings which ruin his race.

[paused]

Hi,

Ok so I re-checked the video and it does appear that Rubens was tapped from behind first but as far as I can work out it was only like half a tenth before he hit Webber. IMO the accident was already going to happen.

I guess though what I was really asking is had it been another team would a penalty have been issued? Vettel's 10 grid penalty seem pretty steep in comparison (no point in Aus plus set up for a bad race next week). I just get the feeling that Brawn GP is getting some quite favourable treatment / rulings (or is it just sympathy for their winter?)


Paused!

[freedom_honda]

i think its simply a racing accident. Accidents like that happens at T1 all the time. It was simply bad judgement from multiple drivers.

[andartop]

I guess though what I was really asking is had it been another team would a penalty have been issued?

Another very interesting way to phrase this would be: "If it was Ferrari and Massa instead of Brawn and Rubens involved and no penalties handed, would everyone be talking about conspiracies and FIA-Ferrari love affair by now?"
You can also throw in the suspiciously late deployment of the first safety car!

[lkocev]

You can also throw in the suspiciously late deployment of the first safety car!

Yeah, they made a complete curry of that didn't they? I mean, they sent the saftey car out, it missed the lead, the leaders slowed down for the saftey car to catch up, then i guess they told the saftey car duo to put the green light on and let the cars pass untill the leaders effectivley put a lap on the saftey car. Really silly if you ask me, some major egg on Charlie's face then.

But back to the incident, It would be difficult to put a penalty on any of the drivers involved, in my opinion they were all doing things that was increasing the risk. Neither do I think people should be blaming Heikki as if he was the hair-trigger. I think most people saw the accident happening before the contact between Heikki and Rubens even happened... just a racing incident that unfortunatley happened...

[myurr]

I voted no, only because I believe in less intervention from the stewards. So I feel that Vettel should not have been penalised either.

[ben_watkins]

If anyone is to blame it was Hekki outbraking himself into the back of Rubens.. domino effect if you like.

I thought it was funny when Rubens said something about the deffusergate issue after the race.. Something on the lines of I dunno what the fuss is about our diffuser, i had most of mine destroyed by Hekki in the first corner!

[i70q7m7ghw]

Rubens in to the back of Kimi was just an aborted overtake. He wouldn't have touched him if there was an pre-2009 front wing on the car, it was just the extra width that tapped Kimi's rear wheel, no harm done to Kimi so I don't see any reason what so ever for a penalty there.

The start was a bit mad, Rubens was probably being a little optimistic with his driving but I think he had it in hand, he probably would have been able to avoid Webber or just give him a rub had he not received the nudge from behind. Kova possibly over cooked it a bit but was more than likely caught out by Rubens braking hard in front because he was yielding to Webber, this in turn caused Kova to bump Rubens which meant Rubens was unable to avoid bumping in to Webber who I then think bumped Heidfeld?

The Cascade Effect - Turn 1, Melbourne 2009.

[jddh1]

I thought it was funny when Rubens said something about the deffusergate issue after the race.. Something on the lines of I dunno what the fuss is about our diffuser, i had most of mine destroyed by Hekki in the first corner!

I laughed so hard when I heard that as well. He pretty much told the world, "go ahead, copy our design. we'll still be faster."

anyway, I think the first corner was a typical aussie first corner. ppl crash cars sometimes without anybody being at fault. i mean, there was an incident outside my house the other day. happens.

[Belatti]

Once again Webber has the worst destiny.

True. The force doesn't exactly run strong in Webber does it? He seems to be a magnet for dings which ruin his race.

I use to say many things about luck. That it doesnt exist. That luck is what men call to the things they ignore. That true men dont depend on luck and made his own destiny.

Well, Webber should use at least one of his eyes to look to the rearview mirror and realice a bunch of cars are comming a bit too quickly

Poor Mark!