Marco wrote:I know I will make myself unpopular here, but when I look at the incident from Hamiltons on-board cam, I think that he had a big enough overlap way before Maldonado turned in, so he had the right to be there, and Pastor turned into the corner as if the McLaren wasn't there...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYiNKYaviZI
I've been reserving judgement on this incident because it looked to me on the replays like Hamilton was on the inside of Maldonado well before the corner. I'm glad you found that on-board shot, it would've made things much clearer had it been shown in the race.
Looking at that replay, I think Maldonado knew Hamilton was all over him coming out of Anthony Noghes, stayed on the line, and positioned his Williams in the middle of the track so he could block Hamilton if necessary, without compromising his run up to Casino Square too much if he didn't need to block. The problem I think stems from about 0:03-0:04 seconds in - I think this is about where Maldonado made his judgement on whether or not Hamilton was an overtaking threat. He looked in his mirrors, saw the McLaren pretty much directly behind him, and thought that the job was done. This had to have been just before Hamilton jinked to the right to get alongside Maldonado, because if he had seen the McLaren in that position that late, he could've and would've moved to block, but instead was concentrating on making his regular braking and steering points for Ste. Devote.
Hamilton then was focusing on making the move stick like he did with Schumacher earlier in the race. Unfortunately, Maldonado has not realised that there's a McLaren on the inside, still focusing on bringing home those points for Williams. He realises this, turning harder because at that point there's nothing else he can do, he's already on the brakes, and it's too late, and there's a collision. I just see it as a really unfortunate racing incident.
As for the Massa incident, well, I think Hamilton deserved some form of penalty for that since surprise attacks really don't work in that part of the circuit - if you want to pass at Loews, the other driver has to be well aware of your intentions. Given that di Resta was given a drive-through earlier in the race for a very similar incident, it was a simple decision for the stewards to make.
I can understand that Hamilton is frustrated - clearly this has been a godawful weekend for him when he should've been able to take the fight to Vettel again. But there really is no call for what he said in that interview, it just reflects very badly on himself.
Hamilton aside, though, it was a very good race, except for the restart, which just killed everything. Much as I dislike Vettel, if he had held on for those last laps on the tyres he had, he would've well and truly deserved it. Not saying that he doesn't - you have to be in it to win it, and Vettel was in the right place at the right time, but I think Sebastian should go and make sure he hasn't gone overdrawn with his luck account, because it really fell together for him starting with that first safety car.