stormybadger8 said:those clips are great 🙏
Man, looking at this closely, Sebastian Vettel didn't jerk his steering to the right for even a split second—in fact, the moment of impact, he actually swerves hard to the left. The car gets pushed right when the wheels touch; it’s not like Vettel was even targeting Webber.
Meanwhile, Webber jerks his wheel to the left right at the moment of contact—which, to me, looks like he was actually trying to clip him, if I'm being honest.
Webber moves left toward the outside edge of the track (trying to close the door), then swings back to the right, and just as Vettel comes down the left side, Webber’s car swings right back toward Vettel. Vettel drifts toward the edge—I actually think his rear wheel might have been off the track—he pulls back in slightly, while Webber doesn't move an inch.
The track seems to be pulling Vettel's car to the right (it looks like the corner is turning that way in the footage, though it could easily be an optical illusion 🤷) and the wheel-to-wheel contact happens in a front-to-back direction, rather than left-to-right.
Looking at the white line, I don't see Webber drifting away from it for a single second during the part where they are parallel; if anything, it feels like he's heading straight for it. 🤷
I don't know—looking at these clips, I just can't say anything with absolute certainty. I'm really not sure, because has an aerial shot ever been released???
I honestly think we'd get the full picture if we could see an overhead aerial view, maybe even slowed down.
As it stands, I'm just not sure about any of this.
The only thing is, you've definitely fueled my doubts, rustystag7. 🤣
Now it looks to me like Vettel wasn't even aiming for Webber, which makes him seem even less responsible for the collision.
Instead of proving me wrong, you've actually made me more convinced that Vettel isn't at fault. 🤣
But honestly, this whole debate feels a bit futile—plenty of people have tried to settle it and haven't succeeded. I'll admit to you, though, that I could be wrong, but to my eyes, it looks like Webber's path was such that he would have flown off the track if Vettel hadn't been there. From what I can see, he certainly wouldn't have made that corner normally with that line without those sudden steering inputs. 🤷
Or am I mistaken? Is the way you take a right-hander to go all the way left and then suddenly whip it to the right? 🤷
I've never driven a race car, so I can't say for sure—I always just stay in my lane and don't cross into someone else's.
Maybe the issue is that I'm viewing this "cutting the corner" style of driving as totally abnormal behavior. 🤷
You really won't let this one go... 🤣
Regarding the highlighted part: Vettel didn't jerk left immediately after the hit because he's an honorable guy; he did it for one simple reason: he wanted to stay on the track. His only shot was to steer left to pull away from Webber. And as for Webber's movement, don't try to twist the facts—Mark only jerked left once Vettel had already moved away, and even then, it was solely to keep himself on the track.
As for everything else, I think we’ve already debated who gave whom an inch a million times over, so I won't drag that out again...
Honestly, I think you’d find things a lot easier if you just accepted the fact that Seb really messed this one up—plain and simple. I know that might be a tough pill to swallow, but hey, if I could admit it when my own favorites blew it, surely you can too when Vettel makes a mistake...😁