Trip Report: Canada (Montreal) - June 8, 2008

Edward Howard2 said:--risking Nick Heidfeld losing second place just to let Alonso through, since he was clearly faster... I mean, who knows what kind of lap times he would've put in if they hadn't held him back? But honestly, there's a real chance he would've been neck-and-neck with Nick when he finally exited the pits

They told Nick Heidfeld to let Alonso past so he wouldn't waste seconds fighting Robert Kubica. At that point, Alonso needed to pit (just like Kubica), and he was actually about 25 seconds behind Nick. When you pit an opponent, you lose time—it was all about making sure Kubica didn't grab a 25-second lead, otherwise he would've jumped right ahead of Nick. Alonso didn't have any shot at anything other than 3rd place there.

"Look, I'm obviously not thrilled about the penalty, but they can throw whatever they want at me. I'll just come back even stronger," the British person remarked.

"I saw the red light and made the call to stop, but there were two cars right in front of me, side-by-side. If they hadn't been blocking my view like that, I would have caught the light way sooner," Hamilton argued.

and the Raikkonen-esque take:

"I saw the red light and decided to stop. Someone else saw the exact same thing I did, but they just kept driving," noted the disappointed Finn.

rustystag7 said:I agree....

It might look weird from our perspective right now, but an F1 car doesn't have the same steering angle as a regular street car, and I doubt they’re hitting the brakes the same way either, though if you actually watch closely, you can see that even if he was late on the entry, he still cranked the wheel all the way and braked, just a bit behind the curve. 🤷

Honestly, giving him a ten-place grid penalty feels completely brainless...

because if we’re being fair, take someone like DC who caused collisions twice in a row and nobody even blinked at him. 🤷

True, it's totally ridiculous, and why give Nico Rosberg a penalty too??? What's the point in that?

Austin Evans said:and that Raikkonen-esque comment:

Maybe Kimi was just trying to squeeze through the pits🤷 instead of pulling up behind him, so he ended up alongside the BMW rather than directly behind, which isn't exactly his fault, but I guess you have to look at it that way.

Jason Campbell70 said:You just don't have the guts to leave the original post alone.🤣

I’m asking the mod to step in and penalize this kind of instigation from Maria Nelson2.

You've been begging for favors a lot lately; anyone would think you're getting desperate.😁

Austin Evans said:and that Raikkonen-esque comment:

Just another victimized underdog narrative... like those guys who wore the same helmet colors. Even if he's the one at fault, he'll play the martyr and his fans will rally behind him like it's their job.🤮
Marketing is a joke.🤮

Bradley Nelson2 said:just some poor, oppressed guy... basically someone who happened to wear the same color helmet as everyone else. even if he's the one actually at fault, he'll still act like a martyr while his fans rally behind him like it's their job.🤮
God, I hate corporate marketing.🤮

Oh, really?🤷

"Look, I’m obviously not thrilled about the penalty, but they can throw whatever they want at me; I’ll just come back even stronger," the British person declared.

"I saw the red light and made the call to stop, but there were two cars parked side-by-side right in front of me. If they hadn't been blocking my view like that—if they were lined up one after the other—I would've spotted that red light way sooner," Hamilton argued.

There’s really no point in arguing because the footage shows everything perfectly, and honestly, if those cars had actually been in a single file line, he would've been further from the lights and would have seen the signal 🙄much earlier, so this whole excuse he's peddling is just total nonsense since everyone saw he messed up and he's the only one acting like he didn't.
Just be a man and own the mistake.☕

Let them try to act "big" if they want to

I have to admit, I find it incredibly strange how Kimi Räikkönen and Robert Kubica were positioned right next to each other during that start. Honestly, given how things went when the green light flashed and they pulled out of the pits, I suspect those two might have just collided head-on if Hamilton hadn't avoided hitting Kimi; it feels like they probably would have ended up wrecking each other🤷 It seems quite odd to me, the way they were lined up before the lights went out—I wonder if that’s even allowed under the regulations😕

Furthermore, the way BMW handled things in the pits makes a lot of sense to me; having Nick Heidfeld let Fernando Alonso past was likely necessary since holding him up would have cost too much time. If you look at the flow, Sebastian Vettel was steadily closing in on Rubens Barrichello, and he almost certainly would have overtaken him if he hadn't spent those last ten laps defending against Heikki Kovalainen. If he had been able to clear Kovalainen without any trouble, both of them likely would have cruised past Rubens. Or, if Kovalainen had just eased off a bit to give Vettel some breathing room, they both could have jumped Rubens instantly to take 7th and 8th, which would have set up a real battle between Vettel and the others☕

neonharbor18 said:Honestly, it feels incredibly weird to me how Kimi Räikkönen and Robert Kubica were lined up right next to each other; I’m surprised Hamilton didn't just smash straight into Kimi when the lights went green during the pit exit, because most likely those two would have just wrecked each other🤷 I find that whole way they stood before the light pretty strange, like, is that even allowed?😕

It makes perfect sense to me what came out of the BMW pit wall about Nick Heidfeld letting Fernando Alonso pass since he was losing precious seconds holding him up; for instance, Sebastian Vettel was steadily catching up to Rubens Barrichello and probably would have overtaken him too if he hadn't spent those last ten laps busy defending against Heikki Kovalainen, so if he had cleared Kovalainen without any hassle, or if Kovalainen had just eased off to give Vettel some room, both of them would have jumped Rubens instantly to take 7th and 8th, putting them right in the mix to chase down Vettel.☕

Kimi should have waited behind Kubica, but maybe he was looking to make a move on him coming out of the pits🤷 so he pulled up alongside him instead.

Honestly, I don't even care who was where on the exit line, what really matters is how some absolute moron managed to slam right into Raikkonen like that.🙄

darkmarlin16 said:It doesn't really matter who was positioned where during the exit; what I can't wrap my head around is how some absolute idiot managed to plow straight into Kimi Räikkönen like that.🙄

Sure, he’s at fault for diving in like that, but honestly, that doesn't change the fact that Kimi was just sitting in the wrong spot.☕

darkmarlin16 said:I suppose it doesn't really matter who was positioned where during the exit, honestly. The real question that I can't quite wrap my head around is how on earth someone could be reckless enough to slam right into Kimi Räikkönen like that.🙄

I’ve actually been looking over a full replay of the race, and from what I can see, Lewis Hamilton was clearly trying to dodge Robert Kubica. Honestly, if Kimi Räikkönen hadn't even been in that position, none of this would have happened. In my opinion, while Hamilton is definitely at fault here, I think Kimi deserves a penalty too. It just doesn't seem right because Kubica was positioned ahead of Kimi and had come to a perfectly normal stop, yet Kimi was racing him side-by-side. Even if Hamilton hadn't clipped him, Kimi likely would have crossed that white line anyway, which probably would have earned him a penalty since he had already moved past it right before the impact occurred.☕

neonharbor18 said:I’ve got the full replay right here, and if you actually watch it, you can see Hamilton squeezing Robert Kubica out; if Kimi hadn't been lurking there, this whole mess wouldn't have happened, but apparently, it's all on Hamilton, even though Kimi deserves a penalty too because it's just wrong—Kubica was ahead and stopped where he was supposed to, but Kimi was racing him side-by-side, and honestly, even if Hamilton hadn't slammed into him, Kimi still would've crossed that white line and caught a penalty since he'd already breached it before the contact even occurred.☕

You hit the nail on the head.☕ 🙏

The strategy at Ferrari seems even more baffling than usual; I mean, what kind of rookie move was it for Massa to pit two laps in a row?🤷 It does seem, though, that the Italian crew is finally starting to take control of the team's direction—one stop for tires followed immediately by another for fuel adjustments.🙏🙏🙏They really ought to lean into those tactical calls more often, especially when you consider how Hamilton-esque his driving through the pits has been lately.😬 And honestly, I think Robert Kubica is clearly the true Champion here.🙏🙏🙏

darkmarlin16 said:he should try being "great" instead

let's be real, he's never going to be anything close to great

I honestly don't get why everyone is obsessing over Kimi taking that side position next to Kubica instead of being right behind him. From what I can tell, you’re allowed to use the full width of the pit lane as long as you stay within those white lines. There was more than enough room on Raikkonen’s left to fit another car in there. If Hamilton had actually tried to dive in there—and let's be real, I bet he wouldn't have missed the chance if he saw an opening—we would've seen a wild rematch of that Kubica-Kimi-Hamilton pit lane shuffle from the exact same spots 🙏

darkmarlin16 said:"Obviously I'm not thrilled about the penalty, but they can throw whatever they want at me. I'll just come back even stronger," the Briton stated.

"I saw the red light and decided to stop, but there were two cars parked right in front of me, side-by-side. If they had actually been lined up one behind the other, I would have spotted that red light way sooner," Hamilton argued.

There's nothing to argue about because the footage shows everything clearly. If they’d been in a line, he would've been further from the light and would've seen it easily. What he's saying is total nonsense; everyone saw he messed up, he's just the only one who won't admit it.🙄
Just man up and own the mistake.☕

Yeah, sure, but if they were actually in a line, neither Kimi nor Kubica could've accelerated that fast since they'd be stuck in a single file line, so maybe that wouldn't have even happened...

It's basically just saying Kimi had already crossed the line by the time that guy lost his mind, and there was absolutely no way he could have squeezed past that massive semi-truck on the left side. 🤣