The European Grand Prix was, somewhat surprisingly, a exciting and controversial race. We saw the first ever Safety car in Valencia due to easily the worst crash of the year. The commotion happened on lap 10 when Mark Webber was slipstreaming Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus on the straight onto turn 12.
Chaos ensued, with the safety car came a string of penalties that have left the race’s result useless for the time being. Currently 9 drivers are awaiting their fate after speeding under safety car conditions and Lewis Hamilton was lucky not to suffer from his drive through penalty. All this came from the accident and the turmoil that it caused. So can we pin the blame on one driver?
Well, let’s have a look.
First of all Mark Webber obviously had the faster car. He was also helped by the slipstream he gained from Heikki’s car, so he was going at a good speed looking to overtake on a notoriously difficult track to do so. It seems as if Heikki made his one move which Mark closely followed. They were fighting for position so nothing wrong there but should the slower cars allowed to race? Yes, in my view, they’ve applied to race and have been accepted by the FIA, and under the 107% rule Heikki would have been in the race anyway.
Here’s Heikki’s opinion, written on his Twitter page,
“Shame about the race Mark ran in to me not more to say. Glad he’s ok tho it’s another proof of F1 safety. Now time to move on again…”
I think that’s a pretty good sum-up of what happened. I believe Mark underestimated how fast he was going and it was too late by the time he realised what was happening to react.
At the moment however, there is very little information on the fine details of what happened, but I will continue to delve deeper into the crash and find who really was to blame.
More will be updated when new information is found, for now though feel free to comment about what you feel and what another Webber crash will do to the championship!
nothing to say. webber was following the stream and should have taken the racing line. heiki was doing as much as he could have and was trying to second guess webber which didn’t work out. webber’s fault. and i’m an aussie webber fan.
In my opinion, both was to blame.
If Mark was aware of that the car ahead of him was a slow-moving car, he should also be aware of that that particular vehicle has an earlier braking-point than the most aerodynamically superior car that is the RB6. Therefore he shouldn’t have follow Heikkis last move to the left whilst still being so close to the Lotus. He (Mark) wouldn’ve had the inside line in the next corner, and by braking later he would still be able to get a clean entry to the corner.
On the other hand, Heikki should be aware of how fast the Red Bull was gaining on him and should therefore have given Mark more room to pass.
All in all, it was a racing incident, but with a tiny bit more blame pushed onto Mark’s plate.
“On the other hand, Heikki should be aware of how fast the Red Bull was gaining on him and should therefore have given Mark more room to pass.” _whippoorwill
Well you say that, but there is no need for heikki to get out the way, it was for position so there wasn’t a blue flag, heikki had every right to defend.
I agree, Mark’s fault… although understandable. He had way more speed than the Lotus but Heikki had every right to race him. These top teams aren’t used to having to work their way around slower cars, they get the ‘silver spoon’ blue flag treatment. I like them having to race, its much more enjoyable for me as a spectator.
I’m very glad he’s ok, but accidents are part of racing, and in fact racing is part of racing. Let it be.
Webber’s fault,he went for extra slipstream when he had enough of a tow already just to slip it down the inside and i’m not having any of this rubbish about Heikki defending and he shouldn’t have,of course he should even if the Red Bull is 3 seconds faster
Webber’s fault. Pains me to say, as I’m a huge fan of his, but he was frustrated to be where he was in the first place, after qualifying second and having a horror run on the first lap to land him in 7th. After pitting, he was too busy thinking about clawing his way up the field to worry about the green and yellow Lotus go-kart.
He was notably faster than Kovalainen, and with that in mind could probably have taken another passing opportunity later that lap, or even the next one. Frustration clouded composure.
As for Heikki, while he was within his right to defend, it was a waste of time. I think it was Ted Kravitz who said something to the effect of “technically they’re in the same race, but realistically, they’re not”.
Put it this way, if you were driving a Ford Fiesta and a Lambo came tearing up behind you, would you try and keep it behind you?
Actually this reminds me of when two people are walking towards each other on the sidewalk, and as they go to step around one another, they both step in the same direction. Then they both step in the other direction, until they inevitably zig-zag towards each other and bump into one another with a bit of a sheepish giggle.
This is just the result of the same thing at 300km/h
I will not blame Mark but he just misjudge the pace of his car relative to the Lotus