re: 2024 Formula 1 season Thread

Interesting internet chatter on the Turn 1 chain collision with Hamilton, Alonso, Stroll, and Lando. Different people blaming Hamilton, Alonso, and Stroll, and some are sayiing "racing incident." Here are some observations that people have made:

1. Alonso and Stroll actually made first contact, before Hamilton made contact.
2. To some, it appears that Stroll turned in a little too tightly, causing the collision with Alonso.
3. One guy posted Alonso's onboard camera showing Alonso checking his right mirror twice, so he left room on the inside for the dive-bombing Hamilton.

So here's my analysis:

1. Stroll had Lando on his outside so he had to be mindful of that. He left plenty of room for Alonso to take the apex, which Stroll was reasonably expecting. He's innocent
2. Alonso's onboard clearly shows Alonso watching Hamilton's divebomb, so Alonso left room on the inside to avoid a collision. Yes, Alonso did make contact first with Lance, but that was to avoid an impending large collision with Hamilton. Alonso was between a rock and a hard place, and made the better decision to go a little wide.
3. Alonso actually left enough room for Hamilton on the inside, but Hamilton still made contact because he overcooked the corner.

This incident is 100% Hamilton's fault, even if Alonso and Stroll made first contact. Anywhere but the first turn of a race, a divebomb might be a reasonable thing to do (because a good driver like Alonso will avoid turning into you), but on the first turn of a race, guys are going around Turn 1 several cars wide, so a divebomb to the apex is a terrible move.

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When you compare the onboard footage vs the overhead shot, you can see that the wide-angle lens of the onboard camera is deceiving on how much space there is. The onboard makes it looks like Stroll squeezed Alonso, and that Alonso didn't leave a whole lot of room for Hamilton, but the overhead shot shows how much space there actually was. Hamilton had a whole lane on the inside and still plowed into Alonso.


Alonso on Hamilton: “So I guess he’s not getting a penalty, he is not Spaniard.”
https://twitter.com/Zeus_one/status/1786805810347303069