[NeilP]

Anti - Neil, you should look at the incident again if you think there was any tangle. Verstappen already passed Ocon and the guy just lunched into him. Why? If it was for position, Verstappen would be in the right. But this was not even for a position. He was lapping Ocon. Why would Ocon think it is useful to try to get back at a car that much faster as himself, since he is being lapped? To make it even worse, it was the race leader!

Took some time but I have watched the incident over again and again and I would comment as follows:

At no time did Verstappens car clear Ocons car and at the time of impact he was just over half a cars length ahead.

At the moment of impact Ocons car was almost completely off track and certainly not on a 'racing line'

I thought you were supposed to give any car in the words of Martin Brundle a cars width and 300 mm!!!! Verstappen did give him 300 mm but forgot about the cars width.

There were no Blue flags because Ocon was catching Verstappen who was clearly A)In tyre saving mode and B) Clearly the slower car at the time.

The crux of this argument appears to be that Ocon was a lap down and should have deferred to Verstappen.

So I would answer your points as follows

He had not passed him.
Verstappen was the one who 'Closed the Door' and left no room for Ocon to go probably expecting him to brake and let Verstappen go.
If it had of been for position I think Verstappen was in the wrong he closed the door and failed to leave the other driver the requisite room.
Your point about the faster car is inaccurate if Verstappen was faster how did Ocon catch him up and set him up to overtake him?

I do not have a dog in this fight, I am not Verstappens biggest fan but I think he is an amazing driver. Like I said before on this post if roles were reversed do we see Verstappen staying behind Ocon, please of course not.

The salient point to me is Verstappen took a chance he absolutely did not need to, so a back marker overtakes you in his faster car, big deal he is a lap down let him go. I think Ocon is taking far too much heat for this incident but clearly (AGAIN) I am in a small minority.

Dont get me started on the Ocon was favouring Hamilton argument if anyone thinks that they are out of their mind or just filled with too much hatred but we all know how much that hatred permeates F1 message boards.

[LotusLover]

Are we still debating this lol

[Monster Hesh]

I think Neil is just late to the party : )

[forzaferrari]

Martin Brundles take on the LH & SS incident:

After qualifying I felt there was a good chance the front row of Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel would change. Lewis had mildly got in the way of a Kimi Raikkonen fast lap on the exit of Turn Three, but in Turn 10 failed to notice a fast approaching Sergey Sirotkin in his mirrors and swerved late and left just as Sirotkin had elected to take the obvious route down the left-hand side.

Sirotkin was on an 'out lap' like Hamilton too but with under-temperature used tyres he needed to heat them up before starting his lap. With cat-like reactions he avoided smashing both cars to pieces and took to the grass. Lewis should have thanked him, especially as he would go on to take pole and win the race, but instead he called Sirotkin disrespectful. Anyone is entitled to drive their out lap just as fast as they need to.

I'm pleased that Lewis openly retracted that on race day. I can't help but think that if the likes of Sirotkin, Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen had shoved Hamilton on the grass with a high-speed near miss they would have taken a penalty. Indeed Sirotkin did ironically receive a reprimand for driving too slowly on an in-lap, but I can't see what difference it makes whether you're heading out of the pits or into it.

[PapaofGags]

but at times like that when your blood is boiling the last thing anyone would want is to see is the person you are having it out with have that smirk/smile on their face somewhat goading you.....(rightly or wrongly) in most walks of life it results in said person getting a fat lip....minimum 

Standard lol

OK, even for a bit of a hippy, a smirk can often tilt lol.     

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/140008...goaded-him

It seems Max thinks the same way.

Max Verstappen says 'smiling' Esteban Ocon goaded him into clash

Max Verstappen says his altercation with Esteban Ocon in the Brazilian Grand Prix weighing area was provoked by the Force India Formula 1 driver's flippant response and attitude.

Verstappen was given two days of "public service" with the FIA as a punishment for shoving his rival, in a clash that came after the duo had collided in the race when Verstappen was leading and Ocon was attempting to unlap himself at the Senna S.

Speaking on the Peptalk show on Dutch TV channel Ziggo Sport on Monday evening, the Red Bull driver said he had not intended to shove Ocon when he confronted him.

"It is always easy to talk afterwards," said Verstappen when asked if he regretted the post-race fracas.

"I just wanted to look for him and ask 'what was going on, how could something like this happen?'

"But he immediately answered 'I was faster than you' and said it with such a smile on his face.

[morini]

Martin Brundles take on the LH & SS incident:

Don't read or listen to anything Brundle says. Reach for the mute button when he spouts off on TV.

Prefer to listen to someone like James Allison - quoting from sky F1 website ->

"You have to say that this year Lewis has made the difference for us," Allison told Sky F1.

"He keeps putting it on pole, when it's wet he's always at the front, and in the races we can make mistakes and he will recover it by doing something on the track that nobody saw coming, and he spends the whole year not making a mistake.

"He is the consummate racing driver."

Don't think he'd make that up somehow

[NeilP]

I think Neil is just late to the party : )

The disadvantage of being in the USA when the rest of the tribe is mainly UK!!!

But Hesh that is also the story of my life too little too late!!

[LotusLover]

Cos it’s not critical, I understand your logic but MB isn’t wrong sometimes you just have to suck it up and hold those hands up and say “yep I was hasty with my massive ego and SS was the better man”

[forzaferrari]

Don't read or listen to anything Brundle says. Reach for the mute button when he spouts off on TV.

Prefer to listen to someone like James Allison - quoting from sky F1 website ->

If I dont listen to MB that is one less source I can use to wind people up


As for Allison, I stopped listening to that fecking turncoat a while back 

[NeilP]

As for Allison, I stopped listening to that fecking turncoat a while back


I probably smiled a lot more than I should have when I read that