Focus on Mexican GP – Hamilton was to be panalized. That's why

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What happened in the last laps of the Mexican Grand Prix is still discussed within the Circus. Particularly, they accused the colorful team-radios of Sebastian Vettel against his colleagues and Charlie Whiting, and the penalization for the contact with Daniel Ricciardo. Christian Horner and Max Verstappen attack the Ferrari driver for insulting the race director via radio. For its part, “Seb” would have offered mea culpa with a letter to the Federation.

In my opinion, the fact that Verstappen keeps to attack Vettel is ridiculous. I also think that who has to pour the oil on troubled waters is the Team Principal (Christian Horner). All this is the consequence of the soft line chosen by the FIA that files this – unpleasant – episode with a simple reprimand, accepting an apology letter. Rules are not applied or are interpreted by a commission that changes at every race. During the weekend, in Mexico City, we had two clear demonstrations of this fact, at the start and at the end of the race.

RACE START – at the start of the grand prix, Lewis Hamilton makes a long braking in detachment and comes back onto the track with a great advantage on the group. The same situation for Max Verstappen. The young Red Bull driver, however, finds Rosberg’s Mercedes. Fortunately, in the contact, nobody has damages.

RACE ENDING   – MaX Verstappen attacked by Sebastian Vettel, arrives again into a too long braking. This time, he hasn’t  any cars to touch. Thus, he is forced to cut the chiacane, remaining ahead of Ferrari without loose time, favoring also Ricciardo’s recovery. Thus, we arrive to the fight. In detachment, Vettel moves (an action not allowed under the new rule) leaving anyway the place to Ricciardo who, at the same time, extends his braking by 50-60 meters, and blocks the tires. Vettel sets up his bend, and the drivers touch each other. Even in this case, if Ferrari wasn’t there, Ricciardo would have gone straight, through the escape route.

Safety comes first, but it mustn’t go to the detriment of the sport regulation. Two white strips limit the track, if a driver takes an advantage by cutting a bend, it has to be penalized with a drive-through.

A mistake is admitted, but in this case both Hamilton and Verstappen got an important advantage (Hamilton came back into the track 100 meters ahead of Rosberg), it is also due to the “serenity” of finding asphalt and grass in the escape route.

With sand and gravel, we would be talking about another kind of race. Proving to have slowed down is not enough. We need concrete penalties.  A penalty of 5″ is ridiculous. These days, I saw the fight between Villeneve and Arnoux in 1979 that then became a legend. It makes me smile to think about nowadays. Too many confused rules, object of different interpretations, and little show.

Formula 1 must change its direction. The audience is falling into depths as the reliability of this sport…

F1 | Mexican GP – SCORECARDS

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The winner of the weekend is the audience that deserves 10 because of its cheerfulness and its large presence.

Lewis Hamilton – 8.5 pole-position and win, but the small imperfection of the first bend remains. A mistake capable to  prevent him from winning the world championship without these modern escape routes.

Sebastian Vettel – 8 with an illegible car and a Ferrari in regression compared to 2015 that abandoned its dream of grasping the vice-champion title among the constructors in favor of Red Bull, was protagonist of a strong race. I didn’t appreciate his comments on the team-radio.

Nico Hulkenberg – 8 a good race that stresses how much it is strong Force India despite its problems. He has almost achieved the fourth place in the world championship against a giant like Williams.

Nico Rosberg – 8 someone says that he didn’t make his best, I would say that he managed the race at the best, optimizing the result. In Brazil, he could attempt the success since the track suits him. It is good to spare the car.

Williams drivers – 7 a good race for Bottas. It is nice to see that Massa still desires to fight in spite of the fact that there are just two race to the end of his career and that he hasn’t a top car.

Daniel Ricciardo – 7 he showed good actions in race, even if the first pit-stop didn’t bring great results.

Kimi Raikkonen- 6.5 he made an anonymous race unlike what he usual does on Sundays.

Max Verstappen – 5 he cannot continue to race against everybody, and they should reprimanded. Unfortunately, his team defends him, without helping his growth. His strategy is wrong. Excepting the Dutch, his fans are going away.

Sports commissioners – 5 I haven’t agreed with their decisions since a long time. Ecclestone should make self-critics.