'Crowding' off the track - is it just me?
Discussion
Am I the only one that is fed up to the back teeth of this ridiculous practice of moving over on straights to force an overtaking car onto the grass? It's always been something that really irritates me, and recently we have seen a couple of significant accidents caused by it that are surely hard to ignore?
I'm sure we've all seen what happened to Ollie Millroy over the weekend (very glad to see that he is relatively ok of course), and it looks (to me at least) to have been caused by a Ferrari squeezing Neil Verhagen in the BMW to the edge of the track and beyond, they come together and then barrel down towards the hairpin out of control... I think the commentator said at the time that it was 'too aggressive'. I THINK they were referring to Verhagen as the one being too aggressive, but how can it be considered 'too aggressive' to try to drive past someone in a straight line, down the straight??
We also saw it last week in the BTCC at Donington, where Lewis Gilbert (in my opinion of course) moves across on Tom Chilton to prevent an overtake, and ends up with a bit of contact that pitches him into the wall and into a serious accident.
It seems to be very prevalent in motorsport now (I've been the 'victim' of it in club racing several times) and the usual view from commentators etc is that the overtaking car 'should have backed out'. I fundamentally disagree with this, surely if you move across the track and hit a car that is already there then the fault lies solely with the car that moved across the track?
I hate it, and really want to see the FIA/Motorsport UK do something about it. It's behaviour worthy of a ban to me, it usually occurs when cars are travelling VERY quickly (on straights) and not only can the consequences be very severe, but how on earth can we consider it as 'good' racing'?
I'm sure we've all seen what happened to Ollie Millroy over the weekend (very glad to see that he is relatively ok of course), and it looks (to me at least) to have been caused by a Ferrari squeezing Neil Verhagen in the BMW to the edge of the track and beyond, they come together and then barrel down towards the hairpin out of control... I think the commentator said at the time that it was 'too aggressive'. I THINK they were referring to Verhagen as the one being too aggressive, but how can it be considered 'too aggressive' to try to drive past someone in a straight line, down the straight??
We also saw it last week in the BTCC at Donington, where Lewis Gilbert (in my opinion of course) moves across on Tom Chilton to prevent an overtake, and ends up with a bit of contact that pitches him into the wall and into a serious accident.
It seems to be very prevalent in motorsport now (I've been the 'victim' of it in club racing several times) and the usual view from commentators etc is that the overtaking car 'should have backed out'. I fundamentally disagree with this, surely if you move across the track and hit a car that is already there then the fault lies solely with the car that moved across the track?
I hate it, and really want to see the FIA/Motorsport UK do something about it. It's behaviour worthy of a ban to me, it usually occurs when cars are travelling VERY quickly (on straights) and not only can the consequences be very severe, but how on earth can we consider it as 'good' racing'?
I agree with you in a way, but the top drivers are fully aware of what is going on, it is basically pass prevention.
IMSA have started to get tough on it, but it come and goes, they are trying to introduce and standard where you make only one move, and then you also allow enough room for a car to be there be it out or inside.
The problem is every series has their own slightly different interpretations, it is bearable in stuff like touring cars and even GT racing as the cars can take some contact, bit there is so much aero now cut tyres are very common from wedges and splitters.
The basic standard should be worldwide, I dont care that each country has their own jurisdiction, the FIA govern world motorsport and SHOULD be offering driving standards worldwide for every country to follow, same with track limits etc. Plenty of drivers can race in ELMS, WEC, IMSA, British GT, GTWC, all over the world and have slightly different rules, it is idiotic.
IMSA have started to get tough on it, but it come and goes, they are trying to introduce and standard where you make only one move, and then you also allow enough room for a car to be there be it out or inside.
The problem is every series has their own slightly different interpretations, it is bearable in stuff like touring cars and even GT racing as the cars can take some contact, bit there is so much aero now cut tyres are very common from wedges and splitters.
The basic standard should be worldwide, I dont care that each country has their own jurisdiction, the FIA govern world motorsport and SHOULD be offering driving standards worldwide for every country to follow, same with track limits etc. Plenty of drivers can race in ELMS, WEC, IMSA, British GT, GTWC, all over the world and have slightly different rules, it is idiotic.
It is definitely pass prevention, but that's exactly why it should be judged so harshly.
I don't mind someone moving over IN FRONT of someone on a straight (once of course!) but doing it when there is already an overlap is outrageous and plainly dangerous. I think there was an example in one of the support races at Monza where the overtaking car was squeezed along the pit wall? - Mental.
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