General Sports Thread

Apparently a 3 grid place penalty for Max at the next race , and 2 points on his licence .

 

Hmm, bit harsh IMO.

 

That’s a nonsense. I don’t like RBR particularly, but I think they appeal that. Either that or take Max’s likely engine penalty at that race and make it irrelevant.

 

I am sure they will appeal it , if that fails I agree they will take the engine penalty at the same time .

 

I wasn’t going to comment on your post last night, but as you are still going on about this nearly24 hours later I feel compelled to. I think your obsession with her ethnic background is clouding your judgment. She was upset that there was a break in play, which is fair enough, but to suggest her team were somehow egging her on is a bit ludicrous, to be honest. For a start, no coaching is allowed during Grand Slam or WTA Tour matches so I’m not sure how they would have conveyed that message on to the court. After the game she was still upset, but I imagine that was mostly because she had lost. And please explain how a few minutes later she was able to give a speech full of praise for her opponent, and without a trace of rancour, if she was as “charged” (whatever that means) as you seem to think she was. She was 19 years old on Monday for crying out loud, she was trying to stay in the biggest match of her career, and the last thing either Leylah or Emma wanted was a break in play at that moment.

Give the girl a break, and leave the ethnic background stuff off this board, please, it’s irrelevant and close to being offensive.

 

Whilst you are correct in your assessment, I don't think Loading was being deliberately offensive in reference to the background of Fernandez. He maybe saw it as a reason for her behaviour at that particular moment. The fault was his assumption that those of a hispanic background are susceptible to mood swings which Schad saw as being ridiculous. And as you said, enough has been said already. What is not in doubt is that we saw two immensely talented players who will give pleasure to tennis fans throughout the world for the next few years at least. And as for throwing toys out of the pram, we are all capable of that and sometimes do in fraught situations.

 

I'm guessing they take the engine penalty now, as well. It is a silly decision, though; both drivers were at fault, and even if Max tried to bail out on the move there, I'm not sure he could have given Hamilton's line into the corner. It's a sharp, declining-radius turn and Hamilton himself was on the inside of it...both drivers were playing chicken, with an inevitable result.

 

I personally don't think loading was being intentionally offensive, but he should read Michael Holding's book.

FWIW, my temperament is 80% 'icy english', 10% Indian & 20% fiery Italian (yep it doesn't add up but the fire always outweighs the calm). Born & bred and hence socialised English, but picked up traits from my Indian father and very typical Italian mother.

The problem with the discussion was that it was being assumed, just because she has a heritage that she was acting like that. Again read Michael Holdings book.

Blood has nothing to do with the way you are, your social surroundings and subliminal teachings do IMO.

Emma is 100% a Brit IMO due to the fact that all her socialising is from here - however, she hopefully (as it is a good thing) has a few traits from her parents and their heritage.

I'll get off my soap box now

 

I do think Max and Lewis (but Max in particular) need to learn when to back off. Lewis has backed off in the past to prevent an accident but I've never seen Max do it. I think with hindsight, given Lewis was ahead going into the chicane he should have just backed off. Sometimes he is a bit reckless and I think it has got to the stage where Lewis is tired of always being the one to back out and prevent the crash.

 

There wasn't exactly an opportunity to pull out, which is the issue. By the time they exited the preceding corner, it was going to be a crash based on Hamilton's track position. Unless Verstappen flat-out stood on the brakes, at which point he'd have likely locked up and punted Hamilton.



Verstappen had actually pulled out at the previous corner, when Hamilton swung wide to cut him off. But Verstappen was still carrying much more speed, and barring cutting the corner (and you can definitely argue that he should have done so), there just wasn't any track for him to work with.

 

There’s a run off there for exactly that, but Max was never going to take it. If I am feeling kind, I’d give him the benefit of doubt and say that he was pissed off that RBR messed up the pit stop and he was going to be behind a Mercedes which had better pace than him, so he didn’t think clearly and went for a gap which, clearly wasn’t there, instead of going over the kerb and cutting the corner. If I’m feeling cynical, I’d say there was an element of Senna, Prost, Schumacher …. there where he decided to do a “professional foul” and take his rival out to stop him going behind on points. Which you can do in football, but is stupidly dangerous in F1. If that had ended with Hamilton being seriously injured or killed, I wonder what he’d have thought of then? Max is a racer, I accept that, in the same way as I accept that racing incidents happen, but he needs to cool it sometimes and play the long game. If he continues to be hot-headed, then there will be a nasty accident and none of us want that.

 

Glad you’re on the Michael Holding train! Agreed. Everyone read it!

 

Much like Senna/Schumacher, Max is a bit of a ‘win at all costs’ type. Which he why he’ll be a multiple world champion. And why he’ll be pretty dislikable whilst doing it (which much like Senna/Schumacher will be revised with historical rose-tinted glasses. They were both bastards, but much loved now).

 

So Hamilton is a nicer driver & every loves him!?

 

Not at all. He's less ruthless than Senna/Schumacher/Verstappen though. People don't like Hamilton the personality, rather than Hamilton the driver.

 

Although his personality has become much more likeable in the last few years.

 

In a lot of senses, yes, though he's (rightly) been upsetting more people as well by putting his head above the parapet regarding issues of diversity etc (and all power to his elbow for that).

 

You don't *have* to be ruthless to be a multiple world champion. Hamilton isn't. Prost wasn't (bar one notable exception) and Hakkinen certainly wasn't. The 'win at all costs' mentality is present in a lot of them though, and is variously lauded and despised (depending on who you're a fan of!)



(Before I get told off by the Godders of this world for starting the comparison in the 1980s, of course, the likes of Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart etc weren't either, but then being ruthless at that point was a one way ticket to the pearly gates).

 

TBF Lewis hasn't needed to be. He hasn't had much competition for many of his title wins. Only his first one really. And Rosberg obviously won one in the middle of his dominance. I think Lewis has realised this season he needs to take that "win at all costs" approach. Hence why we saw the incident at Silverstone.

 

Yes and no. I mean he has got a ruthlessness to him, sometimes, but it doesn't come naturally to him I don't think. I don't see him doing a Senna/Schumacher and taking people out deliberately with any sort of regularity. That's why Silverstone didn't sit that well - it wasn't a very Lewis move. I do think he's trying to show Max that he's not scared of him, as you rightly say, because he feels like he needs to.

He's reacting to what Max is as a person/driver, rather than the competition. If this was a battle against Charles or possibly Lando (who are brave, but not 'killer brave') I don't think you'd see this element, though the competition would be equally fierce.

Schumacher is an interesting one. He took out the likes of Hill and Villeneuve because it offended his sensibilities that drivers of that level should even have a chance of beating him. He never really did that with Hakkinen (bar one misjudged moment at Spa) because he respected him as an equal.