If I'm not mistaken, didn't I see Lewis Hamilton run Nico Rosberg wide at turn1 at Austin, right at the start of the GP last weekend, on his way to the F1 Title. Nico wisely took avoiding action, but lost a couple of places as a result. I think they brushed tyres, but otherwise it was deemed a racing incident with the lead car being allowed to decide the racing line.
If we take this logic & apply it to the Sepang incident, one would have to ask quite why young MM decided to continue to turn in on VR, when it was pretty obvious that VR intended to run him wide. Gamesmanship from both riders in my view, in the heat of the moment - & it worked a treat on this occasion for MM, but not for VR. We see this all the time in Moto 2 & 3 incidentally, without any over-reaction.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not seeking to be partisan here as I prefer to be watching good clean racing, whilst admiring the skills of the protagonists. Unfortunately the scene was set in Australia the previous weekend, when VR would have been better served by keeping his own council. The Honda Team must surely have admonished MM for his tactics - why mix it with Rossi in the pack when you can get out front & win the race easily - but we all enjoyed the spectacle. Just a shame Sepang turned sour. The Stewards were harsh, but wanted to send out a clear message & then went into a rather hurried appeal process, when I think they would have been wise to let a few days pass for all the evidence to maturate. Here in the UK we had to endure Messrs Heuwen & Ryder on BT Sport (Pay Channel) pretty much making the Stewards decision for them, within seconds of the incident occuring - their commentary became so very annoying, we had to use the mute button, so we could actually watch the race unfold without their over-excited babble ruining the event. Incidentally, these guys are irritating most of the time, but since the BBC dropped MotoGP, our choices are limited to paying for the BT or Dorna feed live, or taking the free ITV4 repeat next day.
Still, with VR going to arbitration next week, it will be interesting to see the result. Conspiracy theories aside, & there are many, I would like to see a good clean race for the championship at Cheste, so my hope is that the VR penalty is overturned, or at least reduced significantly - maybe a 5 place grid penalty at most. However, as I understand it, arbitration is a high stakes game, where just about anything can happen.
..................... KEN
