Interesting defense of Nico's move on Kimi. Can you imagine the gushing of the F1 press had Max done this ?? Kimi was asleep -
If Rosberg was too harsh F1 should ban overtaking - F1 - Autosport Plus
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Amid so much talk about what people want Formula 1 to be, Nico Rosberg's penalty for his Malaysian GP move on Kimi Raikkonen basically amounts to an admission that hard racing is not welcome
F1's fight to enhance the show is ongoing. So it could do without discouraging drivers from doing things that are quite interesting on track.
Moments of genuine inspiration are few and far between in the modern age of grand prix racing, so punishing a driver on a rare occasion they were pushing the boundaries seems rather arse-about-face.
It was hard not to weep for competitive motorsport when Nico Rosberg was handed a 10-second time penalty for bumping into the side of Kimi Raikkonen while executing a bold move in the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Drivers shouldn't be completely carefree when it comes to to barging past rivals but on-the-limit passes are part of the spectacle. Clumsy, dangerous driving isn't - and this was very much the right side of on-the-limit.
It wasn't exactly a last-second lunge - Rosberg had gone deeper into Turn 1, held the car in the middle of the road as the corner tightened and the intention to dive to the inside was clear the moment he straightened up for Turn 2.
He would have made the corner had Raikkonen not turned in, so was not out of control by a long way. The contact occurred because Raikkonen turned into the corner and the gap disappeared - not that the Finn was wrong to turn in, he just had no idea Rosberg was down his inside.
That kind of collision is pretty much the definition of a racing incident. The fact Raikkonen was so caught out is the brilliance at the heart of the Rosberg pass.