AGGRESSIVE OR DANGEROUS?

"You must take the compromise to win, or else, nothing. That means: you race or you do not."

These were the words of perhaps the most famous Formula One driver to have lived; Ayrton Senna. A driver who perfected the art of aggressiveness when it came to racing a Formula One car. This was just one of his quotes which portrayed the Brazilian's aggressiveness and hunger to win at what he could do best.

But recently in Formula One, due to a string of incidents because of the aggressiveness of some drivers; fans and people involved within the sport have been debating, "when is it no longer aggressive driving but just a danger to themselves and other drivers alike?" Well, in my opinion, it's obvious. You can have an aggressive driver who's spacial awareness is perfect and then you have an aggressive driver you is a little bit too ambitious. But, everyone makes mistakes and the very best can over estimate a gap when trying to overtake. Remember Senna, who we were talking about beforehand? Another of his famous quotes includes:

"Being a racing driver means you are racing with other people and if you no longer go for a gap that exists you are no longer a racing driver because we are competing."

A lot of the time Senna's aggressive driving worked out for him. Winning three World Championships before his untimely death in May of 1994. However, there were times where it didn't worked out how he would have liked. For example, Suzuka 1990. Here he had a collision with championship rival Alain Prost. For a time he claimed he went for a gap that opened up but it wasn't long before the Brazilian admitted into purposely crashing into Prost. This is the one of the differences between aggressive driving and dangerous driving.

Dangerous driving usually happens when a driver KNOWS they are commiting the "offence".

But this isn't always the case. Let's look at the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix and the incident involving the two Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen. Verstappen is known to be aggressive. He's not afraid to push just that little bit extra. Unfortunately for Max, this doesn't usually work out for him. Going back to Azerbaijan, Verstappen was leading Ricciardo in their little battle. If you know Formula One well then you will be well aware of the rule where you can only move once when defending. From my view, it looked as if Verstappen moved twice and therefore ended his race early when Ricciardo rear ended his teammate, eliminating them both. But, did Verstappen know what he was doing or was he just aggressively defending his position. Or, was Ricciardo just pushing a little too much? I don't know. It was a racing incident.

A range of other drivers have been showing some unfortunate examples of aggressiveness as of late including Magnussen and Grosjean. It has gotten to a point where other drivers have labeled them dangerous. But are they?

Unfortunatly, incidents happen and sometimes you can't stop them. I think the perfect motorsport racer should be aggressive, but they should know their bounderies. I'll happily defend some drivers actions if I believe it was aggressive but fine but if they take it too far and put themselves and others in danger, then it's gone too far.

Azerbaijan GP; A Classic or a Danger?

For the past two years the Azerbaijan Grand Prix has succeded in everyway to keep us, the viewer, glued to our seats from the moments the lights go out to the moment the chequered flag falls. But with a number of accidents slowly giving this track a reputation, I ask, is this track a classic or a danger?

The Baku City Circuit which is home to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, first came to the calendar in 2016 as the European Grand Prix. It is a 6km temporary street circuit located in the midst of Azerbaijan's capital city; Baku. The first race held at this circuit in 2016 was relatively quiet leading fans to label it as "boring." Little did we know what was to come.

For the following 2017 season the European Grand Prix was renamed and thus the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was born. The 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix was one we would all remember. Lewis Hamilton started on pole with Daniel Ricciardo being the eventual winner. This race was the start of something classical. Accidents throughout the race caused the field to be completely mixed up but most noticeably, it was Sebastian Vettel's anger towards Hamilton in which we would all remember.

Going into the 2018 race, the hype was high. Sunday was forcasted to have upto 80kph wind gusts and with the craziness involved with last season's race, hopes were high for a cracker and boy, that is what we got. Vettel led the cars off the line and within a couple of corners came our first accident involving Esteban Ocon and Kimi Raikkonen with resulted in a retirement for the young Frenchman Ocon. As the race went on more retirments came including a big accident caused by Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo. Verstappen is known for his aggressive moves (and I will write a post about this) which of course would start a debate. Who's fault was it? Verstappen or Ricciardo? It's unfair to pinpoint the blame on one driver. It was racing incident. But thanks to this, things kicked off big time including a crash for Romain Grosjean under the safety care and a cruel retirement for Valterri Bottas while leading only a few laps from the end. Lewis Hamilton was the winner with Kimi Raikkonen and Sergio Perez taking up the final two podium places.

So, if this track is giving us some races to remember, why am I asking if it's a danger. Personally, I've never seen it as a danger. The long straights and tight corners makes for some good racing. The unusual amount of safety cars and accidents has led many people on my twitter feed to say they think this race should be taken off the calendar. But I do not agree with this. Every track is dangerous, this is a dangerous sport. As mentioned before, this track is tight and twisty at times, the corners come up to you from nowhere. It's a challenge. (Trust me, I can't complete this one for the life of me on the game.) These are the best drivers in the world and no matter what circuit you go to, accidents happen. I do not think this track is a danger. Its proven to be anything but a bore and frankly I'm already looking forward for next years round.

Hello, Halo.

I think it's more than fair to say the 2018 Formula One season is upon us. Testing is only a week away and cars are being revealed left, right and centre. This time of year is always interesting. The anticipation of testing and the first race of the season to the eagerness to see new and old liveries on cars alike. As of the time this post is being written, not every 2018 car has been revealed but in my opinion they're looking good, bar one thing. The not-so-anticipated halo. (Cue Beyonce's hit Halo.) If you've been living under a rock for the past few years you might be thinking "what is the halo?" Well, it's a structure made from titanium that sits over the cockpit in order to protect the driver from flying debris such as tyres and car parts. It is mandatory on all cars this season.

So far, the reception of the halo has been somewhat negative and unfortunately, I am with the majority on their negative views. I find it difficult to get my head around the fact that this is a safety feature and I know with all of the tests the halo has been through, if it wasn't safe, the FIA wouldn't have gone down this route. I'm going to talk to you on why I don't really like the halo and I think these are points you can agree with me on.

1. It's Ugly

The creation of the halo was to ensure extra safety to drivers while keeping the sport as it's recognizable open-cockpit status. But in order to increase safety it looks as if the beauty of these cars has been sacrificed. Something fans, such as myself, are not happy with.

2. Visibilty

I can't get my head around the visibility. The halo is connected to the chassis by a pylon which is placed right in the drivers line of vision. Numerous tests have proven that the majority of drivers are not fazed by this but I like a clear view when driving and that pylon is an obstruction. Also, wouldn't the halo be a problem at tracks such as Spa that have elevation? Apparently not.

3. Exit Time

As you may or may not know, to drive a Formula One car you need to be able to jump out in a certain time frame. Thanks to small cockpits and having to remove the head rest, exit times are already a challenge to achieve. And, if I remember correctly, drivers had problems with achieving these exit times when the halo was first introduced. Practice and evolution of the halo have reportedly improved these times. I still see it as a problem.

4. Upside Down Car

As we see from time to time, accidents can cause a car to somersault and land upside down. For example, let us look at Fernando Alonso's accident in Australia 2016. After a collision with then Sauber driver Esteban Gutierrez, Alonso's car was flung in the air landing on an angle, pretty much upside down. We saw Alonso scramble from the car with only minor injuries but what if the halo was there? You would need to be extremely small to slip through that gap. The FIA have a solution to this. According to ESPN the safety car will carry tools that will cut through metal in order to extract the driver from the car more easily. It just means a longer wait time for the pilot.

5. Debris

The halo does not provide full protection. Although it stops debris hitting the driver head on, there is still enough space for small objects to get through and hit a drivers helmet. And at fast speeds, it can still cause damage. Remember Felipe Massa in Hungary 2009? I suppose though with a halo damage that bad would most likely by avoided.

So there we are. Five reasons why the halo sucks. But, maybe we shouldn't look at it that way. The halo is here as a safety precaution. It might be ugly but we've seen uglier. Drivers say it doesn't hinder their vision. Exit time isn't a big problem like first thought. The safety car will carry tools. And, finally, it will protect the driver in some shape or form. I know F1 is a dangerous sport and drivers are risking their lives for our entertainment every weekend. It doesn't hurt for us to give the halo a chance. It's something we need to get used to. The FIA have no plans to remove it so until they are proved wrong we need to just ignore it and enjoy the racing as we always have.