The SingaporeGP - Crash Analysis

Without a doubt, the talking point from Singapore has been the prang at the start of the race.
Numerous TV pundits have talk about this and I have been surprised by some of the things I've heard. I can only assume that some people are compromised and "scared" to criticize certain parties too much lest the lose their paddock passes or interview access.

I particularly don't understand how anybody is blaming Max. For clarity, I'm not a Verstappen "fan", I've been very critical of him in the past, but I saw him do nothing wrong in Singapore. I have watched and re-watched the incident multiple times from multiple angles and he was caught in a pinch by the Ferraris (whether they orchestrated this intentionally or not).
The entire incident happens within the first 6 seconds. Breaking it down at 1/4 speed, what I see in the head-on shot is that Seb starts moving to close down Max. Max had started to move towards Seb but then starts moving back to his own side (one can only assume he does this because of Seb moving to cut him off). By now Kimi has come alongside and then got his nose in front of Max - all the while maintaining his line.

The collision happens because, with Seb coming across, Max HAS TO move back towards his left, but Kimi is now halfway passed Max's car. This is when contact is made - Kimi's rear tyres and Max's front tyres (the tread-face, not the sidewall).
That's why Kimi is so violently thrown off-course - the initial impact spins him into Seb's sidepod, then the rear right snaps off and Kimi slides along in a straight line pretty much as a passenger to collide with Max again at the corner. Max and Seb never actually made contact with each other.
Had it not been for Kimi's car being yanked back to the right after the initial contact with Max, Seb would have got away with the perfect crime and the casualties would have been Kimi, Max, and Alonso.

As for whether anyone should have got some sort of penalty, I say no.

• Kimi clearly did nothing wrong.
• Seb didn't do anything "unsporting" or dangerous by moving to block Max/defend his position (Lewis did the same thing to Lance Stroll in Monza).
• Max can perhaps be accused of lack of awareness (not seeing Kimi draw alongside), but in his defense, he was probably watching Seb. Hitting him with a "causing a collision" charge would be harsh. I imagine race control was more lenient because of the adverse conditions as well.

Race control perhaps made it more of a scandal by calling the drivers in after the race. Had they just left it as "No Further Action", I think the fire would have died down somewhat. But the post-race investigation and grilling the drivers made people (in Tifosi and Verstappen camps) start prematurely expecting that there will be a penalty - at least 1 TV commentator was even talking about Sebastian Vettel's penalty points situation and how many he could get on his license for this incident!

Well, no love lost between Max and Seb anyway. So far, in their ping-pong matches and bumper car challenges, it's been all-square. Max may claim the victory though because, as he said in his post-race interview, he's not the one in a title fight and as long as all three of them (Kimi, Max, and Seb) were wiped out, he's alright with that.