Who dares wins on track

The art of taking the ultimate risk in motorsport

The most successful racing drivers throughout history are a special breed.

All drivers in top-level motorsport have a special talent, an ego, a will to win and confidence in their own ability.

Multiple race-winners and world champions also possess another tiny piece of DNA that takes them to another level -- they have a ruthless, no-compromise streak that extends to their own teammates.

We saw it with Senna, Schumacher, and Vettel and now with Lewis Hamilton in his dealings with fellow Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg.

Escorting Rosberg, ever so politely, to the very edge of the track and beyond at both the Japanese and the US Grands Prix means that he is continually claiming, and winning, the high ground in their psychological battle.

That same piece of DNA is present, perhaps more so, in MotoGP riders.

Multiple world champion Valentino Rossi demonstrated at the recent Malaysian MotoGP event that he is as uncompromising as any, when he needs to be, by taking rival Marc Marquez to the edge of the Sepang track and beyond, resulting in Marquez crashing.

Was that action justified or not? Was the penalty given to Rossi, likely costing him another world championship, fair or not?

There are as many opinions as there are versions of what actually happened on that corner but the views of two of New Zealand's best and most experienced riders, neither of them strangers to the world of "elbows out" riding, are worth listening to.

Graeme Crosby has his view:

"If you have the inside line then the other rider has to stay out of the way and you are within your rights to take that rider a little wide but not off the course. Rossi took Marquez wide and down he [Marquez] has gone.

"Yes, there was a touch but an accidental one, I believe, as Marquez decided to turn into the corner. Rossi had not yet allowed him to do that so in effect Marquez pre-empted the fall.

Since the Phillip Island race [in October] I think that Marquez had been hampering Rossi so he [Rossi] had some justification in his actions.

"I think the penalty on Rossi was unfair and not the right thing to do.

"The end result of course was Rossi lost his chance to take the world title and the organisers waited far too long to step in.

"They should have poured cold water on the brewing incident long before by talking with both Rossi and Marquez."

World Superbike rider Aaron Slight was always known as an "uncompromising" rider on the track.

"To make it clear I am a Honda man but a Rossi fan.

"The way Marquez was riding leading up to Sepang clearly showed he had an agenda. All the while Rossi had to try to get past him and all the while Lorenzo was having an easy time at the front.

Risks win big

I can see the frustration and what Rossi was thinking, especially at Phillip Island.

"I think Rossi had a genuine beef but I didn't think he would go that far. There was definitely no kick, Marquez just decided to turn in and he couldn't.

"Was the penalty fair? I don't know. I have been penalised worse for less and I would hate to be [race director] Mike Webb having to make that decision.

Many believe the competitors should be more "fair" on the racetrack.

Surely, as long as the action is within the rules, they are doing precisely what they should be doing -- demonstrating they have the determination, the will to win, the instinct to bury whoever is in the way of achieving the prize with an uncompromising, no-holds-barred attitude.

Many world champions polarise opinions.

History has rarely recorded a champion who was "nice" to fellow competitors. Those drivers, more often than not, finished second.