So Hamilton got kicked back to 3rd for the race. He is making too many mistakes to be considered a professional driver. He has lost very much respect. He had better get his act together or the next thing to know the drivers will unite and ban him as being unsafe. If he wants to drive like Earnhart then maybe F1 is the wrong avenue for him.
He didn't do anything unsafe. He tried to overtake at the chicane and was squezed out. He let Kimi past and then overtook him at La Source. He managed to keep control of his car in the wet conditions better than some of the other drivers. Should other drivers be banned for losing control?
you're absolutely correct - perhaps according to jk0001 Kimi should be banned for losing control and continually making mistakes. Carol
Like Kimi's drive thru in Monaco '08, pulling Ferrari in to change tires at Fuji '07, or black flagging Felipe in Canada '07? Yah, they never penalize Ferrari. How about cutting the benefit for a win in half (from four to two points) to keep Schumi from taking the championship too early? FIA *has* been meddling with the championship -- but to benefit the take from Bernievision, not a specific team. (Well, I can remember one case that was pretty blatantly favoring one team: When BAR got a three race suspension for challenging Renault, at a time FIA was trying to woo Renault back into WRC in '05, after PSA announced they were pulling Citroen and Peugeot out of WRC.) The FIA has been fiddling with rules and results to keep the championship close -- for the sake of TV advertising rates. (If it looks "Ferrari friendly" recently, maybe that's because Ferrari has been a bit weak since losing Brawn et al.) And remember when "qualifying" lost the 107% rule? When some drivers weren't keeping up? And their fans wouldn't watch if they didn't qualify? Or how about the customer cars in a "constructors' championship"? Dust off a two year old Arrows chassis, drop in last year's Honda engine, and you're a "constructor"? (Until you can't pay Bernie's cut.) Take over last year's Honda or Red Bull, and if you can pay the cover charge, you're in? FIA has been putting the finances over the competition for some time. But if you think this is bad, look what FIA did to WRC. More like 1950-2001. 2002 was a walk-away by Ferrari, and the FIA has been imposing stupid rules ever since, allowing the championship to be micro-managed. Qualifying changes, the two race engine rule, the four race gearbox rule, the various gimmick tire rules, now the KERS rules ... The FIA is turning this into WWF1. Then there's the "no team orders which change the results of an event" rule --- only the FIA can change the results, I guess. I'd really like to see Ferrari get back into sports car racing -- which is where their roots are. (Of course, if you look at some of the SCCA rulings over the last few years, I'm not sure that's much better off.) (But at least BMW finally got that V8 M3 on the street -- not that it's likely to help break into the "vunderbug" class.)
With your way of thinking the stewarts should be banned for making a decision against your loved Hamilton. And any driver that passes Hamiton should be banned. I'll love to read more of your post, they are very entertaining. http://www.planetf1.com/story/0,18954,3213_4114265,00.html
here's a very interesting video. analyzed step by step of the incident. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzKMyFCaZy0
The video completely ignores the fact that Hamilton wouldn't have been able to any of the moves he made if there had been no shortcut through the chicane, but a wall or gravel. That's the whole point.
Oh, I agree that he wasn't entitled to the racing line. I was just stating that he didn't appear ahead going into the chicane and when he said that in the press conference it didn't compute. Diving in agressively doesn't mean you gain the right, but bumping out of the chicane probably meant both drivers continue to race. His penalty was for being bumped outside of the chicane. That was complete b.s.
Yes Great post. Unfortunately this thread can and will go on for a long time because many do not understand what the racing line is and who has the right to it. Anyone can fling their car ahead into a corner without being on the racing line. That does not mean that the driver on the racing line has to concede. In the video with JPM running off at the mouth, he is completely wrong. Mike had the line and JPM was only being wreckless. That is why he is now in NASCRAP. We have all sorts of posters here claiming that Kimi did this and Massa did that during the race.....they did not break the rules...if so McLaren and Ron would be protesting right now. The facts are that Lewis went into the corner completely off line and could not hold it...this equals an unfair advantage. He came back on track but had lots of momentum that he would NOT have had if he went into the corner on the racing line which ment that he would have had to brake. He did not concede all of the advantage that he gained by cutting the chicane so he was penalized for it. The penalty he received was the only penalty that is allowed as they were into the last 5 laps. No they could not hand out a 5 or 10 grid place demotion in the next race. No they could not give a 10 second penalty. Yes Kimi would likely have been passed in the next few corners but this does not negate the fact that Lewis broke the rules. Infact if Lewis was using his brain he would have known this. If you watch the post race interviews, it is easy to see that Lewis new there was something wrong. Lewis made a few mistakes in the race this past weekend and threw away valuable points. Many of the Lewis fans have to realize that he and he alone blew the 4 points. Im not talking about Steve here either. He knows what is going on.
I have to admit, I agree here. Hamilton went for it, didn't get it, and had the door slammed. To stay on track, he would have lost significant distance and speed. He did not. He lost very little if anything cutting the chicane.
This seems to be the most important point that people who are upset with the decision are missing. I can imagine a scenario where one is a second behind, go speeding into a turn, cut the corner, pass the guy in front and give back the position and only be fractions of a second behind. Yeah, the position was given back, but a clear advantage was gained because the time and momentum that would have been lost if proper speed/braking was taken into the corner, was not lost.
Speaking of stewards and marshals, I have never been a racing driver, but I have been a judge for sports (stroke and turn for swimming). My experience does explain a little of what may have happened here. People have asked, if you make a call here, why not over there? Well, you have different people at different points on the track. I don't know how F1 is set up, but I imagine that if someone makes a formal call at one point on the track, it is a completely isolated event. It is discussed with the head judge/marshal/steward, and a decision is made. If there is another event somewhere else, and no one makes a call, then it simply didn't happen. Let me put it this way. Little Johnny swims the breaststroke in lane 1, and he gets DQ'd for a scissor kick by judge A. Billy is down in lane 6. He does the same thing, but judge B covering lane 6 doesn't see it. Johnny's coach goes ape and starts yelling at the head ref, who has a DQ card for Johnny but nothing on Billy. Regardless of what happened, if it isn't written down, it just isn't considered. Coach can rant all he wants to, Johnny's parents can kick Billy's parents a$$ in the parking lot, but the decision stands. Now F1 appears to review the video, but I would bet they don't go back and review everything in the race because of a call at a particular spot. So there is simply no consideration of anything else that happened in the race when they evaluate this ONE incident. So it goes like this... corner marshal sees the move and makes the call. It then gets investigated, and when looking at this one spot, they make a judgment. If you consider the process, this may explain it. Now, I am not saying it is fair, I am simply offering an explanation for how it has come to pass (pun intended).
Thank you Remy for finding this clip so that all may see and realize for themselves what occurred. Thanks to the fellow who put this together. Well done, unbiased, and factual. Watch it several times if need be.
I think if Hammi were not on the track then the whole incident would not have occurred. There has to be some rule to eliminate him from the competition. How dare he Question Ferraris claim to the Championship. The Cad. PS; Put the Rossa colored glasses down
