09-Sep-08: McLaren Officially Lodge Appeal Against Penalty
Welcome to F1 Minute, it’s the 9th September 2008.
McLaren have officially submitted their appeal to the FIA regarding Hamilton’s Belgian GP penalty, and now we have more details to go with it.
Firstly, Ferrari insist they didn’t raise a complaint with the stewards to get the incident investigated. Stefano Domenicali says the team were called to give their version of events to the stewards, but at no point did they instigate the complaint. He wouldn’t be drawn to comment on the penalty, saying simply: “I have often said that the race is not over until the official results are published and that was the case today.”
Meanwhile, Martin Whitmarsh has claimed that the team radioed Race Control twice moments after the incident occurred to check whether Hamilton’s actions were sufficient. He says they were told that Hamilton’s giving back the advantage to Raikkonen was ‘okay’. Therefore, after thinking about the decision for the allotted 48 hours, McLaren are pushing ahead with their appeal.
That’s it for today, please join me again tomorrow for another F1 Minute.
jason on Tue, 9th Sep 2008 20:45
once again decisions are made in ferraris favor, why didn’t they save everone the time and money and just give the constuctors title to them, and toss a coin for the drivers championship to the formular ferrari 1 racing.
Niki on Wed, 10th Sep 2008 07:29
Jason you need too understand that in formula one they want to save the title too the end else they dont make any money the last 5 races massa should have got a penalty in the race before but then the title race would be over and know one would look aat the last races live if hamilton won in belgium then it would be over thats that sorry but this sport is about money not formula 1 and racecars
john nichols on Wed, 10th Sep 2008 10:04
When I was driving FF1600 in England Spain and Portugal the chicanes had gravel and grass with no tarmac run off area. I say bring these back and then we will not have this type of situation again. You had to drive precisely and if not you would be penalized by sitting out the rest of the race.
After been lifted of the gravel in the European GP last year - Lewis Hamilton expected to be pushed off it when he went off entering the pit lane in China in 2007. A tarmac run off area encourages Lewis to use this!
I think that Felipe Massa´s observations are impartial and sums up the situation correctly.
Don´t forget Pantano in the Saturday GP2 race was banned from competing in the Sunday race for a similar incident (at Course) of Lewis Hamilton driving into Kimi Raikkonen at the chicane.
OK Lewis Hamilton drove a great race but nearly came off and hit the wall on the last lap!
Steven Roy on Wed, 10th Sep 2008 19:31
Massa should remember that the crime he was found guilty of in Valencia attracted a drive through penalty in the GP2 race at Valencia. There are different rules for GP2 and F1. Not in any rule book. It’s just that they are interpreted differently. I prefer the GP2 version of the rules to F1’s.
john n on Wed, 10th Sep 2008 20:30
Should the rules not be the same for GP2 and Formula 1 I ask?
Massa did give way to the other car and as Brundle or Blundell said there was no dangerous incident, so maybe the fine may have been a bit steep. Also the camera angle could have made it look far worse than it might have been from the driver´s position on the pit lane. Massa also made the point that the other car had already been lapped and should have given way to him coming out of the pit? Are there any rules on this point?
Personally I thought there was better racing when there were not pit stops - cars had to be designed to take a full load of fuel and it was a competition between the drivers - not one that involved pit strategy! Look at the old Videos of Nicki Lauda James Hunt etc., and what about one race where one driver had to push his F1 the final few metres to take the chequered flag - was that a French GP?
john n on Wed, 10th Sep 2008 20:32
Should the rules not be the same for GP2 and Formula 1 I ask?
Massa did give way to the other car and as Brundle or Blundell said there was no dangerous incident, so maybe the fine may have been a bit steep. Also the camera angle could have made it look far worse than it might have been from the driver´s position on the pit lane. Massa also made the point that the other car had already been lapped and should have given way to him coming out of the pit? Are there any rules on this point?
Personally I thought there was better racing when there were no pit stops - cars had to be designed to take a full load of fuel, tyres designed to last a complete race and it was a competition between the drivers/chassis design/engine - not one that involved pit strategy! Look at the old Videos of Nicki Lauda James Hunt etc., and what about one race where one driver had to push his F1 the final few metres to take the chequered flag - was that a French GP?
Steven Roy on Wed, 10th Sep 2008 21:20
I am all for banning pit stops I have argued it for years.
Massa’s release was dangerous by definition. He had to take avoiding action. Ergo it was dangerous. Ergo? Where did that come from. Anyway the point is the normal penalty for a dangerous release when a penalty is applied is a drive through.
The rule for F1 and GP2 should be exactly the same but there are numerous examples of one thing happening in F1 and another in GP2. When decisions are made in F1 it appears things other than the incident concerned are considered.
john nichols on Thu, 11th Sep 2008 18:13
Steven
GP2 drivers aspire to be Formula 1 drivers so the rules should be the same so “lets stop playing mind games with them”. No wonder mistakes are being made.
Why does the FIA not do an exercise to see how much money would be saved if pit stops were banned?
1. Saving on pit crew
2. Saving on tyres
We would have no more potential accidents in the pit land personnel (Ferrari at Valencia when Kimi pulled out before the petrol hose had been released injuring a mechanic) and fires.
Were there not 3 or 4 in Hungary!
and we will get just exciting formula one races as we have seen in the past.
Steven Roy on Thu, 11th Sep 2008 21:48
This is my theory on the whole thing. There is no evedential basis for it simply my observations and conclusions drawn from them.
Senna’s death spooked Max. I am not trying to minimise Ratzenberger’s death but had Senna not died the next day the publicity would have been massively less and the results much less severe.
At the time races were very processional. Even more than now. The main cause is the influence of aerodynamics. My belief is that Max tried to stop cars racing each other on the track to reduce the risk of accidents resulting from contact. This coupled with all the chicanes that the FIA forced on circuits meant that the only way positions could change was in the pits. The FIA and Bernie have become convinced that pit stops add something to the show despite it being obvious it doesn’t.
Until something is done to dramatically reduce the aero components on the car and the complex technology wheel to wheel racing will be difficult. This season we have seen the benefit of reducing the amount of technology with the traction control ban. Next year although the aero is being reduced although not by enough we have added technology in KERS and adjustable aero.