Anti-McLaren / Pro Ferrari strip Lewis of win

[Gucci]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7602830.stm

So blatant it hurts...rigged and fixed. If the FIA want to ruin F1 excitement, congratulations you're well on the way.

 

[Dieselman]

Just how many races left.?

Hamilton's lead over Massa in the title chase has been cut by two points.

 

[Roger Jones]

Am I missing something? Hamilton recovers from a mishap, gains a momentary advantage, but deliberately hands the lead back to Raikkonen -- and gets penalized? What's the logic here?

 

[Gucci]

Am I missing something? Hamilton recovers from a mishap, gains a momentary advantage, but deliberately hands the lead back to Raikkonen -- and gets penalized? What's the logic here?

Because he's not in a Ferrari. It's a disgrace.

 

[lomo]

So mad about this descision.

The FIA have just blackened the best final two race laps so far this season.

That end of that race was great viewing but they have just killed that.

 

[Ratz]

Especially after Massa's escape from a penalty last weekend, I wonder just how long Ferrari can bank role the FIA??

It hasn't been so blatent for a while because most of Ferrari's winning could be excused by Schumacher's talent.

Raikkonen was pants yet again when things got a little tricky, and he knew it, hence the violent driving.

Only thing I am hoping is that Ferrari are going to be hit very very hard by the credit crunch. I hate them for what they and the FIA are doing to my sport. I am beginning to wonder whether there is something more sinister at play here, because I am really struggling to explain the consistency with which this bias is being demonstrated. Evidently even one of the sports oldest and most respected officials(Charlie Whiting) can't predict just how twisted these 'investigations' are!!!

 

[timskemp]

Just plain wrong.

 

[recycled]

This is a joke. When lewis spun on lap 2, kimi took to the run off to avoid him, and then slipstreamed him as well.

This is a joke. FIA get your act together or ferrari will find themselves racing only against themselves. This smells of italian football scandals. referees bought and sold. Only in italy.

 

[MikeL]

F I A

Guess the "F" really stands for Ferrari ?

Mike

 

[Roger Jones]

Max Mosley and Italy's "parallel government"? Surely not . . . ? I've seen the comments about the FIA's Ferrari bias before, but being no expert I was not sure how seriously to take them. But this one has me speechless.

 

[recycled]

This rubbish is what caused the split of Indy and champ cars and also stuff like this caused the FISA/FOCA wars in the early 80's.
Now i am sure all those crashes montoya had with michael ,he could never have stood a chance of winning.
The conspiracy theories flying around on you tube about ferrari trying to dominate the sport by all means seem to be making sense now.
25 seconds penalty happen to just bring massa into place. now if massa was 4th, it may have been 1minute penalty

 

[AANDYY]

Am I missing something? Hamilton recovers from a mishap, gains a momentary advantage, but deliberately hands the lead back to Raikkonen -- and gets penalized? What's the logic here?

here here.

 

[oldcro]

Does the "F" in FI stand for Ferrari?

That's F1 finished for me, Ferrari are going to be driver and constructor champions regardless of final track positions.

 

[crockers]

Ok ..rules are rules and if Lewis broke a rule he should be penalised...

What I would like to see is in writing ...
1. What rule Lewis broke
2. The rulebook definition and the rulebook calculation of deemed penalties for breaking such a rule.


Otherwise its a case of hmmmm how much penalty to let Ferrari score ..

Hope there is an appeal -- but that is a waste of money.

 

[Ratz]

This rubbish is what caused the split of Indy and champ cars and also stuff like this caused the FISA/FOCA wars in the early 80's.
Now i am sure all those crashes montoya had with michael ,he could never have stood a chance of winning.
The conspiracy theories flying around on you tube about ferrari trying to dominate the sport by all means seem to be making sense now.
25 seconds penalty happen to just bring massa into place. now if massa was 4th, it may have been 1minute penalty

I was thinking the same, I have no recollection of a '25' second penalty ever being handed out in 30 years of watching, why 25??

It's probably a long time since F1 was a 'sport' but they have even given up trying to pretend. Perhaps the time is not too far away when the saying 'never bite the hand that feeds you' will be etched on the gravestone of F1.

I am very very close to not watching any more, the only thing that keeps me coming back is the hope that Lewis will win despite the FIA & Ferrari's best efforts.

 

[glojo]

We seem to be forgetting that Kovalainen was also given a drive through penalty for accidentally hitting Webber. This person is the McLaren number two driver and was fast making up positions and closing down on Massa.

If we agree with this drive through penalty then can we remember how Kimi rammed the innocent Force India car at Monaco? This incident deprived Force India of an amazing and unrepeatable result. It was a terrible mistake by the Ferrari driver but deemed a racing incident.

Today the number two McLaren tagged the Red Bull when Kovalainen made an error of judgement, a drive through penalty was the result. During the incident that saw Lewis punished Raikkonen rammed into the back of the lead McLaren, just like Kovalainen's incident no damage was caused, BUT............................... Was the Ferrari team been punished?

During the GP2 event this week-end at the same circuit we saw a driver do exactly the same thing as Massa at the last Grand Prix when Massa simply received a 10,000 euro fine. This week-end though the driver received a drive through penalty. It is not good enough, it is not fair but it is typical of what has been going on ever since the re-invention of Ferrari and yes..... it was exactly the same during the schumacher era. Ferrari were untouchable and instead of listing all the ramblings I will merely say barge-boards

John

 

[st4]

Am I missing something? Hamilton recovers from a mishap, gains a momentary advantage, but deliberately hands the lead back to Raikkonen -- and gets penalized? What's the logic here?

None, I didn't see any foul play. Hamilton cut the corner to avoid a collision, gained advantage and as per the rile allowed Raikkonen to pass again, albiet in a way that maybe facilitated him repassing Raikkonen, but Raikkonen spun off, so there is no issue here that I can see.

 

[whitenemesis]

This is all to do with TV ratings and nothing unique to F1. Some very curious safety car incidents in BTC and WTC just to close up the field.

I must say though FIA are particularly crass in the way they manipulate the situation

 

[andy_k]

the day the FIA finally killed Formula 1

I wonder what other penalties they'll be able to dream up to stop him from winning a championship?

constable savage springs to mind

 

[rooted]

The FIA statement, just copied off the ITV F1 website:
' Hamilton was deemed to have "cut the chicane and gained an advantage", thereby breaching Article 30.3(a) of the sporting regulations and Appendix L chapter 4 Article 2 (g) of the International Sporting Code.'

Presumably the stewards were watching another race (perhaps a video game provided by Ferrari in their hospitality suite , because it was clear that Hamilton immediately paused to let Raikkonen repass him. To do this Lewis must have lifted off the throttle, whereas Kimi would have been accelerating hard (or as hard as he dare in the conditions) as soon as he exited the corner.

Lewis's subsequent overtaking was therefore the result of superior acceleration and traction, rather than creating an unfair advantage for himself. He is simply a better driver, in a better car, in the wet - as was demonstrated shortly afterwards by Raikkonen losing control and crashing out.

This is an utterly absurd decision, and the fact that it has been taken under the 'Sporting Code' is a tragic irony, if there can be such a thing.

I'm not sure if McLaren can appeal, but it would probably be futile given the clear Ferrari bias in the FIA. Unfortunately taking the moral victory in F1 counts for nothing.