MS was disqualified from the whole season.
That is the biggest fudge of all time. This person can win races when he fails to complete a drive through penalty and then allegedly be removed from a season's racing but still be allowed to keep his points!! What was the point of the punishment? McLaren had their points removed last year and those points were taken away..... gone. smuck face was hauled before the beak, found guilty
but then what? As runner-up (first placed looser) his name was removed from the results. Wow what an awful punishment especially as he was allowed to keep the points
Unlike McLaren
I have no problem with team orders when the number two driver has no chance of winning a championship and his team-mate has, but just reading these posts highlights what a fudge it all is. I agree about Haikkonen and Coulthard to a point but they are paid to race, not make 'unofficial'
agreements. Don't forget this was the first race of the season and the team did not want to put undue stress on their very fast cars. The Damon Hill, Ralf Schumacher example was blatant, but nowhere near as blatant as the Barrichello, smuck face farce.
Another extremely strange and perverted issue which turned me right off Ferrari and their shenanigans was the way they treated Eddie Irvine. When smuck face broke his leg the World Championship was there for the taking but Ferrari did everything they could to prevent their number two driver from taking the title. No one, but no one will ever convince me that it was an accident when a tyre man comes out to change at wheel during a routine pit-stop and then forgets to bring out the tyre!!!! This may not be team orders but it is certainly NOT in the spirit of motor racing.
When Massa won his first race for Ferrari the first words he muttered when he crossed the line was an apology!!!! (smuck face was unable to overtake the cars in front even though Massa was standing by to surrender his lead.
The FIA should realise that Ferrari have for ages believed they are bigger than the sport they are participating in and that to me is bad, bad for the competition and bad for us.
In qualifying Raikkonen achieved his fastest lap under yellow flag conditions, everyone thought he would go out and do another lap in case the officials decided he had failed to slow down for the waved yellows. Ferrari did not bother doing this.
Again with Raikkonen, do we remember the exhaust pipe blowing about in the breeze and liable to fall off? Lap after lap the car stayed out with this piece of metal flailing about in the breeze. The car came in to be refuelled (I thought he should have been called in by the officials way before this) The team re-fuelled the car but the pit crew left this loose piece of metal in situ. The car went back onto the circuit with this piece of metal still hanging by a thread, until eventually the item was ripped off the car and thankfully flew off into the outfield without causing injury. I certainly did not expect Ferrari to voluntarily come into the pits to have the part removed but the race stewards allegedly have a responsibility of care and that car should in my opinion have been called in as soon as the piece was identified as being loose and potentially having the ability to fall off and perhaps cause very serious injury or even death.
I think those of us that are criticising Raikkonen are still being unfair. He doesn't do the interview thing, he is not a P.R. person, he is a racer, who at the moment appears to be having problems, but he is in my opinion one of the best drivers out there and something is wrong, something is not right with the car and Massa is definitely getting more out of this faulted package.
PLEASE, please, please let there be rain this week-end...
I wish Hamilton's personality equalled his driving abilities, but we are talking racing, not personalities and so 'Go Hamilton, go!!!
And a big
To the Ferrari International Association
Regards
John the anti FIA person
