Hamilton stripped of win!

It seems that McLaren have really upset the 'authorities' in the F1 fraternity.

Yep, certainly does. In my view, as a Ferrari AND Hamilton fan, Lewis gave the 'momentum' back to Kimi after the chicane. That should have been enough.
All I want for this season now is for Ferrari to grab the constructors and Lewis the driver's championship.
McLaren are being treated in the same way that Leeds United were for last season!!

Tony

Pro ferrari bias returns to F1 authorities - plus ca change...

cant understand why ? he did nothing wrong...it was pure racing in bad conditions.
why not demoted to 2nd ? why 3rd ?

I feel very sorry for Hamilton. I am not a McLaren fan, I have supported Williams since 1982, but there does appear to be a vendetta against Ron Dennis at the top of F1.

Hamilton made a few silly mistakes last season and earlier this season, but has demonstrated an increasing maturity as this season has progressed. I can see nothing wrong in what he did and, indeed, think what happened was unavoidable.

It would be a shame if he was denied the world title through politics.

Perhaps he needs to move to Ferrari in order to become world champion as competitiveness prevents all other marques than Ferrari or McLaren winning and politics seems to exclude McLaren.

quote:

McLaren are being treated in the same way that Leeds United were for last season!!

So I guess you are saying it is fair decision after all.

NEWS FLASH! The FIA have just released some new rules for 2009:

1/ Thou shalt not pass a red car
2/ Thou shalt not drive a silver car

Courtesy of Autosprt.com:

"McLaren say they had no option but to register their intention to appeal against Lewis Hamilton's penalty at the Belgian GP after data showed the Briton had backed off to let Kimi Raikkonen through on the start-finish straight."

Erm, good luck, McLaren.

Tony

25s = a drive through penalty.
This is just a long line of bollox decisions most against silver cars.
Just look at Massa's non error in the last GP "dangerous release from a pit stop" no censure! Look in GP2 Saturday Senna is given a drive through for a less dangerous release.
FYI Senna was not driving a red car.

After other sporting disappointments this weekend this is wonderful news!

Never been a Maclaren/Dennis fan. Both deserve all the ill will and any bad luck that is going.

quote:

Originally posted by Nick from Suffolk:
After other sporting disappointments this weekend this is wonderful news!

Never been a Maclaren/Dennis fan. Both deserve all the ill will and any bad luck that is going.

Care to expand?

Tony

No need of any explanations. M/D deserve each other. It is almost a shame that hamilton drives for such an outfit.

English hifi forum....

English F1 team....

English F1 driver....

English bias...?

I doubt that McLaren would enjoy the support on this forum if it were a French team. Every time the rules are enforced against McLaren I can depend on reading about the pro-Ferrari bias here in the Padded Cell.

Does the advantage of the decision going to the BMW as well as the Ferrari mean that there is now a pro-BMW bias with the F1 authorities...?

quote:

Originally posted by Nick from Suffolk:
It is almost a shame that hamilton drives for such an outfit.

Well we agree on this if not the rugby, but I don't think that Hamilton deserves to be caught up in the politics and suffer as a consequence.

I used to watch "F1" when it was on the BBC years ago. Lost interest, and it seems like it is running with puss and nastiness now. A real turn off if ever.

ATB from George

quote:

No need of any explanations. M/D deserve each other. It is almost a shame that hamilton drives for such an outfit.

Great explanation dick

I thought Hamilton gained from the incident. He chose to go into the escape road rather than brake, yes he allowed the Ferrari past but it was a token effort and he was all over him an instant later. Fairly marginal, could have gone either way but I don't think an absolute shocker of a decision.

I'm less sure if the Ferrari 'had' the corner and was guilty of squeeezing him wide. Hard to penalise him now though!

Hamilton lost out because he was too agressive in my book. He also spun out of the lead on the first couple of laps. I do wish the UK media would stop sanctifying him. Still lacks maturity of judgement for me.

First race I've watched for months. I only did so in hope of it raining!

Bruce

Oh. And well done to Heidfeld for going in for appropriate tyres with only 2 laps left. A lesson to be learned?

Tony

It seems that the FIA have forgotten what racing was supposed to be about, and I saw this on the news as I stopped watching years ago when I would only wake up to find I've missed it and crawl off to bed. It became the most boring thing on TV with nothing going on.
Might as well just show a video link to the M25. Big Brother for cars.

Until there is a fundamental change to the format, and racing is once again allowed on the track, then I think the BBC would do well to run classic 80s & 90s races at the same time that ITV are doing the highlights. I wonder who would get higher ratings? This sport is in crisis and I don't understand why the FIA don't acknowledge this. It seems to be more a venue for big business corporate entertainment than a proper sport these days. I'm glad that Colin Chapman doesn't have to witness this.

The crisis has been acknowledged by the FIA. There are quite a few changes to the cars next year, and engine technology has been all but frozen for the next few years.
As for the '80s and '90s, well most races were a little short of overtaking then too! Yes, there were a handful of classic races, but we've had some of those this year too.

All Lewis had to do was let Kimi lead out of La Source... he would have nailed him easily on the top straight after Eau Rouge.

Tony

quote:

Originally posted by Tony Lockhart:
The crisis has been acknowledged by the FIA. There are quite a few changes to the cars next year, and engine technology has been all but frozen for the next few years.
As for the '80s and '90s, well most races were a little short of overtaking then too! Yes, there were a handful of classic races, but we've had some of those this year too.


Tony

YEAH, I WAS SHOCKED TOO after heard the news that his win got taken away.

but thinking back to the incident, i feel its a 50:50 agrument and absolutely agree that

"All Lewis had to do was let Kimi lead out of La Source... he would have nailed him easily on the top straight after Eau Rouge."

Lewis' car was clearly performing much better as soon as the rain had started, he should have wait a bit longer, that said, what would i do if i was him? very possbily the same.

quote:

Originally posted by Ewan Aye:
It seems to be more a venue for big business corporate entertainment than a proper sport these days. I'm glad that Colin Chapman doesn't have to witness this.

That would be Colin Chapman of Lotus whose cars were the first F1 cars to carry the name and wear the colours of their sponsor?

Smartarse

I think a replay is needed here.

I think Lewis was in the wrong.

Tony

He should know...and he raced for both teams, winning two titles in red and only one in (then) red and white, so unlikely to be biased against any team and all for racing.

"This is the worst judgement in the history of F1," fulminated former champion and television commentator Niki Lauda after race stewards handed McLaren's championship leader a retrospective 25-second penalty that dropped him to third place.

"It's absolutely unacceptable when three (stewards) influence the championship like this," the Austrian said.