F1: What The Hell....

[Videoskooter]

...is happening with my favourite sport?

Just got back from a very rainy Francorchamps where we witnessed an exciting Belgian Grand Prix. Astonishing race on a utterly wet circuit. Drama when Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes) was in the ultimate battle with Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) and made Kimi lose control over his car and crashing thus paving the way for a victory by Hamilton.

Hamilton securing his first place in the driver's championship. And then...the race-commissioners come in, give Hamilton a 25-seconds penalty which puts him into 3rd place, behind Heidfeld and the "winner" Felipe Massa (Ferrari) so that the Italian team "wins" the Belgian Grand Prix?

Rules are rules but many people notice that those rules always seem to be implied in favor of Ferrari? Is this fair? Is this a tactic by Bernie Ecclestone to keep it exciting? Do they fear that Ferrari will leave F1?

I don't know but I'm not very happy with this, I can tell you that. It even makes me mad!

Russ, you are a F1-Fanatic too. What do you make of it?

[Adrian Scott]

I agree, Hamilton should have won. He made sure that he did not gain advantage and allowed Kimi to overtake him. However, it may be that because he use Kimi's slipstream to overtake on the next corner the the Stewards decided that he had gained unfair advantage. Since Kimi crashed out anyway because he could not control his car in the wet the whole thing becomes rather academic.

I've thought for years that Ferrari have had an advantage over the other teams when it comes to dealing with F1.

For me Hamilton won fair and square.:icon_evil:

[RetroRuss]

I have seen it again and again and heard both Lewis & Ron state that they did what they were supposed to do. It was reported here today that Ron Dennis asked Charlie Whiting twice if Lewis had followed the procedure - he said that they had. The way F1 works is that Charlie Whiting (the Race Director) will instruct the stewards to look at the race incident and they don't usually look at things independently.

We have to remember that the FIA is controlled by Max Mosely (son of the the late British Fascist leader Oswald Mosely). He happens to hate Ron Dennis. The three stewards (it was reported) backed Mosely in the recent vote of no confidence.

What will be interesting is to see whether the FIA will allow it to go to appeal - rules state you can't appeal a drive through penalty - which this ostensibly is.

In any event it is demeaning for the sport, totally unfair towards Lewis and McClaren and lends credence that the term FIA stands for Ferrari Interests Authority!! :icon_evil:

[Videoskooter]

What will be interesting is to see whether the FIA will allow it to go to appeal - rules state you can't appeal a drive through penalty - which this ostensibly is

Yes, you can, but during the race! This makes it difficult, of course, because the penalty was given after the checkered flag came down :icon_eek: The only thing McLaren can do (and they have done it now) is to got to appeal to the ICA (International Court Of Appeal) which is independent from the FIA. A decision is expected this month.

BTW, Niki Lauda has stated that Lewis Hamilton has made no mistake at all, on the contrary, he drove brilliantly and "did everything by the book".

Guys, there is something fishy about this all and it's time that the FIA sets the record straight.

[RetroRuss]

Of course there's something fishy!! The FIA are long time Ferrari supporters and anything that might stop Ferrari's domination of F1 must be nullified at all costs! We will see what happens at the appeal - which thankfully is fairly independent of the FIA - but not of Bernie!! (Ecclestone that is not Lopez!) :icon_lol:

[disco1999]

I am not a huge fan of F1 but I've had the opportunity for a few years to do some VIP driving for sponsors of F1 and few big names, like Ralph Schumacher for HP team in the streets of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the former big boss of AMD (Dr.Ruiz) and Jacques Villeneuve (Honda) in the streets of Montreal and Indianapolis.