FIA TRULY STINKS

[Bob Gagnon]

Can you even imagine that call being make against Michael? No way!

LET THEM RACE

Can you imagine that call being made against any Ferrari driver?

[SDGT3]

wasn't there more than one defensive move by Raikkonen?

No. In fact, Kimi unexplainably moved track left and gave inside position to Hamilton going into La Source.

With regard to the 25 second rule, there was no time left in the race to give a drive-thru penalty as what Heikki had to do earlier in the race for causing a crash, so the 25 second penalty was administered after the race. Twenty-five seconds is the approximate time that it takes to enter the pit and exit on a drive-thru. A little talked about sidenote to the race was a 25 sec. penalty against Timo Glock for passing Mark Webber under yellow. This penalty was administered post race and took the Toyota out of the last points paying position.

For the record I believe the penalty was harsh and will be overturned on appeal. McLaren has objective telemetry (according to what they have said thusfar) indicating that Hamilton lifted and was 6 kph slower than Kimi on the front straight.

[SDGT3]

McLaren file official appeal against Hamilton's penalty
09 September 2008


The Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team filed an official appeal against the penalty handed out to Lewis Hamilton by the race stewards at Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix. Hamilton was given a 25-seconds penalty for cutting the chicane in the final laps of the race.

McLaren believes Hamilton has done nothing wrong in the final stages of the race. McLaren CEO Martin Whitmarsh explains: "Following our decision to register our intention to appeal the penalty handed out to Lewis Hamilton by the FIA Stewards at the 2008 Belgian Grand Prix, we hereby confirm that we have now lodged notice of appeal."

Hamilton describes the incident as follows: "In the closing stages of the race I was catching Kimi consistently, lap by lap, and with three laps remaining I got close enough to attempt to overtake him on the entry to the last chicane. I managed to get slightly ahead of him in the braking area for the first apex of the chicane. He fought back approaching the second apex - but, in doing so, he left no room for me on the inside line. The only way for me to avoid a collision was therefore to cut inside the second apex.

"I came out of the second apex in front of Kimi and so I momentarily lifted-off on the straight, to ensure that Kimi got back in front. The team also came on the radio and instructed me to allow Kimi to repass, which I had already done. As a result, Kimi crossed the start/finish line ahead of me and 6.7km/h quicker than me.

"After allowing Kimi to completely repass, I crossed from the left side of the track to the right side of the track, passing behind Kimi in the process. I then attacked Kimi on the inside of the first corner, and successfully outbraked him."

Martin Whitmarsh added: "From the pit wall, we then asked Race Control to confirm that they were comfortable that Lewis had allowed Kimi to repass, and they confirmed twice that they believed that the position had been given back in a manner that was 'okay'.

"If Race Control had instead expressed any concern regarding Lewis's actions at that time, we would have instructed Lewis to allow Kimi to repass for a second time."

[Bob Gagnon]

I think this raises the question of whether there should be penalties whenever one uses a run off zone and is able to reenter the track without stopping.

There were so many times during the race when drivers went completely off the track and were able to rejoin the race with no penalty.

If those same run off zones were gravel traps a lot of stories would have changed.

[MR LIPP]

I would even bet Kimi crashed because he was not happy due to this pass

That was my first reaction also.

[Jad]

He crashed after the second/third pass because he gained the lead again after Nick came back on the track blocking them both giving Kimi the lead AGAIN. Hamilton was quickly pulling away again when Kimi crashed. In those conditions, he better not have been thinking about 2 passes back, or he deserves to have crashed if he is that unprofessional.

McLaren having gotten a ruling during the race that everything was ok and Hamilton letting Kimi by is more that reasonable to not get a penalty. Give him a $10k fine like when Massa left his pit when it was safe, don't take a spectacular race win away.

[MVZ944T]

I agree with Chad. Even if Kimi did not push Hamilton off intentionally, he was in my opinion forced into the runoff area. Hamilton clearly let Kimi repass and take the lead, even if it was for a short time before he did pass Kimi again. This is just another case of the meddling fools running F1. The teams should have made good their threat from a few years past and tell F1 to take a hike and start something new. Bernie "Meddlesom" is nothing but an arrogant, and overyly rich fool

[Greg Phillips]

Yes it turned into quite an exciting race in the last few laps, to be spoiled by a penalty by the stewards.
I thought that Hamilton had passed Kimi under braking and had the corner when Kimi tired to repass and pushed him wide where his options were to go to the chicane or have contact with Kimi. I don't think Kimi had that corner.
After cutting the chicane and passing Kimi, he did lift and let Kimi by before accelerating and passing him again. If he had not tried the previous pass and followed Kimi through the chicane he still would have been on Kimi's gearbox and in position to pass after the chicane. Looking at the in-car footage you could see how fast he was gaining even before trying to pass.
In the Pouhon corner I think Kimi also gained an advantage by staying on the paved run off area rather than coming back on track though the grass as Hamilton did.
As regards when they came upon the car coming on track in front of them, I was surprised there would not have been a yellow flag somewhere to warn the drivers (and prevent passing).
And even if the stewards felt there was a problem, you would have thought they could have raised it immediately and had it resolved before going through the ceremonies.
And if they had given the penalty at the time of infraction, I think Hamilton would have been able to stay 25 seconds ahead of Massa at the finish.
All in all a black eye for F1, even Niki Lauda finally believes that the FIA is biased towards Ferrari: http://www.itv-f1.com/news_article.aspx?id=43875

Greg

[mrondeau]

I saw this post on a UK blog regarding the race.

Got a Ferrari?

Not quite good enough at driving?

Are other boys faster than you in the wet?

Then you need:

Ferrari International Assistance (FIA)


This exclusive Ferrari only membership club has many benefits. Including:

- Anti overtaking assurance
Been overtaken? Feel a bit silly? Don�t worry, we�ll rule out the other party, even if it�s embarrassingly obvious that they�re faster than you

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Just to make things a little bit easier we�ve arranged a private second lane , just for you

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Had a crash? Need to win the world championship? Don�t worry just limp across the track and take off your nearest championship title contender � we�ll do the rest

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At Ferrari International Assistance we operate a �blind eye� policy just for Ferrari drivers

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It�s ok, as long as you didn�t hurt yourself. I mean, who are Force India anyway? And how dare they be in from of you

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With FIA plus you can take part in a number of additional membership activities

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Ferrari International Assistance - Making it up as we go along for over 100 years

[Gary Burch]

In the final analysis Hamilton is a much better and faster driver than Kimi in the wet... now that may be due to his car, but that doesn't really matter. Because, the pass was inevitable.

Even with all the trouble, Hamilton was 9 seconds faster than Massa on the last lap of the race.

[Autobahn]

You know... this was the only race this year that had me jumping off the couch screaming at the TV. What a spectacular race!! Then this BS. They need Tony Gorge to come over to the FIA and split F1 in half, then it can sink faster than it is.

[Greg Phillips]

You know... this was the only race this year that had me jumping off the couch screaming at the TV. What a spectacular race!! Then this BS. They need Tony Gorge to come over to the FIA and split F1 in half, then it can sink faster than it is.

C'mon, Tony has done as much as he could with F1 at Indy, he was able to get rid of over half the field one year

But maybe if he went to Europe he could be even more effective

Greg

[993Panzer]

McLaren’s Hamilton Spa appeal ruled inadmissible

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2008/9/8417.html

I was wondering how the FIA would weasle there way into keeping this in favor of Ferrari.

Hamilton out drove all the other drivers, plain and simple. It's all in the past now. On to Singapore.

[Zulu993]

Yes, the FIA does "whatever", however, this thread truely rips with a Jad vs. Martin race. Jad you and Martin could get it going at the Dec POC Drivers Clinic. Not to late to qualify for the clinic! Who will lift going into 8 & 9 at Willow?

[993Panzer]

I found out this weekend that it was the Ferrari attorneys that pointed out the rule stating the appeal was inadmissible.

We'll see if we get into the Racer's clinic. I believe Martin has already applied. I'll be sending an email request in the next couple of days. Kris has already been accepted. As far as turns 8 and 9. Yes flat out through 8 but you'd better brake for 9 or you'll be on a wild ride.