PCA SDR

Did you hear they may take away Hamiltons points from the Japan race They are claiming he caused Sutil to crash into Weber even though he was ahead and gets to set the pace

Either they have decided Alonso will win the championship or they are becoming NASCAR and just want to make sure it comes down to the last race for excitement.

The FIA may be crazy, but they're not suicidal. It will never happen.

It was just announced that they would not penalize Hamilton. The Speed announcers made it sound like a done deal. Vettel's penalty was also dropped since practice so he will not be penalized 10 grid spots.

There is hope...

According to Planet F1 they even dropped Vettel's penalty..


Quote:
The FIA have confirmed that Lewis Hamilton will not be punished for allegedly driving erratically behind the Safety Car during last week's Japanese GP.

In a statement, stewards declared that conditions were so bad that it would be 'inappropriate' to punish any of the drivers involved in the crash between Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel.

As a result, not only has Hamilton avoided an penalty, but Vettel will not have to serve the ten grid-slot penalty imposed by stewards at Fuji for this weekend's Chinese GP. The youngster has instead received a 'reprimand'.

Vettel's team Toro Rosso had requested that the matter be re-examined due to the appearance of new footage after the German was penalised 10 places on the starting grid for this Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix .

The new video, which was filmed by a fan in the grandstand at the Fuji Speedway and appeared on YouTube, appeared to show the McLaren driver pulling over to the right-hand side of the track and braking sharply, causing Webber to also slow unexpectedly and catch Vettel off guard, causing him to drive into the back of the Australian....................

I don't think Hamilton is the innocent he appears to be. You don't become a rookie F1 world champion by being Mr. Nice-guy.
He did drive erratically behind the safety car, a very calculated move since the weather was so bad and Webber was in attack mode right behind him.
I have a feeling there's a Schumacher streak in him. The driving kind and also the win at any cost one.

Webber in attack mode? Were they not behind a safety car with it's lights still on?

All the great ones have a must win at all cost streak. Frank Williams said all the great ones are "bastards". Hamilton is in the best car in his first year. History is yet to be determined.

Gary Burch wrote:I don't think Hamilton is the innocent he appears to be. You don't become a rookie F1 world champion by being Mr. Nice-guy.
He did drive erratically behind the safety car, a very calculated move since the weather was so bad and Webber was in attack mode right behind him.
I have a feeling there's a Schumacher streak in him. The driving kind and also the win at any cost one.

I don't think he is innocent , but he is not guilty of anything at Japan. He was driving behind the safety car and he was trying to keep Webber off-guard for the restart. Due to the spray he was not likely to be able to see much in his mirrors and did not want to be a sitting duck and give Webber a run on the restart. I don't think he was trying to cause contact and it was the people behind (Webber & Vettel)who would be responsible for not running over the car in front
I think he is a very good racer and willing to do a lot to win. We have not seen him take anyone out to do so (like Schumacher and others) but Alonso might be surprised if he tries to squeeze him out on the first corner in China or especially Brazil if Kimi is out of the running by then. McLaren needs no Contructor's points so no need to worry there.

Greg

SDGT3 wrote:Webber in attack mode? Were they not behind a safety car with it's lights still on?

All the great ones have a must win at all cost streak. Frank Williams said all the great ones are "bastards". Hamilton is in the best car in his first year. History is yet to be determined.

Hamilton is certainly in one of the four best cars, but considering he is leading the other three in his rookie year, and considering Alonso and Kimi and even Massa are pretty darn good drivers, Hamilton has proven to me he is something special. Of the four, he is the only one not to make several "rookie" mistakes. He has kept his cool, and played the games better than the seasoned veterans. He may not be a 'nice' guy, but what he was doing behind the safety car was completely appropriate and expected from a winning driver. Vettel made a rookie mistake hitting Webber, Alonso made a rookie mistake hitting the wall, Kimi and Massa made several rookie moves. Only Hamilton didn't and even recovered very cooly from when he got hit and spun after the pit stops.

Jad wrote:Hamilton has proven to me he is something special.

I'll second that! You could tell right away in his GP2 career that the kid was going far, and now he is on the verge of becoming an F1 champion as a ROOKIE! That's incredible in itself.

Kimi and Massa made several rookie moves.

What about the Ferrari team's gambit of starting the race on intermediates instead of full rains!?!?! WTF was up with that? Kimi might have been there at the end if he didn't have to start at the back.

TT

Appears Hamilton picked the wrong time for a rookie episode. Spinning on the pit lane with the championship all but won...

Should make the Brazil GP one of the best ever.

Mission accomplished. Lewis has had his rookie mistake. Leading in China, all he had to do was stay on the track and finish within 2 points of Alonso and 7 points ahead of Kimi and he wraps it up. But he is racing for the win and forgets there is no dry line on the pit lane and goes off and into the gravel and game over. Kimi wins and gains 10 points and is only 7 back and Alonso is now only 4 back. Lewis is still ahead and only needs to drive a conservative race and finish with at least 7 points. Seemed so easy until this weekend

Greg

Brazil will be a most interesting race. I can't wait to see it and I'm betting on Hamilton.

Greg,

I'll bring back some pics for you.

Ferrari team's gambit of starting the race on intermediates instead of full rains!?!?! WTF was up with that? Kimi might have been there at the end if he didn't have to start at the back.

TT

Especially since it was illegal to do start on intermediates in a pace car start, I wonder if this would have happened if Schu was in the racing seat...

The lowdown on who, how and if...

http://www.planet-f1.com/story/0,18954,3213_2790234,00.html

Jad wrote:

SDGT3 wrote: Of the four, he is the only one not to make several "rookie" mistakes. He has kept his cool, and played the games better than the seasoned veterans.

You Jinxed him.