Talking Of F1's Latest Conspiracy Theory

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Tuesday 24th June 2008

Conspiracy or no conspiracy? That is the question that many PF1ers are asking in the wake of yet another McLaren penalty. Oh yes, and well done to Felipe Massa for winning...

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Something's Not Quite Right In The State Of F1
I am no McLaren fan - as a proud fan of straight-talking Paul Stoddart how could I be - but they do seem to be getting a surprising amount of attention from the FIA and stewards. Most of the recent penalties had been OK (unlike Stepneygate) but the one for Hamilton on Vettel shows that they never get the benefit of the doubt often afforded to others.

I truly hope this is not a conspiracy and that it is just a result of McLaren not being trusted in the FIA's eyes following Stepneygate. However with the tunnel visioned and untrustworthy Moseley at the helm, and the ridiculously unrepresentative voting membership that protects him, anything is possible. The sooner this braggart is dumped the better for all. But please don't let Jean Todt get behind the wheel for no other reason than to prevent future Ferrari favouritism claims - although why Jean should do so after being dumped is beyond me.

On the subject of stewards I do not understand why a past member of the GPDA could not be made a permanent Driving Standards Observer to adjudicate on driver related incidents. Similarly a permanent Team/Manufacturers Observer drafted from the ranks of retired Team Members could adjudicate Team related incidents or discrepancies. The Hamilton issue took far too long to assess and the team should have had almost immediate information given to them suggesting they redress as a penalty is likely. The apparent delay in raising the "under investigation" message is unacceptable and if it was not done in a timely manner the issue should have been dropped. I am surprised that McLaren didn't redress the situation anyway as the risk was too great even considering how difficult it is to pass at Magny-Cours. I can only assume that given the use of the run off areas to complete or hold on to passes without penalty in past races they thought they were clear.

Even the now defunct ChampCar series had this process addressed better than F1 with immediate radio contact of impending investigations. And yes all radio contact should be available to the media to assist in keeping everyone honest. Time for F1 to actually operate like the pinnacle of motorsport it should be.
Craig, Australia

All Those In Favour Of A Conspiracy
Well unfortunately McLaren is still not flavour of the month so the penalty was inevitable, had Lewis sneezed at the wrong time he would have been penalised.

But Ferrari can do anything they like, as usual. They are allowed to continue running a car with bits hanging off, and when it eventually falls off nobody says anything, despite the car being lighter than it should be, a danger to other cars, and potentially catching fire because of the missing bit, it could only be allowed for a Ferrari!
Tim Riley

...Lewis Hamilton had already passed Sebastian Vettel before he shortcut the chicane. It was shown several times on TV and it could be plainly seen that the pass had been made and shortcutting the chicane did not advance him further.

I find it interesting that the F1 Officials slap a penalty on Hamilton for something he didn't do, but they let Raikkonen fly around the track with his exhaust pipe held on by only a weak piece of metal and flopping all over his car. Had that exhaust pipe broken loose it could well have hit another driver and caused a serious accident.

If my understanding of the rules is correct, the officials should have demanded that Raikkonen come in to the pits and have the errant exhaust pipe removed. Yet, even after a pit stop, the Ferrari team was not ordered to remove the loose exhaust pipe.

How do you spell favoritism, prejudice and rife politics in F1?
James Jensen

...Without a doubt the stewards at Magny-Cours showed a staggering degree of incompetence in handing Hamilton a drive-through penalty. Had they done the same to Ferrari I have no doubt that the Italian team would have instructed their driver to stay out on track and race while they dealt with the ludicrous situation in the stewards' office. For once I would have been in full agreement with them.

The simple fact is that L.H. could easily have kept all four wheels on the track, but David Coulthard's Red Bull was in the very space that Hamilton was driving into. Watch the replay, L.H. definitely steers off-track to avoid the Red Bull ahead of him, had he not done so he would undoubtedly 'done a Kimi', taking both himself and D.C. out of the race. Prior to the overtaking maneuver, L.H. would not have had a good view of the cars ahead and was therefore dealing with the situation as he came across it.

Once again we are left to wonder at the true motives of the stewards.
Paul Simons

...What sort of sport applies penalties so inconsistently and that seem to be handed out depending on what driver or team it is? Isn't what happened in France proof that the malevolent Max Mosley has truly got it in for Lewis Hamilton and the McLaren team.

If one of the Ferraris wins the Championship this year, the victory will be tainted by cheating, unfairness and prejudice.
A Parker, London

And Those Against A Conspiracy
Hamilton had to be penalised, whatever Dennis moans about. He badly overdid a few times in the first part of the race and was well lucky not to fly off the road or crash into someone else's car.

What he showed this time was definitely not a display of controlled aggression, rather some kind of "the track is all mine and mine only and I can do what I want" attitude. In this and other regards, he's the perfect product of the McLaren corporation.
Luca Biason, Beijing, China

...Obviously this is Hamilton's rookie year, he makes stupid mistakes and then cries when the consequences come, and Ron Dennis is also not doing himself any favors in the popularity game by backing his driver up when it is clear to the whole world that the 2nd year round rookie is not handling the pressure of his "superstardom" very well.

This weekends incident was typical, the moment that he made that pass the live TV cam was from his car and anyone watching could clearly see there was no way he would have ever braked in time for the Apex and just went straight through. The first thing that all of us around the table said was ooh shame now he has to give the place back however to our surprise he kept on racing, even the avid McLaren fans thought this was strange tactics and were sitting waiting to see if it would be just a drive through penalty or a 10 second penalty. The smart (or experienced) thing to do would have been to give the position back which he would pass again shortly after and set himself up for the race. However this is again an example of how the youngster is blown up to be a superhero drive without having to face the consequences of his actions.

Maybe Dennis should tell him how stupid he was otherwise it might end up ruining his career as he would continue on this path of destruction. Hamilton fully deserves his penalty for missing the Apex in the middle of a passing maneuver as well as the one he receive in Canada for skipping the red light (remember Montoya for the same incident in Canada).
Geoffrey Wild

...The Hamilton stewards decision; it was the correct one. If he had not been penalised, it would allow everyone to do the same for the entire race.
Dane

Lewis & The Daily Mail
The Mail are a nasty paper - we already know that. If I were Lewis, I wouldn't read the press, I would tell everyone around me to not tell me what was said, and I would say as little as possible to them. Act like the robot he has previously been accused of and how the other drivers behave. It must be very difficult for him when he's not only victimised by the FIA but now by certain elements of the right-wing media.
A Parker

...Everyone knows that The Daily Mail is unreasonable right-wing rabbit-hutch liner read by the middle-class-wanna-be-upper-class who are scared of everything and bizarrely jealous of the poor and needy.

Why anyone would believe what is printed in their tatty newspaper is beyond me. Personally I'm still waiting for that skin-eating bacteria to arrive in this country, as they reported on a few years ago. Or the tidal-wave of AIDS-ridden, hoodie-wearing, knife-wielding pedophile asylum seekers who apparently come to our country.

Let what's published in the Daily Mail stay in the Daily Mail and don't subject the rest of us to their schizophrenic chuntering.
Steve England

...I'm hardly driven to leap to the defense of the Daily Mail but PG's editorial skirts around the facts that seem to be alienating Lewis Hamilton from the public.

We all screw up from time to time and people just want to see him put his hand up, rather than everything being somebody else's fault. He's bathed in the glory and limelight of the admittedly quite extraordinary start to his career and good luck to him, but with limelight come shadows, and he has to learn to deal with that.

PG states that he's suffered three penalties this season; yes, and your point is? Are you suggesting they were unjust? The reality is that he's made three infringements worthy of penalty, so he should stop bemoaning his fate.

He claims to be strong mentally, but with his behaviour and attitude this weekend I'm not so sure. Be frustrated by all means but the bottom line to all this is that he'd now be standing 3 feet taller in the eyes of the public if, after Canada, he'd just owned up and said. "Yep, I screwed up."
Paul Barrow

Lewis Is A Strop
Once again we're treated to the well-balanced view of the world according to a grumpy Mr Integrity. It seemed pretty clear that Hamilton was able to pass Vettel only because he was going too fast to stay on the circuit and straight lined the chicane to recover from that fact. You call the judgement contentious but rules are rules, and I don't see how the Stewards could call it differently, nor do I see any reason why they should have done so. What is surprising is that Hamilton and McLaren didn't manage the situation in a better way. It's not as if it was the final lap of racing for a win. It was early days, so why didn't Hamilton err on the side of caution and hand the place back. Why didn't the pit advise him/instruct him to do so? I suspect part of the reason why neither side acted in a more measured manner is due to an over inflated sense of self-importance.

And the outcome? Stomping out of the circuit in a childish and petulant manner; and this from a guy who not two hours earlier had appeared on the Lewis Hamilton show (aka ITV F1) and bragged to Steve Rider that he doesn't care what the press say, that they can't crack him, that adverse publicity just makes him stronger, that he isn't creaking or cracking under the pressure. It would seem not!

You don't see Kubica, Kovalainen, Piquet and the other newcomers endlessly courting fame and celebrity - mostly they just keep their heads down and get on with it. Nobody's made Hamilton to dance in the limelight at every conceivable opportunity, but he certainly seems to have chosen to do so and is as much to blame as anybody for the way his reputation has developed. It is no coincidence.
Paul Barrow

Lewis Is Cracking...
Sure, "Pressure is not getting to me..."

I bet he also believes in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.
Ed Garrido, USA

It's All About What Colour The Glasses Are Tinted
I suppose it's all a matter of perspective. Andrew 'Fernando Alonso stole my girlfriend/ball/race seat' Davies thinks it was a marvelous pass by Lewis on lap 19.

I, and most other people I've spoken to think it was a stupid, unnecessary risk by a rattled and peeved driver who wanted to flex his superior machinery muscles before he pitted...
Katy, UK

All Things France
Ferrari should count themselves lucky, an easy 1-2 finish could so easily have become a lonely win for Massa. Kimi's exhaust failure and damage to the bodywork saw his car quite literally gasping for air, yet testament to the hard work of the Ferrari crew still managed to take the car to a very solid (and much needed) second place.

The biggest surprise of the dull French GP had to be the third place finish by Jarno Trulli for Toyota. He drove the race of his life and was treated to his national anthem thanks to the Ferrari win. I was really happy to see the Toyota driver doing well. Many teams have jumped to sign very young drivers for this season, in the hopes that they could get another Lewis, but it does seem that the older (and more experienced) drivers are doing a lot better.

BMW felt the wrath of the old saying "being built up for a fall". Two weeks ago the team pulled of a wonderful 1-2 only to find themselves taking home a lonely fifth place. The 4 points that Kubica takes with him does mean a lot in terms of the Driver's Championship though, it's 4 more points he puts between himself and Hamilton.

McLaren once again, managed to make a mess of a race where solid points finishes were on the cards. McLaren is doing a 2007 all over again. Heikki was in a very strong position to actually challenge for the podium (maybe even second place), yet Ron decided that Lewis had to be given track position (regardless of the fact that Lewis was under investigation at the time). Heikki must be helped if McLaren wants the Constructor's Championship. Poor strategy by the Woking team.

Lewis' penalty will be talked about for many years. Racing Vettel, Lewis did in fact pass Vettel going into Turn 7. Lewis could not slow down enough and cut a corner in the chicane (the only chicane at the circuit, mind you). The stewards decided that Lewis gained an advantage (ie. he stayed ahead of Vettel) by doing so and gave him a drive-through penalty. Had Lewis locked a wheel and made some smoke, he would have gotten away with it. As it was, it looked planned and an easy way to defend his pass. Hamilton will now have to work very hard to get himself back into a natural rhythm and get his focus in the right place.

The only other incidents to take place during the race that had any value in terms of excitement were Piquet pipping Alonso and Button managing to crash himself and retire from the race.

Ferrari's year is back on track. Monaco and Montreal now in the distance the team kicked off the European leg with a 1-2 and big smiles. The pace the team showed during winter testing seems to be creeping back and should cause some worries for the other teams. As it is, Ferrari might be as unbeatable as they were in 2002 and 2004.

Forza Ferrari! Au revoir Magny-Cours!
Chris van Wyk, South Africa

...Wow! The stewards are a bunch of drunken sailors it seems. First of all, they delayed the call on Lewis for the drive-through. Why didn't they just radio and let Vettel past? But you must wonder, McLaren-Merc must've known that and just taken the risk but then they would have radioed to them asking if Lewis needs to let Vettel through! What a mess. Poor Heikki! Five spots for not letting Webbo through. Not like Nakajima helped. I suppose Heikki could have gone off at that turn. I do recall Kimi going off at Turn 8 in Turkey to let some people through, that's fairly courteous. Stewards must just be stamping their authority, coincidently on two McLarens.

Props to Massa for admitting he was slower and that 0.300 faster being light was not enough. Seemed as though he didn't like to swallow that though. The last 5 fastest laps belong to Kimi, that's encouraging. Felipe looked rather happy on the podium. Who knows what he would have looked like if he won it by merit and not luck. Props to Trulli also - a good chap like himself deserves good results. Where is the love for Markus Webber? You look at the list of people behind him and boy has it got some history and flare. Alonso, Rosberg, Coulthard, Barrichello, Button. No love ITV? Not a little? If Coulthard and Webber switched spots I'm sure it'd make a few chins wag with David being Brit and all correct? Ooops.
Tanzil, Canberra

Three Cheers For Massa
Felipe is doing a very good job. Remember that he did not make any points in the first two GPs, and now is leading the Drivers' standings, five points ahead of his team-mate and ten ahead of Lewis.

Salute Felipe.
Roberto Pontes

Alonso Wouldn't Waste His Time With Honda
I do not see a chance of "Alonso going to Honda". Why would a world-class driver waste one more year fixing a broken car/team? He already wasted this year by joining Renault.

Alonso should have stayed in McLaren and he could have easily be the No.1 in the team. Anyways, in 2009 he will be surely driving for either Ferrari or BMW.

I'm sure, this year too it's gonna be a Kimi and Lewis fight and Massa will be moving out of Ferrari this year.
Prasanth Sylvester