Singapore Grand Prix: FIA Dish Out More Harsh Penalties

The stewards in Singapore handed out two penalties following an incident involving Nick Heidfeld, of BMW-Sauber, and Rubens Barrichello, of Honda, during the first qualifying session.

Due to the disturbing nature of the track design, whereby the pitlane entrance and exit are on the racing line, Heidfeld inadvertently blocked Barrichello, who was on a flying lap.

Heidfeld, who had qualified in P6, will be demoted to 9th on the grid for impeding Barrichello’s lap, whilst the Brazilian picks up a 10,000€ fine for an incorrect entry to the pit lane.

Neal’s View: If anyone should be picking up penalties it is the circuit designer. To have the pitlane entrance and exit on the racing line is pure madness, and both Heidfeld and Barrichello can feel rightly agrieved about the incident.

Singapore Grand Prix: Heikki Plays His Joker

McLaren-Mercedes have announced that Heikki Kovalainen utilised his ‘free’ engine change prior to today’s qualifying session at the Singapore Grand Prix.

All drivers are permitted one ‘joker’ engine change this season, and after noticing some wear on Kovalainen’s engine, opted to play that card.

Mercedes’ motorsports boss Norbert Haug said:

“We have changed the engine in Heikki’s car as a precaution.

“We saw a little bit of usage in the engine and this is a joker engine – so there is no grid penalty applied. The decision was taken yesterday.”

Haug insisted that the move was merely precautionary, and would not have been taken under last season’s rules, where there was no ‘joker’.

“If there was not a joker engine we would certainly have done nothing, and the chances that we would not have a problem are really high.

“It is a critical time of the year and if you have it available you should use it. We have had very good reliability so far. If you see only a risk of one or two percent, maybe it is even less, then you should use it if you can.”

Fellow McLaren driver, and Drivers’ Championship leader, Lewis Hamilton still has his ‘joker’ to play with four races, including tomorrow’s Singapore Grand Prix, remaining.

Neal’s View: This penalty-free engine change helps keep the top drivers racing each other. However, the rules are there for a reason, and should an engine fail, the same penalty should apply if it is the first time, or the twentieth.

Hamilton: Cocky or Comedian? You Decide!

Below is part of a courtroom examination between McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari lawyer Nigel Tozzi:

Hamilton: Are you a racing driver? No! I have been a racing driver since I was eight years old and I know pretty much every single manoeuvre in the book, and that’s why I’m the best at my job. We are talking about a skilled driver under intense pressure making a split-second decision which no-one, not unless they are in Formula One, can comprehend.

Tozzi: Stop personalising the issue… [I am] under instruction from Ferrari who know as much about Formula One as you do!

Hamilton: With respect, I doubt it.

So, Lewis Hamilton; cocky or comedian – you decide! Click here

La Source-gate: Drivers Have Their Say

Felipe Massa:

“What happened is that he took an advantage by cutting the chicane.

“You can ask drivers how many overtaking moves you see there.

“None between the last corner and the first corner, because there is such a small straight there. That is my opinion and it doesn’t change.”

Sebastian Bourdais:

“I think it is very clear, the rules are clear. Maybe the penalty is very hard but he has made the same mistake twice, he did in Magny-Cours and he did it in Spa.

“I don’t really understand why there is such a mess around it, there is a rule book and everyone has to obey the same thing. The penalty is rough but it is up to you to give the position back.”

Nico Rosberg:

“He did have an advantage because he would not be so close if he had not cut the chicane but the penalty was a bit harsh as it did not have a big result in the end result. But it won’t stop us from trying to attack definitely.”

Jarno Trulli:

“I agree the penalty was quite big but I am not a steward. But it is also clear he got an advantage.

“The rules are very clear, if you cut the chicane you get the advantage you have to drop it and lose advantage, in Lewis’ case he should not attack in the first corner that is it.

“This last chicane, they have a lot of run off area they give you more chance to attack because in case of mistake you won’t end up in wall or gravel. We have more chance to overtake.”

Giancarlo Fisichella:

“I just seen pictures so difficult for me to say if it is right or not what happened. For sure maybe he took a small advantage that is why he had the possibility to overtake him again in braking for Turn One, but obviously 25 seconds penalty was quite a strong penalty.”

Belgian Grand Prix: Steward denies conspiracy

Hamilton's Spa Penalty

One of the stewards at last weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, Kenyan Surinder Thathi, came out in the face of growing public discontent and said that there was no conspiracy against the McLaren team.

“There was no conspiracy against anybody, McLaren included. We acted professionally and within the FIA rules. Hamilton took a short cut inside of the corner while off the track.”

Formula One legends, from Jackie Stewert to Nikki Lauda have claimed Hamilton was a victim of a conspiracy against McLaren after the stewards took the view he had cut the chicane and gained an unfair advantage over Ferrari’s world champion Kimi Raikkonen. This is depite the large amount of video evidence, telemetry, and independent FIA voices, such as Race Director Charlie Whiting supporting McLaren’s view.

“We had a choice to mete out a time penalty or 10 grid places in the next Grand Prix race. We opted for the former and handed a time penalty of 25 seconds.”

“I know I am a very unpopular person in the United Kingdom now, but then I was doing my job and I know I acted professionally.”

Neal’s View: You know somethings seriously unpopular when a steward publically comes out to defend the decision. Alan Donnelly’s position as FIA representative amongst the stewards is questionable, bearing in mind he has no motorsports experience and has a substantial private business, which lists amongst it’s clients, the FIA and Ferrari. Of course he has no bias! And the fact that only the Ferrari drivers (but not their boss), McLaren-hating Fernando Alonso, and the stewards see the penalty as wrong.

19,000+ Formula One Fans Sign Petition Against Penalty

Formula One fans have taken their disgust at the stewards decision at the recent Belgian Grand Prix, La Source-gate, to demote Lewis Hamilton to third by setting up an online petition to send to the FIA.

http://www.petitiononline.com/belgp08/petition.html

Formula One Blog cannot tell you which way to vote, but our readership seems to be singing from the same hymnsheet, with only one comment saying Hamilton got what he deserved.

UPDATE: 09/09/08 22:49 (BST): 27,982 signatures

UPDATE: 10/09/08 11:05 (BST): 32,226 signatures

Belgian Grand Prix: Hamilton Penalty Update

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton received support from an unlikely ally, when Stefano Domenicali, boss of the Ferrari team, has come out and called Hamilton’s pass on Raikkonen, which resulted in a penalty dropping him from first to third, a “racing incident”.

Former three-times World Champion Nikki Lauda added his voice to the raft of people supporting Hamilton, in what should now be called La Source-gate. The Austrian added:

“This is the worst judgment in the history of F1, the most perverted judgment I have ever seen.”

The other news regarding the incident surrounds whether an appeal will be heard. As the 25-second penalty was technically a “drive-through penalty”, McLaren may not be allowed to have their appeal heard. Should they get their day in court, it will likely be a month away, after two of the last five rounds of the World Championship. Fans will have to wait until October for this weekend’s results to stand.

Formula One Blog will continue to update the Championship Standings at other tracks, but will exclude the result from Spa as it is still only a provisional result. The Belgian Grand Prix results will be included only once they have been confirmed by the FIA.

Behind The Barriers: Ferrari International Assistance Rears It’s Ugly Head Once More

Ferrari fans, look away now! You will not like what I have to say.

Firstly, let me make it clear: I do not support any individual driver, nor any particular team. I support the sport – which descends in to a farce on days like these.

For those of you that did not see today’s race, towards the end, Raikkonen pushed Hamilton wide at the Bus Stop chicane, Hamilton subsequently had no option but to cut the corner, gaining the lead in the process. To avoid a penalty, Hamilton let Raikkonen reclaim the lead, before re-passing him at La Source. Fearing a penalty, Ron Dennis went to check with FIA Race Director Charlie Whiting as to whether the move was legitimate, and Whiting said it was. Although the stewards are independent of Whiting, he attends every race and knows what has happened in the past. Had Whiting declared the move illegal, McLaren would have let Raikkonen back through again. At the end of the race, Ferrari put in an official protest, although they deny this, and the stewards imposed a penalty of 25 seconds to Hamilton’s time. Due to the last few, torrential, laps squeezing the pack together, this was very costly as Hamilton was demoted from first, to third.

This is not the first time that McLaren have been harshly treated by the sport’s governing body, the FIA – or Ferrari International Assistance, as Paul Stoddart dubbed it. If we look back to last year when McLaren were thrown out of the Constructors’ Championship, during the ‘Spy Scandal’, for using Ferrari information on their car, not many people listened to what the two culprits, Mike Coughlan (McLaren) and Nigel Stepney (Ferrari), had to say. They revealed that the information passed was two-way, not one-way, meaning Ferrari were using McLaren’s intellectual property on their car. The FIA did not even investigate these claims.

That’s not all. At last season’s Hungarian Grand Prix, McLaren were stripped of any Constructors’ Championship points they would have won after a squabble between Lewis Hamilton and then-teammate Fernando Alonso. In what was an internal dispute, the FIA had no right in interfering. But it did.

Suspicians are also raised by Ferrari’s Felipe Massa about this event. At 11pm, a journalist asked Massa: “It looks like nothing’s going to happen tomorrow?“, to which Massa replied: “No, no, no, no… Alonso’s been penalised and McLaren will score no Constructors’ points.” Remember, this was at 11pm, the official announcement was not made until 11.35pm – more than half an hour after Massa knew the outcome. It sounds suspicious to me!

Another example is the Italian Grand Prix, Monza 2006. Fernando Alonso had his pole position time taken away from him for ‘blocking’ Ferrari’s Felipe Massa. It did not matter to the stewards that Massa was not even in the same television camera shot. Telemetry showed Massa 1.6km down the track from Alonso. It also proved that Massa had lost no time because of Alonso. But the FIA stewards still punished the Renault man.

If we look back at the last race, Ferrari were penalised €10,000 for releasing Massa into the path of Adrian Sutil in the pit lane. Ferrari claimed that there was no sporting advantage, and the FIA accepted this as a good reason for a low penalty. Yet if we look at the regulations, Article 23.1 i states:

“It is the responsibility of thecompetitor to release his car after a pit stop only when it is safe to do so.”

There is no mention of whether a sporting advantage is gained or not. Only, whether it was safe of not. The stewards decision to delay the investigation until the end of the race was also unusual. That only usually happens if someone crashes out, or if it happens in the last 10 laps.

So I finish by asking the FIA, what on earth are you doing? You treat the fans like idiots! And we deserve better from you!

Belgian Grand Prix: McLaren to appeal against Hamilton penalty

It has been revealed tonight that McLaren-Mercedes have put in an appeal to the FIA over the stewards’ decision to penalise Lewis Hamilton. Here is the statement:

“We looked at all our data and also made it available to the FIA stewards. It showed that, having lifted, Lewis was 6km/h slower than Kimi as they crossed the start/finish line.

“Having passed the lead back to Kimi, Lewis repositioned his car, moving across and behind Kimi to the right-hand line and then outbraked him into the hairpin. Based on this data, we have no option other than to register our intention to appeal.

“We are a racing team and now focus on Monza, with a view to extending our lead in the drivers’ world championship.”

Neal’s View: Hamilton’s penalty was grossly unfair – FIA Race Director Charlie Whiting said McLaren were in the clear, had he not done, Hamilton would have let Raikkonen through again. But I’d say it is odd-on that the appeal will be rejected without even being considered.

Belgian Grand Prix: Hamilton Penalised

McLaren-Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has been penalised 25 seconds for an infringement in the closing stages of today’s Belgian Grand Prix, demoting him from first to third. The Briton was forced wide by race leader Kimi Raikkonen, and gained the lead. He allowed the Ferrari driver to go back in front to avoid a penalty before overtaking once more at the next corner.

Raikkonen failed to last much longer as he crashed his Ferrari in the rain-soaked final laps.

What will annoy McLaren supporters is that FIA Race Director, Charlie Whiting, had deemed that no punishment was needed.

Opinion on this will feature in this weekend’s feature column, to be published later tonight.