Hamilton Penalty

[StuartD]

What do you make of the 25 second penalty for Hamilton at the weekend? Even though I am a Malaren fan I think I agree with this one. Hamilton may have been close to Raikkonen going into the bus stop chicane but he was only close enough to be in the “dirty” air behind him. Although he let Raikkonen past, he immediately tucked in behind him to get a pull out of his slipstream. In my opinion he therefore benefited as he was not close enough to do this before the chicane. I seem to be the only one who thinks so.

I am not so sure the penalty would have been imposed if it was the other way round though

 

[Dave3498]

Seemed a pretty clear-cut infringement to me. He certainly gained an advantage. The penalty was about right in my opinion.

 

[medwayjon]

The penalty was a just one.

Of course there will be those who will cry foul play but that is to be expected.

I cant wait for the F1 coverage to be back on the BBC as ITV are painfully lodged up Hamiltons backside and constantly hype him up.

I sincerely hope that Massa wins the world title, I have always been a fan of ferrari.

 

[USER1999]

I can't stand Ferrari, they are a bunch of cheats, always have been. I also don't like the bias that the rulers of F1 have towards them.

However, the Hamilton issue is a difficult one. Once he let Raikonnen back through, how much af a lead does he have to give him before he gives chase? How can he know when he can put the hammer down again? He did the right thing, let him through, so I can't see the problem. He might not have gone off the track in the first place if Raikonnen hadn't pushed him off.

Who knows, but you can bet if it had been the other way round, Ferrari would have been ok.

 

[Tommo21]

Interesting, having been involved in motorsport for many years I just can see how he got any penalty. Cutting corners happens all the time and as long as the driver gives up the advantage gained there is no problem. He was catching up hand over fist. He was right behind Kimi and made a move that admittedly was not on. The track position of the Ferrari left him not option but to cut the bus stop. You actually see Hamilton turn the steering wheel real quick when he realises there’s no room. The rules are clear on this if you get an advantage then you have to give it back. Hamilton done just that and duly past Kimi again after giving up that advantage. Kimi was caught napping, he was never expecting Hamilton to attack right away. Did Ferrari expect Hamilton to wait for as few corners to prove he gave up that position.

I know this for sure, if Hamilton waited until the following corner to pass him we wouldn’t be talking about this. Hamilton was too switched on for Kimi…..and the rules officials. The whole thing stinks, big time.

It’s like golf, if you break a rule then you get penalised. Hamilton’s penalty was to give up that position, but it doesn’t mean he can’t shoot an eagle at the next hole.

Tell me of another situation where a driver, after giving up his position, is then given a further penalty just because he was too smart.

 

[big_russ]

100% agree with Murph. How many times has judgement gone against Maclaren in the favour of Ferrari.
IMO Ron Dennis and Maclaren will never get fair treatment as long as the current regime is in place.
Look what happened at the previous race where Massa avoided a penalty, same infringment in yesterdays GP2 race and the driver was penalised.

F1 is fast becoming a laughing stock and I for one am questioning whether to carry on supporting it.

 

[medwayjon]

I dont know how the decision can be disputed, Hamilton gained an advantage which he failed to correctly surrender, all he did was ease of the gas and then dart into raikkonens slip-stream to get the sling-shot effect on him on the straight.

McClaren are the Kings of cheating in my eyes, look at the offence they were found guilty of last season.

TBH if Hamilton was in another car he would be just another also-ran. He is flattered by the fact that throughout his McClaren backed career, he has the had the best car and the best resources available in whichever formula he raced, take him out of this environment geared totally towards him and see what would happen.

He prooved last season when he threw the title away that he wasnt at the very pinnacle of his sport, the true greats are those who prosper under intense pressure and he failed, the same as he will do this season.

 

[DCB]

MWJ
"I cant wait for the F1 coverage to be back on the BBC as ITV are painfully lodged up Hamiltons backside and constantly hype him up."

Remember when old Murray was lodged up Nigel's and then Damian's backsides in the 80s & 90s ? Ah the good old days of unbiased sports commentary.

Its not the driver its the car that wins it's all technology nowadays.

 

[medwayjon]

I thought that Murray was fairly impartial to a certain extent. He was a big fan of prost & senna also and these guys got their limelight unlike hamilton who is all ITV are interested in.

 

[andycap]

Its not the driver its the car that wins it's all technology nowadays.

[/QUOTE]


To a large extent that is probably true, but a drivers biggest opponent and yardstick is his team mate as they are both given the same equipment and support 'allegedly' and i think Hamilton has shown he's far superior at Maclaren.
Also with the removal of 'driver aids' traction control , launch control etc he has been masterful especially in the rain affected races

 

[theeaglehunter]

Jon I think you are too harsh on Hamilton, he is a brilliant driver. You may well be correct that if he was driving a worse car he would not be as good but surely this is the case for any of the drivers? If Raikonnen got in a honda car his lap times would be significantly poorer. I have long believed that formula one is unfair and not a test of how good the drivers are against each other as they are using different tools that give some a distinct advantage. That is why the drivers championship just seems silly to me as some people have no chance of winning it before the season begins. Where as at least in the manufacturers table it is just saying who has got the better car allowing the teams to compete to create a better car.

then again I know little about motor racing

 

[medwayjon]

Mansell, he was a racing driver.

He went over to the indycar series in which the cars are stock chassis fitted with customer engines. He was driving a stick-shift car with no driver aids whatsoever against seriously experienced and great indy drivers. In his rookie year he stormed to the drivers championship.

Basically the equipment is much more equal and this is where he showed his true class.

I am sorry but I dont buy this "hamilton is a great driver" lark. He is a liability under pressure thats for sure and I think that if he was put into an identical car with equal treatment to massa/raikkonen/alonso/kubica he would get whupped. Remember last year at Mcclaren alonso, the world champion, was being blatantly treated as 2nd best to hamilton which was disgraceful. Hamiltons dad sits with Ron dennis in the its at every race they are so pally, did alonsos closest get that priviledge? No, do kovaleinens? No.

I may be wrong but thats how I see it.

 

[viscount17]

like hamilton or not, if he was in a ferrari he would not have been penalised. the issue would never have arisen.
ferrari have to deliberately ram someone before F1 would notice.

 

[HartleyHare]

I am sorry but I dont buy this "hamilton is a great driver" lark.

Seriously??

You're not joking are you??

His first season in F1 with the then current world champion (who most people still rate as one of the best drivers) alongside him in exactly the same car and with years of expeience to boot. which one cracked and ended up resorting to dirty tactics against his "team mate".

i'm not a massive Hamilton fan myself, i think he's a bit of a corporate puppet at times but you can't knock his talent and ability, he's a natural, another Schumacher.

 

[USER1999]

Don't get me started on bootmender please.

 

[12move]

I agree with medwayjon and cannot wait for the BBC to take over the broadcast. For one thing no more ad breaks!

 

[medwayjon]

Hamilton has been given the best car and treated as the number 1 by a long-shot since the day he joined mclaren, alonso's treatment was a disgrace so no wonder he turned nasty.

Im sorry but hamilton is NOT a great driver, he has done nothing to deserve being called great so far in his career and I think he will implode this year just like he did last year when the title was in his grasp. Brazil was a joke and showed just what he is, another JP Montoya, all right when the going is easy but an accident waiting to happen when under pressure.

Just because you win doesnt make you a great, Damon Hill was not a great driver, he was a good driver but had the best car by far and that is what won him the title.

In my eyes the greats are; Schumacher, Hakkinen, Senna, Prost, Mansell, Berger, Mario Andretti, Emerson Fittipaldi, Lauda, Hunt, Stewart, Clarke, G Hill, Fangio, Moss.

 

[madandra]

Hamilton has been given the best car and treated as the number 1 by a long-shot since the day he joined mclaren ....

That was when he was 14 then. Ron Dennis gave him a top of the range cart and since then he has been groomed for F1 by McLaren. I don't like the pr1ck because rather than say he was effing off to Switzerland to save tax he came out with some pi5h about going to the movies in peace. What an arrogant w4nk3r.

Everything about him is manufactured. His driving, his interview responses, his hair, gimpy sideburns, famous girlfriend. Could he have sepparated himself any further from the average person?? No way.

 

[USER1999]

However, part of the skillset of being a top driver is manuevering your way into the team with the fastest car, which is what Hamilton has done. Prost was excellent at this, and once in, pulling the team in your direction. Hamilton is just doing the same, as was Alonso, and as did bootmender.

Bootmender was a fraud, and should be struck off your list of great drivers. Whenever he was put under pressure (not often I admit), he cracked. Anyone who saw Hill destroy him in the rain at Suzuka will back this up, aside from his two attempts to ram people when he had driven into the barriers first. Again, not great.

Prost also parked up when it rained. Not the sign of a great. No great would give away a world championship, just because of a bit of rain.

 

[Tommo21]

Hamilton has been given the best car and treated as the number 1 by a long-shot since the day he joined mclaren ....

That was when he was 14 then. Ron Dennis gave him a top of the range cart and since then he has been groomed for F1 by McLaren. I don't like the pr1ck because rather than say he was effing off to Switzerland to save tax he came out with some pi5h about going to the movies in peace. What an arrogant w4nk3r.

Everything about him is manufactured. His driving, his interview responses, his hair, gimpy sideburns, famous girlfriend. Could he have sepparated himself any further from the average person?? No way.

That’s the way F1 is today, it’s a massive business and the racing, if you can call it that, is the end result. Yes it’s all manufactured stuff, it’s all corporate stuff, it’s all to look good in order to sell a product or keep a multi million-pound sponsor happy. F1 is way over glorified by everyone involved and the courtroom battles are all to frequently part of all the hype. We get big shots prancing up and down a congested grid before the start of each race just in order to make it look good to the viewing public, but grooming a driver like Hamilton is exactly what they want these days. Like it or not it’s a means to an end and by god they get paid big bucks for putting on a smile 24/7 and doing some stupid things that they normally wouldn’t do in order to keep their drivers seat. I think Hamilton is a real talent and he showed it a few years back in GP 2, a race class with a level playing field, where at times he was just on a different level from the other drivers.