Formula One.....Is it fixed?

[Nigel H-J]

Controversial heading maybe but can't help thinking that F1 has now lost its' credibility and that Ferrari are the favoured team in this circus and Mclaren appear to be the underdogs.

For those who watched the Grand Prix of Europe in Valencia it was seen that Massa had driven off prematurely from the pits and very nearly colliding with another race car, the stewards only fined Ferrari for that mistake and yet when Hamilton cut through the Bus Stop to avoid hitting Raikkonen then ending up in front of the Ferrari, Lewis immediately gave back the lead to Raikkonen as per the F1 regulations but was later hit with a massive 25 second penalty by the stewards demotting him down to third place.

Massas' comments to that was Hamilton should have waited and had he done so would not have been able to pass Raikkonen !! Great bit of criticism from one who blatantly moved out of the pits when he did not have a green light isn't it!

Just wonder what is in store for this week-ends race at Monza? If it follows the pattern of the last two races then F1 will become history to me.

Sorry for the rant but just interested if any-one else feels the same as I do.......Formula One racing is now becoming a complete farce.

Nigel.

[forthbridge]

Spot - on Nige. There have been undertones for years about Ferrari bias in the sport - all to do with not wanting to alienate the italians and the ferrari 'marque' etc etc. I used to never miss a GP - but over the years there have been so many controversial decisions (usually favouring Ferrari) and others which have just been plain stupid that I lost most interest in it a long while back. Ban refuelling, unrestrict the engines and bring back slicks........!

[cstorey]

Well, I'm afraid I cannot agree. I believe that the decision to penalise Hamilton was correct : he attempted a late braking manoeuvre that was bound to result in a collision or leaving the track, as happened . It is true that after rejoining he partially allowed Raikkonene to repass, but he remained predominantly alongside him, whereas if the manoeuvre had not been tried in the first place, he would still have been behind Raikkonen after the exit from the corner

It is a great shame because Hamilton has such obvious but indisciplined talent . I fear from his post race pronouncements that he is becoming another Schumacher, where he sees any move, however dangerous, as justified provided it is done with the intention of winning. If you compare these moves with films of the 50s, when such a move was likely to, and did, result in death, you will see that they did not take place

All that having been said, there is a flavour of Ferrari being favoured too often

[clavel9]

Hi Nigel

The recent events in F1 are certainly worthy of comment. While they have done nothing to enhance F1's credibility there are a few points worth making. Firstly, Massa did not attempt to exit the pits under a red light in Valencia and while it is certainly true that there was a near miss as he pulled out of his pit box there was no collision and he did allow for the car coming from behind. I feel the angle of the camera on TV perhaps exaggerated how close the cars were. Incidents like this are not uncommon and it would be unusual for a penalty to be imposed unless there was actual contact. The Hamilton/Raikonnen incident is obviously more contentious as different stewards might not have decided to impose a sanction. The 25 second penalty was the only sanction available to the stewards as it was too late in the race to impose the normal stop-and-go penalty (which might have been even worse for Hamilton). While it's clear Hamilton did let Raikonnen by it could also be argued that he was accelerating as Raikonnen was braking for the hairpin at La Source and his momentum gave him the edge to get by. The regulations regarding this sort of incident are woolly and my opinion is the lead driver should remain unchallenged until after the corner following the incident. (In this case La Source.) I do agree that Ferrari tend to get more sympathetic treatment though perhaps more so in cases that go to tribunal than impositions of penalties by race control during a race. (There were a number of technical issues a few years ago where they definitely got the benefit of the doubt and Michael Schumacher was surely was treated more sympathetically by the FIA than other drivers.)

All of that said, Hamilton was exceptional in the last, wet, laps at Spa and would have deserved victory. I will watch events at Monza with great interest!

Brendan.

[Nigel H-J]

Well, it must be something to do with my age in remembering the Massa incident but I swear that he moved before the green light came on!! :think: Must be suffering more senior moments than I thought!!

Nice to read of other comments and although I have quite a lot of respect for Hamilton in what he has achieved since coming into F1 he does appear to become over-enthusiastic with his manoeuvres, he was very much like that in F2. Though the Bus Stop controversy has brought up some very interesting comments from Jackie Stewart and Nikki Lauda!!

I will be watching Monza with interest.

Regards
Nigel.

[Trev Clark]

Kimi moved with the red light on....and ran over his refueller!

It does seem that McLaren have to fight the FIA as well as the other 18 cars this year (not to mention last!), if Kimi got the win (with Lewis second), I would have thought it more fair. Massa did nothing to deserve a win at Spa, lets hope (as forecast) it is cold and wet at Monza on Sunday!

[jonesey2k]

I wonder how today's drivers would cope in cars from the '68 season. "Proper" cars IMO with no fancy down-force ect

[Garry Russell]

They would not be going so fast in 68

Garry

[Vulcan_to_the_Sky!]

I stopped watching after Mika Hakkinan (spelling?) left. It just, for me anyway, got too predictable. I now tend to watch Moto GP, which has a little bit more excitement.

[DaveB]

I wasn't able to see the race 'live' on Sunday due to standing in the rain at Duxford but was chuffed to bits when SWMBO told me what had happened.. eg, a nail-biting end with young Hamilton winning. Later in the day, I checked teletext to confirm what time the rerun was on and noticed the 25second penalty. I was so disgusted, I didn't bother watching. TBH.. I'm losing my rag with the entire F1 fiasco and at present, do not indend to watch any more races :@

ATB

DaveB :tab: