Your Prediction for the 2009 F1 Champion?

[Mark_Bennett]

Charlie Whiting was asked by the team if they should give the place back or not. They asked several times and got no reply. (The claim is that Race Control was too busy dealing with the accident - god help them then if they have one with people injured!)
Now in spite of that at the end of the race, all that had to be done was to "correct" the positions - put Trulli back behind Hamilton, and that's all. No need to "interview" the drivers, it was quite clear to everyone what had happened.

Now, just to add interest to the debate.... What about the penalty Trulli should have got for having an incident and going off the track, whilst he should have been going slowly behind the safety car? []

 

[pauljmcnulty]

Now, just to add interest to the debate.... What about the penalty Trulli should have got for having an incident and going off the track, whilst he should have been going slowly behind the safety car?

Exactly. [][]

I did have a lump in my throat as Lewis explained why he'd gone into an enquiry and been forced to lie. Not. How pitiful for him that he's part of a team that expects their drivers to make fools of themselves in public. I wonder what Alonso would have said if he'd been ordered by Ron, at the time, to tell a complete lie in the face of obvious evidence from the cars and the TV coverage. What is the Spanish for "(insert word that the swear filter won't allow) off "[8|].

 

[sawood12]

I'm not sure we should be looking to Alonso for any yardstick of how a sportsman or a man for that matter should behave. It is well documented that he is not a team player. History tells us he has no honour and has no problem stabbing his team and his employers in the back to save his own bacon. Unfortunately being part of a team sometimes means doing something you might feel uncomfortable doing as an individual - that's the whole point. My Spanish is quite weak but I'm pretty sure even the spanish word for team doesn't contain the letter 'I'. I simply believe Lewis is a team player and was doing his duty - unfortunately he was ill advised in this case. He really doesn't deserve this bad press- all he wants to do is race and win. That in my book are the only two things that should be on the mind of any racing driver. Unfortunately most of the rest of the F1 field are not interested in racing or winning - why should they be when they get paid a fortune for sitting in a car in a procession every now and again. It just an inconvenience that gets in the way of their playboy lifestyles.

I really am beginning to think that the FIA are on some sort of Maclaren/Hamilton vendetta here. Not necessarily that they are going out of their way to get Maclaren, but are much more hard on them on any given issue than they would be with any other driver or team.

 

[944s2]

Mark from what I saw Trulli went off going slow on cold tyres - knew rules and did everything he could to stay behind Hamilton when he rejoined the track but when Hamilton slowed to nearly a stop (on instruction?) Trulli had no option but to pass.

Has always protested his innocence and has now been vindicated

Hamilton meanwhile says one thing outside in media before and after the stewards interview but says on instruction the opposite in the stewards meeting. At best he is badly advised at worst plain stupid. How on earth he/the team thought they could get away with it is beyond me and as far as events have thus far been reported deserved any punishment meted out so far

 

[Kevin Cooke]

I stand by what i said on the other thread.

"... sorry he did lie no matter if he was advised to or not. 'I was only following orders guv' honest' has never been an acceptable excuse.

How arrogant to believe he can tell the press one thing then an hour later tell the stewards completely the opposite.

I think Hamiltons influence on McClaren will become (or has become) as all pervasive and damaging as Schumi's was on Ferrari. And look what that turned Ferrari into, a focus of hate for all that was/is wrong with F1.

Now that Ferrari has two uncomplicated racers in Massa and Kimi I quite like them again."

Lets hope Hamilton and co at McClaren stay at the back of the pack and we can see some proper racing at the front from Brawn, BMW, Red Bull, Williams and Ferrari.

Role on Sunday.

Regards

Kevin

 

[sawood12]

Yes, ignorance is no excuse but Hamilton's the last person making excuses or looking for sympathy from anyone. He's apologised and looked to me to be sincere about it. I'm sure deep down he realises he's been very naive and does feel a bit stupid and just wants to get on with his job, get the car coming good and get competitive again. But it is easy for us to sit in the comfort of our own homes with the benefit of hindsight having poured over many media articles as the debarcle has unfolded, but when you're up there in the spot light, facing the media and clearly confused in your own mind about what has just happened out on track, then you're not thinking anywhere near as clearly and therefore trust in what you're being told and asked to do by your team.

The sad thing about this is that it might start to affect his mindset and us spectators will loose out on something that F1 needs despirately - a truly competitive and talented driver. There is not many of them around - I reckon there is only two other truly talented drivers currently in the field (Vettel & Kubica) and we all want to see them doing wheel to wheel battle and not court room drama's.

 

[pazzer]

Well i have go to say jenson for the title, he has a decent package so far and it goes to show that he has got the talent with the right package, as for hamilton, the guys just a kid, and been brought up around mclaren and totally believes in them 100%, just following orders does wash in his circumstances, yes the fia have a vendetta against them in my book, and ferrari have them in their pockets, go jenson go you know he can do it lol.........brawn is a masterclass......

 

[paulf968]

what a great race that was -- so much going on, even without the drama from the rain -- the TV coverage with Brundle, Coulthard and Jordan is good, (the other guy on the actual commentary not really up to it though!)

lots of real racing going on -- this will do more than anything to deflect attention from the FIA's brain dead moments.

 

[PJS917]

ORIGINAL: paulf968
(the other guy on the actual commentary not really up to it though!)

When Jonathan Legard did the commentary on radio 5 I thought he was quite good. I think he improved on what I saw of Sunday. and maybe he is a little rusty. I just can't any enthusiasm fo F1 as long as the FiA and Mad Max have their paws on the sport.

 

[tscaptain]

It was great - up to a point. Such a shame they couldn't have started the race at a sensible time - 1700 local is not clever in the tropics where late afternoon T-storms are not uncommon!. I presume it was started that late to cater for TV coverage/advertising etc etc.?

 

[John Sims]

Aside the whole KERS PC nonsense it would seem they have, at last, come up with a specification for the cars to make things exciting again. The cars certainly move around more as the waste of space sitting in the other McLaren demonstrated. [] We have probably seen more overtaking in the first two races this year than all of last year put together. Webber managed a whole 08 race worth of overtaking in one lap. [] Valencia might even be a good race this year.

I feel sorry for Hamilton. He is only a lad and has been surrounded by McLaren's cotton wool for the majority of his racing career. You have to expect he will do what he is told. I hope he comes good again.

Button is Button. He was hailed as a star and posibile World Champion when he joined the sport and has never had the equipment to demonstrate his full potential. He is moving towards being one of the elder statesmen on the grid now (how bizare does that seem) and I hope this will be his year. He certainly deserves it.

Massa is only any good when things are going his way - as has been evident so far this year. Is that really the sort of stuff World Chapions are made of?

 

[tscaptain]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7985631.stm

So, unsurprisingly, it was Ecclestone who shifted the start time. I love this quote -
"I don't see anything wrong with the start time, we just didn't know about the rain."
Er, try talking to a climatologist about the ITCZ
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intertropical_convergence_zone
Sepang is about Lat 3N.