Lewis Hamilton, McLaren Mercedes
The verdict is out, the penalty stands, Hamilton still leads the championship, but still only by a point. I have been expecting no other result but my feelings about the whole issue are rather mixed. On one hand I do agree with the actual penalty. But the way FIA swept the appeal off the table raises fresh questions about the integrity of the body that among other things also rules Formula 1.
How people view this incident depends a lot on whether people are or are not McLaren or Ferrari fans. But with absence of clear FIA rules and guidelines we are also influenced by opinions of other people. The early articles, posts and debates were almost in unison slamming the FIA for anti McLaren and pro Ferrari bias. Few days later some more balanced analysis popped up. Then some other drivers came out with their opinions and although in different words all of them (meaning all the driveres that said something) agreed that there was an advantage gained (althoug also admitting the penalty was perhaps too harsh). The only current driver who’s opinion was different was Lewis Hamilton. He however received some support from the old guard like Niki Lauda or Jackie Stewart (listen to interview here). The more time passed the more clear it became this was not a black and white story.
The appeal hearing could have been the place to clear things up for now and for future. But welcome to the world ruled by FIA. Thanks to the rules that say a lot but do not reveal that much the main talking point was the admissibility of the appeal, not the subject of the appeal. Instead of dismissing the suspision of anti-McLaren conspiracy (yet again) the suspicions only grew stronger. FIA threw the appeal out, contradicting the actions taken last year following Liuzzi’s Japanese GP penalty appeal and misleading everybody with the “change of mind” story of the 2007 Japanese GP chief steward Tony Scott Andrews. FIA made it very clear again that there is no transparency and consistency in the F1 governing body actions and decisions. FIA scored another own goal. Time for the gaffer to go …
P.S. We still haven’t learned if Hamilton’s actions in Spa were fine or not. All we know is he can’t appeal the penalty …
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Photo: Daimler Media
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The whys and wherefore of the rules and the conflicts with past precedent have been covered in great depth elsewhere.
Zooming out and taking the big picture view, from the perspective of a casual fan unfamiliar with the workings of the sport, the situation we have is that the FIA has taken a win off a driver after the race, and refused him grounds to appeal. In anyone’s books that’s got to make the sport look bad, regardless of one’s feelings about Lewis Hamilton.
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[...] Mixed feelings about the FIA’s ruling on Hamilton’s appeal – F1 WolfF1 Wolf adds his thoughts on the Court of Appeal's decision — or should that be indecision? [...]
I don’t really see this as the FIA having taken the win off Hamilton – he had 25 seconds added to his time, not the win taken away. Had he been leading Massa by more than 25 seconds then he would still have won…
It is a right royal pain in the backside though that we still don’t have a clear “yes, he did enough to satisfy the rules” or “no, he didn’t do enough” type of judgement to clear this up once and for all – although some people wouldn’t have accepted the decision either way anyway!
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“It is a right royal pain in the backside though that we still don’t have a clear “yes, he did enough to satisfy the rules” or “no, he didn’t do enough” type of judgement to clear this up once and for all – although some people wouldn’t have accepted the decision either way anyway!
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yes, all we have is that “clarification” FIA issued prior to Monza … the thing is it is not only “us” fans, but also the drivers who do not know …
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/70800
Not good at all…
Sometimes I wish to come into ruling the sport someday, but such facts don’t help me to feel comfortable wishing that. Anyway, I hope to grow as a representative point of view of the actions which these organisms decide and judge. How it will be if I approach such status and feel pushed to decide that ways? I can’t imagine that still, but hopefully I don’t need to live such moments ever…
I’m not surprised, as the first we heard was that the appeal will be dismissed specially because there’s no flexibility about rules which were applied after a race. But about Liuzzi, I do not remember really what happened, what was it?
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But with absence of clear FIA rules and guidelines we are also influenced by opinions of other people. The early articles, posts and debates were almost in unison slamming the FIA for anti McLaren and pro Ferrari bias. Few days later some more balanced analysis popped up.