Aussie GP

[tut]

Whoops, Hamilton just excluded from the race due to giving false information to the Stewards inquiry.

Turns out that McLaren told him to let Trulli past which he did, but he did not tell that to the inquiry who assumed that Trulli had overtaken under a safety car.

tut

[cstrachan]

Some more info

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsp ... 978186.stm

[Shug]

Will hold comments until all the 'facts' come out....

[j2 lot]

F1 farce yet again - with results being decided in the stewards room days after the event.

McLaren appear to be damned if they do, damned if they don't

[Dominic]

Well that's the new season off to a fine start! I know rules are rules, but that just smacks of 'let's see what rules we'll use to fix this this race' sort of attitude.

I guess that will be another chunk of F1 fans loosing faith then.

[jason]

Un-fecking-believable...

The only fair outcome is the one that never materialised, ie. Trulli 4th, Hamiton 3rd as that would have recognised neither driver 'cheated'. Trulli didn't deserve his 25s penalty. To now throw the book at Hamilton/McLaren effectively for perjury just smacks AGAIN of favouritism/bullying

[tenkfeet]

I enjoyed the race at the weekend , thought F1 had turned a corner and would be worth watching again . I think my optimism may have been misplaced .

Maybe they should cut the race down to 20 minutes and spend the other 1hour 40 arguing about it .

[Shug]

Reading the letter of it though, niggly sh*t that it is, I'd assume it's to the letter of the rules. "Full Disclosure" and all that.

Agree, it's a total pisstake exercise if Toyota had withdrawn their appeal anyway - one asks why they were still investigating.

[Corranga]

F1 farce yet again - with results being decided in the stewards room days after the event.

McLaren appear to be damned if they do, damned if they don't

Seriously...

You don't get the feeling that McLaren appeal at the drop of a hat?

I mean he had 4th, and it seems they 'forgot' to tell the stewards that they told Hamilton to let Trulli passed.

Un-fecking-believable...

The only fair outcome is the one that never materialised, ie. Trulli 4th, Hamiton 3rd as that would have recognised neither driver 'cheated'. Trulli didn't deserve his 25s penalty. To now throw the book at Hamilton/McLaren effectively for a perjury just smacks AGAIN of favouritism/bullying

but it was McLaren that told Hamilton to let him past apparently. If they knew the rules in the first place, Hamilton would have been 3rd!

Out of the whole incident, I originally felt sorry for Trulli as he seemingly had done nothing, with the exception of being silly enough to go off under yellow flag conditions.

Now I feel sorry for Hamilton, he is being penalised for his teams mistakes, he only did what he was told.

Knowing all that we do, I reckon the only fair thing to do is:
Leave Trulli 3rd
Leave Hamilton 4th
Disqualify McLaren from constructors points for that race due to unsportsmanlike like conduct.

Chris

[ryallm]

From what you can glean from the media (always difficult, I know), it sounds like a fair cop to me. The new evidence was Hamilton's own pit to car radio http://f1.autotrader.co.uk/story/0,,321 ... 87,00.html Sounds like he was telling porkies to the race stewards in Oz - the situation would appear to be his fault for not being more honest, so in this case I wouldn't rush to berate the FIA . Trulli drove a fine race and deserved 3rd.

Mark

[j2 lot]

Maybe they should cut the race down to 20 minutes and spend the other 1hour 40 arguing about it .

Nah - don't bother with the racing - let the stewards play Top Trumps to decide who wins

[jason]

Now I've calmed down, I'll add a more balance 2p...

If McLaren/Hamilton's crime is as strong as the stewards claim, ie. perjury, then very sadly we probably have to accept this latest sport-killing nonsense. Lying in such circumstances (or being economical with the truth) cannot be tolerated...

...as bitter a pill as that may be to swallow

What's been most frustrating for me has been the lack of info/transparency since Melbourne. There was a big song'n'dance about how the stewards' process would be more transparent this season (in response to the Spa debacle/outcry last year) with prompt publication of all papers, posting online of video and audio evidence used, etc, etc. But I have not been able to find anything on the FIA or Formula1 websites so far

McLaren may be victims of their own paranoia. A very understandable paranoia after the various penalties they've 'enjoyed' in the last couple seasons. I'd go so far as to say they have been the victim of bullying in '07/'08 (particularly from a certain whip enthusiast). So the mistake they've reportedly made in this latest event could easily be a product of 'here we go again' syndrome IYSWIM.

[j2 lot]

You don't get the feeling that McLaren appeal at the drop of a hat?

The whole set up is a farce - everyone appeals everything, penalties are given out for racing incidents.
Can you imagine the riots which would occur if the results of football matches were changed 4 days after the game once the video evidence had been studied ??!!
The racing is being overshadowed by the complexity of the rule book, the reputation of the sport is left in tatters,the Stewards look incompetent or even corrupt and the die hard fans are left despairing of what has become of their sport while the less hard core walk away because they don't understand what is happening.

[jason]

...is this the first time Race Stewards have effectively appealed their own decision and revisited a judgement (on a non-appealable ruling in this instance)? No competitor lodged a formal appeal remember (Toyota started an appeal through a technical loophole, but retracted later).

A worrying precedent if so.

[j2 lot]

...is this the first time Race Stewards have effectively appealed their own decision

... which if so makes the ruling look vindictive