posted May 30, 2007

How can you question RD's decision??
Yes, if he had allowed the cars to swap places, making it clearly obvious that team orders were with one driver then that is a dubious action.
But to be comfortably ahead in the Monte Carlo GP with both cars at the front and way ahead of the competition who wouldn't tell them to back off a bit and bring the cars home? It happens in most forms of motorsport, look at Rallying, if you are quick enough to build a lead the final stages are driven within the limits to bring it home and get the result, the hard work is already done. MotoGP, riders like Rossi and Co, if they build a few second advantage you will see that nine times out of ten they then begin to back off the pace and consolidate the advantage, Troy Bayliss is another example, he's excellent at getting a lead, then backing it off to a pace the keeps the advantage where it is.
If you are leading the most famous GP of the year and lucky enough to have second place in the bag too you can't tell the front car to 'bring it home' and let the other race.
I think people are to quick to jump on these issues. Sure Lewis had a chance of winning this weekend, and he's proved he is just as quick as Al, but to have allowed them to race to the end and push each other to the limit would have been suicide for a team, and they would have been getting hammered in the press if they had allowed that and the driver's had taken each other off!!! Monaco is not an easy place to pass, therefore 'if' Lewis had caught Alonso it would have taken a brave move to stick your car where it was at risk of being chopped.
Well Done RD and everyone at Mac's....A Silver car looks better than a red one at the front!!

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posted May 30, 2007

comment by Nice_One

"The McLaren team behaved outrageously, to judge from the reaction of the UK press and the FIA. How dare the team say that they were driving at less than 100% when they beat Ferrari by over a minute and lapped everyone else?
Now the word is out that the FIA has decided, after due consideration (received in a plain red envelope), that:
1. All McLaren's 2007 world championship points are to be deducted forthwith.
2. The team will be fined 500 million dollars, and failure to pay will result in actions 3 & 4 below.
3. Ron Dennis, Fernando Alonso and Alex Hamilton will be subject to an immediate lifetime ban from F1.
4. While we're about it all results previously achieved by McLaren will be erased from the offical history.
5. Only red cars belonging to teams beginning with F will be allowed to receive points in future.
That should do it."


Yeah I think that's what the FIA are aiming for. After all they've been doing it behind the scenes for years when Schuey drove for them so now they are struggling even more without him more drastic measures are needed!! Ferrari and Massa "I'll take Lewis off at turn 1 if he trys to overtake me again" were well beaten, I loved every second

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posted May 30, 2007

From the FIA


2007 Monaco Grand Prix
30.05.2007


Having studied the radio traffic between Vodafone McLaren Mercedes (McLaren) and its drivers, together with the FIA observer’s report and data from the team, it is clear that McLaren’s actions during the 2007 Monaco Grand Prix were entirely legitimate and no further action is necessary.

The facts

1. A two-stop strategy is the optimum at Monaco unless the safety car is deployed, in which case one-stop can sometimes be better.

2. The safety car has been deployed during four of the past five Monaco Grands Prix.

3. Under current rules the choice between a one-stop and two-stop strategy must be made before the final qualifying period.

4. It is clear from FIA measurements taken after qualifying that McLaren fuelled Hamilton for five more laps than Alonso.

5. This allowed Hamilton the option of a one-stop strategy should the safety car have come out during his first stint.

6. The safety car was not deployed.

7. The McLaren was significantly faster at Monaco than any other car.

Background

The primary objective of any team is for one of their drivers to win. If this can be achieved they will try to ensure their other car finishes second.

With no safety car during Alonso’s first stint, there was a small but finite risk that it would come out during the five laps before Hamilton had to refuel. This would have put him behind the field and at a significant disadvantage to any car on a full (as opposed to optional) one-stop strategy. The latter cars would be expected to refuel around lap 40 – ie after the safety car had pitted if it came out during Hamilton’s extra laps.

For similar reasons Hamilton was called in early for his second pit stop, thus assuring his second place, with or without a safety car.

Had the car in front of Hamilton not been his team-mate, McLaren might (probably would) have decided to risk the safety car and let Hamilton run for as long as his fuel load allowed in the hope that he would come out of the pits in the lead after one of his pit stops. There is, however, no obligation on them to take this risk in order to overtake their own car. Indeed it would be foolish to do so.

It is standard procedure for a team to tell its drivers to slow down when they have a substantial lead. This is in order to minimise the risk of technical or other problems. It is also standard practice and entirely reasonable to ask the drivers not to put each other at risk.

McLaren were able to pursue an optimum team strategy because they had a substantial advantage over all other cars. They did nothing which could be described as interfering with the race result.


So there you go.

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posted May 30, 2007

Sorry if I'm a bit slow here, but who exactly has a complaint about what McLaren did? All this whoo haa about it but i've yet to hear anyone say that they think McLaren did anything wrong.
Maybe it is just Bernie trying to maintain some interest between race weekends...

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posted May 30, 2007

I am a supporter of Massa. He is Braziliam and so am I. Having said that, it would have been a disgrace if the FIA had punished Mclaren on this occasion. It is absolutely rational that a team would not let their drivers fight to the death in the end of a Monaco grand prix. It would have been nice, for Massa would probably have won after the Mclarens crashed out, but it would have been extremely stupid.
Having said that, your Hamilton darling has started to show some new colours, hasn't he? He not only went for a win that would have never been his, brushing the armco a couple of times in the final laps and risking the race of both Mclaren drivers, he also felt he was entitled to rant over the radio when his team told him to stop being foolish. Furthermore, his atitude and noise brought about the FIA investigation that could have costed his team dear. And to finalize, when asked if he was surprised with Ferrari's lack of performance, he sported a smug smile and said "Not really, no". Given that Ferrari had won 3 of the previous 4 races and set the pole in all of them, one could not but feel a hint of arrogance in his answer. He is starting to believe in his own mith - the first step towards the fall.

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posted May 30, 2007

David,

That's a first class explanation of what went on and I completely agree with you.

The whole thing has developed into a farce. Would people (Brits) who say Hamilton should have been allowed to go for it have said the same about Alonso had the positions been reversed.

Allowing Hamilton to push would have risked all 18 points for no gain to the team.

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posted May 30, 2007

Alonso is a fantastic driver - a world champion. He was the fastest all weekend...

What type of team asks the fastest driver to move aside so that a slower one can "deservedly" win the race?

Oh, yeah, Ferrari...

Forgot about them...

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posted May 31, 2007

If it's so impossible to overtake at Monaco, how did Scott Speed end up 9th?

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posted May 31, 2007

"Hamilton was eratic and driving to the limit, and I think Ron has saved his life, the lad was out of control. Its all a learning curve and patience is one of the skills you need to have to hit the top.."

Out of control, I dont think so. Dont forget the guy is a two times Monaco winner

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posted Jun 12, 2007

Hello David.
F1 is a team sport,you race for the team,then yourself.If people like Max Mosley want to dumb down the sport by telling boss how to have a race stratergy that's wrong.If Max Mosley wants to cut testing to "save money" then agree to have an extra 2 races a season,1 of which is a flyaway, that's wrong. Bernis & Max should be putting more money back into the sport the help the 'little 'teams. Having worked in F1 i can see how the sport has changed for the worst. Let the team bosses decide what to do with their drivers,not the people who are creaming the sport

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