posted Sep 26, 2008

hermanbrewer

Evidently neither have Ferrari then.

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posted Sep 26, 2008

"It was clearly said on ITV last race that in the rules it is clearly stated that if a driver cuts the chicane then they have to give up the advantage and then are NOT allowed to overtake until AFTER the next corner."

This is a factually inaccurate statement: at the hearing on Tuesday, Charlie Whiting acknowledged that this is not stated anywhere in the rules.

Regardless of this, as the appeal has now been dismissed on a point of process rather than on the incident itself, should Massa beat Hamilton to the drivers championship title by a margin of less than 6 points, then McLaren should launch legal action against the FIA for lost revenue and prestige, citing Charlie Whiting's misconduct in first informing McLaren that they were within the rules for the manoeuvre and subsequently referring the matter to the stewards personally for investigation. In doing so, whether the steward's ruling was justified or not, he denied Hamilton and McLaren the chance to correct the situation on track by misinforming them of the situation. It's about time that the FIA was held to account.

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posted Sep 26, 2008

What you believe, F1 neutral, and what the facts are seem to be two different things

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posted Sep 27, 2008

100% correct

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posted Sep 27, 2008

Well let’s hope Lewis blows them all away in Singapore and wins in style. Here is hoping the Ferrari Internal Association (FIA for short) does not invent another rule to put Lewis back again. Perhaps Ferrari will be penalised in this race, sorry I was dreaming for a moment, we all know that will not be allowed to happen. Good luck Lewis (He does not need luck winning the race, just the stewards and the FIA).

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posted Sep 27, 2008

How could Hamilton finish 3rd when he finished 28.07 seconds ahead of Heidfield and he got a 25 second penalty??? Am i being stupid here or is there something wrong?? Look at this link:
http://aol.sportinglife.com/formula1/results/race13.html

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posted Sep 27, 2008

Actually, just looked at it, and that result page was wrong! However I still think it was both harsh and convenient that Hamilton was penalised 25 seconds which left him just 1.200 second behind second place man Nick Heidfield

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posted Sep 29, 2008

If you're thinking what he's thinking then I think you should note that positive discrimination is no more acceptable than negative discrimination! Personally I am against ALL types of discrimination, negative OR positive.

No-one is saying THAT is the ONLY reason Lewis got the drive, the fact that he is British (while other new drivers weren't) is a major factor for a sponsor of a British team but from a sponsor's point of view it also must have helped. You can see for yourself how many adverts Lewis is appearing in and how big his profile now is... Button didn't appear in anything like that number of ads when he was new, nor did Coulthard or Davidson. I wonder why that would be?

THAT is positive discrimination and I find it no better than any other type of discrimination, but at least I understand that it exists.

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posted Sep 29, 2008

Sorry LJ H, but I suspect that Hamilton's regular appearances on adverts has more to do with the fact that he appears on the podium far more often than any other British driver rather than the colour of his skin.

That said, the principle of your comment I agree with absolutely: 'positive' discrimination is the most disgraceful concept in modern politics.

But there's no way it applies in this case. He's a phenomenal driver. End of.

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posted Sep 29, 2008

Well said twoapenny, although I'm not one to describe Lewis's driving as phenomenal yet. That's a very strong word that over the decades should probably only be given out to 2 or 3 people.

Worth nothing that Lewis was in adverts before having appeared on the podium though. I do wonder how Jenson would have faired if he'd had the same silver-spoon treatment, never mind that Anthony Davidson would have excelled if he'd jumped straight into the top car. Anthony has possibly been penalised the most by this weird 'system' we have in F1 that's awards arrogance and seems to stop 'nice' drivers getting a proper go.

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