http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/formula_one/13029061.stm Absolutely ridiculous. Are the stewards incapable of leaving a result alone? This was 100% Alonso's fault but Hamilton has been dropped a position. The worst thing to come out of all of this is that I had Kobayashi down for 8th in the prediction league. He's now been promoted to 7th.
For the record I don't think either driver should have been punished. Alonso wasn't doing anything dangerous, it was just a misjudgement, a racing incident. These things happen when drivers are racing so close at those speeds.
Once again the FIA give Lewis a penalty that costs him a position, its 08 all over again. But 7th to 8th is only 2 points difference (and he was lucky Petrov made a big mistake at the end) so oh well. Roll on China where he could win and make up for this. Everone has a few bad races over a whole season, Jenson at last race, Lewis this race. Best thing is to learn and look forward.
I can see it now all over the British papers in the near future: "Vettel won the world title by 1 point, ONLY! because Lewis was unfairly penalised at Malaysia." Roll on China, it's far from over, so blow off your steam for the next few days and hope Lewis finishes better next time........but behind Vettel I hope lol.
So now a driver will be punished for defending a posistion? Terrible decision and you never know how costly this could be for both Lewis and Mclaren.
There is a clear rule you cannot move direction twice when defending. Lewis broke this rule. Deal with it fanboys.
I just watched it on the re-run and he did move twice, so technically he broke the rules. Common sense should apply though, it was never worthy of a penalty. Does anyone know who was on the stewards panel this weekend by the way?
was the rule not clarified as a result of Lewis' weavig down the pit staright in front of Petrov last year at the same race. Im surprised Hamilton got punished as he seems to infringe upon the rules more than most and gets away with it. Also i would like to see the throttle telemetry of Hamilton prior to contact, i can detect the slightest drop in engine note so woul be interesting to see whether he performed a brake test on Alonso
The incident with Alonso was a racing incident. No need for a penalty. The incident with Hamilton (which I had to watch again to see) was maybe a little unfair, but he broke the rules.
Hamilton's last season's move to cover Petrov was at least noticeable, not saying it was or wasn't punishable, but was definitely noticeable. But how many of us thought, while watching live, that Hamilton was in trouble because of moving twice to cover for Alonso's move? Stupid penalty...
Wacky Racer, While watching live, I didn't spot Hamilton moving twice. But after the Hamilton got a penalty, I watched it again, and it was clear that he moved twice - and with the tougher rules introduced last year, Hamilton was going to get a penalty.
Personally, I wasn't sure if he moved twice, I thought he was on the racing line for most of it, admittedly this meant moving across the circuit through 3, and then his move was back across slightly as Alonso tried to pull out. I thought it was a racing incident myself, I wouldn't have penalised Alonso (well, effectively they didn't) and certainly not Hamilton. I accept though my view is different from others, and clearly the stewards thought differently.
It wasn't for that. It was the lap before when he was defending down the pit straight. http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b010gd75/?t=2h20m45s I still don't think it was worth a penalty though.
Ludicrousââ¬Â¦ I thought these idiotic decisions had become a thing of the past. The contact had nothing to do with Hamilton except entirely as a victim of Alonso's misjudgement. If he had 'lifted', I would not be saying this; but he did not lift! I agree with those who suggest it should have been left as a 'racing incident'. Someone suggested above that Hamilton 'lifts' and cites that there was a drop in engine revs, according to his/her own ear. (My apologies for forgetting who said this as I am now in the 'edit' box and cannot see the author's name). My hearing is perhaps not as good as it was but Hamilton is fully accelerating away from that corner, which I believe begins to go slightly uphill at that point. I do not believe he lifted at all and think it is mischievous to suggest otherwise, particularly as the telemetry was studied for this very possibility and found no evidence of it at all!
Ah AG, thanks! I thought that seemed harsh, looking at it again. Although technically he moved twice, equally you can argue that the moves were to hold the racing line. Out of the last corner, he moved to the left of the track, which would be the normal line for the next corner, which is fine. He then moved back to the right a little, which I thought was his defensive move, and then we went back to the left for the line for the first corner. Definitely open to interpretation though.
It wasn't like he took the inside line, and then chopped across. At all times Alonso had a choice of going down either side of him. I wouldn't have described any of Hamilton's as an actual "move". That said a few McLaren fans have said Vettel should've been punished for moving six inches to the right and then six inches to the left at the start. You can't have it both ways.
Also, to me it looked like Hamilton was trying to keep Alonso in his mirrors, rather than breaking the tow or blocking.
When watching from Hamiltons rear wing the engine note changes this is because the clip is slowed down by the FOM when we watched the replay not because Lewis lifted. Stupid decision overall.
