Right let me see if i get this right, Michael Schumacher, during qualifying, knocks another driver and also gets pole, but gets a penalty of a 5 grid place drop.

 

Lewis hamilton, gets told to stop the car at the end of qualifying in pole, still provides the 1.5lt fuel sample for the race stewards, but because he didn't get the car back to the paddock under its own steam, gets a penalty and has to start from the back of the grid?

 

Now, don't know about you, but to me, lumping someone else's car is a lot more dangerous than being told to pull over off the track as they are not sure on the fuel quantity AFTER qualifying has finished.

 

Yeah i can see how this works now....

Edited May 27, 201213 yr by vodkashots

There will always/and have always been controversial rules and punishments dished out to drivers over the years, the above is a good example of when two different 'crimes' incur two different 'punishments'....one appearing to be far more serious than the other but resulting in a less severe 'punishment' being dished out

 

at the end of the day, I personally just blame it on the evil ghost of Nigel Mansell's 'tash......It's not there physically anymore but it still influances the stewards from beyond!!!

 

There's simply no other explaination??? It's like the other stewards are powerless against it...

 

schumachers grid penalty is from 2 weeks ago

schumachers grid penalty is from 2 weeks ago

 

Yes mate, it was from the Bruno Senna incident in Spain

schumachers grid penalty is from 2 weeks ago

 

the same weekend as hammy got slotted to the back of the grid, but still 5 grid places over 22?

basically hamiltons was for cheating they didnt put enuff fuel in the car so makes it lighter/faster

Yeah Vod's is just making the point about the two different severities of penalty mate.....to emphasise this, if you consider that Maldonado only got a 10 place penalty for deliberately clipping across Perez during qualifying yesterday...all considered, Lewis being relegated to the back of the grid in Spain (from Pole) just doesn't tally

basically hamiltons was for cheating they didnt put enuff fuel in the car so makes it lighter/faster

 

You're a Red Bull fan aren't you...

nah i think its totaly fair look at like this did maldnado leave the pits saying right ive got to stop perez qualifying fast .... highly doubtful, did the mclaren pit crew put less fuel in ... yes they did by accident or mistake who knows but its more pre meditated than a racing incident i think it should be more severe, bit like a few years when the toyota rally team cheated on the turbo's and only got found out when a car crashed

You're a Red Bull fan aren't you...

 

lol nah im an audi fan i enjoy sports car racing more than f1

basically hamiltons was for cheating they didnt put enuff fuel in the car so makes it lighter/faster

 

Actually what happened was, hamilton was fast because he was just fast, but not due to lack of fuel, Hamilton got told to pull over because they "thought" there wasn't enough fuel in the car, when they finally got it back to the garage they were still able to supply the 1.5lt fuel required to the race stewards, hence there was enough fuel in the car and Hamilton was actually just faster.

 

He got pushed to the back of the grid based on the rule that during qualifying the car has to make it back to the pits on its own power, as martin whitmarsh had told Hamilton to pull over for safety reasons, as unlike conventional fuel tanks, F1 tanks are completely different, it is basically a bag that holds the fuel, sensors and channels in to direct the flow of fuel.

 

They calculated wrong based on the amount of fuel that ended up going back into the car, thought there wasnt enough (which started the romour), and told hamilton to pull over, rather than risk the car running out of fuel in the middle of the track.

I see the Schumacher/Senna incident as a racing incident which they both clearly think was the others fault (the stewards saw it in Senna's favour), the Maldonado/Perez incident is a classic example of 'teddy thrown in corner' and although not pre-meditated in as much as it being decide in the pits, it certainly was a deliberate action by Maldonado and therefore he should have been hit with a much harsher penalty (case in point: the underlying damage to Perez car that 'may' have caused component failure (this is clearly a preventable safety issue). Whereas I'd say that the Hamilton fuel issue is more open to interpretation:

 

 

A McLaren spokesman said: "We accept the stewards did not agree with our interpretation of force majeure. Our aim is now to maximise the points we can score tomorrow."

 

Hamilton had completed his triumphant lap and was midway round his slow-down lap when his McLaren team ordered him to stop because of a "technical problem".

 

FIA rules state a car must return to the pits after qualifying and then have a litre of fuel remaining for a sample to be taken. Whitmarsh claimed 1.3 litres was ultimately extracted, but clearly the additional 0.3 litres – over and above the required one litre – would not have been enough to see Hamilton return to parc fermé. There was substantial doubt that Hamilton would have had that much fuel left after completing his slow-down lap. An F1 car will use about two litres of fuel every lap.

 

Asked if he was confident that Hamilton's pole would stand, Whitmarsh said: "I don't know. I hope so. Lewis did a fantastic job throughout that session, and we've all seen how difficult it is at the moment to be consistent. It was a massive margin [half a second] by the situation within Formula One at the moment. He undoubtedly deserves to be there."

 

But two hours later the FIA announced they had punished Hamilton severely. The sport's ruling body said: "A team member had put an insufficient quantity of fuel into the car thereby resulting in the car having to be stopped on the circuit in order to be able to provide the required amount of sampling purposes. As the amount of fuel put into the car is under the complete control of the competitor the stewards cannot accept this as a case of force majeure. The stewards determine that this is a breach of Article 6.6.2 of the FIA Formula One technical regulations and the competitor is accordingly excluded from the results of the qualifying session. The competitor is however allowed to start the race from the back of the grid."

So could Hamilton have made it back to the pits had he not been told to stop? I was under the impression he ran out on the track. Seems a bit unfair if they told him to stop and then punish him for it.

So could Hamilton have made it back to the pits had he not been told to stop? I was under the impression he ran out on the track. Seems a bit unfair if they told him to stop and then punish him for it.

 

catch 22 if what jap.slapper put was correct on fuel consumption, though he did stop a fair way around the track already. had he carried on he wouldnt of been able to supply the fuel needed for testing (which is a gray area anyway, as they dont test the fuel they use during the race and quite happily allow cars to run out of fuel once the race has finished)