2012 Spanish Yawn Prix from Barcelona

[PTRACER]

Bottom post of the previous page:

Tweets from people coming in that Hammy has lost pole.

EDIT: Confirmed. He starts at the back

[Everso Biggyballies]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/99562

Plenty of drivers do the above though and no one has ever been penalised for it

IIRC Hamilton AND McLaren were both penalised in Canada a few years ago when Lewis tried to push the car to pitlane after running out at the end of the cool down lap. So perhaps the fact that they clearly did not learn from their 'prior' (which may have actually been the catalyst to the rule being re-written to include returning under their own power and their being at least 1 litre for the fuel sampling done after qualifying, race and practice sessions (practice sampling is I think done by random selection, whereas qualy & race is ALL cars I think.

It might even have been under instruction from the team to ensure there was still 1 litre left... Canada 2010 when he had also just set pole. To compound matters that time Hamilton had unbuckled and was standing in the car as it rolled along slowly, so he could leap out and push.

In addition it means that technically Hamilton did not meet thee limit on returning to the pits... drivers are given a lap time within which they have to return to the pits during qualifying. In Canada Hamilton was 50% of his fast lap and then parked it so it was well slower than the within 30% ruling. You know Bernie gets twitchy if the press conferences and podiums etc do not happen within 5 minutes of the chequered flag falling we all change channels away from F1 and the sponsors / advertisers.

That is why we dont have a slowdown lap at Spa and they have to do a tight U turn into the La Source pit exit lane. I remember Kimi Raikkonen being warned when he did a bit of a spin turn and lit the rubber up to make the tight turn, and no doubt release a bit of the adrenalin and excitement of just having won at Spa. Any show of excitement, enjoyment or celebration beyond the bubbles spraying on the podium is of course taboo in F1.

Geting back to today and Hamilton's stopping, the McLaren propaganda machine is taking the piss a bit given all the sensors and stuff to warn of impending doom we are always hearing of..

Lewis was told on the radio to park the car [immediately due to a problem, but his engineer would not immediately explain the nature of the issue.

"I was told to stop. I have no idea why," the 2008 world champion told reporters in Barcelona.

Team boss Martin Whitmarsh told British television Sky that the problem is not engine or gearbox related, meaning that grid penalties will presumably not apply.

Whitmarsh however acknowledged that McLaren is yet to fully "understand" the problem. "It's a little bit of a worry," he admitted.

What a load of bollocks that is. It could have come from Rons lips. They had enough information to order an immediate stop and shut down, they know that the engine and gearbox are fine, yet now do not actually know what the problem is / was. Please...

Read my lips....."drop in fuel pressure, often associated with fuel pick up problems prior to running out."

I bet the telemetery will highlight only a fuel issue in which case they should be charged, especially if the total fuel was say 2 litres, or an amount that would not have been sufficient to get the car back to pitlane in the delta time and still have the litre sample for the FIA. If only to correctly punish a repeat offence previously issued with a reprimand for.

Last time, in Canada, Lewis was not penalised in any effective way, keeping his Canadian GP pole position but was given a reprimand and fined $10,000 for being in breach of article 15.1 of the F1 sporting regulations. McLaren were also fined.

Surely a repeat offence on one he was reprimanded over, less than 2 years ago, should be taken into consideration and acted upon as a repeat offender.

He should certainly lose the fastest lap time in my view, or cop 5 places, so he / McLaren does actually receive a punishment he and the team might actually learn from. Technically maybe more as he also went way above his delta pit return time in sector 1, 2 and never finished 3.

Otherwise everyone at Monaco will be stopping on their cool down lap saving their last litre for the FIA.

[kals]

It is acceptable after the race but not quali, the logic being about fast cars needing to navigate slow or stationary traffic. Anyway, it's a monumental fuck up by McLaren. Cue petulant Lewis tomorrow.

[Cheeveer]

I expect 4 nose wings to be lost.

[Everso Biggyballies]

So he has been done for it, and sent to the back of the grid. The wording indicates that even with the stop there was still not enough for the sample....

The Stewards received a report from the Race Director which stated that during post-qualifying scrutineering a sample of fuel was required from car 4, however, the car failed to return to the pits under its own power as required under Article 6.6.2 of the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations.

The Stewards heard from the team representative Mr Sam Michael who stated that the car stopped on the circuit for reasons of force majeure. 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 for 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 he is in effect DSQ'd from Qualifying. Harsh, but I bet they learn this time and we wont see a similar problem after qualifying. It is certainly harsher than I expected, but it will be effective, and I put money on them not doing it again. Sounds like it might have been a Sam Michaels error seeing as he seemed to be the spokesman. Ironic that the McLaren DSQ passes pole to Williams, the Team Sam has just left to join McLaren.

Very happy for Wiliams though... the last one (Hulkenberg at Brazil 2010) was a little more timing and weather than genuine pace which the car has had all weekend.

I wouldnt be upset to see Pastor win, although Hamiltons penalty also puts the Lotus pair in a good place, plus of course Alonso has a nasty habit of doing it for the locals. We could be looking at not only a 5th different winning driver, but also a 5th different winning team for the first five.

[kals]

I expect 4 nose wings to be lost.

3 of them Felipe Massa's

[kals]

Lol at Sam Michael being the one responsible for defending McLaren from the stewards. He's finally giving Williams return on investment.

[xavier28]

i know rules are rules but this is a bit of a joke to be honest.
( Back of the grid )

They should punish the team and not the driver. A fine and a deduction of construtors points gained would make sure team dont make mistakes like that again!

[Cheeveer]

i know rules are rules but this is a bit of a joke to be honest.
( Back of the grid )

They should punish the team and not the driver. A fine and a deduction of construtors points gained would make sure team dont make mistakes like that again!

Well worth it to put their driver on pole. They broke the rules, the penalty is just.

Woohoo, way to go Williams! Back from the slump, yeah....

[kals]

Precisely. It's unfair for Lewis but the team needs to be punished. Lewis is part of that team. It's part of racing unfortunately. Now Lewis needs to keep his head firmly on and show he's matured since last year.

[Antonov]

faulty pitstops, jenson scoring better than him again, the team making these mistakes ... I cannot see LH stay on at McLaren for long anymore when he already expressed last year that he will evaluate his situation with the team.

[kals]

Let's not jump to conclusions now. Both drivers have suffered thanks to team mistakes. They have performed well in all races so far, with only Jenson's mishap in Sepang being the only notable driving error.

[Antonov]

well, the thing is, it's isn't as if he is starting at the back with a lot of new tyres available to him.
Hamilton is bound to meet Massa somewhere on the track.

Btw, why is Massa 17th and Alonso 3rd?

[Puhis]

My picks in Antonov's contest just started to look a lot better. I was cheering when Maldonado crossed the line 1st.

Now,

GO KIMI!

[Ian-S]

I'm not a Hammy fan but that's a stupid punishment.

It's also a bit stupid to say they gained an advantage from running less fuel, don't they realise how much 0.1 of a litre weights?

0.1 being the difference between legal, and not legal.

[kals]

Lol at people's reactions on other boards believing this to be Williams' first pole in like a decade but being totally ignorant to Hulkenburg at the 2010 Brazilian GP.