The FIA revises blocking penalties

tifosi12: I agree the show could have and should have been saved.

I really enjoy the current qualifying rules. It keeps all three sessions interesting and forces the cars to start with their race fuel. It seems very fair. Even the head games of going out first and "not" blocking, but controlling the "flow",etc.. I find all that entertaining. I sure do not watch F1 for the passing.

 

OK, back on topic, as for the new rule, I think it is dangerous for one person to decide. If F1 had a rule that included distances, closure rates, amount of time staying in front without moving over, etc... then the FIA has a concrete rule. They can look at the telemtry and decide if it was blocking. If it wasn't the complainer gets a 10 second penalty

 

Andreas kind sir,
I guess that makes me a doorknob and an idiot too. Thank you very much

I agree with both of those decisions.

Of course, I would have rather seen a "real" race at Indy 2005, but Michelin came to class unprepared, their tires were unsafe, end of story. For that, my displeasure is aimed solely and squarely at them.

Alonso interfered with Massa, end of story. They were even lenient for poor Alonso, they only took away his 3 best Q laps, probably because due to the question of intent.

But, the rules are the rules and you can't throw them out, for the sake of the show. Both of these incidences, IMO, point to the FIA's adherence to this belief.

Some here think there was a conspiracy afoot, to "heat up" the show for the championship. I think that to risk the public holding an image of "hollow" but close championship race, would represent a much greater loss to the coffers of the FIA, in the long run, than an one season's anticlimactic conclusion.

But I guess that's just another doorknob's opinion.

Best regards,
Bill

 

we all know the FIA is run by idiots!

 

Remember too that air plays a HUGE role....you don't have to be very close for the air to be less than optimal. In this case, Alonso did not move over to give Massa a clean track very simply because if he did, he would miss the checked flag and lose his Q lap. It was an intentional decision to help himself that appears to have cost Massa about .5 sec. The stewards felt it was serious enough to warrant a penalty. Maybe if Alonso didn’t have to push as hard because of the penalty, his engine would have lasted, but maybe not. It doesn’t appear the penalty did anything anyway.

 

Actually Luis,
Impeded was the word, that both Briatore and Alonso used.

Bill

 

Maybe they will change the way they will enforce the rules, but they can't put the clock back now.

The penalties inflicted on Schumacher and Alonso this year have certainly affected the championship.

Maybe MS would have won Monaco, or Alonso Monza.

I don't believe that there was a 'plot' one way or this other, but what the spectators want is to remove all these interferences and let the contenders slug it out on the track.

 

You know Stuart,
I have to say, there have been a number of decisions in the past, where I have been awestruck with the initial impression of lameness, then after a period of long and thoughtful deliberation found that there is no discernable logic to that particular action. NONE!!!

ie: Let's try to make F1 more affordable..... any ideas???

I've got one, I got one!!! We'll make them design all new and smaller engines!!!
(Great Idea, Now they can put more money into developing the new engines to get the same, or more power, than they had last season.)

Bill

 

Yes, that was the start of Alonso's warm up lap and the start of Massa's hot lap. But the time I mentioned was Alonso's hot lap, which was very nearly 4 full seconds slower than Massa's.

So how much more, than 4 seconds slower, do you think Alonso might have been on an out lap with colder tires?

Regards,
Bill

 

The FIA has shown pretty clearly that the rule was a bad one. Very interesting considering how it affects the championship.

 

it might have been interesting if it affected the championship, but obviously it didn't. Alonso had a blow up...and please don't anyone say it was because he had to push harder from 10th instead of 5th.

 

Why not? It's entirely conceivable. Simply discarding that as a possibility seems a bit rash.

 

Unintentional blocking Vs deliberate blocking

The FIA have made a move to put to an end the issue of unintentional of blocking such as occurred in qualification for the Italian Grand Prix. The Stewards found Fernando Alonso guilty of blocking rival Felipe Massa and stripped the Championship leader of his fastest laps in Q3 demoting him to tenth on the grid.

Alonso, pushing hard to make it around to start a flying lap before the chequered flag flew, was some distance ahead of Massa who was on his fast lap. Later FIA President Max Mosley insisted that blocking in fact did take place as the Ferrari driver lost time through the long right-handed Parabolica turn. This created something of a political storm and now moves are in place to ensure that such a situation does not arise again.

SpeedTV.com reported that the following statement has been issued to the teams.

“Complaints that a driver has been impeded during qualifying will no longer be referred to the Stewards of the meeting.

Only in cases where it appears to race control that there has been a clear and deliberate attempt to impede another driver will the Stewards be asked to intervene. We now feel it is pointless for the Stewards to engage in long and painstaking enquiries if competitors ignore clear scientific evidence and instead abuse the regulator.”

Hopefully this will resolve issues of unintentional blocking as the title goes down to the wire in the final three Grand Prix of the season.

Earl ALEXANDER
© CAPSIS International

 

Sounds like some cooler heads at the FIA prevailed and they realized they made a mistake.

Is it any wonder, that a steward would complain to the race director about somebody "impeding" a Ferrari at Monza? C'mon. Don't need no conspiracy experts to unveil the obvious.

So after all Briatore's and Alonso's comments did help: If there hadn't been an outcry over the injustice done, the FIA would have never changed its rules. Otherwise we would have gotten complaints of somebody getting into Massa's and Ruben's way at Interlagos. Or worse yet about somebody impeding the Super Aguris at Suzuka.

The whole "blocking" charge is comical to begin with: We're talking wide open Monza here. If one would apply the rules they brought down on Alonso for Monaco, the whole field would be getting penalties left and right after a round of qualifying.

 

I think this is a good thing overall. I'll bet some will say MS blocked on purpose due to this accidental rule. MS of course will not do it on purpose.

 

If as you said, "I really don't care about the lap times." Luis,
Then why are you so worried about the three times that were deleted for Alonso?

Did you see different footage than the rest of the world? In the beginning of Massa's hot lap, Alonso was not really within sight, he was nearly within bumper car range very soon.

For the fourth or fifth time, Massa's Q3 time was over .5 second slower than previous sessions. Massa claimed that he lost up to .3 seconds due to Alonso, With 3 tenths of a second, to the better, Massa would have beaten Raikkonen's Q3 result by 8/100ths of a second. Doesn't mean much to the drivers either, does it?

I guess we will have to agree on that, but I'll tell you, if Alonso was on a hot lap at the time, I wouldn't feel that he deserved any intervention from the governing body.

Regards,
Bill

 

good post bill.

 

Hi Andreas,
Quoting Autoweek September 18,
"Although there was no official protest from Ferrari, FIA Race Director Charlie Whiting filed a report, which the race stewards were then bound to consider. They concluded Alonso, "had impeded another driver during the qualifying practice session," ... adding "such action may not have been deliberate."

Regards,
Bill

 

Thanks Brian.

 

Luis,
From the beginning of this discussion, we have known, that intent did not play a part, in whether it was a violation or not, before. But if, it was decided, that there was intentional interference, all Q lap times were taken away. That's why Alonso only got his three best laps taken away, they weren't totally convinced that it was intentional. Quoting the FIA stewards,"may not have been deliberate." They didn't say, that he didn't mean to do it.

Intentional=Deliberate

Under the revised rule, it appears that intent has become the deciding factor for whether it is a violation, not simply used to assess the severity of the penalty.

Good night,
Bill