McLAREN Not Forced To End Of Pit Lane Despite 0 Points

First, last, makes no difference.
FIA should have ensured that all teams have equal treatment.
The penalty was absurd in the first place.
Here we go again, right ?

 

Ticks me off. I was so looking forward to have RD face the indignity of parking in the shabby part of the Paddock neighborhood.

 

Another nail in the coffin for F1 as a legimate sport. It's just and ole boys club that espouses that it is a fair and impartial sport. Amazing.

 

Not so. I can see the rationale of Bernie: McLaren is one the main attractions of F1 at the moment. The 2008 title will be decided between Kimi and Hami. You want these guys in the media spotlight. The press tend to hover around Ferrari/Renault/McLaren and it would be also logistically awkward to have them run all the way to the end of the pitlane to cover McLaren.

As much as I hate RD and want him to be humiliated, this decision actually makes sense.

Hopefully Mercedes soon takes over and we won't have to see RD anymore.

 

+10

I was really looking forward to seeing that.

 

Thus: Entertainment industry, not sport.

The Concorde Agreement only applies if Bernie says so?

What's next? The drivers have to salute Bernie's box before the race ("Morituri te salutamus!") and then wait for Max's thumb up or thumb down to know if they won?

All about the bread .... and circuses.

This whole thing has been a fiasco from day one: If they cheated, they're disqualified. But to leave them in without points, then shuffle the car numbers and garages at will. Remember the '50s "Game Show" scandals?

WWF1 (Get ready to rrruuummbbbble!)

 

No bucks, no Buck Rogers.

 

Buck Rogers didn't fly a "Spec" rocket ship.

 

LOL

But I guess you remember the reference: It was Gus' argument for putting in a window on Mercury for the "chimp flights". At THAT point you didn't need a pilot technically, but for the show. F1 is similar: You have to strike a balance between sport and entertainment. If you loose the fanbase, you loose the sponsors and their money.

As somebody on here once poignantly said: F1 lost its purity the moment that first tobacco sticker was put on a Lotus (technically not totally correct as there were sponsors before that, IIRC Shell on a Ferrari). Ever since the sport - business relationship has been a symbiotic one.

 

(from autosport)


McLaren have not been relegated to the bottom of the pitlane, despite being thrown out of the constructors' championship last year over the spying scandal.

The Woking-based team lost all of their constructors' championship points and, with pitlane order being decided on the basis of a team's finishing position, it had been expected that McLaren would be moved to the bottom end.

However, after discussions between F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone and the teams, McLaren have been given the fifth garage slot for the season.

As the first cars arrived in Melbourne on Sunday for the opening round of the championship in Australia next weekend, McLaren's garage was duly being set up between Williams and Red Bull Racing.

It is believed that the practical issue of where to place McLaren's large motorhome in paddocks was one of the reasons for keeping the team away from the bottom end of the pitlane.

 

Repost:

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=186119

Threads merged.

 

At the end of the day, does this really matter?

 

we'll know in a week

 

I never objected to any of the stickers that had appeared on F1 cars before the Lotus Gold Leaf sponsorship. Technically, Shell was a supplier, not a sponsor, and all the stickers that were on the cars at the beginning of the '68 season were perfectly fine, IMO. From the aspect of actually running the cars, you need oil, but you don't need cigarettes.....

 

Speed costs money, if it doesn't come from the sponsors then where does it come from?

 

James Hunt and Keke Rosberg probably would have begged to differ.

To me it would have: Somebody as arrogant and despicable as RD would have deserved a daily dose of humble medicine. Having to put up that pompous McLaren motorhome amidst the "garagistes" would have just taken off some of its glamour and reminded its sponsors/VIPs why their team is at the very end of pitlane.

If you go on live TV throwing your finger around and teary eyed swearing that you have never lied and that the integrity of your team is the most important thing in your life just to be found totally guilty a few months down the road, well then you deserve some humiliation.

 

Andrea Don't hold back now..

I Know you hate the guy not sure why to the extent you do but , I feel that why about Mad Max.

However put aside RD's seedy side, I do rate the guy he has achieved alot in F1 and has given us a top team that keeps the horse drivers honest.

Like FA, the same could be said of him, he is not my favourite driver by a long mark, but I do rate him brillant at what he does driving/setting cars up.

RD hit rock bottom last year he may have thick skin but IMO he was hurt, and like your earlier post you see the reasoning behind the pit garage move the show, his days maybe numbered, but as far as I'am aware his fate is in his own hands.

He paid the price, so I feel no need to keep rubbing salt in the wounds.

 

Without a doubt RD has made McLaren to the top team that it is today and deserves a place in F1 history. I don't challenge his achievements for a moment. That doesn't mean I have to like the guy, cause I really don't. To me he is the personification of everything evil. I honestly do compare him to the Emperor of Star Wars and I'll be happy when he is gone.

Max is a complete imbecile. He should be fired immediately and replaced by somebody who actually knows what he is doing. If we had nobody in charge of the FIA instead of Max we'd actually be better off. He ruins F1 with every decision he makes. He is actually talented to constantly do the wrong thing (think about it, that is worse than a 50/50 chance a chimp would have).

You have a point btw re: Max and RD: If nothing else RD is a counter weight to Mad Max and his proposals, which is one of the reasons (if not THE reason) why McLaren has been fined 100 Mio etc. Max wanted to get rid of RD and it looks like he finally achieved that goal. Just as he was instrumental in getting rid of his previous nemesis Stoddart.

From that perspective, it is actually bad for the sport when RD leaves because we will have less people standing up against Mad Max. I guess the enemy of my enemy is my ally.

 

It's too much fun to see one of your arch enemies (dare I say nemesis) suffer for his sins, isn't it?

To forego this pleasure is like being given a really nice present but not be able to open it...

Or having a Ferrari that just sits in the garage and never being able to drive it.

What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive. Once you lose people's trust you can never get it back. RD has to live with that. He was poistered by his own petard.

 

Bingo!!

LOL......

 

That's me I hate getting it wet....

 

I would be pissed if McLaren prevented me from getting a bigger pit garage, I'd probably file a discrimination suit.

 

Hmm. Wouldn't it have been fractionally easier for Mclaren, from both a traffic and access aspect, had they taken the last pit ? It was never a consideration when the 108ers were back there, but one less neighbour would seem advantageous. No complaints here about them being fifth.

 

Yes there have been sponsors since day one but Lotus was the first to have a company not involved with the auto industry sponsor the sport. All before were simply agreements to use and promote their product, ie. Shell and Ferrari, etc.

And yet again Andreas, I completely disagree with you regarding the need for "entertainment". Sport brings the fans not entertainment. The problem with Bernie is he is trying too hard to make F1 everybodies hobbie ... and thus he has diluted it to the point that true motorsport fans are close to hating it

Max and Bernie were wrong to penalise McLaren and this is further proof that they know it. The only reason they did it was because Jean Todt was about to give himself a wedgie and was out of control ... When Jean retires one of the best interviews ever on the BS of F1 will hopefully be published (if I was a reporter I would do a deal now). He will hopefully go on record stating that Ferrari have every single teams car design right down to the very last rivet on disk before every car is first test run. He will further go on to say how they have documentation on every factory right down to what toilet paper they use, and who farts the most in the design room ... but he was able to STEAL a WDC by playing a masterful tandrum that even Enzo Ferrari would have laughed at and dismissed as impossible to get away with.

But no Max hates RD so much that he is blind and Bernie was panicked into thinking he might loose a couple of dollars ... Jean has them in his pocket. He is becoming Mr F1, not Bernie. Very dangerous situation IMO (but Bernie still has to go).
Pete