LH lied to stewards?

Yeah. Now i know where you got your user name from.

 

If anyone seriously thinks this decision had anything to do with Ferrari, they are completely blind or just looking for a reason to bchit about the decisions. Neither Ferrari scored points before or after any result modifications.

The penalty was warranted. They intentionally or completely recklessly misrepresented facts to the stewards. What else needs to be said. Personally, I think they got off easy considering 2007.

Mark

 

now now dont get all moody

 

Yes, you are right. Brain fade on my part. I am old, too much sex and vodka every night, destroys brain cells.

So can anyone here with their infinite wisdom explain to me why Hamilton would tell the Stewards one thing, and within an hour, tell the media the complete opposite of what he told the Stewards? He may suffer from some my reasons memory problems, but not the too old part.

So why?

 

You think they got off easy?


Interesting.


It seems Hamilton slowed to let Trulli past because the team thought Trulli should have the position... Hamilton didn't think so but was told to let him by. It seems that Trulli wasn't entitled to the position. I don't see why the FIA just didn't demote Trulli 1 place and leave it at that.

It seems there are a few drivers for whom the FIA has a woody - Hamilton being one of them, Vettel being another. It seems if you're fast and talented, you're in the sights of the FIA, or something.

As for Hamilton being DQ'ed... that seems harsh to me. It was his position, he deserved P3. Do you remember when Schumacher parked his car at Rascasse, then lied about it to the stewards? He screwed the entire field in qualifying. And for that, he was sent to the back. It was an incorrect and dishonorable thing to do, and he lied, and was made to start last. Hamilton didn't do anything wrong on track, but apparently lies about it to the stewards, and is DQ'ed.

As for Vettel... he is handed a penalty for being so bold as to not pull over when Massa comes beside him. Then he is penalized for actually trying to race Kubica, and fined for keeping his car on track. I don't necessarily disagree about being on track with a damaged car, but drivers do make it around track and into the pits with crippled cars all the time. Who is to say what is "too much" damage?

Remember when Alonso and Schumi were duking it out for the WDC and it seemed like there were penalties handed out left and right.

I always find it amazing that so many penalties are handed out to the front runners but never to the guys in the back. It's difficult to imagine the FIA isn't biased and/or meddling with the results, considering you can have a harsher penalty handed out for event A whereas a light one comes for event B, even though event B was a much more egregious violation of the rules.

Why does Vettel get a penalty for "taking out" Kubica, but Barrichello gets no penalty for hitting at least two other cars?


The FIA should interfere with the championship as little as possible... only where it is absolutely necessary, IMO.

 

Although it seems the reverse happened..

He told the truth the media, and then later, a different story to the stewards.. which seems even more bizarre since he had already gone on record.

Seems he was being honest at the start, and then changed his story ether due to orders or on his own.

 

I was watching one of the SPEED wrap-up shows about this incident and they were taking credit as the media outlet that alerted them of the incident....any truth to that?

 

McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh is adamant that his team and Lewis Hamilton did not 'lie' to race stewards about their safety car incident with Jarno Trulli at the Australian Grand Prix - despite being punished for providing ‘deliberately misleading' information.

With Hamilton being stripped on Thursday of his third-placed finish in Melbourne for he and the team failing to provide a full account of what happened in the closing stages of the Australian Grand Prix, Whitmarsh says there should be no questions about his team's honesty.

"There was no lie in that hearing," said Whitmarsh, who claims the team's error at the hearing was in not providing full information about a radio conversation with Hamilton instructing him to let Trulli overtake him.

"We, the team, made a mistake. We did not provide a full account of a radio conversation which we believe was being listened to in any case, and we don't believe was material to the decisions being made by the stewards."

Whitmarsh confirmed comments made by Hamilton in the immediate aftermath of the race that the team instructed its driver to let Trulli pass him.

Explaining exactly what happened after Hamilton overtook Trulli, when the Toyota driver ran off the track at the final corner, Whitmarsh said McLaren had been trying to play it safe.

"As we see it, what happened here is that during the closing stages of the Australian Grand Prix, under difficult conditions, there was a safety car incident whereby Jarno Trulli fell off the circuit and Lewis [Hamilton] could legitimately pass Trulli. I don't think that is in question," he explained.

"Once that had happened, of course, the team could not see it. Lewis informed the team that he had passed Trulli – and there was understandably concern within the team that he had passed Trulli under a safety car.

"At that time, we did not know that Trulli was right off the circuit and Lewis was asked to give back the place to Trulli. That was a team view, having not seen it, and we thought it was the safest thing to do.

"Once that instruction was given to Lewis, he did not agree. He said: ‘Look, the guy was off the circuit, I didn't need to do this.' A discussion was occurring and before that discussion was finished, Trulli had re-passed. If we look at the speed traces at that time, and compare it to other periods behind the safety car, then Lewis did not do anything abnormal. And I think it is also quite clear that Trulli should not have re-passed.

"As soon as that happened, we then spoke to Race Control, to explain that and ask if we could retake that place. At the time, understandably Race Control was busy and they were not able to give us an answer. We asked several times, but clearly they were very busy. So we had to then deal with it. We felt it would be resolved by the stewards after the race.

"At the stewards' meeting, we mistakenly believed that the stewards were aware, Charlie [Whiting] was there, and the FIA was there, of that radio conversation. The stewards now believe that we were not explicit enough about that radio conversation, and felt therefore that that was prejudicial to the decision that they reached. Obviously we regret that, and that was a mistake by the team, but we have got to accept the decision that has now been made."

McLaren has decided not to appeal the stewards' decision, which promoted Trulli to the third place that Hamilton originally had in Australia.

Whitmarsh added: "I think it is a regrettable day, and the fact is, the belief is, that we were not explicit. But I don't believe that that information would have made any difference to the decisions and the deliberations at the time.

"It certainly was not a deliberate attempt. It is quite clear that the radio conversations are listened to by the FIA, they are open, and the FIA was present during that hearing. So in the opinion of the team representative, there was a belief that it was known and there had been a conversation with the FIA."

Hamilton was unavailable for comment, having left the track shortly after the FIA decision was made.

The FIA said Hamilton and McLaren could face further sanctions for the breach of article 151C.


(QUESTION: Why no explanation by Whitmarsh as to the difference in the intitial response to the FIA Stewards by both the team and Hamilton, and the opposite information on the the tapes? If McLaren thought that everyone was listening, why did they not correct Hamilton and present a response that coincided to the taped radio conversation AT the initial Steward's meeting? Is McLaren management that stupid, or that unorganized? Not appealing the decision pretty much tells you McLaren really shot themselves in the foot. Again)

 

Seems to me that is a complete contradiction of this:

Ever heard of the hand of Maradona, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_of_God_goal#Hand_of_God

What ever they don't change result's after the match is over PERIOD!!

Stick to it , I didn't hear many complaining on here when Trulli got stung, but alas, lets rejoice are main rivial has been shafted.

 

McLaren are still cheating bastards and Hamilton a complete idiot for lying to the stewards.

WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY THINKING? This is so easy to disprove as lies.

Stripping Hami of his points was very mild. They should have given him and the team a race ban for the next five races. They clearly haven't learned a thing from 2007.

PS: I neither hate nor love Hamilton. I don't care whether he becomes WDC or not. Just stating it as I see it. No red glasses here.

True. Which is why Hamilton never should have been elevated to 3rd. The podium in Melbourne was precisely what it should have been all along.

 

Absolutely not! As I said, fixing the results means to allow cheating. But the Stewards could have listened to the MCL recordings when they decided to put Hamilton into #3 right after the race.

 

Steve, I meant that it is a bit tough to believe that they only thought of listening to the radio the second or third time dealing with that incident. If they discover that something was wrong, they HAVE to take action. But I wonder how it took them four days to think of investigating further...

 

Apparently yes, it was in an interview with SPEED that Hamilton said the team told him to let Trulli by. They then aired the interview stating that it contradicted with the statements he gave the Stewards. The FIA picked up on it and reopened the investigation.

 

I was complaining.

 

Andreas, can you be more specific as to your opinion of McLaren and Hamilton?




:}

 

LOL

Seriously guys, it's funny we're even debating this. This is more black and white than Stepneygate ever was. There is recorded proof of the lying.

The team should be thrown out of the championship for 5 races along with Hamilton.

As a sponsor I would drop Hamilton faster than Kellogs let Phelps fall.

There is zero excuse for McLaren or Hamilton. None. Throw them out.

 

Once again its not about the crime its about the cover-up.
An old story that no one ever seems to learn from.

 

Florian
I don't blame Lewis, and I don't care if I get flamed, IMO he was stuck between a rock and a hard place, meaning:
Confronted with equally unpleasant alternatives and few or no opportunities to evade or circumvent them. He drove well he was in good position considering, by all accounts Mclaren tried to resolve the matter with race control, alas to busy.

However my guess is they tried to play clever, and told Lewis to say one thing then another, I still don't know what he was meant to have done, bar tell the truth , but he didn't, or lets say Mclaren were not forth-coming with all ther info on the matter. Big mistake!! it was all there.

Hence the fuss totally blown out of all proportion IMO because no one knows what the bloody rules are from one min to the next.

 

It still baffles me how a multimillion dollar team with some of the best talent in the world can go from "third" to nothing over something as simple and stupid as this. I am truly stunned.

 

I think 5 races would have been really harsh, maybe 1 or 2, but he should have received some sort of ban for such a blatant lie.

I can't stand him for his scheming Eddie Haskell type persona. If he had just come clean I think the stewards would have decided that there was enough confusion such that Trulli would have been given 3rd back and Hammy 4th, but Hammy thinks he's too smart to get caught.

+1

 

Well, aside from what happened on the track - is it not more than a little ironic that once again Hamilton let his mouth get him into more trouble OFF the track than whatever mistake he might have made on it?

The part of this that really rots from the head of the fish is Hamilton trying to claim that he FORGOT what they were telling him on the radio.

Really? You get into an argument over the radio over a vital place (podium or no podium) at the end of the first race of the season, and then moments later you conveniently "forget" the whole thing - not to mention telling two completely contradictory stories within minutes about it to the FIA and the press.

Hamilton should be under team orders to not speak to the press as long as he remains under contract to MCL.

 

As I said before, not all facts are handy immediately following the race. I do not care if it takes a week or a month, when it comes to misleading the Stewards, or the FIA, a penalty should occur. A harsh penalty.

The FIA, and Charlie Whiting, should be red faced for taking Hamilton and McLaren at their word. Talk about favoritism for a team, seems like Whiting should have asked for the tapes of the radio discussion before making this decision. Especially after the Ferrari dossier episode. The good thing about this, I doubt if anyone takes Hamilton and the McLaren team at their word again. And to only disqualify Hamilton for this one race is beginning to show a favortism towards McLaren, the team should have been penalize big $$$ money.

This is not basketball, baseball, soccer or football, if any of those sports do not impose a penalty on guilty party after the fact despite the time, then I question the merits of that sport. It would appear that cheating is allowed.

McLaren and Hamilton got caught lying. Again. Or they are a bunch of really stupid individuals. Take you pick.

THERE IS NO QUESTION AS TO THE RULES IN THIS EVENT. VERY SIMPLE: Do not lie or mislead the race stewards or the FIA.

If I were the FIA I would play baseball with them, one more incident, three strikes and you are out, you are banned from the sport for the balance of the year. Or more.