Felipe admits team struggling

Huh? You think the FIA is assisting Lewis? How - by giving him tons of penalties and more weight checks than anyone else?

Anyone heard about the weight checks? He is apparently constantly being pulled into the weigh station for a weight check. That's part of what happened in Monza - they put him through a weigh check and he had no time to get out and get to the start line and get another lap in. Windsor mentioned this yesterday, that he has been subject to "constant" (Windsors words) weight checks during Q2 and Q3 in the last several races.

Translation "Luca put a call in to Mosley last night and he assured us the championship will for sure be decided in a nail biting conclusion at the last race in Brazil.

 

Very interesting and not surprising given the bias the FIA shows towards Ferrari.

 

It is a sore subject, it has ruined this season for me, and hence my favorite sport..

 

Also not surprising given the $100m worth of cheating and dishonesty that McL has been leveled with 12 months ago...

 

Oh you mean the two way transfer of data, that was instigated and gave away by a Ferrari member of staff that was totally pi$$ed off.

 

Well....steal confidential info of your main rival and lets see who likes you besides your compadres.I doubt McLaren would be this competitive if they hadnt got it.They are indeed pathetic.

 

From all the information McLaren received from Ferrari, it was the brake system that helped them the most and for real. Whether that data helped them also this season is questionable, but possible.

At any rate, McLaren paid a huge price last year and the FIA shouldn't be holding any grudges against them. That's at least the principle of any legal system in a democracy. But then again Porno Max might see this differently and might still have an open tab with McLaren and/or Mercedes for bribing that hooker with the video camera. Who knows.

 

AAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA
Well done

 

Well, if Lewis lost another tire, the Guardian would be saying: "Bridgestone favors Ferrari", so they've brought tires even Lewis would have trouble wearing through.

Which just favors Alonso.

 

and was used by McLaren to the tune of a $100M fine.....

 

No need to be sorry, I interpreted it wrong.

I remember Hamilton saying something about having to do a weight check right as he was preparing to go back out during Q2 in Monza and how that, along with not being on the right tires at the start of Q2, prevented him from getting into Q3. Here's the article about the time lost in the weight check - see the 4th paragraph up

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/sep/15/formulaone.motorsports

Then the *same* thing happened in Singapore

http://www.f1technical.net/news/10591 (see Norbert Haug's comments).

I realize multiple drivers get a weight check during the course of a race weekend, but it seems rather odd that Hamilton is has been subject to them 3 times in 4 races, and during the middle of Q2 when he's short on time and trying to get into Q1. I wonder how many other drivers have gotten weight checks at so many races? It only struck me when Peter Windsor mentioned how Hamilton had been subject to "constant weight checks" during recent GP's. We almost never hear about weight checks, but someone like Windsor would know - he's there during the whole process... and if he's saying Hamilton is being 'harassed' by weight checks, I think it lends credence to the story. It doesn't necessarily mean it's anything nefarious, it could just be the FIA ensuring McLaren stay squeaky clean after last year... then again, it seems Heiki is not subject to the same weight check frequency, so it's hard to explain it away, especially in the face of everything else that's happened recently.

 

So your feeling is that it's "fair" for the regularatory agency to show a bias in Ferraris favor because of what went on last year? Is that the justification? Seems weak to me. To me, the regulatory body should enforce the rules and leave the racing to happen on the track. Furthermore, it hasn't just been the past 2 years that there have been such accusations of biased hurled at the FIA, so what was the excuse before Stepneygate? Max previously admitted a pro-Ferrari bias, stating that since they were based in Italy and all the other teams were based in the UK, and he was British, that there was a natural bias in favor of all the other teams, and that his pro-Ferrari bias merely served to even things out.

When the president of a sporting body acknowledges that he is biased in favor of a specific team, and makes tainted decisions to give that team an advantage, I would say that's something that cannot be mitigated by saying that they are only getting what is due them.

 

If Heiki's car is light, with his performances then he's in big trouble...

 

Renault did it (and admitted it) and they don't seem to be very disliked. Toyota did it too and aren't disliked. I guess it's only a problem if you're McLaren?


Question: If Ferrari are being given a leg up as additional punishment to McLaren beyond the $100mm fine, what does Renault get? They admitted to having a hard drive full of information and using it in their car R&D. According to the FIA, that's OK... McLarens problem was saying they didn't have it or use it when in fact they did. So it's OK to steal the data apparently, so long as you confess and don't have to get a 2nd hearing from the FIA. Still curious what McLaren are due though in recompense for having had their info stolen by Renault (and more info than was stolen from Ferrari). Perhaps getting no satisfaction is yet another method of penalty? When will it stop? Ever?

 

I'm not sure what you mean in relation to what I posted, but I agree with you 100% that Heiki is in big trouble anyway due to his performance. I think the Ferraris are running light but the only reason I think that is because they were a lot further behind the McLarens in testing, and so I think Ferraris strategy is to run them both light to get them up front, and to run Kimi extra light to get him on pole, so that he can hold up Hamilton and let Massa get by. At least, that's my guess.

 

Who will they replace him with?

I hear Alonso is looking for a top-flight ride.

 

woah woah woah....FIA pulls lewis DURINg qualifying sessions for weight checks? Is that even legal?

i'm sorry, but that's not even remotely fair. I'm a ferrari fan through and through but im all for fairness in the game.

 

Fairness went right out the window with the post race decision to change the result at Spa.

Without that interference Hamilton would be World Champion right now. And deservedly so.

 

+1000

And Andreas is dead right!

 

Exactly, the fact that they gave SeaBass that penalty to give Massa an extra point is another prime example. By the way what a mistake for McLaren to renew Hekki's contract, as he has done squat.

 

Tony, I thought the Spa call was the lowest point that Porno Max and his boll@ck juggling Steward's could attain, in the holy p!ss pot of wrong decision making!.

How surpised I therefore was not, when Bourdais was given a Penalty for trying to avoid a loose cannon by staying on his line hugging the kerb, now that really took the p!ss.

Suffice to say in the seemlingly limitless inadequacy of the FIA to try to convince even fair weather fans, that it was fair, was greeted initially with hilarity and disbelief to be quickly replaced , by realizing the FIA is a total and utter pointless joke.

The only way I think of showing my disdain, is to select two small depoists from my neighbours cat's litter tray, as an expression of my utter and complete contempt of the FIA and it's leader, and hope that during transist in the post, they stay satisfyingly moist, I would feel disappointment if Max and his worthless employees did not experience their rich aroma..

 

FIA's headquarters are at the Place de la Concorde in Paris, but Max' office is much closer to you: Trafalgar square.