Nice synopsis of the mess! Have a super Saturday. Time to drive fast to Lake Constance. Its super sunny and good day for Cabrio 911 IT'S ALL LEWIS HAMILTON'S FAULT Friday 12th June 2009 -PlanetF1.com As the arguments about the future of F1 go on unabated and the furore just grows and grows, it may be the time to point out that this is all the fault of one man. And that man is Lewis Hamilton. Ferrari are on the point of leaving F1, the manufacturers might be going off and forming a new series, FOTA are quietly furious about Force India and Williams breaking ranks, Prodrive Lola and Epsilon cannot believe they've been bypassed for some second-rate teams, Max Mosley is under siege and the money men behind CVC are fretting that they'll be stuck with a series that has all the TV appeal of Jonathan Leggard's socks. Thank you very much Lewis Hamilton. So why is it all Lewis's fault? Well, stretch your mind back to the closing stages of the Australian Grand Prix and touring behind the Safety Car an inept Jarno Trulli steers his Toyota off the track to gift a podium place to Lewis Hamilton. All of a sudden McLaren get worried that they'll be penalised, because the stewards at most F1 races generally have it in for them. The team duly give Trulli back a place he doesn't deserve and pick up 4th instead. After the race, though, they get a bit greedy and think they can stitch Jarno up by grabbing third back under protest. Hamilton is persuaded by his team boss Dave Ryan to change his story in front of the stewards. The merde hits the Pifco and they are found out. Now, had Lewis had the courage of his convictions and said to Ryan, "no, I'm a World Champion now and I'm not prepared to lie," we'd all be reading gently amusing stories about the worst-attended F1 grand prix in modern times. Istanbul. Because the subsequent enquiry to Melbourne got McLaren hauled before an emergency meeting of the World Motorsport Council to face charges of bringing the sport into disrepute. And while he had the gang there Max suddenly thought they could vote on his wheeze for a two-tier technical system aligned to a budget cap before the 2010 entries were due in. Straight after the April 29th meeting Ferrari, Toyota and the rest of FOTA began to realise the chess move that Mosley had just played. "FOTA has concerns with the decisions taken at the last WMSC meeting regarding the 2010 regulations and therefore asks to begin urgent consultations with the FIA, " they said in a statement. What's more, with McLaren's major F1 political honcho - Ron Dennis - now out of the way because of the Melbourne Misdemeanours and McLaren having to be on their best behaviour or risk being summarily ejected from the championship, the manufacturers were weaker than ever. Mosley went for checkmate, first luring the manufacturers in by saying they could apply for 2010 conditionally, then saying no, they had to withdraw their conditions. At the same time he made entry into F1 so ridiculously easy that any old chancer started dusting off a former F1 name badge and saying they'd make an F1 team out of string and an old F3 chassis. What's more, the three names with the highest calibre of motorsport personnel - Lola, Prodrive and Epsilon - the FIA didn't even give an F1 entry to. So now we're in this fantastic mess of a situation where as every day goes by the chance of a breakaway series becomes more and more likely. Even at the 11th hour (Thursday night) we thought there might be some compromises made, but no. The decision by FOTA on Friday to appeal to the World Motorsport Council direct is surely an indication that they've taken things as far as they can with Mosley and cannot reach an agreement with him at the helm. They are fed up with his politicking and his manoeuvres. Even if he were to back down, the suspicion might be that he'd try and introduce something by the back door. The statement by the European Automobile Manufacturer's Association (ACEA) that the FIA should have a change of governance is similarly damning. The teams have the drivers on their sides and the highest profile motorsports figure in the world, Michael Schumacher, making a rare criticism. And it's all down to Lewis Hamilton. Though if you want to extend the butterfly-flaps-its-wings analogy just a little bit further, maybe it's all Jarno Trulli's fault...or is it Vettel and Kubica's fault? They caused that Melbourne crash that brought out the Safety Car in the first place... Andrew Davies
Well, yes and no! To me the fault lies primarily with Ron Dennis, as to lie and cheat is his style and his way of operandi has permeated McLaren team behaviour. "The fish start stinking from the head" is an old sailors' cliche....
Great summary. If only we had pictures of Max with some hookers we could shut him up..oh, wait. Never mind.
RD may have been the devil incarnate to some but at least he retired to save his team. He also raced his team probably fully aware the extra veto powers Ferrari had. To expect Mosley to do the same and retire is pointless, I hope he is dragged kicked and screaming and shamed out of office, for the corrupt nature he has governed the sport. So yes it stinks right from the top of Porno star Mosley whip.
And just how did Dave Ryan come out of this so clean? He was the man in charge. Hamilton is still a very young man who followed teams orders in a pressure situation. I'm not a Hamilton fan, and this whole post is undoubtedly tongue in cheek, but let's be a little fair to Hamilton. I enjoyed the logic of the entire premise, but I think Dave's the man of the hour.
