Indian GP 2011 - Buddh

[wesley123]

safety comes first...prevention of any unsafe situation...stop been short sighted...

It is nothing shortsighted, they are giving a penalty for something that is only possible to happen when one has the itnention to hit the marshall. Plus, why not give the penalty when speeding either? I am quie sure you are more likely to scoop someone in the pitlane then on a track where are driver has at least 10 metres to drive around a marshall

[myurr]

safety comes first...prevention of any unsafe situation...stop been short sighted...

Allowing side by side racing in the pit lane is far more dangerous than anything Hamilton did, and yet the FIA officially sanction that. This isn't about safety, it's about procedure - and the FIA cocked up the procedure when they displayed the incorrect lights.

[Traction]

safety comes first...prevention of any unsafe situation...stop been short sighted...

It is nothing shortsighted, they are giving a penalty for something that is only possible to happen when one has the itnention to hit the marshall. Plus, why not give the penalty when speeding either? I am quie sure you are more likely to scoop someone in the pitlane then on a track where are driver has at least 10 metres to drive around a marshall

10 meters at 200kph plus doesn`t leave you much time...anyway the penalty was given because the drivers never slowed down when the yellow flags were out...i.e speeding...however I must agree that the penalty was harsh. A monetary penalty though is not much of a detterent for guys with all the cash in the world..what would you suggest the penlty should have been?

[myurr]

anyway the penalty was given because the drivers never slowed down when the yellow flags were out

Actually it would appear that the penalty was for using DRS which indicates you haven't slowed down. And again the yellow flags were out, but the FIA were also displaying the green lights.

Why were the lights introduced? Because they are so much easier to see than the flags. Except in this instance they were displaying the wrong thing and the driver was penalised for it.

What should the penalty have been? For me either nothing, because of the fault with the lights, or a monetary penalty. It may not mean much to these guys but it's still a visible slap on the wrist for what was really a very minor infringement.

[Traction]

safety comes first...prevention of any unsafe situation...stop been short sighted...

Allowing side by side racing in the pit lane is far more dangerous than anything Hamilton did, and yet the FIA officially sanction that. This isn't about safety, it's about procedure - and the FIA cocked up the procedure when they displayed the incorrect lights.

aaahh..fair enough they may have cocked up but this debate is not about that, its about infringing on the yellow flags. Lets assume that they never cocked up and the drivers carried on without slowing down...surely then some kind of punitive measure should be in place? You can`t say, well it was in P1 so its not so critical but in mid race it is...a yellow flag has a clear meaning for everyone.

[PaulB]

Has anybody seen that:
http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/5048/12368r.jpg

[Richard]

There is good reason to be harsh when double yellows are waved. Double yellow indicates a severe hazard, more than just a car at the side of the track.

The car that crashed could have skidded on oil/debris on track, or left oil/debris, or perhaps hit a stray dog. The following car going at race speed would then hit the same oil/debris/dog and take a similar trajectory off track straight into the team recovering the first car.

The marshals have to take priority, they might see something on track that can't be seen by race control or the driver. Hence waving continue waving a flag when race control think it is clear.

However .... It is misleading to the driver to declare the track clear on the lights and steering wheel, but still have a marshal waving a flag. Classic case of confusion with two sources of information. I hope that was taken in mitigation, perhaps the normal penalty would have been 5 places?

There should be no flags if lights are being used. The marshal station is next to a light, so they can flick a switch if they need to.

[auto saibot]

just returned home after attending the friday practice sessions, was a phenomenal experience .....and lotus renault sounded a way too louder than the rest of the cars( as if they didn't heed the off-throttle regulation ). almost everybody was going wide and kicking dust at turn 7, right in front of my stand

[Shrieker]

There should be no flags if lights are being used. The marshal station is next to a light, so they can flick a switch if they need to.

I agree to this %100. The major problem here was there were two different sources of info as you pointed out.

Had there been a flashing yellow light + speeding, fair penalty. But you remove everything from the steering wheel and display green lights, why penalise the driver ? Double yellows being waved ? What about the damn flashing green light ?!? What a brain fart by the FIA.

Vettel cruise from start to finish on sunday.

[Richard]

Auto - Glad you got to see it live auto.

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Here are the yellow flags and a green flag and a green light at once in FP1.

[Shrieker]

@richard_leeds,

I honestly thought the yellows were being waved at the entry or right at the exit of the penultimate corner and that's why they penalised him. Looking at this pic, I see no logic in the penalty handed out at all. If you f.ck things up raise your hand and accept your responsibility FIA. Don't penalise the driver. There's barely 30-40 meters between the flags and the display...

[myurr]

Auto - Glad you got to see it live auto.

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Here are the yellow flags and a green flag and a green light at once in FP1.

The guy at the lights is waving a green flag as well. So it looks like an anomaly where the sector *should* be green but one flag guy hasn't realised and is still waving the yellow.

Given the prominence of that green light to where Hamilton would have known the crash had been I would say that this is 100% a procedural cock up by the FIA and that no penalty should have been given.

[myurr]

There's barely 30-40 meters between the flags and the display...

And the flags are barely sticking out from behind a ruddy great fence!!

[Traction]

just returned home after attending the friday practice sessions, was a phenomenal experience .....and lotus renault sounded a way too louder than the rest of the cars( as if they didn't heed the off-throttle regulation ). almost everybody was going wide and kicking dust at turn 7, right in front of my stand

Niiiice! Very jealous ...

[Traction]

Surely there is room for an appeal. I can't believe with this kind of confusion the penalized drivers/teams will just accept the penalty.