Spanish GP 2012 - Barcelona

[NathanOlder]

Yeah, But he would still be infront of Button & Webber and just behind Vettel, so this isnt seen as a penalty, Lets send him to the back of the grid!

Bunch of P****s on the stewards panel and up at the FIA.

complete cock.

[NathanOlder]

I also read he was lucky to escape a penalty for what happened in Bahrain!

I too am begining to be sick of the Pirelli tyres.
If all the teams were running bridgstones from a few years back, Lewis Hamilton would have won 2 or 3 races this year. In the dry on equal tyres, he is easily the fastest guy on the grid.

[myurr]

That's what pisses me off more than anything else, it's the scale of the penalty in light of other rulings this year and the size of the 'crime'.

Delete his time, knock him out of Q3 if you really have to and want to crack down on this, but full disqualification reeks of having an agenda.

[bhall]

I think the stewards looked at Hamilton's half-second advantage over the rest of the drivers in Q3 and compared that to the fact that the top ten were separated by less than a second at the end of Q2 and concluded that Hamilton was purposefully underfueled to gain a performance advantage.

The penalty is a bit harsh, but it's likely ensured that it will not happen again, which is the very reason for applying any penalty.

[myurr]

I think the stewards looked at Hamilton's half-second advantage over the rest of the drivers in Q3 and compared that to the fact that the top ten were separated by less than a second at the end of Q2 and concluded that Hamilton was purposefully underfueled to gain a performance advantage.

What's the performance penalty for carrying another litre or two of fuel? What does that half second actually equate to in fuel load? The usual quoted amount is 0.3 - 0.4 seconds for 10kg of fuel. So if they actually looked at the gap then they shouldn't have punished him.

So they didn't look at the gap at all... If anything the gap proves it wasn't deliberate as it wasn't at all needed.

[Nando]

They did that while reading each others palms i presume as they have no idea what is pure pace from the car and Hamilton versus the miniscule time they gained by running on basically fumes.

Or the fact that Hamilton made two small mistakes in his pole lap.

2 kg´s will do nothing to your time, it´s more psychological then anything.

[NathanOlder]

The stewards cant accept Lewis pi**ed on the rest of the field.

Malodonado was 2nd, so its not like the Red Bulls were 2nd & 3rd, maybe then it could have looked suspicious. It was a mixed up grid and 1 man nailed it yet again, 1 man gets a massive panalty..... yet again

[simos]

I tried reading FIA explanation couple of times, but I still don't get it for what exactly the team was penalized.

For not coming back to pits?
For stopping a car on track?
For not having enough fuel onboard?

And another thing, how much fuel had Hamilston still onboard when he stopped? Did he have that 1l required for testing?

[Nando]

The only thing he got penalized for was not coming into the pits.

He had enough fuel for the test.

[bhall]

I didn't say the stewards were correct; I just pointed to a possibility.

Either way, it's all said and done and nothing we say will change it.

[Mr.G]

I tried reading FIA explanation couple of times, but I still don't get it for what exactly the team was penalized.

For not coming back to pits?
For stopping a car on track?
For not having enough fuel onboard?

And another thing, how much fuel had Hamilston still onboard when he stopped? Did he have that 1l required for testing?

For trying make assholes from stewards by telling them that was an technical problem?

[NathanOlder]

yeah , they stopped so they had enough fuel for the test. I think he stopped on the way up to turn 9? So he had 1/2 a lap to go, so only needed half a lap of fuel. If im correct then half a lap of fuel would be something like 0.050 . He was on pole by OVER 0.500 for christ sake!!

If he had the extra fuel, he would have still been over 0.5 infront.

He has the pace to run away with the race! but the FIA dont want that do they.

[andartop]

If it was up to me I'd have him start from P6 or P10.

However, I think the stewards may have taken into consideration that Lewis/McLaren have received a reprimand for the exact same reason in the past, which would justify a strict punishment.

By now, I think Lewis must have collected most reprimands than any other driver in F1 history, and to be honest I can't even recall who was the last driver to have been reprimanded before Lewis started racing in F1!

This can only mean one of two things: either all the stewards and FIA have something against him, or he is a "troublemaker". I guess everyone would have their own view on that, but the fact is that he did get away with it on at least a few occasions, the most recent being in Bahrain.

It's a pity, as he really deserved the pole today, especially since others opted not to even try, and as it would have been interesting to see a Lewis vs Alonso fight at the front!

[captainmorgan]

The only thing he got penalized for was not coming into the pits.

He had enough fuel for the test.

Are you sure? how much fuel does a slow inlap use up?

Unless I'm misunderstanding you... either way I dont think he would have had enough fuel after the inlap, and why allow people to get a lighter penalty on a technicality?

[GrizzleBoy]

Gary anderson explains exactly what happened with the fuel:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/18047760

"
The fuel rig guy put the rig on, but he had the handle set to drain fuel.

He discovered his mistake and switched it to put fuel in the car. But as a result he didn't put as much fuel in it as he should have.

You have to be able to drive back to the pit-lane and have one litre of fuel left for the FIA to test.

He went across the start-finish line 20 seconds before the chequered flag but if they had sat in the garage for three or four more seconds to get more fuel in, they still would have had time to cross the line and complete another flying lap. Sometimes I don't think McLaren think on their feet."

McLaren, in a nutshell.