2007 Hungarian Grand Prix

Alonso demoted to 6th!

Fernando Alonso has been demoted to sixth on the Hungarian Grand Prix grid after stewards deemed he "unnecessarily impeded" McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton in Saturday's qualifying.

Alonso and the team's actions forced Hamilton to wait in the McLaren pit as the pair stacked up prior to their final qualifying runs.

And while the world champion made it back on track in time to snatch pole position, Hamilton missed the cut despite dominating the session until that point.

The 22-year-old was forced to settle for second, but has now been promoted to the front of the grid.

McLaren has also been informed that it will not be eligible to score constructors' championship points in Sunday's race with either car.

Team principal Ron Dennis told reporters after qualifying that the mix-up began because Hamilton didn't follow instructions to allow Alonso past during the fuel-burning phase of Q3, thus throwing the McLarens out of sequence.

Alonso also staunchly defended his actions, arguing that he was simply following the instructions of his engineers who were trying to find him a gap in traffic.

But after reviewing McLaren's radio transmissions and interviewing Dennis, team manager Dave Ryan and both drivers, the stewards said they did not accept either the team's or Alonso's explanations.

"The explanation given by Alonso as to why...he remained in his pit stop position for a further 10 seconds is not accepted," read the official statement from the stewards.

"The stewards find that he unnecessarily impeded another driver, Hamilton, and as a result he will be penalised by a loss of five grid positions.

"The explanation given by the team as to why they kept Alonso stationary for 20 seconds after completion of his tyre change and therefore delayed Hamilton's own pit stop is not accepted.

"The actions of the team in the final minutes of qualifying are considered prejudicial to the interests of the competition and to the interests of motor sport generally.

"The penalty to be applied is that such points (if any) in the 2007 Formula 1 constructors' championship as accrue to the team as a result of their participation in the 2007 Hungarian Grand Prix wilt be withdrawn."

Alonso's grid relegation is not appealable but McLaren is expected to challenge the decision regarding constructors' points in the International Court of Appeal.

It is the second year running that Alonso has lost places on the Hungarian GP grid at the hands of the stewards.

Last year, while driving for Renault, he started 15th after being penalised for brake-testing another car and overtaking under a yellow flag.

Source
 
Glad Alonso got demoted down the grid, he deserved to be. His stunt has also cost the team now they won't score any constructors points for the GP, it may be very costly at season end.

And Ron Dennis blaming Hamilton was just a scape goat to try and avoid a penalty, it failed and I'm glad the FIA saw through it.

I hope Alonso has a mechanical failure of the final lap of the race and scores himself a nice DNF.
 
Glad Alonso got demoted down the grid, he deserved to be. His stunt has also cost the team now they won't score any constructors points for the GP, it may be very costly at season end.

And Ron Dennis blaming Hamilton was just a scape goat to try and avoid a penalty, it failed and I'm glad the FIA saw through it.

I hope Alonso has a mechanical failure of the final lap of the race and scores himself a nice DNF.

Agreed - even if Lewis did charge off and not let Alonso past at the start of the session, I can't see how that affected Alonso's performance in any way. Would be fascinating to be a fly on the wall in the McLaren pit right now...
 
Here is footage of the incident for those who haven't seen it yet.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGgfrNpaofw[/youtube]
 
McLaren has also been informed that it will not be eligible to score constructors' championship points in Sunday's race with either car.

Thats gonna hurt!

We all know what happened last year when Alonso got penalised... Button won the race!
 
I just read the full letter from the stewards, this bit is important;

"Alonso was asked why he waited for some 10 seconds before leaving the pits after being given the signal to leave. His response was that he was enquiring as to whether the correct set of tyres had been fitted to his car.

When asked why this conversation did not take place during the 20-second period when his car sat stationary all work on it having been completed, it was stated that it was not possible to communicate by radio because of the countdown being given to him.

Reference to the circuit map shows that at the time Alonso was told he would be held for 20 seconds there were but 4 cars on the circuit, his own and those of Fisichella, Hamilton and Raikkonen.

All but Raikkonen entered the pits such that there can have been no necessity to keep Alonso in the pits for 20 seconds waiting for a convenient gap in traffic in which to leave.

The explanation given by Alonso as to why at the expiration of the 20 second period he remained in his pit stop position for a further 10 seconds is not accepted."

Checking they put the right tyres on? For 10 seconds, after visibly looking in his mirror and seeing Hamilton?

It looks as though the teams explanation is half right in that the pit orders were messed up and that Alonso had to be held for a short time, but that it also was Alonso acting on his own initiative after that to hold for longer. I just don't buy that he'd double check the right tyres had been fitted in that situation with the clock ticking down.
 
Yes, but not from 17th on the grid :p

(Bah, it's not even a challenge picking on them anymore)

We won from 14th, thats only 3 positions ahead!

Edit: So if lollypop man kept the lollypop down for those extra ten seconds, would we be having this discussion about Alonso's penalty?
 
Last edited:
It's a harsh penalty.. This could be chance for Kimi to catch up a bit more in the overall championship =)

It's quite embarassing for Massa though, i rather Ferrari.. Forgetting to put fuel on the car! That's a pretty basic mistake.. :p
 
^ I agree. I think Kimi should have a great race and catch up in the championship, only because then it puts pressure on Ferrari having to decide who to focus on the championship. They made a mistake putting all their efforts into Massa's campaign now!
 
I think this proves that the FIA is an absolute joke. First of all they find McLaren guilty of being in possession of classified ferrari documents and no penalty. Now Alonso blocks Hamilton, he gets a 5 position penalty (fair enough) but now McLaren will not be able to collect any points as a constructor, which would make it highly likely Ferrari will close the gap in the constructors championship. FIA WTF are you people thinking ? :?
 
Its a total farce. Perhaps it's reasonable to give Alonso the penalty, but to exclude McLaren from the points is a complete fucking joke.

McLaren are appealing, and rightly so. You'd have to say that the McLaren legal team are certainly earning their money this year! :p
 
Last edited:
The penalty should've been for Alonso not to be eligible to score any points towards his drivers championship, seen as he was the one who decided to sit there for an extra 10 secs.
 
Do you think McLaren will issue an in-house penalty to Hamilton for disobeying a direct order by not letting Alonso past at the start and causing all this to happen? It wouldnt have happened if Hamilton had let him past remember!
 
Who knows if thats true or not. I dont think it's relevent because if what the FIA say is true in that there were only four vehicles on the circuit, then holding Alonso seems like a silly decision to make.

So Alonso is demoted, does that mean the top five will shuffle up one position? Because if Hamilton is forced to stay on the dirty side of the track, we could concievably see Heidfeld leading this race and with a great chance of victory. I can only pray that Raikkonen and Massa strike trouble and are unable to finish.
 
Do you think McLaren will issue an in-house penalty to Hamilton for disobeying a direct order by not letting Alonso past at the start and causing all this to happen? It wouldnt have happened if Hamilton had let him past remember!

No, I don't believe that was the case at all. I think Ron Dennis/McLaren made that story up to try and avoid the penalty. After Qualifying yesterday Ron Dennis was clearly unhappy and was looking for answers, he even looked pissed off at Alonso as he went to talk to him after Alonso was weighed in. Hamilton is innocent.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3t1SLlMzx4[/youtube]

Alonso just walks past Ron Dennis.
 
McLaren appeals stewards' decision
Sunday, 05, August, 2007, 02:00

McLaren has appealed the decision of the FIA stewards to bar it from scoring any constructors? championship points in the Hungarian Grand Prix.

After a lengthy investigation into the contentious pit lane queuing incident between Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, the stewards relegated pole-winner Alonso to sixth on the grid and declared the team ineligible for constructors? points.

McLaren will exercise its right to challenge the second of those penalties, which means Sunday?s race results will be provisional pending the verdict of the International Court of Appeal.

The stewards punished McLaren for holding Alonso stationary in the pits for longer than they deemed necessary given the lack of traffic on the circuit (before Alonso then delayed Hamilton for a further 10 seconds).

?The explanation given by the team as to why they kept Alonso stationary for 20 seconds after completion of his tyre change and therefore delayed Hamilton?s own pit stop is not accepted,? read an official statement.

?The actions of the team in the final minutes of qualifying are considered prejudicial to the interests of the competition and to the interests of motor sport generally.

?The penalty to be applied is that such points (if any) in the 2007 Formula 1 constructors' championship as accrue to the team as a result of their participation in the 2007 Hungarian Grand Prix wilt be withdrawn.?

Source
 
<offtopic>
Does the ITV site load properly for you? I'm finding with Firefox most of the graphics aren't loading. It works fine with IE7 though...
 
Maybe for the good of the sport, we need a race where both McLarens and Ferrari's DNF and we have an unusual podium, then get back to normal in Turkey.

@ Red_Bull. Works fine for me and Im using Firefox.
 
Top