2009 Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix

I still stand by taking EVERY FIA decision with a grain of salt...

They are still a farcical and untrustworthy organization, mind; that is not going to change anytime soon.

They also handled this situation absolutely horribly, as did Lewis, Dave, and McLaren.
 
That my friend, is true. Still rather having an incompetent FIA digging out the truth than otherway round.
 
Hamilton has never come off as someone who is very independent, he is a team player and I'm not surprised in the slightest that he would leave out details that a senior team official asked him to omit. Certainly he's no hero and there are people on the field who would have responded better... but i can't really blame him for doing as he was instructed in a very confusing situation when he may not have known all the facts himself. This latest development hasn't hurt my support for Hamilton... but if Mclaren is so stupid that they can make the wrong call and tell him to yield the position, then ask him to lie to the stewards after giving interviews saying the exact opposite while there is freely available incriminating audio evidence, then, after being penalized, have another team official give an interview claiming that Hamilton didn't slow down and the telemetry proved it when it clearly did not, then fuck them... the world champion deserves better support then that.
 
Last edited:
Alonso: McLaren has lied before

Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso has joined the controversy over McLaren's handling of the Australian Grand Prix incident, saying it is not the first time the team has not been honest with the FIA stewards.

The Spaniard, who drove for McLaren in 2007 before leaving after his relationship with the team went sour, said this week's situation had reminded him of the 2007 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Back in qualifying for the Budapest race, Hamilton was unable to complete his final run after being forced to wait behind Alonso at their final stop for tyres.

Alonso was then waved to leave the pits, but he waited for some 10 more seconds before he got moving. Hamilton, leading the championship then, had to wait behind the Spaniard and then crossed the finish line when the time had run out.

McLaren said the incident had been triggered by Hamilton disobeying team orders to let Alonso pass at the start of the third qualifying segment.

The incident led to Alonso and Hamilton facing the stewards, and the Spaniard and the team eventually being penalised, with the stewards refusing to accept the team's explanations of the incident.

Speaking to Spanish media on Friday, just a day after controversy erupted over the team lying to the stewards in Australia, Alonso suggested McLaren had not been honest in Hungary back in 2007.

"Of course it reminded me of 2007," Alonso, now at Renault, was quoted as saying by the Spanish media. "It's not the first time they go to see the stewards. It's not the first time they lie to the stewards and, sooner or later, they had to be punished.

"Of course there I lost the championship by a point and in Hungary they played a bad trick on me.

"I read about it on Thursday in the hotel, because I was there all day. I turned the computer on and I read it. Every time there are decisions taken against other teams you don't care too much and in this case it didn't change the result for me, so it didn't affect me too much."

Source: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74209
Click to expand...
 
I saw the interview with Hamilton on the news and after watching and how he say's he is 'so sorry and apologize completely to all my fans, friends and family'
thats complete bulls*** he's just apologizing because he knows he got caught and can't get away with it. It's like all those bank chiefs who said sorry to the mp's purely in the interest to try and get the heat off them. If he had been a real man he wouldn't have done it in the first place or at the least owned up to it.
 
That apollogy is pathetic. Laying all the blame on one man, who can't defend himself because he's been sent away. :mad:

Does he really have no class at all? How old is he? Get yourself a bloody mind of your own, Lewis. What if they had instructed him to go into an Alabama bar with a "Fcuk rednecks" T-Shirt?

Call Red Bull and ask for one Mr. Vettel for instructions on how to deal with mistakes. He got himself penalized for a shunt he wasn't even the only one to blame for and even so, he admitted he was at fault and went on to answer the questions on the track.
 
*yawn*

Now it's clear you've been on an agenda all along.

I still admit that I was wrong, but you've just got an axe to grind. Nice one.

Bash on.
 
heh Hamilton can't really be shown in any sort of positive light which ever way you try and look at the situation is you are one of his haters from last season and enoguh people on this forum have been fairly open about being so.

Suppose as someone else has already said, we should just move on :p
 
I've lost my faith with McLaren now. I feel sorry for Lewis for being forced to do this. McLaren really need to review their staff discipline.
 
Anyone that thinks any other driver would have acted differently, if told what to say by their team, is either very naive or seriously deluded.
Now that the full situation is fairly clear, I would say that the punishment is more than fair.
 
mclarensmps said:
*yawn*

Now it's clear you've been on an agenda all along.

I still admit that I was wrong, but you've just got an axe to grind. Nice one.

Bash on.
Click to expand...

I'm not on an agenda. The only way out of it would have been not to do it in the first time and not trying to cover it up. If he had said "yes I was lying and I'm sorry for that" - good, that would have shown he has some class left, but blaming it on someone else - gimme a break. That's pathetic. :(

This is no Hamilton bashing, I would use quite stronger words if that would have been my intention, but you cannot denied that both he and his team did every mistake in the book and that's what earned them the pounding they got, and nobody btw., did that more condemning than the british press. The first words that spring to mind when you think of britain are "Gentleman" and "fair play" - both were not very prominently involved in steward-gate here, that's what's making it so disappointing, because many - like me - liked that bloke who came in and trounced a world champion in his rookie year, only to show 2 years later that he's no better than the aforementioned WC that he trounced. It's not bashing it's utter disapointement :cry:
 
I agree. As a McLaren fan I find it really hard to support Hamilton sometimes. The guy is seriously talented, we know this, I just wish he'd stop shooting his mouth off whenever he's not driving the car. He's just as much at fault as Ryan.
 
Last edited:
This very much confirms my view of Hamilton. As a driver he is great but out of the cockpit he is a cock. Give me Kimi or Button over Hamilton any day of the week (you can keep Massa and Alonso).
 
I guess the FerrariIA decided "Well, since our boys aren't in the race because they both wrecked or had a tire failure...let's penalize Lewis again. TAKE THAT MCLAREN! YOU WILL NEVER WIN A CONSTRUCTORS TITLE AGAIN BWAHAHAHAHAH!" But seriously...

Here's what I think: Lewis drove a cracking race with a car that is a pig to drive (work on the diffuser, boys!) from 18th on the grid to 3rd. Not exactly Wattie in '83 but pretty darn good nonetheless. Then it's all taken away because of the darn stewards. Who are the FIA race stewards anyway? What clown college did they graduate from? What F1 backmarkers did they drive for before deciding to be stewards? They are a joke! What matters is what happens on the track! Let them race and stewards BUTT OUT!

Otherwise, congrats to Button and Barrichello for their 1-2. I'm a dyed in the wool McLaren fan but it's nice to see someone different win. I'm hoping it's similar to 1982 all over again. Tough break, Lewis. Good luck in Sepang.
 
mclarensmps said:
Anyways, it looks like forumers aren't the only ones who have axes to grind against McLaren over this:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74214

This is, indeed, a clusterfuck, and I'm sure wiley 'ol max is going to milk this to it's last conceivable drop.
Click to expand...

mclarensmps, from what i gathered from your postings so far I think you're one die-hard card-carrying McLren fan. Good on you for that. You mention Nigel Mansell, and I'll trigger into hero-worship mode immediately. But why the hell don't you people speak up? Why don't you contact your favourite team and let them know "guys, we like you, but please, don't ever pull a foul stunt like that again. No Ferrari fan spoke up when the long chined one tried to run over Villeneuve at Jerez, and no Hamilton fans speaks up, when he epically screwed up this time ??
I admit, I'm relly fond of Vettel, but I was the first in my regular forum to call him "dork of the race" in melbourne. Stop the meanigless mooning and speak up when things are wrong. Lewis is one helluva racer, but do we need another ruthless advantage seeker? We had too much of that in the ferrari years, I'd prefer racing over politics
 
Last edited:
I was a fan of McLaren for almost 30 years. But I can't support a team that stupids it's way through such a thing, nor can I support a driver that hasn't got the balls to admit his part in it.

So... how does the Brawn Kool-Aid taste? Is Red Bull's better?
 
I've been watching this thing all day, seeing more and more information surface. As I see it, the whole issue "just" was an idiotic brainfart of that McLaren guy, pulling Lewis into it. I must say a part of me does understand Lewis, because I have been in a similar situation more than once, where I joined someone doing certain things and only realised later where he was heading. I think it's easy to say that he never should have followed his boss lying to the FIA, but given the quite clear picture we were able to develop with plenty of time and information now - which he probably didn't have - it's easy for us to judge.

Of course, McLaren has to be punished for this. Lying to the FIA intending to have Trulli penalised plainly is unacceptable. What McLaren themselves do with the guy is their part, yet, the FIA has to draw a thick line right there. So whatever has come along and still will, I must say they deserve it. Nevertheless, despite my opinion of Hamilton, I can follow him and what he did to an extent.
 
ApexOversteer said:
I was a fan of McLaren for almost 30 years. But I can't support a team that stupids it's way through such a thing, nor can I support a driver that hasn't got the balls to admit his part in it.

So... how does the Brawn Kool-Aid taste? Is Red Bull's better?
Click to expand...

Apex, don't give up your team. McLaren is till a team to be liked, but just let them know how you feel. Maybe if their own fans tell them "people, you screwed up - corrrect it!" they'll admit to their faults. We all have our likes and dislikes and we need all of them, I just hope that McMerc fans just give their team a stern warning, but keep supporting them. I for once are willing to give Lewis a second chance, but he'll have to steer clear of the dubious stuff. Make my day on the track, Lewis!!
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top