2009 Hungarian Formula 1 Grand Prix

[piercey]

What kind of a professional racing team lets one of their cars run with a loose wheelnut??
I want to hear that radio conversation! Untill I do, I call BS.

It almost looked like the lollipop man let Alonso go to early and the wheel wasn't all the way on. Now, if the incident stopped there then the stewards went overboard. However, if they didn't tell Alonso that the wheel isn't on all the way at any point, then the book throwing is well deserved, imo. You have to inform your driver about shit like that, no matter how stiff the chassis is or whatever. Not like he didn't know, but still...

 

[Topgearfanatic]

I think the lollipop man mistook the gunman's hand in the air as a thumbs up. Because he was fiddling with the wheel and the air gun before he got released.

 

[Joc?]

You have to inform your driver about shit like that, no matter how stiff the chassis is or whatever. Not like he didn't know, but still...

Apparently, he didn't know. He told the team on the radio that he believed he had a puncture, and the team told him to get back to the pits, but they didn't tell him that it was more than a puncture. At least that's what I read/heard.

 

[Devon]

Well done to Hamilton, Raikkonen and Webber.

Without wanting to fuel the fire, it is at the very least odd that Webber was punished -during the race-, whereas Kimi basically gets off the hook for pretty much the same type of incident. I don't mean to say that Kimi should have been penalised, but neither should Webber have been. It just demonstrates that the Steward's decisions are far from consistent.

I also find it odd that the Stewards are coming down so hard on Renault even though Brawn had pieces flying off the car as well. I realise the Surtees-incident has a lot to do with this, but it just seems extremely harsh.
Has there been any word on the Stewards doing any kind of investigation on what happened to Rubens' car & how it happened?

Again, I don't mean to imply the Stewards are biased, but they are very inconsistent with their decisions.

And in Kimis case I'm almost sure that there was no contact..where as Webber did make contact..and they probably didn't want to ruine his result..as much as that sounds biased..maybe someone will understand me..

No contact? He was practically pinballing between cars! It seems at the very least like he ruined vettels race. Too much time around the vodka rig before the race perhaps?

They said right away that it would be investigated, and in my head i said "And because its ferrari, nothing will happen". Lo and behold! Nothing will happen. I still havent forgotten their blatent corner cutting at monaco. They said they were getting warning after warning, and i said than too "Nothing will happen". Sure the rules apply to ferrari, but if the eye they turn isnt blind, its old and fuzzy.

Regardless of the decision (I don't think Kimi did that bad, given he was squeezed and had nowhere to go), it seems really odd that it was saved until after the race for investigation. This wasn't an incident late in the race, it was at turn 1. Last race Webber's incident was investigated virtually immediately, so why was this one saved until after the race?

I am confused as to why they didn't bother to investigate the Kimi incident during the race and left it until after. Considering that Kimi hit Vettel and Vettel retired later in the race with a damaged front wing, which I assume was from contact with Kimi, then like Webber in Germany, Kimi deserved a penalty.

As with Renault, if they failed to inform Alonso that the wheel was in fact loose, then they deserve to miss Valencia. Otherwise, the decision is very harsh.

 

[pfrocker]

Well done to Hamilton, Raikkonen and Webber.

I am confused as to why they didn't bother to investigate the Kimi incident during the race and left it until after. Considering that Kimi hit Vettel and Vettel retired later in the race with a damaged front wing, which I assume was from contact with Kimi, then like Webber in Germany, Kimi deserved a penalty.

As with Renault, if they failed to inform Alonso that the wheel was in fact loose, then they deserve to miss Valencia. Otherwise, the decision is very harsh.

Well to be fair I don't think Kimi had anywhere to go, they were 4 wide at one point. Not that I'm saying Mark should've been penalised in Germany, but he did had a lot more room and he didn't made his mistake in the braking zone like Kimi. So I don't think he should've been punished, they are just racing.

 

[Richmondgal]

From what I saw from the coverage, Kimi didn't have anywhere to go so he would either get himself hit or hit someone else, in this case it was Vettel. Don't know why they didn't penalised him during the race.
As for the Alonso thing, bad communication really. And even more bad if they did tell him.

 

[Sir Stiggington]

The Raikkonen incident was simply Kimi and Lewis seeing the same gap and going for it. It's amazing they didn't hit eachother, it shows how good they are.

 

[Electric-Mayhem]

As I understood it, Alonso knew that there was something wrong with the wheel by the first turn. Yeah, they could have been a bit quicker to let him know about it, aka before he left the pit, but all things considered he had plenty of time to figure out what to do before the sucker actually came off. I can't say I wouldn't have done a similar thing really, that is try to get back to the pits and recover whatever you could from the race, hoping that the wheel wouldn't fall off or whatnot. I agree that he probably wouldn't have gotten a penalty if the Surtees incident hadn't happened earlier in the week.

JH

 

[vikiradTG2007]

Thing is, Alonso would have felt the wheel vibrating itself loose, but since the driver sits very low in the car and can't even see the front wing from his position, he wouldn't have been able to see the fact that the wheel hadn't been tightened up, meaning that he possibly thought he had a puncture right up to the moment when the wheel fell off.

Also, at races like Le Mans, where there are a lot of open-top prototypes, there is no penalty if a car crawls into the pitlane shedding bodywork and flapping rubber all around the racetrack. I didn't see them disqualifying the #7 Peugeot this year for doing a full lap on a tire that disintegrated itself and ripped the bodywork to shreds.

There was a Safety Car deployed after that car had done half a lap on that puncture, but that's another story...



EDIT: Also, if in a race like that they wouldn't allow cars to crawl back to the pits with the risk of something falling off, we would probably have a retirement rate of about 80% in each 24-hour race.

 

[vikiradTG2007]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/77417

Hamilton praises Mclaren staff after win

By Edd Straw Wednesday, July 29th 2009, 16:31 GMT

Lewis Hamilton praised the McLaren workforce's fighting spirit during a personal address the team's factory on Wednesday.

Hamilton, who visited the factory for a technical debrief following his Hungarian Grand Prix victory, described the win as "payback" for the hard work that has gone into making the McLaren MP4-24 into a winner.

"This has been an incredibly difficult season for all of us, but Sunday's result is payback for all your time, effort, energy and passion," said Hamilton. "I wanted to come here and thank you for that."

"At the start of the season, we were barely competitive, but the amount of work that every single one of you put into transforming our fortunes has been incredible.

"I've always said it: Vodafone McLaren Mercedes is a team of winners. And the most amazing thing about this team is its fighting spirit: you never give up. So when I get into the car, I know all the effort that has gone into getting us to this point, and it makes me want to push even harder to repay you."

Hamilton added that the Hungarian victory was testament to the round-the-clock effort put in by the staff at McLaren's Woking headquarters.

"Winning on Sunday was our victory," he said. "The work that you've done this season has been incredible, I have never seen this place so intensely busy and productive.

"And the result in Hungary showed that there is definitely light at the end of the tunnel, and that makes the job easier and more satisfying for everyone. You have all been amazing and I hope you are as proud of this win as I am."

Those guys deserve a pat on the back and a glass of champagne for their efforts. And they need to unwind properly in the two-week break from the factory; they deserve it.