Renault not racing at the Europe GP at Valencia

[djos]

Not to mention there is a series where they have a consistent rule when drivers leave the pits without their wheel nuts full fastened, and it's called NASCAR. They do this crazy thing where they have a rule, stewards, and a punishment, all planned out PRIOR to the race! Only in America!

Not to mention when the stewards spot shards of aluminium on the track they throw out the yellow flags, clear the debris and then go racing again!

To top it off, they are consistent with the penalties they hand out for infractions!

[Roger the knife]

I suspect Brawn deserve a penalty, but that could possibly mean only 16 cars at Valencia, and that probably invalidates the contract, so the good ol' FIA decide to pick on Flav, as he's definitely on Mosleys S%*t list, and manipulate the early departure of Fred Alonso .........

[WhiteBlue]

With hind sight the exhaust issue looks a lot more serious. Ok, it will not bounce like a spring but it will still have a simillar weight. I reckon at 250 kph anything above 50 g of mass and compact due to beeing made from metal can penetrate a visor. I thought the visors were much sturdier but you have to take into account that the hinges are not.

[sknguy]

A driver may share in the responsibility to report and assess problems. But I don't think such incidents are a driver's fault specifically. Such things are are team errors. And I don't think the tire changer had his hand up before Alonso was released.

The Renault's problem should have been relayed to Alonso either by his engineer or the lollipop guy, before he got off pit straight. That's a no-brainer.

But IMHO, the stewards should also have had a responsibility to demand that a car be parked immediately before exiting the pits and relayed directly from steward to driver... with a big red light on the dash too, no less. I prefer in-race time penalties to subsequent disqualifications.

[Shrek]

does any one have a video that i could watch about the whole incident, i set the tape recorder an hour late so i got the last half of the race so i missed the first lap and renault incident.

[Motornic]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI9LQTtr6s0

[mep]

Thing like the Alonso incident have ever happened.
Since there is F1, there are cars driving around with some kind of damage.
Especially a lose wheel nut is very common.
And it's common acting to drive back to the pits and solve the problem.
That's exactly what Alonso did.

So why should this be punished out of a sudden now?
It ever was like that.

And you don't have to tell a driver how to do his job.
Who else should know how to drive the car when it is not the driver?
He feels when there is something wrong.

[alvinkhorfire]

Personally I don't think the penalty fits the crime. I think a ban on points etc would be better for the next race. This A) means Alonso is still there to race in front of his home crowd and B) the sponsors still get their airtime.

Dropping WCC points and a fine would be better for the fans IMO.

As for the Brawn issue...whilst the outcome was cruel and extreme, I don't think the guilt is the same for such a freak accident. A bolt failing possibly couldn't be noticed in the garage as easily as a wheel not on properly.

If the ban goes on, the real losers are Alonso fans. Certainly, there is a way to punish the team without making the fans at great loss.

[lkocev]

I personally think this penalty is not really fitting. Wheels comming off from failed wheel nuts or wheel nuts not put on properly is quite common I think so. We have seen many things like this before, but I don't remember ever hearing about teams having a similar penalty. Perhaps the circumstances are different, but ultimatley I think the teams will always take responsibility for their cars.

I have trouble grasping the idea that Renault desserve such a harsh penalty, when in the same weekend a spring came off a Brawn car, which caused a nasty accident. OK maybe I'm a little late to the party and there is debate wether a team can predict if a bolt will fail like that, but at the end of the day, the people in the Brawn team are responsible. If anyone COULD have predicted that type of failure was to happen, it could only have been someone in the Brawn team.

Perhaps the Renault penalty is because of neglegence, I don't know, but I don't see why Renault don't desserve the benfit of human error. Sometimes these things happen, you try for them not to happen, but unfourtunatley they do. I agree that perhaps some kind of fine would be more fitting, but I think suspending them from Valencia is not right.

[mx_tifoso]

Perhaps the Renault penalty is because of neglegence.

Thats pretty much the whole deal here. They knew something was wrong but still allowed the car to race, thats pretty negligent. That tire could have killed someone. Period.

Now they're banned. Will everyone learn their lesson? Lets hope so.

[dave34m]

I'm really surprised how many people think Brawn should get a penalty.
Do they not understand what the penalty was for, if any other team deserves a penalty its Red Bull.

[djos]

I'm really surprised how many people think Brawn should get a penalty.
Do they not understand what the penalty was for, if any other team deserves a penalty its Red Bull.

BullShit! Yes Webber's release was bordering on dangerous, but Webber's driving skill prevented him from hitting Kimi so no harm done!

[lkocev]

Perhaps the Renault penalty is because of neglegence.

Thats pretty much the whole deal here. They knew something was wrong but still allowed the car to race, thats pretty negligent. That tire could have killed someone. Period.

Now they're banned. Will everyone learn their lesson? Lets hope so.

I agree that if that is what happened its pretty poor from Renault, but like I say these things happen. Its in the heat of racing, everyone is trying to get everything done as quickly as possible, sometimes mistakes are made and the lolipop man releases the car before the nut-man realises what has happened, or has time to react. There has been many cases like that, I guess Massa taking off with the fuel hose last year is something similar, and something I wouldn't consider punishable.

The spring from the Brawn ALMOST DID kill someone, and even if the Brawn engineers couldn't have forseen a spring coming off their car, they are ultimatley still responsible. I'm not saying Brawn were neglegent, I think in any F1 team negligence is extremerly rare, but no one else can be held responsible for that either. I don't think Renault's punishment fits, there would have been plenty of punishment when Alonso's race and chance to get on the podium was destroyed. Maybe I think too lenient.

[dave34m]

I'm not talking about Webber, I'm talking about them sending out a car (Vettel) that had a problem. Not that I think that they should get a penalty but I cant see why so many want a penalty for Brawn

[djos]

I'm not talking about Webber, I'm talking about them sending out a car (Vettel) that had a problem. Not that I think that they should get a penalty but I cant see why so many want a penalty for Brawn

Oh that, seriously all he had wrong was his steering alignment knocked way out after he got his left front wheel clobbered by Kimis Rear wheel, hardly a safety issue!!!