European GP 2007

[pRo]

And what was so dangerous about letting Alonso go? The pitlane is wide enough for two cars and I didn't see any real danger there.

That one is more discutable, because the lolipop man has to ensure everithing is safe before releasing the car. If Alonso had hit the other car, he would have been given a drive-through penality! So that was risky.
That said, Alonso have lots of experience, probably the loolipop guy assumed he did saw the car comming in his rear view mirrors, which is certainly the case since he got out on the extreme right side of the lane, which is what avoided the collision.

Bad choice of words from me. I didn't mean to say it was totally safe, just that it wasn't dangerous enough to justify a penalty for Alonso, cause nothing really happened.

We've seen close pit exits before and it rarely results in penalty.

[pRo]

And what was so dangerous about letting Alonso go? The pitlane is wide enough for two cars and I didn't see any real danger there. I suppose you have to be anti-McLaren to make all those claims.

If Fisi hadn't moved right to the wall they would have hit and even though he dd that Honda had t make a complaint as their mechanics were nearly hit. If Fisi hadn't of moved I wouldn't be surprised if it had killed a mechanic or two.

But Fisi did move and nobody hit anything and no one died. I really doubt about the death of the mechanics, even if Fisi decided to hit Alonso though...

Like I said, the pitlane was wide enough for two cars. Fisi had room to avoid the collision and being a great driver, he did just that. Alonso, also being a great driver was also smart enough to leave Fisi enough room and not crash him into the wall. It might've looked bad, but it really wasn't. If they can control their cars at +200kmh, sometimes touching and having other side off the track, I'm sure they can control the cars at 80kmh too.

[jddh1]

This is Ron Dennis asking Alonso to spray Schumi during the celebrations. Childish if you ask me.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=O-s0ixVjTPQ&NR=1

What's so childish about it?

It wouldn't be the first time someone else gets a spray. It's not childish, it's just happy-happy-joy-joy. Don't take it so seriously. I do understand that Ferrari might've gotten 1-2 and in the end McLaren was the reason they didn't even get the 1. But that's racing and there's no need to blame them over everything, no matter how diehard Ferrari fan you are. Maybe you get luckier next time. Maybe not. But please, please, don't blame McLaren for winning and Ron for being happy about it.

Oh, come on, you're still hung up on my comment about the possibility of a Ferrari 1-2. And yes, I'm a diehard Ferrari fan, but also Lewis Hamilton is one of my favorite drivers as well as Kubica and Sutil. So don't think I said it's childish because I'm a Ferrari fan.

I said it's childish because Schumi's role was that of a presenter, just like town mayors, or other famous poeple that go up there to present the trophies. As that, they usually get out of the way when the spraying begins. Now, Schumi understands that role, that's why he changed his shirt before he got there (he was wearing a Ferrari one on the pit wall). However, Mr Dennis clearly thought of Schumi as still a Ferrari driver without understanding the difference between Schumi being a previous competitor and a current podium ceremony guest -- and that is where the "childish" term comes from.

I hope I cleared that up since I guess I was a bit vague when I first said "childish".

[Tom]

It wasn't Alonso's fault, the lollipop man should have kept him back.

A road car, with crush zones and pedestrian friendly bumpers can easily kill someone at 80km/h, have absolubtly no doubt that an F1 car with a big pointy nose could too.


As for the Hamilton engine change. Listen to the video, the engine is still running after the crash for several minutes!

[modbaraban]

I said it's childish because Schumi's role was that of a presenter, just like town mayors, or other famous poeple that go up there to present the trophies.

The thing is that he's not.

He's a 'Scuderia Ferrari' team member. He was there on the podium only because of that Schumacher-S nomination, not because he's a guy 'from outside'.

[Jochus]

Are there some video's about the "clash" between Alonso and Massa? And I mean the words, not the race... I'm a bit curious

[pRo]

A road car, with crush zones and pedestrian friendly bumpers can easily kill someone at 80km/h, have absolubtly no doubt that an F1 car with a big pointy nose could too.

I don't doubt that. Even 40kmh is enough to kill someone, even less with bad luck.

The thing I doubt is, that if two cars are going to same direction at 80kmh, even if they did collide, why would they suddenly head towards the mechanics at the same speed? And still have speed when they hit them?

Say Alonso didn't see Fisi and drove straight in front of him and Fisi didn't brake, but ran into Alonso. First of all Alonso would have to be practically stopped for Fisi to hit him with a significant speed difference. And if he was, the cars wouldn't really fly anywhere.

If they collided while going at the same speed into same direction, the collision wouldn't be that severe.


Dangerous? Yes. Deadly? No. Worth a penalty? Yes, if they did collide. No, because they didn't.

[Tom]

But if both cars tap tyres going down the pitlane they will both bounce up into the air, even at 80km/h. The Renault would have headed, airbourne, straight into the pit wall and the team managers and stratergists while the Mclaren would have gone right into the pit crews and perhaps another car refuelling...

It doesn't really bear thinking about but it has to be thought of because at the end of the day it was a wrong descision and the best way to avoid it happening again is to penalise the guy who made it so it is more carefully considered in the future.

[FLC]

That's exactly the problem. I don't understand why we need to see blood before punishments.
Alonso isn't the one to blame tho., I'm sure we all agree on that. His lollipop guy made the mistake.

[Rob W]

Some of you are on such a weird anti-McLaren tip I have to wonder aloud why Hamilton didn't try to back Massa up towards Alonso when he was about to be lapped again. He just pulled over ages before Massa was even close.

I mean for Ferrari it was standard practice for years - using Eddie Irvine to slow down anyone who was chasing Michael.

McLaren showed very sporting behaviour in this instance which I very much doubt you'd see from a red car nearly as often.

Rob W

[Rob W]

sorry - miss-post

[Rob W]

His lollipop guy made the mistake.

They should give the lollipop guy a drive-through then.

Rob W

[Fan Solo]

Brilliant race & a worthy winner! I also happen to think FA & LH are on some kind of.. 'lets see who can pi** of Massa the most this week' competition between themselves. lol

On the first corner car park issue, as MB said, the race needs to be neutralised before the marshals can sort the cars. Liuzzi had a failure whilst exiting the pits, not from still being at racing speed hence him spinning unexpectedly and nerfing a JCB, dangerous yes & I was expecting to see worse but thankfully all was ok & the sponsors/fans got to see their cars circulating for more than 15 minutes

Great, great race!

[DaveKillens]

I can understand the "no foul, no punishment" logic, but I also cringed at the potential for disaster if the cars had impacted in pit row. Personally, I believe that violating the rules or spirit of safety regulations is just as serious as if an accident did occur.

When Alonso won, to me it seemed appropriate that we would have seen Haug up on the podium to receive the Manufacturer's Trophy, since he represented the German aspect of McLaren's team effort. But Ron Dennis is a severe alpha male, and had to be there personally.

[siskue2005]

His lollipop guy made the mistake.

They should give the lollipop guy a drive-through then.

Rob W

lol excellent answer