Did Lewis deserve the drive-thru penalty?

the penalty was a bit harsh.

1. he had clearly passed him as they entered the chicane, and avoided crashing into the driver ahead ( which would have been the car in consideration for taking advantage off) casing him to loose time to that car and avoiding crashing into him.

2. If at all it was deemed by the stewards to be an infractrion, why was he not radio'd to let Vettel repass. Both Mclaren and Hamilton saw nothing wrong with the move,and I'm sure it is only after some dubious protest by STR that after a number of laps, they issued a penalty.

I would like to know the due process in this situation. Is the driver warned to let the other car repass, or do they just wait for 6,7 laps and then call in the driver?

meanwhile Kimi drivers around for half the race with a dangerous piece of exhaust pipe dangling from the car, and obvious danger to the cars behind. No call in, nothing from the stewards, he even gets to pit and exit with the same danger until it luckily falls off while on the track.

Then trulli swerves into Kovaleinen which could have ended up terribly and nothing.

oh well. without that penality, he would have challenged for 3rd.

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Originally Posted by truefan72

the penalty was a bit harsh.


2. If at all it was deemed by the stewards to be an infractrion, why was he not radio'd to let Vettel repass. Both Mclaren and Hamilton saw nothing wrong with the move,and I'm sure it is only after some dubious protest by STR that after a number of laps, they issued a penalty.

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It always take time to investigate before a penalty is given. Ofcourse the Mclaren are long gone before they can give vettel his place back. Ofcourse Mclaren and Hamilton think it is a correct move like a turkey doesn;t want his head chopped off for thanksgiving.

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Originally Posted by truefan72

Then trulli swerves into Kovaleinen which could have ended up terribly and nothing.

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Looked to me like fair fighting from Trulli. Based on in-car footage from Heikki, Trulli definitely appeared to have had the line and Heikki should have backed off. But I'll look at it again once I finish downloading the ITV broadcast. :)

i've seen penalties given for less, i've seen them not given for worse, it was a close enough call to say that a penalty is fair, and McLaren have certainly used up any credit they had with the FIA so if there is a close call i reckon it will be a while before they get one in their favour, and to be honest i don't think they would be able to argue with that.

the incident in isolation, hamilton was past, but conceivabley if he'd slwed enough to not understeer out of the chicane then he may not have made the pass - tough call, i wouldn't have given the penalty, but then again i don't think it was exactly unfair

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Originally Posted by Robinho

i've seen penalties given for less, i've seen them not given for worse, it was a close enough call to say that a penalty is fair, and McLaren have certainly used up any credit they had with the FIA so if there is a close call i reckon it will be a while before they get one in their favour, and to be honest i don't think they would be able to argue with that.

the incident in isolation, hamilton was past, but conceivabley if he'd slwed enough to not understeer out of the chicane then he may not have made the pass - tough call, i wouldn't have given the penalty, but then again i don't think it was exactly unfair

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fair enough assesment

i'm not 100% sure but i think Vettel's position is irrelevent in this case. Its not wheither you gain a position or not its about gaining an advantage towards other car(s).

If you look at this clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWvelG8gsMg

Hamilton overtook a car just before the chicane but when approaching the next chicane he goes straigh on instead of breaking and turning right into the chicane.

Again i'm not 100% sure but i think all "short cuts" over chicanes/corners are banned and drivers doing that will have to slow down to make sure that any possible advantage gained through the "false" manoveur will be gone.

The law that they keep quoting on ITV states that you aren't allowed to miss an apex in order to gain or to maintain your position.

As LH was ahead of Vettel before the entry of the first turn, I don't think the penalty was for 'advantage gaining for making a position'. I think the penalty was for 'advantage gained for not losing a position'.

It was for gaining an advantage. Not a place.

People! There is no point in arguing these decisions. I came to the conclusion long ago that the race stewards are inconsistent and always will be unless some radical change is made. Wasting time yelling at the TV when a dumb decision comes down is a waste of energy...

Truefan, onemore thing. i think Lewis should should have noticedthat he drived over the chicane and not through it. therefore he should have know that he had to back off but he continued to race as nothing had happened.