Was Lewis passing Heikki legal?

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Originally Posted by pits4me

Comparing this to the Ferrari incident is absolutely ridiculous. That call on Ruben's had more to do with padding ShuMi's run at the WDC than the constructors points.

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McLaren are doing everything in "padding" Lewis' run! I can't see the difference you see, maybe I should borrow some silver tinted glasses?!

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Originally Posted by Valve Bounce

This time Kovi did not ultimately lose a single position at all.

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That's bizarre! I thought that if the guy behind you get's in front of you it means that you lost a position! :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by ioan

What bothers me is how some people go to extreme lengths trying to prove it wasn't illegal given that there are rules that state otherwise!

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But the rule says team orders are prohibited if they interfere with a race result. If Hamilton couldn't manage to pass Heiki on a "fair" basis i.e. Lewis was slower than Heikki, then a team order instructing Heikki to slow and let Lewis through would be something like we saw in Austria 2002, and therefore illegal.

Patently this was not the case in Germany 2008. For one thing the assumption is being made that a team order was issued by McLaren. Given that the FIA have access to team race communications it is safe to assume that that assumption is not a fact. Also, it is obvious to anyone that Lewis was the quicker driver and had the speed and opportunity to improve the teams' result from the 4th & 5th positions they held at the time.

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Originally Posted by ioan

That's bizarre! I thought that if the guy behind you get's in front of you it means that you lost a position! :rolleyes:

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Team orders or not, noone was going to stop Hamilton passing Kovalainen. It was just a matter of when.

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Originally Posted by Jag_Warrior

Since some of the fanboys here seem to have proof that McLaren used team orders, wonder why they don't forward that information to the FIA?

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Originally Posted by ArrowsFA1

1) We don't know it was a team order. We don't know Heikki was told to move over. Assumptions are being made from tv pictures whereas the FIA have access to all the team radio communications.

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Here:

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Originally Posted by Tomi

Kovalainen was quite pissed about the teamorder right after the race, he said something like, "I have nothing to comment, because they did not let me race"

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I guess, you lot only read the parts that suit your POV.
Cheers!

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Originally Posted by theugsquirrel

Team orders or not, noone was going to stop Hamilton passing Kovalainen. It was just a matter of when.

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Yes. Kova would have been passed. The only thing he would have achieved is stopping Hamilton from passing Massa or Jr. Which would have gone down real well with the team!

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Originally Posted by Tomi

Kovalainen was quite pissed about the teamorder right after the race, he said something like, "I have nothing to comment, because they did not let me race"

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Is there a link for this "something like" comment or was it made in a tv interview?

Here'swhat the team said:

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"Heikki was troubled by oversteer in his first stint, which we attempted to correct at his first pit stop, but he still struggled a little in his next stint. That being the case, he wasn't able to match Lewis's pace today. But it's the mark of both his professionalism and his sportsmanship that, aware of his situation relative to Lewis's, he made it relatively straightforward for Lewis to pass him."

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If seeing the pressing of a button on tv = illegal team orders then the FIA should have been, and will be, kept very busy :D

The thing that is clouded for me, is that F1 is a team sport, I didn't agree with DC letting Mika past in Australia or the season ending race the year before. Blatantly staged. At least Lewis was clearly faster than Heiki and without doubt would have passed.

Any team mate who makes his team fight for any possition to hard is not a team player and will get dropped. 1st lap fair enough, mid to end of race, tough luck, you gotta drive faster.

It's not like Ferrari wouldn't have done it the same, and I wouldn't have had a problem with it. The big difference if they did is the two drivers are equal.

Ioan :

I don't read your posts, so I can't comment on others reading what they like from yours.............

Damn it, that means I read one of your posts.............lol

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Originally Posted by theugsquirrel

Team orders or not, noone was going to stop Hamilton passing Kovalainen. It was just a matter of when.

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Agree.