Hamilton Stripped of Win - Official

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Originally Posted by wmcot

OK, I just watched the intro to qualifying at Monza and heard what has to be the stupidest quote on this whole situation. Steve Rider was summing up all the interviews and said that the decision was, "quite possibly correct, but was it for the good of the sport?"

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I must admit that was a stupid thing for him to say. The rights and wrongs of the penalty have been debated to death, but if a penalty is justified then it shouldn't matter one iota whether it is unpopular.

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Originally Posted by Daniel

Rubbish. We should show people that it's OK to cheat and as long as it's for the good of the sport you'll get away with it.

You're a drug cheat and you're not competing for the yellow jersey in the Tour de France? You're banned!

You're a drug cheat and you are competing for the yellow jersey in the Tour de France? Come right in! We couldn't lose you! We can tolerate people thinking we allow people to cheat as long as you're up at the pointy end of the field :up:

That's the sort of attitude people are asking for from the stewards.

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No i think you missed my point of irony. It is the controversy that has become "good for the sport" because of the publicity and interest generated. Sad thing to say, but in the absence of all the fussing of last year as well as this year's Spa, not so many people would be paying attention......

Now as to what that particular commentor subjectively meant was probably this particular penalty is not good for the sport, especially when your hero is the one that suffers, and upon that, well you are correct as said above, popularity should not be the determining factor

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Originally Posted by Dave Brockman

I must admit that was a stupid thing for him to say. The rights and wrongs of the penalty have been debated to death, but if a penalty is justified then it shouldn't matter one iota whether it is unpopular.

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:up: Although I suspect I disagree with you in regards to whether the penalty is justified but at least we agree that rules is rules.

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Originally Posted by BDunnell

Alas, all it has achieved is Massa being unfairly penalised for a perfectly good pass on Rosberg. I know it didn't matter in the end points-wise, but even so, it was absurd to ask him to give the place up.

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well, as i've pointed out in another thread, having all four wheels on the inside of the "face" of the kerb is, in the eyes of just about every race steward on earth, viewed as short-cutting the circuit.

and, in light of recent events, moves have been made to clarify what needs to be done in what situations.

the one that i was confused about was massa straight-lining the same chicane when defending from hamilton with no questions asked.

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Originally Posted by Mickey T

well, as i've pointed out in another thread, having all four wheels on the inside of the "face" of the kerb is, in the eyes of just about every race steward on earth, viewed as short-cutting the circuit.

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I think there's a big difference between taking a lot of kerb and short-cutting a chicane.

in almost every drivers' briefing i've been in - and i've been a works driver - that's how it's been (and continues to be) defined.

and, especially on circuits with tight but furniture-free chicanes, the stewards always stress they will be watching for anybody who does it.

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Originally Posted by BDunnell

Alas, all it has achieved is Massa being unfairly penalised for a perfectly good pass on Rosberg. I know it didn't matter in the end points-wise, but even so, it was absurd to ask him to give the place up.

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Why do you think it didn't matter points wise. The incident cost him at least 3-4 seconds (he had already moved away from Rosberg). If you look at the end result, I reckon 4th place was absolutely his, barring that incident. That's worth 2 points in my book, 2 very important championship points.

If it wasn't for him having to hand back the place and lose 4 seconds he would have been in front of the pack after his stop instead of being behind it.
But that's life, there is a rule and it should be respected even if it was on the very limit of stretching it.

I was very glad to see Massa push like that and makng passes in the wet, on top contenders (2x Rosberg and 1x Heidfeld, 1x Webber) not bad for someone considered to be a "bad" driver in the wet! :D

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Originally Posted by ioan

If it wasn't for him having to hand back the place and lose 4 seconds he would have been in front of the pack after his stop instead of being behind it.
But that's life, there is a rule and it should be respected even if it was on the very limit of stretching it.

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Yeah that's life. But at least Massa has the good grace to take it like a man and deal with it.

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Originally Posted by Daniel

Rubbish. We should show people that it's OK to cheat and as long as it's for the good of the sport you'll get away with it.

You're a drug cheat and you're not competing for the yellow jersey in the Tour de France? You're banned!

You're a drug cheat and you are competing for the yellow jersey in the Tour de France? Come right in! We couldn't lose you! We can tolerate people thinking we allow people to cheat as long as you're up at the pointy end of the field :up:

That's the sort of attitude people are asking for from the stewards.

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I agree! So let's line every track with armco. You can place it at the point where going over a kerb becomes cutting a chicane and you won't need stewards to make judgements on this point! The human portion will be taken out of whether the driver cut the chicane - the armco will decide. (But then we'll have the stewards deciding if so-and-so forced so-and-so into the armco so there it goes again...)