The Penalty (Sutton Images)
I am pretty sure that right now whether you are a McLaren fan or a Ferrari fan, you are wondering just what on earth is going on in our beloved sport, todays race in Spa was a classic but what annoys me is that it wont be remebered for being a classic race but instead it will be remembered for the shambles that the FIA have made.
“Oh do you remeber Spa in 2008 when Felipe Massa won after it started to rain with 4 laps to go and Nick Heidfeld took the risk on intermediates and came from 9th place to 2nd”
A phrase that will NEVER be uttered because thats not what happened, once again a race outcome has been decided by rich old men drinking their cups of tea at a board room meeting table, THIS IS NOT RACING! Time and time again the FIA are casting a shadow over the on track racing with their off track meddling.
When angry, people all over the world count to 10 before venting and maybe saying something that they will regret, well the race finished about 10 hours ago and I am still angry and I am going to say what I feel, and I am not going to regret a single thing I say.
For me the phrase that will be uttered will be “Do you remember that race in Spa in 2008 where Lewis Hamilton was robbed by the FIA with their crazy decisions”
The FIA are a JOKE.
They are making our “Sport” (If thats what you can call it) a laughing stock. It is now becoming clear on all fronts that the FIA are favouring Ferrari, either that or they are hating McLaren and ensuring that every little thing they do will be penalised.
All you have to do is look back to when McLaren where fined £50 million quid for their involvment in the spygate scandle last year and count the amount of penalties that have been handed out since then, I dont have the figures but I am willing to bet all the money in the world that McLaren have been on the receiving end of 95% of those penalties.
Lets just look at today for example, the FIA decided to hand Heikki Kovalainen a drive through penalty for an incident which they deemed to be an “avoidable accident”, remember that phrase for later on.
This incident which took place between Heikki Kovalainen and Mark Webber is an incident which happens week after week after week without fail, how many of these occurances resulted in the way in which it did today, I am thinking not many or maybe none even. But because Heikki is in a silver car, well he will get slapped with a penalty.
The decision was made to issue the drive through penalty within 1 lap of the incident, but with Felipe Massa’s pitlane incident in Valencia, we had to wait till after the race. In my opinion it was just as clean cut and was certainly obvious as to what should have happened.
Down to the crunch, the big one, Lewis Hamilton is slapped with a 25 second penalty. The FIA state that Lewis Hamilton cut the corner at the bus stop chicane and by doing that he gained an unfair advantage over rival Kimi Raikkonen.
BUT…
- Lewis had the edge on the corner and was at the time ahead of Kimi anyway with the inside line available.
- Kimi gave Lewis no choice other than to take the run off because if not then it would have been an early bath for the pair of them. In my opinion Lewis Hamilton was AVOIDING AN ACCIDENT, see I told you to remember that for later. Lewis and Kimi would have locked wheels and both of them would have been out of the race for sure if Lewis stayed strong through the chicane.
- Ron Dennis was immediately onto the radio to Charlie Whiting asking had they done enough to give the position back to Kimi and in Charlies opinion, yes they had.
- When Lewis and Kimi crossed the start / finish line Lewis was going 6km/h slower than Kimi proving that Lewis let up to give Kimi the place back. So Kimi took his place back, no advantage gained.
- After Lewis took the lead of the race back in the La Source hairpin, Kimi once again led the race not 30 seconds later as both drivers got out of shape and had to avoid a slow Williams car of Kazuki Nakajima.
- Kimi Raikkonen then proceeded to spin his car into the wall therefore was out of the race so the “unfair advantage” gained through bus stop was COMPLETELY irrelivant for the fact that no one was at a loss due to this.
Are these points alone not enough to be able to say, that the penalty is completely unjustified and the FIA are blatently only giving McLaren this to ensure that Ferrari can still win the drivers and constructors championships.
The FIA with their decisions are now becoming glaringly obvious in their efforts that they are either favouring Ferrari and aiding them with their championship push or they are doing their upmost to hinder the charge of the silver cars.
Now call it what you want, a conspiracy theory, call me biast because I am a McLaren fan, call me or call it whatever you want, but the fact of the matter remains that the FIA are certainly holding a torch for Ferrari and the drivers are no longer racing with a level playing field, this is a “sport” there HAS to be consistency throughout so that it is fair to all.
In a final word I urge you all to remember the race today as a classic race that was won and lost on the track, and please, I urge you not to remember it by what happened after the race behind closed doors.
