The 2012 Season
- Thread starter FB
- Start date
No, John Button's been in.
Having just watched the BBC Forum from Valencia, and their excellent breakdown of the Schumacher - DRS - Yellow Flag incident, there can be little doubt that the FIA will always have discretion to pick and choose what penalties they want to apply in any given situation. From Webber's onboard camera, it is clear as day that Schumi passed two yellow flag zones with the DRS open. If Mark, the trailing driver, was able to recognize the fact that DRS deployment was against the rules, then surely Michael should have known as well.
Furthermore, earlier in the show Ross Brawn claimed unequivocally that he had checked the data and Michael had closed his DRS 30m before the first yellow flag zone. No doubt they pitched this line to the stewards as well who would have been in perfect position to call this what it was, a flat-out lie.
It is clear to me that the FIA did not want to ruin a good story. And you know what, I don't even care. This incident had very little effect on Michael and Mark's race, and to have sent Schumacher back to P9 would have been a disgrace.
But this scenario proves the point that I and several others have harped upon for years. The FIA treats certain drivers differently, for one reason or another, in almost every case. And also that they are not bound by the very letter of the regulations. So when people say, "Oh well, it's in the rulebook", that argument doesn't carry any weight. It's been proven time and again that the FIA stewards are given the discretion to either apply a sanction to its fullest extent, or to simply ignore incidents that require a penalty by a strict reading of the regulations.
Furthermore, earlier in the show Ross Brawn claimed unequivocally that he had checked the data and Michael had closed his DRS 30m before the first yellow flag zone. No doubt they pitched this line to the stewards as well who would have been in perfect position to call this what it was, a flat-out lie.
It is clear to me that the FIA did not want to ruin a good story. And you know what, I don't even care. This incident had very little effect on Michael and Mark's race, and to have sent Schumacher back to P9 would have been a disgrace.
But this scenario proves the point that I and several others have harped upon for years. The FIA treats certain drivers differently, for one reason or another, in almost every case. And also that they are not bound by the very letter of the regulations. So when people say, "Oh well, it's in the rulebook", that argument doesn't carry any weight. It's been proven time and again that the FIA stewards are given the discretion to either apply a sanction to its fullest extent, or to simply ignore incidents that require a penalty by a strict reading of the regulations.
You could say a similar effect was seen with the safety car deployments, Vettel had scampered off into the lead when the SC came out to clear debris from the track, once Alonso had taken the lead and Vettels car in particular and to a small extent Grosjean's car were left in dangerous positions there was no call for the SC even though there were marshalls on track.
Was there favourtism for Alonso who was racing at home? If the FIA want a good story for the GP are they actually willing to put lives in danger?
Was there favourtism for Alonso who was racing at home? If the FIA want a good story for the GP are they actually willing to put lives in danger?
With regards to not deploying the safety car for Vettel, the whole point of a safety car is to bunch the cars up and allow marshalls maximum time to sort out the track. However the Marshalls still had around a minute between Karthikeyan and Alonso, and re deploying the safety car would have achieved little, especially as they were off the racing line.
Field spread, or lack-there-of shouldn't have had any bearing on whether or not to throw a SC following Vettel's retirement. The issue at hand was whether they could remove the car safely. They couldn't. That was a scene from a 1980's street race right there. The entire pack of cars blasted around a corner while 4 marshal's were still pushing Seb's car. The leader of the race undoubtedly played a part in why they let the GP continue full bore.
And you had already spoiled the true nature of a motor race by deploying the SC for debris, it would have been no big deal to do it again. So yeah, I definitely questioned that non-deployment.
And you had already spoiled the true nature of a motor race by deploying the SC for debris, it would have been no big deal to do it again. So yeah, I definitely questioned that non-deployment.
Deploying the SC would have also slowed all the cars to a fixed delta which means the cars would pass an incident considerably slower than they do for yellows where they just lift off.
RickD
Pole Sitter
KekeTheKing - The safety car came out 4 times in the GP2 feature race, so yes, they could have done it, it was definitely unsafe the way the car was moved.
Who decides whether or not the safety car should be deployed? I thought that the final decision was made by Charlie Whiting (implied also by http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/9507.html ), if so it is extremely unlikely that he had any consideration of where the race was being held when he made his decision.
Depends on the conditions.
McLaren is a better all round car as it can qualify well.
Whether Lotus can catch them or not, I don't know. The team keeps on making mistakes, they can't qualify well, think they've lost their chance of victories with Red Bull being awesome in hot conditions and in qualifying, while Lotus only the former.
Raikkonen still needs to get on top of the tyres, especially the super softs. While Grosjean needs to finish consistently.
If they can sort out their qualifying then they'll definitely be a force to be reckoned with, they took the right direction in the last Grand Prix, but we don't know ifthey were aided by Rosberg not doing his final run, and the two Ferrari's plus Schumacher dropping out of Q2.
McLaren is a better all round car as it can qualify well.
Whether Lotus can catch them or not, I don't know. The team keeps on making mistakes, they can't qualify well, think they've lost their chance of victories with Red Bull being awesome in hot conditions and in qualifying, while Lotus only the former.
Raikkonen still needs to get on top of the tyres, especially the super softs. While Grosjean needs to finish consistently.
If they can sort out their qualifying then they'll definitely be a force to be reckoned with, they took the right direction in the last Grand Prix, but we don't know ifthey were aided by Rosberg not doing his final run, and the two Ferrari's plus Schumacher dropping out of Q2.
Tell that to JB...
Charlie is not beyond reproach. He's an old Ecclestone crony and not a single one of them are foreign to unscrupulous behavior in order to make money for the sport or to secure a foothold for the future.
Imagine if Seb blew everyone away (which he WAS doing) and snatched a Grand Chelem. There wouldn't have been many fond memories from this race, especially from the Spanish contingent.
The deployment of the Safety Car ensured a tighter finish and ultimately saved the face of the Valencia Circuit forever. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that this lone race was enough to alter the fate of motor racing in Spain going forward. In a good way of course...
Couldn't believe the camera shot of marshalls pushing SV's car as the field ripped past... also...when Grosjean pulled over on the straight near a marshalls nook, he was gesturing to them to come and pull his car out of danger... I swear I heard a "where's my bailout" before Grosjean went for the chequebook...
This is always why I've been a Nico sceptic - he has some races he's amazing but sometimes he just dissapears
Fenderman
Rooters Reporter
Well O think he drove a very ensible race. He didn't defend, fruitlessly putting his car at risk, looked after himself and crossed the line at the end. if he carries on like this, with this kind of consistency, and picking up valuable championship points, he might ... oh, wait a minute ... 
... Never mind, there's a lot of cudos just being in F1.
... Never mind, there's a lot of cudos just being in F1.
Incubus
Champion Elect
As far as last Sunday'ss performance for Rosbeg was concerned, I think the fact he looked like he was having a quiet race might have had more to do with the fact he went for a one-stopper which clearly turned out to be the wrong thing to do. Spending the entire race trying to save tyres was clearly the wrong thing to do on that Mercedes.
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