Should a driver who is under investigation be allowed to step on the podium?

[landogeorgelewis1]

I just find it really odd that like last weekend that a driver under investigation should be allowed to step on the podium when the formality is that they'll end up given a penality and the guy who finishes fourth but promoted to 3rd can't go on the podium.

I just think it's all wrong that a naughty boy is allowed to taste the champange, while the guy who is handed the podium trophy in the end isn't allowed to taste it.

Don't know whether it's just me that feels like this but would be interesting to find out what you guys think?

 

[Dizzi]

I suspect Kimi thinks the same as you regarding the champagne
A good thought & I'll vote when I've given it consideration, I'm mostly of the belief that you're innocent until proven guilty.
It would be as unjust to not allow someone on the podium who was then cleared.
Luckily it's fairly rare even in formula 1 & I guess the podium ceremony can't be held up while the stewards discuss things.

 

[Jos the Boss]

Yes cus of the reasons stated by Dizzi

 

[Greenlantern101]

Innocent until proven guilty is a corner stone of modern civilisation and there is no reason it shouldn't apply in sport.

 

[sushifiesta]

And it often takes several hours to be proven guilty...

 

[Wombcat]

Well, maybe they should wait then until the final result is decided. I.e.: first solve what/if a penalty should be applied (which gets priority over everything else), and only then do the podiumceremony. Because it is kind of a farce when a driver gets on the podium,
but a few hours later falls of off it.

In cycling when something happens during a sprint, the jury first decided whether someone gets a penalty and only then the podiumceremony is held.

 

[Wombcat]

And it often takes several hours to be proven guilty...

If they can do it during the race in about ten minutes, they should be able to do it after the race within 5 minutes.

 

[Galahad]

How long before we had a race with nobody on the podium at all?

 

[GeoffP]

The best rules will probably be supported 98% of the time, we should never let that 2% drive a change, consideration, but not change, and as GL says, the cornerstone of our culture is innocent until proven guilty.

Also, seeing as how we're looking at the German GP, if Vettel had said he was uncomfortable on the podium everything should have been done to get him up there with a smile on his face.

 

[Fenderman]

The points raised already cover it for me. I think the onus should be on the stewards to minimise the problem. Why it takes so long to judge an off track excursion situation like last week's issue is beyond me. They should be on that sort of thing straight away and leave post race investigations to the most difficult incidents. There is no reason why the cases can't be prioritised in line with the running order that has taken shape late in the race.

With today's reliabilty we are usually pretty sure of the top five or six finishers by the last half dozen laps and in many cases we know who will be on the podium if not the exact order. If the FIA pays some attention in that department then hopefully the dreaded "dropped from the podium" situation will be rarer still.

 

[Speshal]

I almost voted no.

The results are provisional until ratified.

 

[MCLS]

It might be an anti climax if the results get changed, but as already mentioned, it's innocent until proven guilty and you may as well get on with it, it's only the 'spectacle' of the podium that will be lost if results do change. I don't think Kimi Raikkonen will be that bothered, he'll get the 3rd place, the trophy and more points, he'll miss out on the champagne but I don't think he has a shortage of alcohol..............

 

[The Artist.....]

This sort of situation has arisen before... Look at Suzuka 1989, when famously, Senna won the race, but there were hours of deliberations, until eventually Nanninni led the drivers out as the winner....

 

[Blog Zbod]

One the one extreme you have NASCAR. Their rule is, Card Laid, Card Played. Race results are NEVER changed because of any decision made after the chequered flag falls. A driver or team might be fined or penalised at later races but once won, always won.

NASCAR's polar opposite is the Union Cycliste Internationale. It lately has taken a further two years after the finish of the Tour de France to learn who won it.

The fans deserve better. They deserve to know the driver on the middle step of the podium well and truly is and forever shall be the winner of that race. Imagine the disappointment of spending hundreds of pounds to attend a race, watch the victory lane ceremony, then arrive home and switch on the telly to learn the driver you saw accept the winner's trophy didn't win after all. As much as it pains me to say this, NASCAR has this one sussed and F1 is still wandering in the wilderness.

 

[Dizzi]

I think there may some, thankfully rare, occurances where a win should be stripped. In these cases the NASCAR ruling would let cheats prosper.
Having said that F1 let the cheats prosper from Singapore '08 & still faff around with result changing for much lesser offences so I give up (I'm not saying the win should have been passed down or anyone elses results changed but physically remove the trophy from the team/driver & cross out the name on the history books whith an explanation)
I don't think there's a clear cut right or wrong way to do it without some innocent parties not getting their dues.
I agree with Blog Zbod that the fans deserve better than to arrive home & see the podium they cheered has changed, there should be a way of sorting things out during or immediately after the race (say within 30 minutes). But this is the FIA we're talking about...