The 2012 Season

[KekeTheKing]

Here is BBC's analysis of the Schumacher/DRS flap at Valencia.

For the record, I'm glad he wasn't penalized.

 

[Quintessentially]

Clear rule violation there mate and the gap that subsequently emerged between himself and Webber (who was initially very close behind) tells it all really. Why is his DRS open anyway? There was no car less than a second in front of him to benefit from activation unless he had been following another car closely prior to the footage above? Anyway I'm sure other drivers would've appreciated this level of leniency and common sense approach from the stewards in the past. We've seen others lose their points for apparently misleading stewards and if Ross Brawn's account of events is anything to go by, Mercedes should've gone home empty handed.

 

[mjo]

I think Schuey was lapping a car, so he would have been able to open his DRS.

 

[The Pits]

He had the DRS open, but he was not going any faster than Mark Webber behind him, as seen in the video. The DRS is a red herring, as Gary Anderson stated. No penalty is the right decision.

 

[tooncheese]

We've seen others lose their points for apparently misleading stewards and if Ross Brawn's account of events is anything to go by, Mercedes should've gone home empty handed.

What the media are told =/= what the stewards are told.

 

[Quintessentially]

The gap before and after engaging DRS suggests the Mercedes carried greater speed through that part of the circuit, almost certainly aided by DRS. The stewards coveniently chose to compare lap times rather than relative speeds. There is also a safety implication of travelling through a yellow flag zone with DRS open even if the rules don't explicitly forbid this not to mention the absence of clarification as to exactly where ( single yellow or double waved yellow) Schumi reduced speed. Christian Horner has already mentioned that it's been clarified in several meetings that the use of DRS and KERS is not allowed under yellow flags hence the reason Webber did not engage his. This also formed part of the decision to hand Vettel a drive through penalty in Barcelona. So common sense prevailed and Schumi kept his podium but it shouldn't deflect from the fact that Charlie and his minions were once again guilty of double standards.

 

[mjo]

Do you know the difference in speeds of Schumacher in the yellow flag zone?

 

[Quintessentially]

What the media are told =/= what the stewards are told.

= bringing the sport into disripute. ok I exaggerate but I'm sure Max would agree.

 

[tooncheese]

= bringing the sport into disripute. I'm sure Max would agree.

Well Maxi isn't around any more, and if Lewis wasn't punished after Monaco 2011, and Ferrari after Germany 2010 for bringing the sport into disrepute then no-one will.

 

[Quintessentially]

Let's hope so

 

[KekeTheKing]

Why is his DRS open anyway?

I think Schuey was lapping a car

Indeed mjo. He gained DRS by crossing the detection line about a hundreth after the HRT.

 

[KekeTheKing]

The DRS is a red herring

But the Timing Screen isn't. Schumacher set the fastest 2nd Sector of any driver on Lap 57.

In fact, his Lap 57 sector 2 time was actually faster than anybody's Lap 56 sector 2 time, except for HIMSELF!

 

[The Pits]

And even then, there is only a couple of tenths in it. I wonder what the stewards were looking at then? Do they have more granular timing data? Maybe using the GPS? If they are using sector times, I'm not sure the right decision was reached. Although, if they are simply looking lap on lap,he was slower, albeit by a smidge.

 

[The Pits]

That said, there were many drivers who were significantly faster than their previous time also, webber for one, who if I am reading it right was 8 10ths quicker than his previous lap.

 

[KekeTheKing]

Well according to the telemetry display that the BBC uses on their Onboard feed, Webber NEVER LIFTED through that zone while following Schumacher, so I would be shocked if Michael had.

Quite frankly, I believe they threw the data away. Their main consideration would have been, "Do we want to yank Schumacher off his first (comeback) Podium". That would have been a PR nightmare for F1 and they didn't want to ruin that story.

 

[The Pits]

Did they not do something similar in 2010? I think a 5 second penalty to quite a few runners, which didn't change any results? There is a precedent if so. A penalty to acknowledge a breach?

I don't know anymore

 

[mjo]

Hmm... the second sector finishes just after the waved yellow flags. Do you have the sector 3 times for that lap KekeTheKing?

 

[landogeorgelewis1]

Should a rule be brought in that DRS isn't to be used in the zone when a yellow flag is been shown. As this could go on for a while this debate.

 

[Slyboogy]

HammydiRestarules If the DRS zone before the yellow flag zone, drivers will activate and will probably forget to deactivate it when they get to the yellow flag zone. However, when you see a yellow flag, you automatically lift off, but you might not deactivate the DRS as you could be unaware you have it open, and your main priority is to lift.

 

[KekeTheKing]

Do you have the sector 3 times for that lap KekeTheKing?

Yes, they're on the Timing Screens above. And it's the same story. His 29.2 sector on Lap 57 was the fastest third sector by anybody on either of the final two laps.