McLaren’s appeal against Lewis Hamilton’s Belgian Grand Prix penalty will be heard on 22nd September, Formula 1’s governing body has announced.

The FIA’s International Court of Appeal will convene in Paris on the Monday before the inaugural Singapore GP, with a verdict not expected until the following day.

Hamilton’s Spa victory was rescinded after race stewards deemed that he gained an advantage by cutting a chicane during his battle for the lead with Kimi Raikkonen.

The Briton was demoted to third place, handing the win to Raikkonen and reducing his world championship lead over Felipe Massa to two points.

There is a possibility that the appeal will be thrown out on a technicality, without the substantive issue being considered, since the retrospective time penalty imposed on Hamilton was in lieu of a drive-through and these are not subject to formal challenge.

The admissibility of the appeal is expected to be decided at the hearing itself.

Edited by thepits

Stuck - BMW should have kept Vettel Thursday, 18 September 2008 Sep.18 (GMM)  Hans-Joachim Stuck, a former German racing driver with long links to BMW, has questioned the Hinwil based team's decision last year to let Sebastian Vettel switch to Toro Rosso. Vettel, who wowed the world of formula one by winning last Sunday's Italian grand prix from pole, was - despite firm existing contractual links to Red Bull - actively involved with BMW-Sauber last year as test driver. "A year ago it wasn't possible to put him in our car, he was very inexperienced and you cannot gamble," team boss Mario Theissen explains. But Stuck doesn't see it like that. "The BMW management have missed what was the right time to have the right driver," he told Spox. "That he drives now for a different team, makes no sense to me," Stuck, who raced in F1 in the 70s, continued. "BMW surely had their reasons, but I would have probably done things differently," he added.

http://www.f1complete.com/content/view/10313/900/

"A year ago it wasn't possible to put him in our car, he was very inexperienced and you cannot gamble," team boss Mario Theissen explains. "The BMW management have missed what was the right time to have the right driver. That he drives now for a different team, makes no sense to me," said Stuck, who raced in F1 in the 70s.

Isn't hindsight a wonderful thing

Are they wanting less downforce at the back then?

lol, talk about a turn around, they make the cars faster, then safer, then take away safety features, then add some more, then take away downforce. MAKE YER FLIPPIN MINDS UP!!!

Keeps things interesting I suppose!

Mike

Email raises concerns about FIA's integrity

Tuesday 23rd September 2008

The disputed truthfulness and accuracy of an email sent by the FIA's legal department last Friday to everyone involved in McLaren's appeal hearing in Paris has once again raised fresh questions about the organisation's credibility and integrity.

The correspondence claimed that Tony Scott Andrews, a man held in high regard in F1 circles, admitted to making "an inadvertent error" while he was chief steward at the 2007 Japanese Grand Prix.

Scott Andrews, it was claimed, conceded that he wrongly imposed a time penalty on Italian driver Tonio Liuzzi for overtaking Adrian Sutil under yellow flags and Toro Rosso were allowed to appeal. The FIA email added that Scott Andrews had confirmed this in a phone conversation with F1 Race Director Charlie Whiting.

Were this to have been the case then the FIA would have been in a stronger position to rule the McLaren appeal against the stop-and-go penalty Lewis Hamilton suffered in Belgium as inadmissible. According to McLaren, the fact that Toro Rosso were granted the right to appeal means a precedent has been set that enables them to dispute the stewards' judgement in Spa.

"Having checked with the permanent chief of stewards who signed the Decision in Japan, we wish to inform you that there is an error on the face of the Decision document," the FIA told McLaren. The precedent would not hold, the mail declared, because Liuzzi's punishment was meted out under a different article of the rules.

It is a telling insight into McLaren's faith in the integrity of the governing body that, having received the email on Friday, they then sent a delegation of team officials to travel to Brands-Hatch on Sunday, where Scott Andrews was overseeing a race event, to check the truthfulness of the FIA's claim. His reaction to being informed of the FIA email is reported to have been one of 'outrage'.

Scott Andrews told the court in Paris: "I have seen the email and I'm extremely surprised by its content. In short, it is grossly inaccurate and misleading."

He continued by stating that Whiting had never asked him if he had made an error in Japan and added: "Had he done so, the answer would have been 'no'."

In his closing speech, McLaren's lawyer Mark Phillips QC called the email an "unfortunate exchange" and added: "I ask you to reflect on that when you come to consider the way in which certain members of the FIA conducted themselves. I won't say any more than that."

http://www.planet-f1.com/story/0,18954,3213_4183805,00.html

Edited by kbannon

It turns out that the FIA have rejected the McLaren appeal.
http://www.planet-f1.com/story/0,18954,3213_4185293,00.html

Jarno Trulli has been reprimanded by the stewards and fined 10,000 euros for driving the wrong way round the track in Friday’s first practice at Singapore.

The Italian half-spun at the fast final corner halfway through the opening session and proceeded to drive for a short distance in the direction of the oncoming traffic before executing a U-turn into the pit lane.

Stewards ruled that he had breached of Article 30.2 of Formula 1’s sporting regulations, and Appendix L, Chapter 4, Article 4d of the International Sporting Code.

Article 30.2 states that “drivers are strictly forbidden to drive their car in the opposite direction to the race unless this is absolutely necessary in order to move the car from a dangerous position”.

The International Sporting Code states that “except in cases of force majeure (accepted as such by the stewards of the meeting), the crossing, in any direction, of the line separating the deceleration zone and the track is prohibited.”

http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?id=44067&PO=4406 7

 

FIA To Exhaustively Examine BMW Race Engine Over the last couple of monthes, the FIA has been doing exhaustive examinations of the race engines of Formula One's top teams. The Mercedes powerplant of McLaren's Lewis Hamilton was the first engine reviewed. No findings were made public regarding that review. The Ferrari powerplant of Felipe Massa was the next F1 engine examined, and led to no apparent issues. Now, the FIA continues to look for issues, and will be opening up BMW's F1 engine that was raced by Robert Kubica at the Singapore Grand Prix. If the pattern continues, we expect BMW to start the Japanese Grand Prix without any penalties.

[paddocktalk.com]

Formula One's first night race was a huge success and it seems inevitable that more events will follow Singapore's lead in the future. F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone - whose idea it was to follow a lead taken by other motorsport categories - has already hinted he would like the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka next year to be held under lights. And in the Singapore paddock there were rumours that the organisers of the Abu Dhabi race, which is to make its debut as the season finale next year, had taken note of the impact made by this event and would also run their race at night. Ecclestone would doubtless endorse that idea. Running Abu Dhabi at night would ensure the race was televised during the all-important Sunday night prime time in Europe. For anyone wondering why, if the European audience is so crucial to F1, the races are not simply held in that part of the world in the first place, the answer - as always in F1 - lies with money. New, exotic locations increase interest in F1 by enhancing its image. That, combined with more races at a time which appeals to the sport's core audience, means bigger audiences, and therefore happier television companies who will keep paying to show the sport. Bigger audiences mean more advertising revenue, for those TV companies who collect it - which is nearly all of them - as well as for Ecclestone.

And he wins in another way, too. Countries like Singapore are prepared to pay far more to host a Grand Prix than most European races can afford, even if they are funded by government.

For these new venues, an F1 event means an opportunity to showcase themselves to the world in the most flattering light - and that is effectively priceless. It was an opportunity Singapore grabbed with both hands at the weekend. The track was interesting, the event ran almost without a hitch, the cars looked even more spectacular than usual under the floodlights, and Singapore's evocative location and history meant it came already loaded up with a glamour that could soon rival that of Monaco. That glamour works both ways - Singapore's rubs off on F1 just as the sport's rubs off on its host. "It has a good chance of challenging Monaco for being the jewel in the crown of Formula One," team owner Frank Williams said. "They have great weather, a very good track, and the grandstands packed. There is a lot of enthusiasm out there."

Packed grandstands are not something F1 has been used to seeing in the new venues it has adopted around the world in recent years.

Places like Malaysia and Bahrain might have the money to buy the sport, but they have not been able to buy an interest among their populations.

Singapore, though, was different - partly because the race was held on a track through the middle of the city, but also because its inhabitants have a fair bit more disposable income than the average resident of Kuala Lumpur or Manama.

The race's success is likely to have ramifications that go further than simply increasing the number of Asian night races.

"It is not just a new experience, it is a real big step in the history of Grand Prix racing," said McLaren team boss Ron Dennis.

"When you see the shots of the city and the way they have brought the whole atmosphere of Singapore into the event, it is just a phenomenal spectacle.

"We can take this model and apply it to anywhere in the world - either to bring Europe the race at a time when people watch it, or even within Europe to make it more spectacular.

"Now there will be a lot of analysis as to when is the best time to put Grand Prix racing on television. It is going to set a new trend."

F1, though, might be best advised not to get too carried away by Singapore's success.

Great event though it undoubtedly was, as well as a fabulous spectacle on TV, if the sport introduces too many night races there is a danger they will lose their novelty value.

That, though, is not a concern of Singapore, which won almost universal praise for its first attempt at hosting a major sporting event.

Any criticism levelled at the race from its participants was minimal.

There were a few moans from the drivers about the number of severe bumps on the track surface, which made life quite difficult on a long lap with 23 corners.

There was also some criticism of the lack of overtaking points on the track.

And everyone in F1 found it difficult to stay on European time while in a place six or seven time zones away.

"Teaching your body to think it's day time when actually it's night time, it kind of messes with your mind," said Lewis Hamilton.

But these were pretty minor issues in the wider scheme of things.

Unlike Monaco, there were a couple of places where overtaking was just about possible if a driver got everything just so - particularly into Turns One and Seven, as was proved during the race.

And the bumps actually made the event more interesting. They made mistakes more likely. A crash on a street circuit means a safety car and that is what made the race as eventful as it was, and which gave Renault's Fernando Alonso a massive helping hand on his way to victory.

The Spaniard's win after a year-long drought put the icing on a pretty satisfactory weekend all round.

It has been too long since Alonso stood on the top step of the podium.

Still regarded by many in F1 as the most complete racing driver in the sport, the Spanish double world champion has driven his heart out all year in a difficult car that, frankly, does not deserve him.

Renault had its most competitive weekend of the year in Singapore, and Alonso - as is the way of all great drivers - grabbed the opportunity with both hands when it came to him, even if the win owed a great deal to luck, and the timing of the first safety car period, as Alonso was the first to admit.

Only Ferrari have cause to rue their first visit to Singapore.

A disastrous error at Felipe Massa's first pit stop, when he was given a go signal while the refuelling hose was still attached, ruined his race and dealt his title hopes a heavy blow.

But even that was not as bad as it could have been.

The fact that Hamilton could manage only third place meant the McLaren driver extended his lead only to seven points with three races to go when in a normal race the Englishman would probably have converted Massa's misfortune into a win.

The result means Hamilton can afford to finish second behind Massa at each of the final three races and still emerge as champion.

But the run-in is unlikely to be that simple. This has been a season defined by the quite extraordinary number of mistakes made by the sport's leading contenders.

It would be out of character, then, if there were not to be a few more twists and turns before the destiny of the drivers' crown is finally decided.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/76409 07.stm