Hamilton accepts blame for India grid penalty

F1 Fanatic round-up

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In the round-up: Lewis Hamilton told the stewards “I accept whatever penalty I get”.

Links

Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:

Hamilton punished again (Daily Telegraph)

“Told it was his sixth penalty of the year, Hamilton replied: ‘Is that all? It feels like a lot more than that.'”

That’s because it is. Hamilton’s had five penalties in races this year, but he also had a time deletion penalty in Monaco in addition to his latest punishment. On top of that he was given a reprimand in Belgium following his coming-together with Pastor Maldonado and another for failing to slow sufficiently for yellow flags in the Spanish Grand Prix.

Indian GP – Conference 2 (FIA)

Vijay Mallya: “The name hasn’t changed. The chassis name remains the same. It’s like Vodafone McLaren Mercedes. So there’s no change of control, there’s no change in the chassis name, so I don’t require any permissions. Out of courtesy, we informed the FOM and the FOM have acknowledged our communication in the affirmative.”

Senna amazed by dog issue (Autosport)

“When I arrived at the track I saw that exact dog walking around the entrance of the paddock. It shows that no one really paid attention to it and the fact that it got into the track is difficult to believe. In the drivers’ briefing I will be sure to raise the point.”

Vijay Mallya via Twitter

“Wonder why our Indian TV channels should highlight dogs on track n dusty off track corners. Where is National pride for a great circuit?”

Teams fly out back up mechanics to India… just in case (James Allen)

“This unprecedented situation has arisen after stories emanating from the Commonwealth Games, held here in India last year, where many key workers got ‘Delhi belly’ and were incapacitated.”

Martin Brundle via Twitter

“Mr Ecclestone kindly called meeting with commentators and agreed to fix comm box situation for next year. Definitely like this track though.”

James Allison – “It has been a fun first day” (Renault)

“The track itself is very good; not bumpy, and packed with interesting corners, changes of elevation and with a decent main straight. It is, of course, extremely dusty. The track evolution during the two sessions was very high, although this was compounded by drivers finding their feet at a new venue.”

Paul Hembery via Twitter

“Good session, track improved again, lots of work as we wanted on the soft tyre. Hard to evaluate degradation with track improvement. Great track.”

McLaren’s 50 Greatest Drivers no.22: Jochen Mass (McLaren)

“After [James] Hunt’s arrival at McLaren as Fittipaldi’s successor, Mass gradually found himself slipping into a subordinate role alongside his new British colleague. His inability quite to match Hunt’s sheer speed seemed to wear him down.”

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Comment of the day

Snobeck supports the stewards’ decision to penalise Hamilton and Sergio Perez.

Very clear cut. This is not about someone being out to get Lewis; this is all about the safety of the marshals, nothing more.

Coming from a racing/instructing background, when you see a double yellow, you slow down significantly (think roughly 70% pace – give or take), regardless of whether it’s during practice, qualifying, or the race (a marshall can die just the same in any of those sessions).

Further, it is the drivers’ responsibility to watch for the flags; even if the dash is reading “green”; a waiving flag (especially combined with a marshal in close proximity to the track) takes precedence.

I’ve heard many fellow drivers argue “they just didn’t see a flag” but that’s still no excuse; it doesn’t change the fact that the marshals were in danger.
Snobeck

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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38 comments on “Hamilton accepts blame for India grid penalty”

  1. There we go, Hamilton accepts the blame. Can we all go back to worshipping people who are more deserving? Our own Deities? Instead of Hamilton?

    1. @keeleyobsessesd That’s kind of missing the point. ‘Deserving’ is a subjective term.

  2. Just reading that Metallica has cancelled their appearance at F1 Rocks! due to security issues with the barricades. http://www.metallica.com/news/20111028-news.asp

    1. That one seems to be shaping up to a major faux pas. Just read there were 3-4 of the organisers arrested for the whole thing now!

  3. It is nice to see that for once there are no toys thrown out of the pram at McLaren. One can’t say the same for the supporters of the driver, but owning up mistakes takes you a long way in maturing, and it is nice to see that perhaps Lewis is finally acknowledging his mistake, and hopefully he will learn from it.

  4. Seriously now, this is ridiculous. How much longer before the guy gets a race ban? This is the latest in such a long string of incidents.

    Ask yourself the question, if this was Liuzzi or Riccairdo, would they really be afforded so much time to change? Yuji Ide wasn’t.

    It’s all well and good to say “I love Lewis for his aggressive driving style”, and for McLaren to publicly say they don’t want him to change, but let’s be honest here. He driving is actually dangerous.

    All sorts of penalties have been tried, but they don’t affect him. Time to try something stronger. A 1 race ban might have some impact.

    1. I don’t think we could see that happening, unless Lewis does something really stupid, even by his standards. Why? The same reason why McLaren drivers were allowed to continue in ’07 championship, even though team were tossed out of championship. Bernie loves Lewis, and no one dares touch someone who Bernie loves.

      1. I think Vettel’s the one Bernie likes. He even said he wouldn’t mind having Seb as a son-in-law.

      2. Bernie loves Lewis, and no one dares touch someone who Bernie loves.

        Bernie has no power over the stewards.

    2. Not slowing down for flags isn’t that rare. It may be dangerous but it’s quite easily done. The penalty justifies the crime. It isn’t as though he has made this particular error already this year- another major collision and you might have a point.

    3. If they didn’t kick out Maldonado for deliberately running into another car (or at least deliberately driving at another car and accidentally hitting it), it’s going to hard to get kicked out of a race for any amount of more minor penalties.

    4. Yeah, coz that’s what us fan really want! *sigh*

  5. The only thing dangerous here were the signals coming from race control, or the lack of said signals, but this will be swept under the carpet because theres more news to be had from it being `Hamilton penalized` than `Race Control struggle to coordinate newb marshals`.

    1. I think this shows it really was completely Hamiltons fault for not slowing down, instead even using his DRS there! – from the article linked to by Keith:

      Hamilton’s task will be that much more difficult after he engaged his Drag Reduction System, the rear wing flap which increases straight line speed, despite double yellow flags alerting him to the presence of Pastor Maldonado’s stationary Williams on the side of the track.

      1. Lewis shouldn’t have been penalized in the first place…..Why……because when he went through the area in question…..Maldanado’s car and the course workers were gone…..gone behind the safety barrier……the same can’t be said for…….Jenson!.
        The reason why he used his DRS, there was a green light displayed in that area….a green light!

        1. This video clearly shows, when Lewis passed the area in question……Maldanado’s car and safety workers were gone, behind the safety barrier.

          http://vimeo.com/31262768

  6. Was introduced to Jochen Mass at Goodwood last month. Really friendly and chatty bloke. Rather underrated F1 driver who was an integral part of Porsches sports car dominance in the 80s.

  7. I’ve heard many fellow drivers argue “they just didn’t see a flag” but that’s still no excuse

    Not only is it an excuse, it’s an explanation, a law of physics, a fact of biology, and a statement of pure untarnished logic.

    The rules, regulations and penalties of flags date back to when marshals, photographers and the paying public sat on straw bales right beside the track and drivers would duck under waved flags. Now marshals, rightly, hide inside bunkers and behind catch fences 30, 40 and 50m offtrack, depending how generous the tarmac run off may be; now safely off racing-line and entirely off eye-line.

    The transition to brightly illuminated signal boxes is correct, and should obviously go further, instead of placing these boxes beside hidden marshal posts, a modicum of imagination would see them mounted on gantries directly in the drivers eye line. Where required cantilevered and suspended close to trackside, or over track, or above corner apexes. It is the well-understood 19th century technology of the light switch, it’s glacier-paced rate of adoption is still baffling.
    Onboard, track status is currently denoted by tiny single LEDs on a moving steering wheel, is that really the best that the sport could imagine. How about a regulation-sized, mandatory, high-intensity lightbar to be chassis mounted under the windshield? It’s location specific, GPS based activation linked to an audio alert or tone fed into the earpiece, to leave the driver in no doubt as to what awaits round the next corner.

    As the commenter correctly states, efficient communication of danger is vital to track safety. Obscured and invisible tea-towels on sticks can be relegated to their secondary back-up role.

    1. +1, well said. They could even use the braking markers (150,100,50) by illuminating them from a distance by leds, or the leds could be placed right in front of them in the ground. Or moving on from that logic, they could use full house door sized styrofoam panels that could be extended out to the track side (or not) and illuminated. In Hamilton’s case, displaying a bright green light on the screen and waving yellow flags and going ahead to punish him was ridiculous. There’s something that needs to change there.

  8. Fair penalty I got the same when i drove go karts

  9. Nico in Mercedes for a very long time,nearly as much as Alonso in Ferrari,Hamilton & Button in Mclaren & Vettel in Red Bull,Nico need tol help to build the team around him.

  10. For some persons info. All marshal have been receiving training since July. There are approx 100 marshal from Bahrain to guide and lead the Indian Marshals.

  11. Once again we have to listen to Hamilton fans say the world is at fault and that the world needs to change rather than one man (Lewis).

    It used to be funny as.

  12. fmeh… That dog’s our mascot for the Indian GP guys…. don’t you know :D

  13. Very poor comment of the day. Don’t let the facts get in the way of a comment hey?

    1. @bbt

      I chose that as Comment of the Day because it’s well argued and spoken from experience.

      Whereas all you’ve said here is you don’t agree with it and offered no facts of your own to support your point of view, whatever it may be.

      Before you leap to criticise others, perhaps take a look at the value of your own contribution.

      1. @Keith Collantine

        To be fair I posted my comments and evidence yesterday (pictures, although even clearer on the video)

        The marshals screwed up, (a tentative single yellow only a double when he had past and conflicting race control and light information) and Hamilton was also to blame…

        “clear cut”

        No.

        when you see a double yellow, you slow down significantly

        Yes you should, but how when there weren’t there initially. People can ignore that fact as much as they like but it still remains a fact.

        it doesn’t change the fact that the marshals were in danger.

        There were no sign of marshals on track hence the green 10 – 20 second earlier.

        Primarily a result of the GP being for the 1st time?

        1. @Keith Collantine Your article is clearly skewed towards your own personal view of that fact that Hamilton is at fault and you chose to buttress that point with a comment from another user that supports the same view. It’s not surprising that you chose to ignore a very detailed evidence presented by users here which points to the fact that the track status what green, the lights for that sector (which is more brighter and easily seen) just after where the marshal was waiving the double yellow flag was also green. Clearly that counts for providing a balance view of the whole situation.

          1. @dt No it isn’t, and I’m sick of these lazy accusations.

            The article says Hamilton (and Perez) got a penalty and explains why.

            That’s it. Nothing else. No agenda.

            I’ve been over the lights/flag thing several times in the comments for that article. I do not believe it excuses Hamilton or Perez’s driving.

            These six paragraphs are as straight as you could ask for There is nothing in there that isn’t factual, there is no opinion..

          2. I think the article isn’t skewed at all. It’s just factual.

            It’s you and BBT who skew the facts of the matter and also the factual reporting because of your blind support of Hamilton.

            You two guys are the ones all emotional about this.

            It’s pretty crap for Keith. As soon as he or anyone else (Stewards) comments negatively about Lewis you guys get all emotional and start to cry and attack people for their view points.

    2. @bearforce1

      I said Hamilton deserved the penalty many times. *rolls eyes*

      Just presented the facts, no agenda.

      1. @BBT – I think you confuse facts with your opinions.

        Rolling eyes, it’s cool, I am used to my girlfriends doing this to me all the time.

        1. Clearly you have not read my posts.

    3. In your so perfect stating of the facts as you see then @BBT, how did you rate the fact Hamilton even used his DRS there to go faster?

      Personally I think there might have been things not completely perfect with what signals were shown where (same goes for the placing of those we saw today when Button was right behind Massa in FP3).

      But not seeing being given the lights, or not seeing the yellows should not be a reason not to back off and instead push on, when you see a car hoisted up in the air by marshalls in any case.

      1. Agree, he did use DRS but then you would if the track was green, no one said he didn’t. I also repeatedly said he was guilty of the offence, never said otherwise. I just pointed out that it wasn’t clear cut and the marshalling was also to blame.

  14. So did Perez Accept his penety or do the media not talk to anyone els by Hamilton?

  15. “I accept whatever penalty I get”.

    Put it this way, I don’t think Lewis understands and is sorry for what he did, which is dangerous, and just tries to get past it.

Comments are closed.