Formula 1

[Noxide]

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton has been disqualified from last weekend’s Australian Grand Prix after a second stewards’ investigation on Thursday decided both he and his team had provided ‘misleading' evidence during a hearing held after the Melbourne race.

Hamilton crossed the finish line in Australia in fourth, but was subsequently promoted to third after Toyota’s Jarno Trulli was handed a 25-second time penalty for passing his McLaren under the safety car during the race’s closing laps.

Stewards, however, decided to reinvestigate the incident after fresh evidence came to light and convened a second meeting in Sepang. After the hearing, the stewards issued the following statement:

“The Stewards having considered the new elements presented to them from the 2009 Australian Formula One Grand Prix, consider that driver No 1 Lewis Hamilton and the competitor Vodafone McLaren Mercedes acted in a manner prejudicial to the conduct of the event by providing evidence deliberately misleading to the Stewards at the hearing on Sunday 29th March 2009, a breach of Article 151c of the International Sporting Code.

"Under Article 158 of the International Sporting Code, the driver No 1 Lewis Hamilton and the competitor Vodafone McLaren Mercedes are excluded from the race classification for the 2009 Australian Grand Prix and the classification is amended accordingly."

In addition to Hamilton’s disqualification, Trulli’s penalty has been withdrawn and the Italian therefore regains his third place - and six world championship points.

Isn't this just the best news of the year so far?


What a moron!!

[Noxide]

Order has been restored people. Lets' hope it stays this way

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[Noxide]

As the "Liegate" affair continues to attract attention, the FIA formally announced today that the McLaren Mercedes team has been invited to appear at an extraordinary meeting of the World Motor Sport Council in order to explain the declarations made before the stewards following the Australian Grand Prix.

During the closing stages of the race and while the Safety Car was on the track, Toyota's Jarno Trulli made an error and went wide. McLaren's Lewis Hamilton passed him but immediately enquired with his team if the move was allowed when the Safety Car is present.

Hamilton, unsure, slowed down to let Trulli reclaim his former position; the Italian was afterwards penalized 25 seconds and dropped down from 3rd to 12th position by the stewards for passing while the Safety Car was on track. At the stewards' meeting, Hamilton and McLaren Sporting Director Dave Ryan both assured the stewards that Hamilton has not deliberately allowed Trulli by.

A few days later, a review of McLaren radio communications proved the contrary; Trulli's third place was reinstated and Hamilton's Australian results were excluded from the race.

Since then, the team has been in a whirlwind, with Hamilton apologizing repeatedly and explaining that he had followed Ryan's orders. Ryan was suspended and sent home while team boss Martin Whitmarsh went into damage control, claiming to have missed performing due diligence.

Today the FIA confirmed a special hearing relating to the matter, to be held on Wednesday 29 April.


FIA statement:
"Vodafone McLaren Mercedes has been invited to appear before an extraordinary meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Paris on Wednesday, 29 April, 2009, to answer charges that, in breach of Article 151c of the International Sporting Code, it

* on 29 March, 2009, told the stewards of the Australian Grand Prix that no instructions were given to Hamilton in Car No. 1 to allow Trulli in Car no. 9 to pass when both cars were behind the safety car, knowing this statement to be untrue;

* procured its driver Hamilton the current World Champion, to support and confirm this untrue statement to the stewards;

* although knowing that as a direct result of its untrue statement to the stewards, another driver and a rival team had been unfairly penalised, made no attempt to rectify the situation either by contacting the FIA or otherwise;

* on 2 April, 2009, at a second hearing before the stewards of the Australian Grand Prix, (meeting in Malaysia) made no attempt to correct the untrue statement of 29 March but, on the contrary, continued to maintain that the statement was true, despite being allowed to listen to a recording of the team instructing Hamilton to let Trulli past and despite being given more than one opportunity to correct its false statement;

* on 2 April, 2009, at the second stewards' hearing, procured its driver Hamilton to continue to assert the truth of the false statement given to the stewards on 29 March, while knowing that what he was saying to the stewards was not true."

[joannence]

Ohh yeahh! Go Kimi !

[Noxide]

The FIA International Court of Appeal met yesterday in Paris to hear an appeal lodged by Ferrari, Red Bull and Renault. The three teams were appealing against decisions taken by the Panel of the Stewards on Thursday 26th March 2009 in Melbourne.

Prior to the race the three teams submitted protests to the Panel of Stewards arguing that the cars of Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams did not comply with the Technical Regulations.

The dispute related in particular to the diffuser design used by the latter three teams. The Panel of the Stewards rejected the protests submitted. The protesting teams then appealed the Stewards’ decisions and were joined yesterday in Paris by McLaren, Brawn GP, BMW Sauber and Toyota who give their accounts to the Court.

The International Court of Appeal announced today that the diffusers designs run by Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams are legal and therefore the results from the opening two rounds of the championship are now confirmed.


"The FIA International Court of Appeal has decided to deny the appeals submitted against decisions numbered 16 to 24 taken by the Panel of the Stewards on 26 March at the 2009 Grand Prix of Australia and counting towards the 2009 FIA Formula One World Championship," a statement released this morning read.

"Based on the arguments heard and evidence before it, the Court has concluded that the Stewards were correct to find that the cars in question comply with the applicable regulations."

"Full reasons for this decision will be provided in due course."

[DipShyt]

Ferrari have admitted they now plan to make significant changes to their 2009 car after the failure of their appeal against the rear diffusers used by the rival Brawn, Toyota and Williams teams.

Ferrari, along with three other teams, had disputed the legality of the double-decker designs, thought to be worth at least half a second per lap. Now, after the FIA’s International Court of Appeal (ICA) gave the designs the all-clear, the world champions say they have no choice but to modify the F60.

"Unfortunately this decision forces us to intervene on fundamental areas of the car's design in order to be able to compete on an equal footing with some of the teams from a point of view of the technical regulations,” said team principal Stefano Domenicali. “And that will take time and money.”

The Court’s findings come as another blow to Ferrari, who have had a torrid start to their 2009 season, with neither Felipe Massa nor Kimi Raikkonen scoring in the first two races. In a bid to turn things around, the Italian team have already restructured their operations ahead of this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix and the diffuser verdict now brings even more work.

“We will now double our efforts to get the team back to the highest level of competitivity," added Domenicali, who saw Massa and Raikkonen finish second and third respectively behind McLaren's Lewis Hamilton in Shanghai last year.

[Noxide]

I feel bad for my team, because I don't think it will be easy to redesign the diffuser in a short amount of time, but I'm glad the ICA declared the others legal.

[Lemmings]

Ferrari's boss has hit back at Niki Lauda, after the former triple world champion said a re-emerging ‘spaghetti culture’ is to blame for the team's struggles.

With the efficient and dispassionate German, French and British influences of Michael Schumacher, Jean Todt and Ross Brawn respectively now missing, it is tempting to compare Ferrari's past with its increasingly all-Italian makeup.

But the Maranello team's current Team Principal Stefano Domenicali, an Italian, responded: "I take it very personally when people suggest that because we are Italians we cannot get things to work properly.

"We have won titles and races in the past with fundamentally the same team," he insisted.

Domenicali also responded to speculation that Michael Schumacher's expiring contract will be simply allowed to end this year, after the German was implicated in the strategy chaos of the opening races.

"Michael is very important for our group. At certain moments he can be heavy because of his personality, but his positives far outweigh his negatives," he said.

[Lemmings]

McLaren Mercedes were invited to attend an extraordinary meeting of the World Motor Sport Council in Paris today to face charges of multiple breaches of Article 151c of the International Sporting Code - essentially fraudulent conduct which brings the sport into dispute.

Today a statement from the FIA WMSC announced that the Woking-based squad has received a suspended three race ban for its actions, a light sentence that essentially reflects the team’s efforts to apologise to the governing body and fans of the sport.

“Having regard to the open and honest way in which McLaren Team Principal, Mr Martin Whitmarsh, addressed the WMSC and the change in culture which he made clear has taken place in his organisation, the WMSC decided to suspend the application of the penalty it deems appropriate," the statement read.

“That penalty is a suspension of the team from three races of the FIA Formula One World Championship. This will only be applied if further facts emerge regarding the case or if, in the next 12 months, there is a further breach by the team of article 151c of the International Sporting Code,” it concluded.

The whole sorry ‘lie-gate’ situation dated back to the season-opening Australian Grand Prix where Lewis Hamilton was instructed by the team to allow Jarno Trulli to pass him whilst behind the safety car. Trulli had made an error and slipped off the circuit allowing Hamilton to initially gain the position.

Following the race the stewards deemed Trulli’s pass illegal on Hamilton and handed the Toyota driver a 25 second time penalty dropping the Italian from third to a non-points scoring position. It later emerged that Hamilton had deliberately let Trulli past and the time penalty was retracted.

There were five charges against the McLaren Mercedes team. Firstly, on 29th March they told Australian Grand Prix stewards that no instructions were given to Lewis Hamilton to allow Trulli pass when behind the safety car. This was untrue. Secondly, the team ‘procured’ Hamilton to confirm this untrue statement to the Melbourne stewards.

Thirdly, the team knew that as a result of its actions, Trulli would be stripped of his third position and the team made no attempt to rectify the situation. Fourthly, on 2nd April a second meeting with the stewards in Malaysia saw the team continue with its untrue statement despite being allowed listen to team radio instructing Hamilton to allow Trulli past. Finally, the team again ‘procured’ Hamilton to continue with his false statement.

Sporting Director Dave Ryan, present with Hamilton in the stewards’ hearings, took the fall for McLaren with the team announcing on 3rd April that he had been suspended from his position. Four days later when acknowledging the 'invitation' to attend the World Motor Sport Council meeting, the team announced that the long-serving Ryan had been sacked.

Hamilton meanwhile was busy making his apologies to the media in Malaysia claiming he had been 'misled' by Ryan. It was uncomfortable viewing as the defending champion deflected all calls that he had deliberately lied to the stewards.

“I went into the meeting. I had no intention of... I just wanted to tell the story of what had happened and I was misled," he said. "That’s just the way it went.”

“I’m not a liar, I’m not a dishonest person,” he claimed. “I’m a team player and every time I’ve been instructed to do something I’ve done it. This time I’ve realised it was a huge mistake and I’m learning from it. It’s taken a huge toll on me.”

Back at the Woking base Ron Dennis announced on 16th April that he was severing all ties with the race team to focus on the road car division of the company. Many saw this is an action to try to appease the sport's governing body, given the long-running feud between Dennis and FIA President Max Mosley.

"I admit I'm not always easy to get on with," Dennis said at the time. "I admit I've always fought hard for McLaren in Formula One. I doubt if Max Mosley or Bernie Ecclestone will be displeased by my decision. But no-one asked me to do it. It was my decision. Equally, I was the architect of today's restructure of the McLaren Group. Again, no-one asked me to do it. It was my decision."

The team regrouped, completed the Chinese and Bahrain Grand Prix before Martin Whitmarsh travelled alone to Paris today to give his account of the team’s actions.

While McLaren certainly has a lot to learn from 'lie-gate' the same can be said for the FIA stewards who initially took the words of two individuals to penalise a rival driver without checking the facts thoroughly.

[Noxide]

It's ridiculous.

Now all the teams can do whatever they like and just apologize for it afterward.
A precedent has been set now and they can't change it.