1: Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes
2: Felipe Massa Ferrari
3: Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes
4: Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari
5: Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber
6: Fernando Alonso Renault
7: Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault
8: Robert Kubica BMW Sauber
9: Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari
10: Sebastian Vettel STR-Ferrari
11: Jarno Trulli Toyota
12: Nelsinho Piquet Renault
13: Timo Glock Toyota
14: David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault
15: Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota
16: Rubens Barrichello Honda
17: Jenson Button Honda
18: Adrian Sutil Force India-Ferrari
19: Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota
20: Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Ferrari

 

Thanks - no spoiler - great thing is 0730hrs tomorrow morning on SpeedTV - watch it live - so much better than Fox - 6 hours tape delay.

 

For those who haven't seen the race yet...................


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there, that ought to be enough spoiler space.






















If Ferrari had just gambled a bit with Massa when the rain came out, he would have won. Look at the guys further down the field who did this - they wre lapping 30+ seconds per lap faster than the rest. Poor Bourdais was on track for a podium when Kimi hit the wall, but he was still on dry tires and lost 4 places to guys who came in for intermediates. Had Massa done so too he would have won the race on merit, not due to the penalty Lewis was handed after the race.




Lewis has been handed a 25 second penalty for "gaiing an advantage" after cutting the chicane late in the race. WTF?? He let up and gave the lead back to Kimi - how do you penalize a driver for doing what he's supposed to do? It turns our Ferrari did NOT protest the move, meaning they did not instigate the steward's decision to investigate the incident. I'm a huge Ferrari fan, Massa in particular, but I sincerely hope this penalty gets overturned. Lewis conceded the position to Kimi, which is exactly what he was supposed to do. His car was superior in the wet, especially with dry tires fitted. What a crock. I've always thought those who claimed Ferrari gets preferential treatment from the FIA were crazy - a case of sour grapes after so many years of Ferrari just flat out dominating the sport. But this is BS, plain and simple. Lewis did nothing wrong. Nothing.

 

*SPOILER*


For a few minutes I thought I was watching Nascar, what with all the swerving and crashing and whatnot! Quite an incredible race... I agree with you, Hamilton had Kimi at the end, and he gave back the position that he gained before blowing the pants off Kimi in the next turn. Was it that exact move that got him the penalty? Because there were quite a few other sketchy moments... I swear Hamilton and Kimi must have hit the escapes at least three times each!

Very entertaining race, no doubt.

As for pitting with two laps left, I think those were some pretty gutsy calls by those teams. I doubt that any team confidently believed they could make up the pit time so quickly.

 

SPOILER ***





That was an incredible ending to the GP. Kimi pushed Hamilton off the track, and that's why he had to use the escape route. Hell you can see the tire marks on Hamilton's air intakes. McLaren will protest and we will just have to see what they say, but to take a win from a driver is insane.

 

Yep. The stewards have even stated that, regardless of Lewis giving back the position he had gained such an advantage that he easily overtook Kimi at the very next corner. Well duh! Did you watch them dicing going into la Source??? Great stuff, and Lewis simply out drove Kimi. Hey stewards, it's called "racing". Even the telemetry from the two cars shows that after Lewis gave the position back he was travelling 6kph (4mph) slower than as they crossed the start/finish line. Sure as heck sounds like he seriously gave back the position, as we've seen drivers do so many times at so many tracks. Hey stewards, it'c called "following the rules". Geez.



Pitting with two laps, on a very long circuit, while the competition is on dry weather tires and the rain is getting worse and worse. A team could make a sillier call. Like McLaren leaving Lewis out for far too many laps in the torrential rain at China last year. So long, in fact, his tires were down to the cords and he was 7 seconds a lap slower than his rivals, and getting slower every second. That one bonehead move by the team cost him the championship. I don't blame him for going into the sandtrap at pit in either - it was raining buckets and he had no tread left on his tires.

Of course, I do have the advantage of playing Monday morning quarterback. Or is that Sunday night team race director?

 

I agree with everything you wrote, Mike. Hamilton was robbed and I hope McLaren wins their appeal. That was some of the best racing we've seen all year and I'm sorry that it was spoiled by the stewards.

(BTW, I think Matchett, Hobbs, Varsha, and Windsor are the best sportscasting team on television. I watched the race on TiVo and then caught some of the Colts/Bears game. John Madden and Al Michaels aren't nearly as entertaining!)

 

I have to agree. I pulled a "user error" thing and didn't record the race so I downloaded the British ITV broadcast and found their commentators to be good, but not as good (and certainly not as entertaining) as Varsha, Hobbs & Matchett. Certainly the level of commaraderie wasn't there - not even close. Interesting to see identical FIA timing/scoring and broadcast feed though.

 

Yes the FIA broadcast feed is worldwide, its even the same as they show on the big trackside screens during the GP, just the commentaries are localised.

I was away at an autotest so missed the live race - still can't believe the result. Its even more crazy since it transpires that McLaren had consulted Race Control after telling Lewis to give back the place, to confirm that were happy that the advantage had been redressed. Race Control confirmed TWICE that they were satisfied; on that basis the team told Lewis to resume racing, but would not have done so without the clarification from the stewards

 

Sir Jackie Stewart has called for permanent stewards to be used at F1 events rather than a different group at each track. I think it's this inconsistancy that has caused people to say the FIA is pro-Ferrari and anti-McLaren. If the same stewards were used at all locations that inconsistancy would go away. I agree with him.

 

That would certainly help. Obviously, there are other officials who have some input, but I thought that the Race Control/Director was always the same guy, Charlie Whiting.

 

Yes, that is Charlie's role at all events, but the stewards at each track make the final call. In fact, when Ron Dennis mentioned that he had asked Charlie if Lewis had done the position give back properly, and that Charlie replied in the affirmative, he immediately stated that he knew Charlie's say-so was neither enforceable nor definitive because that decision was ultimately up to the stewards. For whatever bizarre reasons, the stewards saw things differently. Heck, even Ferrari didn't think there was anything wrong with the move since they didn't protest it.

 

Yeah - the ruling agains Hamilton is horrendous. There are some interesting articles out there saying that F1 can't exist without Ferrari, hence they will consistently get these kinds of breaks by stewards and or F1 in general. I doubt the penalty will be overturned - but I'll wait and hope....

 

Over at the ITV F1 site there's an article where many of the other drivers are saying Hamilton should indeed have been handed a penalty, but that the penalty was too severe. But according to the rules, the only penalty that could be imposed would be a drive thu (not an option given the timing of the infraction during the race), or a 25 second time penalty in lieu of the drivethru, or a grid penalty for the next race. They chose the 25 second penalty.

Many of the drivers feel that Lewis followed Kimi through the chicane he would have been perhaps as much as a few tenths of a second behind him, not right on his tail, and that is where the advantage gain was. While it is inevitable that Lewis would have passed Kimi in fairly short order (the McLaren is much, much kinder to dry weather tires when the temps drop and things get wet), there are even drivers who say Lewis shouldn't even have attempted a pass at La Source given the situation at Bus Stop. The other drivers are reallly clear on this, too.

I was a bit surprised so I've rewatched the video of the incident many, many times. No doubt Lewis was stuffed under Kimi's rear wing right after cutting the chicane and even with a couple of quick moves by Kimi to block, Kimi didn't stand a chance.

So, I guess I can see (albeit a bit grudgingly) where an advantage was probably gained (in the strictest technical sense, anyway) I really think this is something that should have been just written off as a racing incident or, at the very worst, a grid position penalty for the next race should have been imposed instead.

 

It's crazy, I realize I'm a Hamilton fan, but I was a MS fan before Hami came around. I'm a Hami fan because of MS, MS retired, and I don't care for Kimi or Massa. So I went with the up and comer. We'll have to wait until the 22nd to find out what the FIA says though.

 

I am a Ferrari fan, but this decision is unacceptable. It appears the "suits" are going to decide the outcome of the championship, not the drivers on the track. F1 racing is a joke anymore, controlled by bureaucrats, and money makers.

Quite frankly, if this is the type of one sided decision making F1 is going to continue with, they don't need to return to the U.S.