Monday, June 9, 2008

LEWIS STUPID?

It was probably the heat of the moment when Kimi said such a thing about Lewis and I can understand that. But nobody in F1 is stupid ... well maybe except for the FIA. Why do I say such a thing? Because it has been very obvious for a long time that they seem to be under Ferrari's payroll.

There are many people in F1 who say the same thing, from the lowest ranking to legends. They are not stupid also as they have this same perception. One person can be wrong, 10 persons can be wrong but a lot of people? Look at how the FIA handles issues with Ferrari and others. It just gives you the impression that the FIA has 2 different sets of rules.

The latest is the 2 incidents at Monaco and Montreal. Kimi hits Sutil and gets nothing, not even a reprimand. Lewis hits Kimi and immediately gets a 10 grid penalty. Kimi says that his accident with Sutil is ok because he made a mistake at 300kph while Lewis made a mistake in the pitlane. A mistake is a mistake, you pay. But Kimi somehow manages to get out-of-jail free. Why? Because he drives a red car.

And after all that crap he was mouthing off about Lewis - the word "stupid" comes to mind - it would seem that he was trying to cheat by stopping next to Kubica in the pitlane, when he should have stayed behind Kubica. It seems he was trying to overtake Kubica after exiting the pitlane - I seem to remember that there is no overtaking under the safety car. Guess who made that rule? Yes, the FIA or Ferrari International Assistance. Here's a comment from Planet F1 :

"Raikkonen Blocked Hamilton's Escape Route In The Belief He Could Overtake Kubica When The Safety Car Was Deployed

In our Winners And Losers column, Andrew Davies also makes the observation that 'the penalty of 10 grid places for clattering into Raikkonen in the pit lane is a bit harsh when Raikkonen was effectively parked in the wrong place. Kubica was just in front of him as he was released by the Ferrari pitcrew and the Finn should have slotted in behind Kubica not stuff up the exit. (You can't overtake behind the Safety Car). Had Kimi slotted in behind, then Lewis would have had somewhere to dive to when he finally realised the red light was on and the cars were s-t-o-p-p-e-d. Clearly Hamilton's mistake but Raikkonen didn't help.'

It's a good point.

The follow-up must be to wonder if Raikkonen would have attempted to overtake Kubica when they were released by the red light. As Andrew notes, 'You can't overtake behind the Safety Car' but does that rule legislate for a scenario when two cars are situated side-by-side at the end of the pit-lane? While not exactly overtaking behind the Safety Car, both Kubica and Raikkonen had already overtaken Hamilton at their pit-stops and it's probable that the pit-lane exit would also have been regarded as an extension of that anomaly. After all, until a car has left the exit, surely it is not on the actual racetrack and thus cannot be considered to be 'behind the Safety Car'. My guess is that Raikkonen believed he could overtake Kubica along the exit and this is why he parked his Ferrari next to the BMW and not behind it."

Who's stupid now? Actually, personally I thought at the time of the accident that Lewis was stupid for making such a mistake but F1 drivers at the top of their game don't make "stupid" mistakes. To me, fine Lewis made a mistake and he paid for it by not taking any points in this race. And that was that. But today when I read about the penalty for Magny-Cours, I was so pissed off that I had to write this.

I was willing to forget yesterday's race but the "stupid" FIA is doing it again. Again, Ferrari got their running dog to do their dirty work for them. Last year at Melbourne, Ferrari was cheating with the movable floor but nothing happened. When they cheat it's ok but when there is even a suspicion of others doing the same - POW! - the FIA springs into action. Fucking double standards.

So at the end of the day, the "stupid" belongs to the FIA. Stupid for being used by Ferrari.

1 comment:

Grenada said...

I agree - poor Lewis. I hope this isn't a defining moment in his World Champion campaign.