Alvin's Formula One Blog

Reproduced from Planet F1 Sunday 22nd June 2008 Lewis Hamilton is looking like the novice he was supposed to be last season, but even the stewards apparently believed his offence at Magny-Cours was a minor and marginal infringement... The Stewards Didn't Want To Wreck Hamilton's Race But Had No Other Choices According to Ron Dennis, Lewis Hamilton's penalty was unjust because he was already past Sebastian Vettel when he briefly skirted around the chicane on the opening lap of the race. "He didn't gain any road position," the McLaren boss stressed to ITV at least three times during what was an otherwise brief post-race interview. Yet the stewards specified that Hamilton had been adjudged to have gained an advantage - not a place - when he missed the chicane. As such, the matter of whether or not Hamilton was actually past Vettel was irrelevant. Nonetheless, McLaren are entitled to r...

Thursday 12th June 2008 Lewis Hamilton is convinced he can defy the odds in the French GP and claim what would be a stunning victory. Hamilton will start the race at Magny-Cours handicapped by a 10-place grid penalty following a calamitous Canadian Grand Prix. The McLaren star was left red-faced after crashing into the back of title rival Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari at the end of the pit lane. Trundling along at 30mph, Hamilton failed to spot Raikkonen and eventual race winner Robert Kubica had stopped for a red light. The McLaren star braked too late, and was unable to avoid hitting Raikkonen, resulting in an early retirement for both drivers. The penalty handed down by the stewards at Montreal means even if Hamilton sets the fastest time in qualifying in France, he will still start outside the top 10 for the first time in his Formula One career. Yet, despite Magny-Cours being track where it is difficult to overtake...

10 June 2008 by Keith Collantine F1 is likely to have a new procedure in place for what drivers are supposed to do in the event of a safety car deployment in time for the next round at Magny-Cours. A trial of the new system will be held before the race. The plan is that, when the safety car is deployed, the drivers will be given a message by race control and will have to activate a special programme on their cars that limits their speed. Will this help fix the safety car problem? How will this affect the races? The problem The safety car rules were changed at the beginning of last year to prevent drivers from coming into the pits as soon as a safety car period was declared. This was because at the beginning of a safety car period drivers would continue racing up to the start/finish line, often out of a desire to get a pit stop at minimum cost to their race time while the rest of the field was delayed. The first ‘solution’ This was correctly judged to be unsafe and a...