Thanks for the link to the website, Benjam. Looks like another good one.

Strange that a team principal would take a "short holiday" at this time. That's his day job, and it was during a critical time. I don't think Ron, Flavio, Ross, or Jean would have left. What did he do, watch the race on a beach somewhere?

 

agree 100%.

Does anyone think that it's a bad idea to announce that even though you disagree with parts being used on a select group of cars, that you're developing similar parts to go on you car in the event that they're deemed legal? If I were going to protest, sure I'd begin development of the diffuser, but I don't think I'd tell anyone about it. I'd just try and make it as radical as I could to the letter of the law. But I damn sure wouldn't annouce it. That just seems rather hypocritical to me.

Also, if I was the governing body, who was in charge of determining the legality of said diffusers and I saw the same team that was protesting, announced that they're developing similar parts, I would automatically throw out the protest based on their hypocracy.

I liked BMW and Mario Theissen more when he kept quiet and just kept improving their performance.

 

I would be willing to bet that at least Ferrari has a set of plans back at the office in case the FIA rules both designs are ok.

Speaking of him, where IS Mario Theissen? I don't remember seeing him at the last 2 races, and he's usually pretty visible. Or did I just miss it?

 

I saw him on TV at the races.

BTW: Mario was at Sebring for Rahal-Letterman's debut of the M3 GTR. My wife and I met him (he signed our race tickets). Too bad both cars DNF. He had to fly to Melbourne the next day.

 

If you're not sentimentally attached to the tickets, sell them on Ebay. He's enough of a celebrity that you might get a pretty good price.

 

I thought he was at the race and was taking the break following the race ? or were those shots of him from Australia ?

My guess would be that he was told to go away while things are worked out........I don't recall seeing any footage of Ron being there.....

Who's mindin' the ship Cap'n ?

BMW should change their team back to CooperF1, wouldn't that be cool ?

The influence of the early Cooper F1 cars is there in your MCS, the scoop looks like the nose scoop and of course the bonnet stripes are trademark

 

I was referring to a story on www.gpupdate.net where he was talking about why he protested the teams again in Malaysia and then proceded to comment that in the meantime they're developing their own "double-diffuser".

I'm sure all the "non-diffuser" teams are working on one. I just don't think if I were protesting it, that I'd be announcing that I'm spending a fortune to develop one when the FIA is trying to cap the teams' spending.

 

Cap Team Spending ! Save Money ! Reduce Budgets !

That's why for 2009, We had all teams redesign their cars

Perhaps we should change the rules/regs again for 2010 so we can spend more money

They make no sense

 

Did you all catch the comment that the commentators made about redesigning a car to have a different diffuster costing $20mil - about the same as the whole budget cap for 2010 (including driver salary)? Remember when the "other" Schumacher made that alone?

 

Yep, I think the reason sponsors "sponsor" is because F1 is known as the Pinnacle of the sport, that includes the "life styles of the rich and famous" end of the deal. Perhaps that is why sponsorship is so low in the lower ranks of open wheel.

I'll bet the idea behind the budget caps has something to do with the unknown winnings that teams receive. You can bet that the caps will put cash in someone's pocket.

I'd rather see the money go into the sport, the team and the cars than some fat cats yacht who only makes rules and business deals.....

 

You know that extra cash will go into Bernie's pocket.

That sawed off little hypocrit was talking budget cuts this and less speding that, but would not refuse to lower the cost of a super license. Ham's super-license cost around $1/4Mil. RIDICULOUS!

Sorry, talking about him gets me fired up.

Does anyone else think he looks like Golum from Lord of the Rings?

 

I've got a feeling that Lewis' goose is going to be cooked this time.

A hard lesson to learn from some really stupid instruction from the management. Ah to be a fly on the wall of the Mclaren conference room when the decision was made to withhold the truth - sad sad sad

I guess it all will come down to how much of Mclarens sponsors dollars are involved in F1.

Back many moons ago in NHRA, The Dodge boys Pro Stock team (winning literally every race) had their shop "broken in to" and all tools and equipment trashed. The rumor that went around following that was that the team had been caught cheating (nitrous) and since Mopar was the main sponsor of NHRA races at the time, the story of the break-in was released and thus they could not attend the remaining races.

 

I must be missing something. True, Hamilton and Mercedes lied, BUT the bottom line is that Hamilton was told to yield to Trulli. Was there ever any evidence that there was a conspiracy to take the place from Trulli, or anyone else?

If McLaren is penalized beyond what has already happened, it will be total BS. And will effectively eliminate them from competing with Ferrari. Or maybe that's the whole idea.

 

That is the bottom line. They lied and were caught. The fact that he was told to let Trulli by has nothing to do with anything. When he was asked if he let Trulli by, he said no. When he was asked if he was told to let Trulli by, he said no. Erroneous!

The FIA isn't usually able to catch the teams when they don't tell the truth. I think this is just another situation where McMerc have put themselves in a situation to be made an example of.

I cant imagine that they will punish just Hamilton or just Dave Ryan. I think the Mclaren team will get punished as a whole. It will be interesting to see what happens, because based off of what's in the media, everyone's mind is already made up that they're guilty. The thing is, how severely are they going to be punished?

 

There's got to be a better way to handle safety cars and rules.

Safety car comes out - No passing - Period ! If a car goes off then that's his problem, he lost the place.

Simple enough, no lies, no penalties, no money spent for travel and hearings and so on

 

True, and no feelings, allegations, or truths of favoritism.

Looks like heads are rolling:

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/080420...permanent.html

It looks like Hamilton will escape the worst of it, though:

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/070420...auled-fia.html

 

The Scot has it right

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/090420...e-stewart.html

I just want to know why, WHY ? Mclaren would chose to deny the radio orders when they would know that they are recorded......there must be some logical explanation......

Perhaps Lewis will be spared being thrown out but I'm sure his WC bid is down the drain

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/040420...-position.html

The thing is Mclaren should just get a fine, they have fired their employee and Lewis has apoligized with a reasonable explanation. Just nail 'em for a few hundred thousand and lets get back to racing !

 

With the hearing for the diffuser teams set to take place in Paris next Tuesday, the FIA will also be holding an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday 29 April, with the case including the matter of a possible discrediting of the sport as a result of McLaren's actions.

So Max's sex tape was a good thing for the sport?

 

I still wonder if it was Mclaren that leaked the Max frolic and thus the grudge against them, enough fudging went on to ensure the Red team won the constructors in 2008 and nearly the WDC

 

Yikes! Shades of Stepneygate.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/090420...-face-ban.html

Well, at least it shows that Max is an idiot, just like Bernie. Actually, it takes some of the load off the teams because it shows that a lot of this is political stuff between crazy old men. Spit might be right, though--might have caused the whole rift. I don't think Ferrari would be penalized like this.

 

even though i don't like mcmerc, i agree that this is bit much. especially since it could have been prevented if charlie would have gotten off his butt and answered them. secondly, i think it would hurt the sport more to prevent them from racing. that and as previously stated, they've canned the guy responsible.

p.s. sorry for all lower case. i've got a sleeping baby in my other arm.

 

Never wake sleeping dogs or babies...

 

I get the feeling that we'll all just be left shaking our heads......if Lewis and Mc get thrown out we'll always be wondering if they could have won the championships.

Interesting to see that not much has been said by the other teams except Toyota.

I'm sure you saw Ralf's comments http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/090420...chumacher.html

That's why I say, they all lie and most of it just gets tossed....I seem to recall Massa has changed his stories once or twice in the past.

There has got to be more going on behind the scenes....

 

Because lying is usually a knee jerk reaction, and follows no logic.

I am not a Ferrari fan, and once upon a time I was a McLaren fan. As much as I normally dislike Ferrari, they tend to dance on the line in the sand, whereas lately, McLaren has been leaping over it in ways that can't be ignored.

To be fair, I don't think Ferrari has much of a dog in this fight. They have too many other issues to deal with right now, like getting their car competitive enough to catch the top three: Brawn, Williams, & BMW.

Lying to the stewards is a no-no, especially if you're the team that has been openly critical of them in the past. How McLaren doesn't seem to get it through their collectively thick heads that they are under microscopic scrutiny and need to live cleaner than a nun for awhile, is beyond me.

 

...catching up is a matter of perspective perhaps; if the diffuser is deemed illeagal the top teams will likely fall back.

Personally, being on the edge of the rules is the place to be...in this case I am surprised Ferrari interpreted the rules conservatively.