Formula One descends into farce again.

[Guest westallc]

Hamilton may yet be thrown out the championship (in my opinion he should be) and may get sacked as a result.... a talent tainted and as a result career over no team would be able to touch him....

they will never do that. he is a money spinner

[gadgetman]

I'm still keen to see the transcript of the original trulli case - which the FIA promised all transcripts and decisions to be made public to aid transparency of stewards decisions.

At the moment although mclaren appear to have admitted this, and suspended their race director, something just doesnt feel right about all this. The stewards would have demanded pit radio on the first occasion - another thing they said they'd do.

IF mclaren were to be kicked out or heavily imposed, this would mean the end for F1. Mercedes would pull out, and no matter how important they are, millions wont sponsor Kimi and massa racing for the championship all to themselves.

If another 2 cars drop out, Bernie has serious contractual problems with teams who enter each season, circuits, promotors and broadcasters to name a few!

[Captain Sisko]

I'm sick of the saga already

[gadgetman]

I'm sick of politics in (any) sport.

It's insulting to the fans.

[akron]

Hamilton may yet be thrown out the championship (in my opinion he should be) and may get sacked as a result.... a talent tainted and as a result career over no team would be able to touch him....

We're all so grateful for your opinion and will pass it on to the FIA.

McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh blamed Ryan for the scandal yesterday, suggesting he had encouraged Hamilton to withhold information from the officials.

An FIA spokesman recognised that Lewis had not instigated the issue, and welcomed his apology, but said it was possible that the matter could be taken further.

"We recognise Lewis's efforts to set the record straight today," the spokesman was quoted as saying by The Times newspaper.

"It would appear that he was put in an impossible position.

[Brimma]

So, according to Lewis, he was doing what his team told him to do, and not what his conscience (if he has one) told him, so if the team told him to deliberately wipe out the opposition, would he just go along with it because the team told him to.

When Lewis is interviewed he speaks very well, and is fairly literate - surely he can stand up for himself - they're hardly likely to sack him.

To then go in front of the cameras and say he thought he ought to put the record straight is IMHO a bit of a lame attempt to get people back on side.

[moley]

The BBC showed the footage from Trulli's Toyota when he went off and the radio from pit to Hamiltons car. Hamilton called the pits to say that Trulli had gone off & "I have passed him, should I let him back pass me again?" The team said let Trulli pass, Hamilton replied "OK". The team then said they were trying to talk to Charlie Whiting, Hamilton replied that he had already let Trulli pass.

Nothing really wrong there. It appears that after the race Mclaren realised that they should have told Hamilton to not let Trulli pass and bent the truth to gain an advantage. Hamilton went along with that and now regrets it.

Hamilton & Mclaren have been punished, Dave Ryan has been suspended and that should be and end to it, but McLaren have put themselves in a position where even less people will trust them in the future. Lewis Hamilton is young and I hope has learnt a lesson from this, people respect you far more when you tell the truth!

[GAFF]

These F1 boys are fairies compared to the WRC boys,

Some crash

[gadgetman]

Yikes!

[richie]

These F1 boys are fairies compared to the WRC boys,

Some crash

So, it's all down hill from here then :P

[expostmanpat]

And again

[LouisTsui]

Martin Whitmarsh gave an interview to the media on Sunday morning, and I found one of the answer from Martin interesting.

autosport.com - F1 News: Q & A with Martin Whitmarsh

Q. If Davey and Lewis had told the stewards that there was no call to pass Jarno, and yet on the radio transcript it was clear that it was. How come when they came back from the stewards, and even in passing conversation, they did not mention that? And how come no one said, we are going to get busted for that?

MW: It is clearly on the radio, and I think that the questions that were put were Davey interrupted a question that was put to Lewis, so he maintains that they did not answer the question which was: Was he asked to repass? And Lewis was asked, did you slow up to allow Trulli past? And Lewis said no, and at the time he had justified it to himself because as the telemetry later showed, he did not particularly slow up, he pulled over.

The two I am sure were uncomfortable, but we were not aware. And I've said to Davey: Did you deny the radio conversation? And his response on Thursday evening, was dont be ridiculous. Charlie was sat there. Charlie heard it, and it is recorded, how could I have done that? What I believe he did was, when Lewis was asked about it, before Lewis gave an answer, Davey interrupted the questioning and that is the start of this misdirection.

Another lie?

[Mike Wrightson]

This is one of those confused screw-ups that sounds worse the more you try to explain what happened. McLaren screwed up, got punished and should now just get their minds back on racing and answer no more questions about it.

The press release could have been devastatingly simple:

"We messed up. We got punished. We are sorry. The end."

[vRSy]

exactly. blown way out of proporsion. they cheated, they got disqualified. looked like idiots. carry on racing.

Was gutted yesterday when the redflag came out though.Was hoping for a repeatof last seasons nurburgring gran prix.

Also who was it that said after last season that button still wouldnt win with a good car and he was pants when i said id love to see Mclaren sign button alongside hamilton for a british racing team.

[KenONeill]

Explain to me how a McSlimeball that's struggling to make Q3 is a "good car" then? Well, ok, it's a good car if you're a RedSlime fan, but that's not what I meant!

[Mike Wrightson]

This years McLaren seems to drive fine, balance looks good, power is definately good (as evidenced by Brawn) but it just doesn't have the downforce/grip. Without that, you're pretty screwed.

Same story with the Ferrari really, car seems good, but needs more grip to compete.

[spinndrift]

"This years McLaren seems to drive fine, balance looks good, power is definately good (as evidenced by Brawn) but it just doesn't have the downforce/grip. Without that, you're pretty screwed."

Mmmm - can you explain your logic behind your following two statements:

"balance looks good"

and

"it just doesn't have the downforce/grip"

You cannot have a car that is balanced if it doesn't have downforce or grip.

It's like saying Hitler was a great supporter of the Jewish plight during the second world war.

Edited 6 April, 2009 by spinndrift

[Mike Wrightson]

Mmmm - can you explain your logic behind your following two statements:

"balance looks good"

and

"it just doesn't have the downforce/grip"

You cannot have a car that is balanced if it doesn't have downforce or grip.

Sure you can. The car can be balanced in that the front and rear will slide together and the car behaves as the driver likes at the limit. If you don't have downforce and grip, that limit is lower than the other cars, and you will be slower.

[Decron]

Sure you can. The car can be balanced in that the front and rear will slide together and the car behaves as the driver likes at the limit. If you don't have downforce and grip, that limit is lower than the other cars, and you will be slower.

See, I wouldn't know. I haven't driven it....

[Mike Wrightson]

See, I wouldn't know. I haven't driven it....

[KenONeill]

I've not driven an F1 car either, but I can understand the difference between balance and grip. You want lots of both ideally, but if you've got enough grip you can deal with less balance because the undesirable handling characteristic doesn't reach the grip limit at one end until you're going faster than in the car with balance and no grip.

[moley]

I reckon the Ferrari designer for this years car stood up in front of the board of directors with a flip chart with SPEED GRIP BALANCE written on it. He then asked the board to choose two of the three items.