Australian GP 2009 - Race 1/17 (NOT in HD BTW)

NathanE · 3 Apr 2009 at 10:31

http://allenonf1.wordpress.com/

Oh dear.

McLaren held a press conference and have put all the blame on David Ryan. To such an extent that they claim this man told Lewis to follow his lead and go along with the lie.

utajoker · 3 Apr 2009 at 10:37

i vote for hamilton to replace raikonnen next year at ferarri

NathanE · 3 Apr 2009 at 10:44

Hamilton needs to get out of McLaren ASAP. It's the only way he'll be able to recover from this unfortunately.

VaderDSL · 3 Apr 2009 at 10:50

What a mess! Hamilton would do right moving away from Mclaren.

PinkFloyd · 3 Apr 2009 at 10:52

Hamilton and Vettel at Red Bull tbh!

Demon · 3 Apr 2009 at 11:03

No.. LH is OK where he is..

I don't particularly like MacLaren, but If I'm prepared to accept things like a previous world champion deliberately taking out another driver just to secure their title with no repercussions (just one example), I can tolerate a bit of truth bending (no matter how stupid) without jumping on a retaliatory bandwagon.

It's a sad day for sure, but we will get over it, and at least it isn't deliberate cheating that hasn't gone unpunished.. move on and lets look forward to the next race.

robbiemc · 3 Apr 2009 at 11:07

From James Allens twitter coverage of the press conference:

Hamilton has just admitted everything, apologised for lying, said it's the worst moment of his life

LostPhil · 3 Apr 2009 at 11:22

From my point of view, a decision on Trulli's punishment shouldn't have been made on the word of a driver/team when there was plenty of evidence available from the race including the radio feed between Hamilton and the rest of the team.

Trulli's punishment wasn't deserved, and Hamilton's shouldn't affect the race since nothing was done wrong on the track - yeah they let him through but so what? Either swap the places around before they get to the finish/before the podium or leave the order be.

Yeah, he's an idiot for being led to lie, shouldn't be unpunished but a fine would do.

Same for Kubica/Vettel - why's there a punishment for it? Things like that happen, wasn't exactly deliberate. Stupid, yes, but no pre-meditation.

It's all just irritating.

JUMPURS · 3 Apr 2009 at 11:40

robbiemc said:
From James Allens twitter coverage of the press conference:

I hope Hamilton really didn't say that.

With this farce and McLaren not just ignoring it and LH saying that, them suspending Ryan, i wouldn't be surprised if the FIA do impose further punishment on them.

Why wont they shut up??

Mr Jack · 3 Apr 2009 at 11:40

Admission of guilt and team instructions from Hamilton

*youch*

JUMPURS · 3 Apr 2009 at 11:42

NathanE said:
Hamilton needs to get out of McLaren ASAP. It's the only way he'll be able to recover from this unfortunately.

Serious question. Who would take him? And could he handle being either a) number 2 driver or b) in a 2nd half of the field team?

If he went to Ferrari he would be 2nd to Massa
Renault wont take him
Brawn, he would be 2nd to JB (Though James Allan might just ***** till he dies at the thought of 2 British drivers in a British car that is quite good)
Red Bull, playing 2nd to Vettel.

The only thing i could see happening is Vettel to Ferrari and Hamilton to Red Bull.

JRS · 3 Apr 2009 at 11:45

Just to add another voice to the ever-growing echo - Hamilton needs to get out of that team. Fast. Even a drive at Torro Rosso would at least give him the chance to be his own man, rather than a puppet for whatever stupidity McLaren want to try each week.

***edit***

Oh, and given the revelations about what happened - anyone want to defend McLaren at all? Is it all a giant pro-Ferrari conspiracy at the FIA?

Or can we take it as read that, for once, the FIA probably got it bang-on?

I'm sure that's supposed to be a harbinger of the apocalypse....

robbiemc · 3 Apr 2009 at 11:50

Here's what Lewis said at the press conference:

“”I went into the meeting wanting to tell the story and I was misled. I was instructed and misled by my team manager to withhold information and that’s what I did. I sincerely apologise to the stewards for wasting their time. I’m very sorry for the situation. Sorry to all my fans, who have believed in me. Who I’ve showed you I am the past three years is who I am, I’m not a liar, I’m not a dishonest person, I’m a team player and every time I’ve been informed to do something I’ve done it. This time I realise it’s a huge mistake and I’m learning from it. It’s taken a huge toll on me.

“This is the worst thing I’ve experienced in my life and that’s why I’m here, because it’s right for me as a human being and as a man to stand up here in front of you all and tel you exactly what went on and say how sorry I am. I’m sorry to the team, to my family for the embarrassment.

I’m sure that the FIA will act accordingly and in the right way.”

He also said that Trulli had driven a great race and that “it wasn’t my intention to get him a penalty.”

FrankJH · 3 Apr 2009 at 11:53

JUMPURS said:
Serious question. Who would take him? And could he handle being either a) number 2 driver or b) in a 2nd half of the field team?

If he went to Ferrari he would be 2nd to Massa
Renault wont take him
Brawn, he would be 2nd to JB (Though James Allan might just ***** till he dies at the thought of 2 British drivers in a British car that is quite good)
Red Bull, playing 2nd to Vettel.

The only thing i could see happening is Vettel to Ferrari and Hamilton to Red Bull.

I dont think he would be automatically 2nd to anyone - no matter what he is still one of the few current drivers with a WDC under his belt

He may not be automatically 1st - but I dont see him being 2nd either.

I still think the whole situation is a load of BS - Trulli deserves 3rd without question, but McLaren still didnt do anything wrong in the race either way, so they should still be given 4th - whatever happened afterwards

Stewards should have already had access to all radio transmissions - if they are incompetant enough not to listen to them, why should McLaren be blamed.

Remember its not like McLaren actually did anything wrong - they thought Trulli had to go back in front, and so let him. End Of Story. They actually LOST a place initially. Unless stupidity is a crime for the FIA or something

Dangerous driving. making up places behind the pc, speeding in the pitlane, illegal car for one reason or another are all valid reasons to be dq'd - this is just a crock of ****

Dutch Guy · 3 Apr 2009 at 11:53

@McLaren, SHUT THE HELL UP AND STOP SAYING MORE THINGS TO MAKE YOU LOOK GUILTY AS HELL

NathanE · 3 Apr 2009 at 11:53

Yep good.

Now we just need the FIA to draw a line under all of this by saying that the matter is closed. I really hope that they do this now.

robbiemc · 3 Apr 2009 at 11:53

JRS said:
Oh, and given the revelations about what happened - anyone want to defend McLaren at all? Is it all a giant pro-Ferrari conspiracy at the FIA?

Or can we take it as read that, for once, the FIA probably got it bang-on?

I agree, and said something similar when this all kicked off. I've mentioned before that although the McLaren HQ is only a mile away from my house, I don't support them - for reasons such as this.

Be interesting to see where Lewis goes from here.

Hopefully we'll get some good racing this weekend to take everyones mind off this nasty incident.

NightSt@lk3r · 3 Apr 2009 at 11:56

JRS said:
Or can we take it as read that, for once, the FIA probably got it bang-on?

It took them a few tries but they finally got to the right decision in the end.

NathanE · 3 Apr 2009 at 11:56

JRS said:
Just to add another voice to the ever-growing echo - Hamilton needs to get out of that team. Fast. Even a drive at Torro Rosso would at least give him the chance to be his own man, rather than a puppet for whatever stupidity McLaren want to try each week.

***edit***

Oh, and given the revelations about what happened - anyone want to defend McLaren at all? Is it all a giant pro-Ferrari conspiracy at the FIA?

Or can we take it as read that, for once, the FIA probably got it bang-on?

I'm sure that's supposed to be a harbinger of the apocalypse....

The FIA got it right yes. But it took them way too long and their methods for dealing with this have been more damaging to the sport than the initial problem was.

Yes McLaren screwed up big time but the FIA should have a better way of dealing with these situations than dragging the whole sport through the gutter!

Dup · 3 Apr 2009 at 11:56

Mr Jack said:
Admission of guilt and team instructions from Hamilton

*youch*

At least he manned up and admitted the whole truth. Nothing more admirable from the man, even if he is a plonker for going along with it.

Agreed with the team leaving comments. This has been a step too far. If you're going to do something, don't get caught (as my dad would say).

He's a talented driver and he worked hard in a dog of a car on sunday and that's all been taken away for silly silly reasons. McLaren are obviously still at high school level when it comes to maturity.