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[NHale]

Jonathan Noble tweet:

Lewis put to back of grid, FIA announced

Such incompetence should be expected from Ferrari but not McLaren. Lewis must be furious.

 

[mclem]

From the back? That's completely disproportionate.

 

[AndyD]

I can't see how HRT or Marussia are ever going to progress to being competitive, even with the midfield teams.

The interesting thing to me is that Marussia and at least one HRT team tend to be within the 107% even in qualifying. Karthekeyian is just dragging the team down in my opinion, for nationalistic pride, and probably a big pot of money.

 

[Sleeplessnights]

Whoa whoa whoa Pastor.

 

[AndyD]

Maldonado Pole Position! What!!! Sucks for Hamilton but they have all been warned numerous times. Its not like races where the conditions are more unpredictable, this is a few laps.

 

[Igo]

https://twitter.com/#!/andrewbensonf1
Looks like Hamiton starts from the back.

Looks like it's gonna be another rough year for Lewis.

 

[smallios74]

Jonathan Noble tweet:

Such incompetence should be expected from Ferrari but not McLaren. Lewis must be furious.

Nah Ferrari would get a fine at most, joke decision TBH.
Also the fact that an extra litre or so of fuel wouldnt have made any difference to him getting pole.

 

[NHale]

From the back? That's completely disproportionate.

I agree. 10th spot should be the penalty since the problem occurred at Q3.

However McLaren decided to lie and not disclose what was the problem to FIA. That's exactly the worse thing you could do in this situation. Complete incompetence.

Nah Ferrari would get a fine at most, joke decision TBH.

A fine like McLaren received in 2007 after Spygate?

Also the fact that an extra litre or so of fuel wouldnt have made any difference to him getting pole.

A rule is a rule and if you decide to deliberately try to cheat, you should be penalized.

 

[Jinjo]

For fucks sake McLaren.

Funny (read: not really funny) how McLaren was doing everything right last year and it was Lewis fucking up. Seems it's the other way around this year.

 

[Britprog]

I don't see LH driving for McLaren next year. McLaren go from one disaster to another!!!!

 

[Sleeplessnights]

Maldonado Pole Position! What!!! Sucks for Hamilton but they have all been warned numerous times. Its not like races where the conditions are more unpredictable, this is a few laps.

Is that why they don't apply that rule during the race?

 

[Xun]

That's fucking ridiculous.

 

[PdotMichael]

Also the fact that an extra litre or so of fuel wouldnt have made any difference to him getting pole.

But that is not the problem of the FIA but of Mclaren. Hamilton was with a big margin the fastest man, so it was complety unnecessary.

 

[smallios74]

I agree. 10th spot should be the penalty since the problem occurred at Q3.

However McLaren decided to lie and not disclose what was the problem to FIA. That's exactly the worse thing you could do in this situation. Complete incompetence.

They have disclosed the problem, I heard a McLaren engineer fueling Hamilton's car set the fuel rig to drain instead of adding fuel, realised after a few seconds and put fuel in but then the call came for Hamilton to go before could adjust properly.

 

[Vivalaraza]

McLaren. Smh. Ffs.

 

[Gareth Bale]

That's so stupid. Why put him to the very back when he made it through Q1 and Q2? The incident was at the end of Q3!

 

[Tempy]

Derp McLaren. Seriously. Good for Pastor though.

 

[SunhiLegend]

Back of the grid? What the fuck.

 

[NHale]

They have disclosed the problem, I heard a McLaren engineer fueling Hamilton's car set the fuel rig to drain instead of adding fuel, realised after a few seconds and put fuel in but then the call came for Hamilton to go before could adjust properly.

Then if they knew they were broking the rule, why didn't they asked Hamilton to pit after the out-lap?

I don't see LH driving for McLaren next year. McLaren go from one disaster to another!!!!

He deserves better. I don't know what happened at McLaren but they are more disorganized than Ferrari, which is quite remarkable.

 

[RukusProvider]

Penalty is fair. Running that low fuel means a faster time. It's not sporting.

 

[Britprog]

Alonso has a great chance for a win from Hamilton's penalty....which country is the race taking place?

 

[smallios74]

Then if they knew they were broking the rule, why didn't they asked Hamilton to pit after the in-lap?

I guess they didnt know exatcly how much fuel is in the tank? They have said it would of been enough to get to the pits and give the FIA what they required, so im not sure. Again its another rule where the punishment doesnt fit the crime.

 

[Jinjo]

Then if they knew they were broking the rule, why didn't they asked Hamilton to pit after the in-lap?

This. P3 or whatever is better than starting from the back of the grid. Rules are pretty clear on stopping on out-laps.

 

[Deadman]

Hmm i expected 5 places, not all the places.

I guess no one will ever do this again lol.

 

[CurlySaysX]

Harsh.
A fair penalty would have been putting him behind Kobayashi.
Was Kobayashi penalized too btw?

 

[mclaren777]

My reaction to this news...

 

[Gareth Bale]

Then if they knew they were broking the rule, why didn't they asked Hamilton to pit after the in-lap?

After the in-lap? Eh? They need fuel in the car.

 

[TCRS]

LOL. Good for Alonso though, go Alonso!

 

[DieH@rd]

BACK OF THE FUCKING GRID?!?!?!?!? REALLY? REALLY?!?!?!!

 

[Diablohead]

I'm on both sides here, I want ham to do well but he and mclaren should have got that car back to the pits, aka don't run with such little fuel and take a huge risk like that.

 

[Yen]

Great for Maldonado! What a turnaround.

 

[Gareth Bale]

Harsh.
A fair penalty would have been putting him behind Kobayashi.
Was Kobayashi penalized too btw?

Doubt it. That was a mechanical failure.

 

[NHale]

I guess they didnt know exatcly how much fuel is in the tank? They have said it would of been enough to get to the pits and give the FIA what they required, so im not sure. Again its another rule where the punishment doesnt fit the crime.

The telemetry tells them exactly the amount of fuel on the tank. They knew what they were doing, tried to cheat, got caught and now they have to pay the price.

I'm sure Hamilton didn't knew what they intended to do and unfortunately he will have to pay the price too.

 

[defel]

Feel sorry for Hamilton but it sounds like McLaren deserved it.

 

[Versipellis]

The interesting thing to me is that Marussia and at least one HRT team tend to be within the 107% even in qualifying. Karthekeyian is just dragging the team down in my opinion, for nationalistic pride, and probably a big pot of money.

It seems that Karthikeyan's sponsors are pretty upset about HRT not being a fast enough car and they're threatening to cut financial support to the team. This could be one of the last races with HRT for the Indian driver.

 

[Jinjo]

Should've just disqualified his last time and used the time he set before to determine his position. The penalty is made even more ridiculous because of the fact that Hamilton was one of the maximum of 3 people actually trying to qualify for the race. It was also stupid of McLaren to think they would get away with it, the rule is pretty much without interpretation.

 

[DancingCactus77]

P4 for Kimi! Is he on the clean or dirty side of the grid?

 

[Chris R]

Penalty is fair. Running that low fuel means a faster time. It's not sporting.

Penalty is NOT fair. How is making him DEAD LAST fair when he was competing with 9 other cars in Q3? Place him 10th and give the team a fine, nothing more.

And Pirelli/FIA need to do something about Q3 and tires. Either give the drivers qualifying only tires or some sort of penalty if they don't turn in a time. Just anything to get the cars out on the track at least.

 

[Saiyar]

It is even worse for Hamilton when you realise that he wasted 4 sets of tyres in qualifying.

 

[kharma45]

So, Maldonado starts on pole.

Hopefully he can handle the pressure.

 

[ANDY_098]

Full stewards decision:

The Stewards received a report from the Race Director which stated that during post-qualifying scrutineering a sample of fuel was required from car 4, however, the car failed to return to the pits under its own power as required under Article 6.6.2 of the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations.

The Stewards heard from the team representative Mr Sam Michael who stated that the car stopped on the circuit for reasons of force majeure. A team member had put an insufficient quantity of fuel into the car thereby resulting in the car having to be stopped on the circuit in order to be able to provide the required amount for sampling purposes.

As the amount of fuel put into the car is under the complete control of the Competitor the Stewards cannot accept this as a case of force majeure.

The Stewards determine that this is a breach of Article 6.6.2 of the FIA Formula One Technical
Regulations and the Competitor is accordingly excluded from the results of the Qualifying Session. The Competitor is however allowed to start the race from the back of the grid.

http://fia.com/en-GB/mediacentre/f1_media/Documents/esp-document-36.pdf

P4 for Kimi! Is he on the clean or dirty side of the grid?

Dirty

 

[CiSTM]

Pit drive through would have been enough imo. Well I hope all the best for Lewis and I hope he will make come back!

 

[Sleeplessnights]

Am I right in thinking that this rule is not applied after the race?

 

[mclaren777]

Whether you like Lewis or not, I think we can all agree that this wasn't his fault.

Feel free to shoot him a positive message on Twitter if you'd like to cheer him up.

Twitter

 

[ANDY_098]

Am I right in thinking that this rule is not applied after the race?

No, otherwise there would have been a bunch of cars DQ'd after Bahrain.

 

[Myoclonic Jerk]

Poor Lewis.

what fantastic lap he put there.. what a shame... what a shame

 

[AcridMeat]

 

[DancingCactus77]

True. Kimi was very economical he only drove 13 laps in qualifying and saved some times for tomorrow's race. Kind of comes down to whether one values tire wear or starting position. I kind of enjoy this type of strategy.

It is even worse for Hamilton when you realise that he wasted 4 sets of tyres in qualifying.

 

[Sleeplessnights]

No, otherwise there would have been a bunch of cars DQ'd after Bahrain.

Is it because the fuel levels after the race is not under "complete control" of the driver?

 

[arena08]

The penalty is a fucking joke considering Hamilton was one of the few in Q3 actually trying to qualify.

Oh well, happy 70'th Sir Frank.