No penalty for Lewis Hamilton!

[JulesMaximus]

Lewis Hamilton will not receive any penalty for his handling of the second safety car period in last Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix.

Sebastian Vettel's 10-place grid penalty for colliding with Mark Webber during the same caution has also been annulled.

A statement from the stewards said that punishments would be inappropriate given the extremely wet conditions at Fuji.

Both Vettel and Mark Webber had suggested that Hamilton had been accelerating and braking unpredictably while following the safety car at Fuji, causing confusion for the drivers behind.

Vettel eventually ran into the back of Webber, taking them both out of the race and leaving Webber furious and Vettel distraught.

The officials initially held Vettel entirely responsible and announced that he would drop 10 places on the Shanghai grid.

But in China Toro Rosso approached the stewards with new video evidence that it felt exonerated the young German and showed that he had been caught out by Hamilton slowing abruptly.

The FIA then confirmed yesterday morning that it was looking into the incident again, prompting 24 hours of speculation about a possible penalty for Hamilton.

The championship leader was dismayed by the latest controversy and the prospect of being penalised when on the brink of clinching the title.

"It looks like this weekend I'm probably going to given a penalty and I think it's just a shame for the sport," Hamilton said earlier today.

"If this is the way it's going to keep going then it's probably not somewhere that I want to be."

But after Webber, Hamilton and Vettel were all called to see the stewards at Shanghai this afternoon, it was announced that no punishments would be applied.

I thought it was ridiculous that they were even considering this quite frankly. The video in question was shot by someone in the stands with a camcorder. How can the FIA make a decision based on some amatuer video?

 

[LTC8K6]

Why did they need any video other than the regular race video?

Hamilton was driving very oddly behind the safety car, and it was causing problems every time. It was very odd and very obvious.

All of the announcers noticed it and remarked on it.

I was certain it was going to cause a crash.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: LTC8K6
Why did they need any video other than the regular race video?

Hamilton was driving very oddly behind the safety car, and it was causing problems every time. It was very odd and very obvious.

All of the announcers noticed it and remarked on it.

I was certain it was going to cause a crash.

See, I thought it was Webber who was going to cause a crash. Everytime Hamilton would speed up and slow down Webber was right there pulling up alongside Hamilton. Hamilton even commented on that in the post race interview.

Either way, the drivers need to keep some reasonable distance from each other on these laps behind the safety car. We've seen this before in Monaco when Schumacher and Montoya got together in the tunnel a couple years ago but conditions were much much worse last weekend. The drivers are all speeding up and slowing down rapidly along with the swerving left to right to keep heat in the tires and to keep their brakes up to temperature for the restart. It's amazing they don't hit each other more frequently IMO.

I don't see that Hamilton is to blame and I guess the FIA didn't either. In fact, they removed the 10 grid spot penalty for Vettel as well.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

someone else was penalized for contact under the green flag while fighting for position, but erratic driving behind the SC is OK.

 

[DivideBYZero]

What was erratic? Webber was too close and when the contact happened Hamilton was NO WHERE NEAR THE TWO CARS THAT COLLIDED! How can he be to blame? It's all part of the sport. Webber is a middle grade driver at best and Vettel a 100% green horn, but it was the guy who was on the other side of the track and who was NOT involved in any collision who gets the blame? Bollocks.

I'm glad Hamilton has been exonerated. He's a great talent.

 

[dug777]

Hamilton is a pumped up little fairy 😉

Pity he's a few years to late to hit the real masters of the game...

 

[GoatMonkey]

It's normal for cars following a safety car to swerve to put heat in the tires, and to speed up and slow down to keep the brakes warm and dry. If he's driving to erratically for the guy following him, then the guy following him should follow further back. I don't see what it hurts since he's not allowed to pass anyway. Now, when the safety car is about to leave the track there should be a warning to the drivers so they know to get close for a restart.

On a side note, somebody sent me this video a few minutes ago. A Mercedes advertisement featuring Hamilton and Alonso.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5C0I7Ef4gQI

 

[GoatMonkey]

Originally posted by: dug777
Hamilton is a pumped up little fairy 😉

Pity he's a few years to late to hit the real masters of the game...

He's doing a good job at beating Alonso.

Alonso beat Schumacher... twice.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that Hamilton is better than Schumacher, but he'd give him a good race.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: GoatMonkey
It's normal for cars following a safety car to swerve to put heat in the tires, and to speed up and slow down to keep the brakes warm and dry. If he's driving to erratically for the guy following him, then the guy following him should follow further back. I don't see what it hurts since he's not allowed to pass anyway. Now, when the safety car is about to leave the track there should be a warning to the drivers so they know to get close for a restart.

On a side note, somebody sent me this video a few minutes ago. A Mercedes advertisement featuring Hamilton and Alonso.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5C0I7Ef4gQI

That was pretty funny. :laugh: