Ten drivers handed post-race penalties

[cosworth151]

Good point, Monty. I also wonder what he was being told over his radio about where the SC was as he exited the pits.

[SennaMan]

whatever, but congratulations to Hamilton and McLAREN for finding a new racing strategy:

pass the b safety car every time you figure it will be deployed for many continuous laps, and take the lesser hit of a drive-through penalty

I can't agree. I have never driven wearing a Hans Device but when I drove single seaters there was zero visability at 90degress to straight ahead. Hamilton had seen the Safety Car accelerating out of the pits but his speed was far higher so he was alongside the safety car in a blink of an eye. He then had to make a split second decision if he was in front or behind the Safety car as they crossed the Safety Car line. This would be impossible for him to know because he simply would not be able to see.

Hey, I am not making a judgement on LH - on whether he deliberately or just happened to pass the SC.

the only point I was making - and I thought it obvious - is that LH has found a loophole in the regs i.e. pass the SC to get into the pits and get out well before the field that has to remain behind the SC for a slow lap which is a helluva lot more time delay than a 'drive-through' penalty, especially as a typical lap at Valencia is crca 1:38-40secs.

[lkjohnson1950]

If Lewis saw the safety car at all, and I think he did, then the safest place for him was behind it.

Lonny

[John S]

I have just seen this question and answer from Pitpass.com with Alan Permane of the Renault team. This at least makes it clear that some of the drivers could not really have avoided transgressing against the set delta times.

Q Both drivers ended the race under investigation by the stewards for exceeding the permitted speed on their in-laps under Safety Car conditions. Can you explain why they received five-second penalties and the team's response?

A When the Safety Car came out, it was just before Robert's braking point for the final corner, which is just before the Safety Car line. His reaction time from the Safety Car lights coming on to braking was about 1.2 seconds and he then entered the pit lane. It's difficult to see how he could have avoided this penalty because he couldn't have braked any sooner and he reacted as quickly as he could. Unfortunately, Vitaly came in too quickly and we accept the penalty for him, but it's hard to understand Robert's penalty.

My own personal feeling, having thought about this some more, is the race director was trying to deploy the SC to catch the leader just before he came through, but it was botched somewhat. Without knowing how long elapsed between Marks shunt and throwing the SC switch it's just a guess though.
 

[Monty]

If Lewis saw the safety car at all, and I think he did, then the safest place for him was behind it.

As an ex-racer I completely disagree. The safest thing would have been to keep his foot down until he passed the Safety Car line. It was only because he hesitated when he saw the safety car on the pit road that he got into trouble. You could actually call this a rooky error. However, to be fair that exact situation (position of cars, view of pit road, etc.) will probably never happen again.

[lkjohnson1950]

I read an interview that said he admitted he saw the safety car. If you can see the safety car, you must fall in behind. I'm a racer and I know your first thought is "Oh crap, I can't get stuck here, the leader is getting away", but you can't risk a penalty. What if they had held him for 10 seconds? I'm surprised the penalty was so light, he could easily have been right out of the points.

Lonny

[Jericoke]

I read an interview that said he admitted he saw the safety car. If you can see the safety car, you must fall in behind. I'm a racer and I know your first thought is "Oh crap, I can't get stuck here, the leader is getting away", but you can't risk a penalty. What if they had held him for 10 seconds? I'm surprised the penalty was so light, he could easily have been right out of the points.

Lonny

He saw the car, but the rule is to slow down if you are behind it.  He wasn't cleraly behind it.  It's certainly possible he could have come in behind it, but slamming the brakes in F1 is frowned upon too.  In the past he's been burned by doing the 'sporting thing', so I understand his hesitation.

I think the solution is to have more information available in car... a yellow light on the dash or direct communication from race control.

[lkjohnson1950]

They do have a indicator of some sort on the dash. Kubica said he saw his dash whatever and dove into the pits. That's why he wondered how he earned a penalty, he said he wasn't on the track long enough to be penalized. F1 Fanatic has put out the theory that he slowed deliberately to trap Alonso behind the Safety Car, then sped up thinking the penalty would be better than what happened to Alonso and Massa. Think he's that devious?

Lonny

[Monty]

The rule isn't to slow down behind the safety car!
The rule is to pull in behind the safety car if you are behind it when it crosses the safety car line.
The only thing Hamilton did wrong was to hesitate when he saw the safety car. As I said previously this was almost a Rooky mistake. He should have kept at racing speed until he got to the safety car line, then we would not be having this debate.

[Scott]

Judging by the number of mistakes Hamilton has made in F1, I'd say it was just another one.  Plus the guy has been penalized so often, he certainly was more concerned about that, not trying to come up with a devious plan to keep Alonzo at bay...who wasn't really a threat to the Mclaren anyway.

[John S]

F1 Fanatic has put out the theory that he slowed deliberately to trap Alonso behind the Safety Car, then sped up thinking the penalty would be better than what happened to Alonso and Massa. Think he's that devious?

Lonny

IMO this theory is fueled only by Alonso's comments, I think Ferd is the only one to have this idea. He knows it's the sort of stunt he would pull himself so he assumes anyone else must do the same thing.

Proving intent from lewis though is a much more difficult excercise, it's possible he did what Alonso says but Lewis is not noted for cynical dirty moves, in fact he is usually in trouble for charging in without thinking about it.

[Monty]

It's all a load of tosh. Hamilton didn't / couldn't slow Alonso down. Alonso could simply have overtaken Hamilton as long as it was done in front of the safety car. In fact, even after Hamilton stupidly hesitated when he saw the safety car, Alonso still didn't get anywhere near to an overtaking position.