Renault suspended from European GP

[www.autosport.com]

"Renault has been suspended from the European Grand Prix for the events that led to a wheel coming off Fernando Alonso's car in Hungary today.

Following a post-race discussion with the stewards, it was deemed that the team had breached the regulations enough for it to be suspended from the next event.

It means Alonso will miss his home event that takes place in Valencia next month, unless he moves to another team."

A bit harsh? Alonso won't be a happy bunny!

Could he race for Ferrari though?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/2009 06:46PM by mika19b.

What? Thats bullshit, just because 2 times in a week someone gets hit they get suspended! It's panic football from the FIA again imo, this has happend many more times in history, and never anyone got punished for it!

WTF?

So you can drive around the track with a puncture, littering the circuit with tyre debris and shards of carbon fibre, but you shall not attempt to return to the pits with a wheel almost intact?

How the @#$%& wasn't Vettel suspended from Sepang?

Knee-jerk reaction much?

OK now this is an outcry. He realised that he had a wheel loose and he slowed down, right down infact and was slowly creeping to the pits. This is just profanity. And I agree with Gav on this one, why wasn't Vettel suspended?

WTF.....

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Races: 163 - Wins: 23 - Pole Positions: 24 - Fastest Laps: 22
Season 9: Constructors' Champions

What happened with vettel?

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unnecessarily harsh

in case of an itchy trigger finger, fine them or reprimand them, but going after their heads for a human error that can happen, has happened and will happen as long as there are tire changes and trying to make some sort of conspiracy out of Alonso trying to get back to the pits is over the top even for the FIA

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matt3454 Wrote:
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> What happened with vettel?

Driving around at Melbourne with a wheel hanging off.

To be honest I think it was right thing to punish them and I do wonder why the tyre did leave so easily?

The statement said that Renault "knowingly released car no. 7 from the pitstop position without one of the retaining devices for the wheel-nuts being securely in position, this being an indication that the wheel itself may not have been properly secured."

It added that Renault, "being aware of this, failed to take any action to prevent the car from leaving the pitlane....failed to inform the driver of this problem or to advise him to take appropriate action given the circumstances, even though the driver contacted the team by radio believing he had a puncture."

It said that the team's actions had compromised safety in breach of Article 3.2 of the Sporting Regulations, and in breach of Article 23.1.i had released the car from the pits before it was safe to do so.

Bad decision. Give the team a penalty e.g. a fine but don't suspend one of the biggest company's in the world. Sad day for Renault and especially for Fernando Alonso. Once he has a good Renault he can't show it in his home GP....

What about all the people who bought tickets to Valencia, just to see Alonso. This is just plain wrong, like has been said a fine or even a grid penalty would have been sufficient.

Renault will appeal on this so maybe the punishment will change before Valencia.

Let's see Alonso replace Massa at Valencia then...

On a serious note, this decision is way too harsh. I reckon a penalty was well in order, but this is just blown out of proportion, no doubt about that. Also, the drivers get punished for a mistake made by the team... that is, Alonso gets punished as Piquet reportedly would not have been in the European GP anyway.

I can see why they did it, but it was a very harsh and knee-jerk decision.

i suppose the penalty is higher if the wheel actually comes off, just like the penalty for Red Bull would have been more if Webber had actually hit Raikkonen in the pits. But even so, a grid penalty would have been the most i would have expected.

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X (@ed24f1)

perfectly justified in my view... as soon as the car left the pits you could see the fairing wasn't attached, and seeing as the fairing has the wheel nut on it, there was no way the wheel was going to be fully on. I think what should have happened and would have avoided penalty is if they literally screamed at Alonso to stop before he left the pits...

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Team Japan Owner - GPGNC

gav Wrote:
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> matt3454 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > What happened with vettel?
>
> Driving around at Melbourne with a wheel hanging
> off.


oh yeah, i thought you meant an accident from Sepang.

Vettel's wasn't as dangerous as this though. This had a lose wheel flying through the air.

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According to the FIA statement, it didn't need to have a loose wheel flying through the air, only the potential for something like that, and Vettel's car certainly had that.

Once more it raises the question of why wasn't Ferrari punished for allowing Kimi to continue in Magny-Cour last year.

It's not the punishment itself that raises concerns - time after time it is the lack of consistency in such decisions.

The only way I can accept this penalty is if they have been warned before the race about any such problem, in light of recent events. It's grossly unfair to suddenly suspend a team when all past precedence has been to either turn a blind eye or to give a completely incomparable penalty, and it's not as if there hasn't been enough past precedence.

Yeah but Vettel drove around on 3 wheels holding up the field, behind the safety car as well I think

Alonso got out of the way, even cutting the chicane so as not to hit the Toro Rosso

Renault should appeal for a suspended ban like Benetton did in 1994 so as Schumi could be at Hockenheim

Seriously this is crap though, what the hell are the FIA stewards on these days....

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Races: 163 - Wins: 23 - Pole Positions: 24 - Fastest Laps: 22
Season 9: Constructors' Champions

On second thoughts, this is actually a fairly justified penalty.


in 2006, when he had a loose wheel nut, he stopped at Turn 2, presumably after being told by his team to do so.

In 2009, he keeps going, and the wheel falls off - they had 2/3 of a lap before the wheel came off to tell him to pull over. Considering they would have known the dangers of wheels falling off, they probably should have told him to stop immediately. By the sounds of the penalty, "failed to inform the driver of this problem or to advise him to take appropriate action given the circumstances", they didn't even warn him - so he probably just thought it was a puncutre...

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X (@ed24f1)

In 2006 I don't think he stopped by choice, the wheel came out of place through turn 2 and he lost the car and ended up in the wall

Edit: Also it says they failed to warn him before he left the pitlane, but it only became apparent something was wrong as Alonso was coming out of turn 1

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Races: 163 - Wins: 23 - Pole Positions: 24 - Fastest Laps: 22
Season 9: Constructors' Champions



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/2009 08:04PM by Ferrari2007.