Hamilton's Japanese win under investigation!

Formula One officials are investigating Lewis Hamilton's victory in last weekend's Japanese Grand Prix, amid allegations that he engaged in improper driving, a FIA spokeswoman said Thursday.

Officials are reviewing video evidence suggesting that Hamilton's driving behind the safety car at the rain-lashed Fuji Speedway led to a crash that ended the race for Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel.

"New evidence has been brought to the stewards' attention and they are currently looking into the matter," said the spokeswoman for the FIA, the sport's governing body.

Hamilton was expected to meet with Formula One stewards on Friday.

The British rookie leads the race for the world championship by 12 points, with two races left.
Cliquez ici...
But if found guilty of improper driving, his points from Japan could be erased or - more likely - he could face a grid penalty in Shanghai.

The incident was missed by official TV coverage but Webber and Vettel have since been critical of Hamilton. Webber almost overtook Hamilton but the British driver slowed and moved to the right of the track. The Australian was then knocked out of the race by Toro Rosso's Vettel.

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From [www.f1-live.com]

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He'll be fined, that'll be all. Would be absolutely farcical if they strip him of the victory.

also, it's impossible to find the youtube video where the 'new evidence' has come from with FOM so hot on getting them taken down.

i'll keep an eye out, it'll appear somewhere i'd imagine!

but how typical would it be of the FIA to stick it further to McLaren, with Hamilton stripped, Alonso non-scoring, Raikonnen moving up to 2nd. Flavio would be delighted with what would be a win for Kovalainen.

Raikonnen would be right back in the title hunt

and the audiences for the next 2 races will be even higher.

do you mean the video from the crowd?

if so, you can find it here

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X (@ed24f1)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/04/2007 03:15PM by SchueyFan.

i think he should get 25 second penalty, so he end up 4th, and heikki should get
the win, and vettel should lose his penalty too....

but what will really gonna happen is letting him got away with it or a maximum of 10-grid slot penalty.

fu*king eccleston and his goldenboy.


speed freak

good find. i've been looking for ages!

on watching it though, check the comments on the video. there's one on there about hamilton talking to the pit crew about the Red Bull cars messing about behind him.

Personally, my opinion is that Hamilton was out on that part of the track because he almost got alongside the Safety Car. Ok, he could of got back on the throttle quicker and headed for the 2nd apex of the chicane, but he had NO idea where the Red Bull/Toro Rosso were. If he had been worried about them then he's not going to put his car in a place where it could get hit, especially with Alonso out, and with the title on the line.

Hamilton was being a little naive at the first safety car, but Alonso has done it many times before, and no-one has complained. Safety car rules don't change under wet weather, but you'd expect everyone to be more cautious, which i think Lewis was doing.

What does everyone else think?

Hamilton's driving standards have been suspect throughout the year and he needs to be taught a lesson. Hamilton drives as if he is still in GP2 but F1 cars are completely different machines and he needs to realise that. There was enough evidence from the footage on Sunday to see what he was at. His erratic braking and accelerating could easily have led to an accident and given the conditions it was both foolhardy and dangerous. If it were Alonso, everyone would be looking for a public hanging. The fact that he is the so-called Golden Boy of F1 is clouding people's judgement. Alonso got penalised for holding his team-mate up in the pits in Hungary. Hamilton effectively brake tested fellow competitors and was a contributory factor in the Webber/Vettel accident. How can he be let away with that?

that video's gone aswell now, but there's a news report you can watch on the BBC Sport UK frontpage with the video in.

how can the FOM make a copyright claim on that footage. surely they do not own footage from the crowd.

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X (@ed24f1)

I guess they own the rights to the event that that video is part of.

I think Hamilton is way too close to the safety car. I can't imagine them taking the victory, if anything it will be a grid penalty, and won't change anything because I'm sure Hamilton could get back to at least 4th.

SchueyFan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> how can the FOM make a copyright claim on that
> footage. surely they do not own footage from the
> crowd.


Dont you know, the FOM own you.

@SchueyFan,

that's exactly what i thought.

But, as far as i know YouTube is obliged to take down any video that is a subject of a copyright claim until it is investigated

dansmith_69 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> good find. i've been looking for ages!
>
> on watching it though, check the comments on the
> video. there's one on there about hamilton talking
> to the pit crew about the Red Bull cars messing
> about behind him.
>
> Personally, my opinion is that Hamilton was out on
> that part of the track because he almost got
> alongside the Safety Car. Ok, he could of got back
> on the throttle quicker and headed for the 2nd
> apex of the chicane, but he had NO idea where the
> Red Bull/Toro Rosso were. If he had been worried
> about them then he's not going to put his car in a
> place where it could get hit, especially with
> Alonso out, and with the title on the line.
>
> Hamilton was being a little naive at the first
> safety car, but Alonso has done it many times
> before, and no-one has complained. Safety car
> rules don't change under wet weather, but you'd
> expect everyone to be more cautious, which i think
> Lewis was doing.
>
> What does everyone else think?


summed up my thoughst pretty well

Vettel also said he thought Lewis was retiring, and when he looked up he'd smashed into Webber. If Lewis was retiring, then Vettel had completely @#$%& up anyway.

for teh record i dont agree with what happened, Lewis wasnt driving well behind teh safety car, and there should be rules to prevent it. but there isnt. so tough.

btw, i find it suspicious that this is ebing investigated on teh smae day that Todt has said teh FIA have cost Kimi the WDC because they didnt send Ferrari teh tyre email

Sim

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dansmith_69 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> good find. i've been looking for ages!
>
> on watching it though, check the comments on the
> video. there's one on there about hamilton talking
> to the pit crew about the Red Bull cars messing
> about behind him.

he was asking his crew to tell Red Bull to tell Webber to back away, because Lewis said that everytime he braked to avoid passing the safety car, Webber would come flying past. Lewis sensed something would happen, so everytime he jumped on the brakes, he pulled to the side.

he's failed to realise that it was his own sudden braking (because he was too close to the safety car), that caused Webber to pass him everytime, which in the end led to the accident.

going by what Webber has said (Click) Lewis specifically said he wouldn't do this kind of thing.

I think a 10-place drop would be fair for qualli, because they gave Alonso a 5-place drop for blocking Lewis in qualli, but this was a more severe incident as it directly caused the retirement of 2 cars, and in a Safety Car period of all times.

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any other youtube link ?

I think they should take win away from Lewis..anyway he will get penalty for sure but what kind of penalty? we will see.

I really doubt they'll take away his win (unless they want to artificially keep the championship alive/keep Kimi in the championship).

I dont know what they should do to be honest.

theres a few differing views on this, they're all pretty valid if you ask me so i'm just going to throw a few points in and see what people think.


the video evidence looks pretty damming to be honest. the accident was caused by lewis suddenly slowing down.


with regards only seeing lewis driving like that, to be fair he's at the front, so the camera is focused on him more than the others (+ in all the spray he's about the only car you can see clearly anyway). just because you cant see them doing it doesn’t mean they aren't (yes, i know it also doesn't mean they are doing too)
but trust me it happens right down the field. ive been to a few GP's where there's been safety cars and seen near some very misses with my own eyes. i'm just stunned this kind of incident hasn't happened before.


was what he was doing within the rules? i don't have a copy of them to hand so i can't comment.

what i will say, drivers have gotten away with similar in the past(see 1st point) you're dealing with very competitive people, give them an inch they'll take a mile.(thats why they're at the top of their game) no ones been done for this kind of thing yet, so people will push it and push it until the stewards say enough is enough. not in anyway saying that makes it ok, but that is what happens.


so what do they do?

make a big example of him? ie take his win away? 30 second penalty?
dock him 10 places on the grid for sunday?
suspend a sentence on the basis he doesn't do it again?

i they're going to give him something aren’t they, i honestly don't know what is appropriate though.

and what for Vettle?

if they decide hamilton is at fault do they remove his penalty?
or do they decide he wasn't looking where he was going, and had he been,
he could have avoided hitting webber?


whatever happens, as mentioned in the fuji thread, i think clarification from the stewards about what is and isn't going to be penalised in those sort of situations is needed.


with regards the complaints about hamiltons general driving, i'm going to defend him a bit here,

i see where people are coming from i really do, but then i also don't really see anything that hasn't been done and gotten away with by others past and present.(see the above point about pushing the limits of the rules)

i know that doesn't make it right but there it is. so i'll finish what is turning into a bit of an incoherent ramble(sorry, i'm a bit bored at work) with this.

You stick well within the rules, drive nicely, don't irritate anyone, what happens? you become a Barrichello or a Berger or a Warwick, liked by lots of people, you may even win a race or 2, but you ain't championship material.

Anybody who's been to an F1 race should know that on the tickets, it states that any photographs or movies recorded at the event are property of FOM.


So they do own you.


He deserves some sort of penalty, cause that sort of driving is unacceptable. 10-place grid penalty will spice things up, and make him charge through the field!

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Or we can accept that it was a racing incident and move on. Looking at the footage, Hamilton was well out of the way when Webber decided to slam on the brakes. It shouldn't have been an issue. Vettel wasn't looking where he was going and so hit him. Vettel's fault. Vettel's penalty.