McLaren get fifth slot in paddock

As it has been said all the other teams agreed to it.

And yes the rules should be the same for everyone but they are not as we have seen over the years lol

Nickv schreef:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Iceman-Kimi schreef:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I think you guys worry too much abit @#$%&
> things,
> > who cares about wich slot a team has?!?
>
>
> Because it's bending the rules for no reason. The
> only reason the FIA gave was that the McLaren
> motorhome wouldn't fit. Which is what annoys
> people and I can understand that. McLaren were
> punished for the spy-case and DQ'ed from 2007.
> That also means the last slot in the pitlane.
> Period.

Have to agree with Nickv

Whether you agree with the punishment for McLaren or not, they did end last in the constructors championship so that means they should have the 11th and last slot in the paddock

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The rules about paddock slots are simple and should be followed as it is. It's exceptions like these, no matter how small, that makes this sport more like a joke. And there have been exceptions much bigger than this done in the past.

Sure, there are financial considerations as to why this direction is made. But the penalty from 2007 only logically extend as you start the succeeding year. Just as a champion team gets to select their paddock slots for the next year as a benefit for being champions.

If rules can always be negotiated as pleased, they might as well not race and just "negotiate" for the championship.

But, I'm still hoping this "news" is not true. As I have not seen it in other sites yet.

I thought it was reported that Bernie had paid some money to some teams to have McLaren up front, and that initially he tried to get them on the 3rd spot

A local Melbourne source states that McLaren are apparently in the number two garages alongside Ferrari.

Then they will be asked to move, hehe.

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From a purely media point of view it would actually make sense to have McLaren next to Ferrari... shorter and easier walk between the two in the paddock. Makes it a bit of a mission to have them at separate ends.

Wasnt Toro Rosso more up the front, or RBR more at the back so they where next to each other, so they could share 1 motorhome? I dont hear people complain about that, so all people know complaining are a bit silly they didnt complain when Toro Rosso moved up.

Because most people didn´t even know that (at least I didn't) because it was, apparently, hardly mentioned in the media.

it looks like there could be more to the story

McLaren has been shuffled down to the very end of the Sakhir pitlane ahead of this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix.

Despite brokering a deal to occupy the fifth garage slots in Melbourne and Sepang, it has emerged that the Anglo-German squad is to receive the lowliest pit allocation in Bahrain, for as yet unexplained reasons.

Mercedes-powered McLaren finished last in the 2007 constructors' championship last year, due to its espionage penalty, meaning that Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen have to race with the highest numbers: 22 and 23.

But before the season began, Bernie Ecclestone agreed to spare McLaren the indignity of also having the farthest pit slots, so that one of F1's 'Big Two' teams can still have access to first-class circuit facilities this year.

Organisers of the Bahrain Grand Prix, however, revealed on Sunday that Formula One Management has ordered the promoters to arrange for McLaren to be housed next to Force India, the local newspaper Gulf Daily News said.

McLaren Group is part owned by Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company, which is wholly owned by the Kingdom of Bahrain.

"Originally it was planned that the team would take its place in the fifth set of garages, as it did for the Malaysian and Australian Grands Prix. However late notice arrived to announce that instead of garages 15-18, the Vodafone McLaren-Mercedes team would take up residence in garages 33-35.

Traditionally the pit lane allocation is decided by the previous season's points but McLaren scored no points in the constructors' championship despite its drivers finishing second and third in the drivers' title battle behind Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen," reads a presse release from the Bahrain International Circuit.

"We understand that it is in line with the rules and regulations of the sport for McLaren, which scored no points in the 2007 constructors' championship, to take the final set of garages," said Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa, Chief Operating Officer of the BIC.

"However in Bahrain we do our utmost to ensure that fans of each team get to sit opposite their favourite team's pit garages to see the action unfold. Sadly on this occasion we must apologise to McLaren fans and accept that this is force majeure," he added.

[en.f1-live.com]

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X (@ed24f1)

hahaha, i smell a link to the Mosely sex scandal........

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wtf, no-one turns up in bahrain to watch te race so i hardly think it matters where the teams are in relation to the fans

Sim

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well they will be back in fifth slot when circus arrives to europe (like it was orginally planned) they (McLaren) shouldn't have got the fift slot until europe in a first place....but somehow they got it already at Melbourne and at sepang.

This is all stupid and very childish by the FIA. Yet Max does what he does and nothing is done. Maybe he just went after Merc as they are German lol.

From f1-live.

McLaren's demotion to the bottom of the pitlane pecking order in Bahrain is an unofficial sanction by the governing body, a major German newspaper claims.

It emerged last week that, despite settling into the fifth allocation of garages at the opening two races of 2008, the Mercedes-powered team would be relocated to the farthest end of the pits for the Bahrain Grand Prix this weekend.

McLaren's higher pitlane residence in Australia and Malaysia was the result of a deal with F1 Chief Executive Bernie Ecclestone, despite the team's exclusion from the 2007 constructors' championship.

But because the garage allocations are ultimately governed by FIA regulations, and not the commercial rights holder, the Paris body led by President Max Mosley has the final say about how the teams line up at races.

Ecclestone had agreed to the reprieve so that one of F1's two title contenders can still have access to the highest level of facilities at all the circuits this year.

At modern venues like Malaysia and Bahrain, the lower garage allocations still afford top class facilities that are comparable to the teams at the premier end of pitlane.

But at some of the later rounds, including at Barcelona, Silverstone and Brazil, McLaren will be potentially disadvantaged if the FIA has not agreed to let McLaren return to the business end of the paddock.

Some observers predict that, for example, McLaren will struggle to fit its huge 'Communications Centre' into the smaller paddock allocations at European rounds.

Bild claims that the FIA's annulment of the McLaren-Ecclestone concession is related to the governing body's understanding that - at the end of the 'spygate' scandal - Ron Dennis would be stepping down as team boss in 2008.

The Briton reportedly came close to quitting before the start of the season, but at the last minute turned up in Australia and even held aloft the winning constructors' trophy on the Albert Park podium.

Bild claims that the FIA is 'frustrated' with Dennis' position, and regards his Melbourne podium antics as 'provocation'.

'This is the result,' the newspaper said, referring to the pitlane demotion.