Hamilton told not to pas Alonso

It apears so. What could happen if proven. The sport is going to the dogs.

Originally Posted by gavin dack

It apears so. What could happen if proven. The sport is going to the dogs.

People keep forgetting that this Is Monaco.

Originally Posted by gavin dack

It apears so. What could happen if proven. The sport is going to the dogs.

Its all a question as to when he was told that (if indeed it is true)

Ron Denis asked the drivers to 'conserve the cars' from as early as lap 10! as no-one was challengeing McLaren, and they could have gone a lot faster. However Hamilton says he was pushing so hard in the race that he hit the barriers a couple of times????

Hmmmmmmmmmm where is the truth here? Anyway Ron has landed himself in hot water now and given the FIA a chance to punish McLaren and help Ferrari - although I think it will be a fine!

Ron didn't have to say anything did he?

It is true that Hamilton hit the barriers though...

Originally Posted by Gary Slegg

It is true that Hamilton hit the barriers though...

He said it during the post race interview that he hit them a couple of times.

And again i will mention the fact that Massa was almost lapped(over a minute down in third place) so they(McLaren) were doing competitive times regardless of what Ron was trying to conserve

I am still absolutely fuming over this!

It's is such total crap! Hamilton was never as fast as Alonso, not in qualifying and certainly not in the race.

Alonso had a 1.4 second lead by the second lap and over 5 seconds by the 5th, and he was something like 10 seconds ahead by the first round of pitstops, and resumed in the lead. So where the hell was this challenge from Hamilton??? The only time he caught up was when Alonso had back off to conserve his car. In the third stint both drivers had such a lead that they slowed down and ran with a consistent second a lap gap between them, about a second off their race pace, and still nearly lapped Massa (only 10 sec behind at the flag).

And it looks like it's a blanket media campaign by Max, FIA or Bernie, so they can look like they're tackling the overtaking problem in a race where it's nigh on impossible, and McLaren had such an obvious speed advantage. It's on every news show about, and they never had that much coverage when Button WON his first.

Clearly there isn't a penalty for Max and Bernie bringing the sport into disrepute.

I don't think it'll happen, but it would serve some people right if Hamilton wins his first race because his faster teamate was dq'd. How glorious!

Why does anyone even bother to watch Monaco every year, a complete farce of a "race". Just a jolly boys outing for the rich and famous,. They let this carry on but claim other circuits like Monza are too dangerous. Still,if they are not allowed to race each other then I guess it is safe. It shouldn't count toward the championship IMO.

This is why I prefer Moto GP and World Superbike (and just about any other bike-related racing, to be honest).

The contests are just that; there is no rider to team interface other than the pit boards and the racing is as clean, un-diluted and free of bias as it's possible to get these days.

Some of the comments made by the F1 boys when Rossi tried out a Ferrari were hilarious. Like Hamilton, I think Rossi would have seriously shaken up the order and introduced some much-needed sparkle again.

Ah well, back to two wheels for me

I think it was more like:

"You've already stacked one car this week, there's no way
you're catching Alonso, so just take it easy."

Originally Posted by alfafamily

Why does anyone even bother to watch Monaco every year, a complete farce of a "race". Just a jolly boys outing for the rich and famous,. They let this carry on but claim other circuits like Monza are too dangerous. Still,if they are not allowed to race each other then I guess it is safe. It shouldn't count toward the championship IMO.

The beauty of Monaco isn't about overtaking, although when there is a pass for position, it is often spectacular. It's about threading a missile between concrete walls and armco so fast it defies belief. It's one circuit a year where this is possible, and alot of people miss the point.

Originally Posted by BlueEvo2

This is why I prefer Moto GP and World Superbike (and just about any other bike-related racing, to be honest).

The contests are just that; there is no rider to team interface other than the pit boards and the racing is as clean, un-diluted and free of bias as it's possible to get these days.

Some of the comments made by the F1 boys when Rossi tried out a Ferrari were hilarious. Like Hamilton, I think Rossi would have seriously shaken up the order and introduced some much-needed sparkle again.

Ah well, back to two wheels for me

While bikes are great, it's a different kind of spectacle, and I don't enjoy it as much as I do cars, it's a personal thing.

But don't fool yourself. If a team wants or needs a result, be it in F1, MotoGP, Superbikes, or any other category of motorsport (touring cars, F3, rally, anything), or even any other sport at all, just like in a company board room, the decision is made before kick off, and everyone in the team know what to do or what is expected of them. it's that simple. Professional team sports in the modern era are a business above all else.

There has never been a radio call in F1 along the lines of: "Driver, sorry mate, maybe we should have discussed this before, maybe in one of the several briefing we had before now, but we need your team mate to stay ahead of you, so would you mind letting him past? That's more of a suggestion actually. Cheers Chap"

Everything that is done professionally is pre-meditated. Simple as.

Bit of a patronising post there, Chrispy . Of course we can see that where cash and ego are involved, there is going to be pre-meditated action. There is also going to be an organic process of decision - appraisal - decision going on which does lead to changing orders, views and actions.

I didn't suggest there was a polite conversation going on between pit and driver - what I could envisage happening is drivers being told to take a particular course of action.

Regarding the bikes, there are loads of examples of riders and teams doing unexpected things and I think it's clear from the races and the championship results that, whilst there will always be a degree of manipulation, it's a lot closer to what I would define as racing.

As to all professional actions being pre-meditated, that is a subject that I'd again disagree with you on, but we'd need another thread to debate it .

I doubt he could have passed FA without causing an incident so I have no issue with this (apart from the ay Ron phrased himself). WE all need to recognise how amazing Hamilton's achievments are in such a short space of time. He excellent and I'm a fan (despite my long term love for Ferrari).

Originally Posted by Chrispy

The beauty of Monaco isn't about overtaking, although when there is a pass for position, it is often spectacular. It's about threading a missile between concrete walls and armco so fast it defies belief. It's one circuit a year where this is possible, and alot of people miss the point.

I do appreciate the skill involved,but for me it just doesn't work on tv as a race,watching qualifying on Saturday was far more exciting(as a tv programme).
What would be the consequence of having less voice communication between pit and driver. The drivers would have to be more aware of competing cars,pit stops would be longer etc. Maybe it would take away some of the advantage of the quicker teams and drivers.
Going back to Alonso/Hamilton what is there to stop the pit from making engine adjustments to slow a car down,I presume its possible? Would it be legal? Any thoughts anyone?

Sorry if it's a bit patronising, but it's sometimes hard to see where people "on the outside" are coming from. I think many people would be suprised to know that before an F1 team even arrives at the circuit for a GP (on the wednesday before) they know what suspension springs. damping, geometry and aerodynamic setup they will be using, they know the gear ratios, corner speeds and fuel consumption, they know the approximate pitstop strategy and race stints they'll be doing. Even if it's a brand new track you've never been to before. Such is the demanding level of preparation.

Once you start practice there are normally only a few small adjustments of tyre pressures, front flap angle, damper settings and ride hights, that's about it.

Teams know where they expect to be, they know what the qualifying strategy is going to be, and try to predict and anticipate the strategy of the other teams. All the teams know after qualifying what laps they'll be stopping on, and what the strategy is, and they they can do from there is stop a few laps earlier in response to a rouge element on the track.

The point is that unless a something extremely unexpected happened, or a driver had a damaged car or some other performance issue, no professional team will be making finger in the air guesses on strategy. In that way it's all predetermined, so much so that punters can't ever appreciate.