Practice 2:

1. Fernando Alonso Spain Renault 1:48.454
2. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari 1:48.504
3. Heikki Kovalainen Finland McLaren-Mercedes 1:48.740
4. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1:48.805
5. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari 1:49.328
6. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Toyota 1:49.405
7. Sebastian Vettel Germany Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:49.427
8. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Ferrari 1:49.585
9. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota 1:49.715
10. Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber 1:49.725
11. Robert Kubica Poland BMW Sauber 1:49.875
12. David Coulthard Britain Red Bull-Renault 1:49.922
13. Sebastien Bourdais France Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:49.948
14. Timo Glock Germany Toyota 1:50.281
15. Kazuki Nakajima Japan Williams-Toyota 1:50.364
16. Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Force India-Ferrari 1:50.740
17. Jenson Button Britain Honda 1:50.925
18. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Honda 1:51.238
19. Nelson Piquet Brazil Renault 1:51.334
20. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1:51.640

 

Practice 1:

1. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari 1:47.284
2. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari 1:47.623
3. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1:47.878
4. Heikki Kovalainen Finland McLaren-Mercedes 1:47.932
5. Fernando Alonso Spain Renault 1:48.104
6. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1:48.428
7. Sebastien Bourdais France Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:48.557
8. Sebastian Vettel Germany Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:48.958
9. Timo Glock Germany Toyota 1:48.997
10. Nelson Piquet Brazil Renault 1:49.068
11. Robert Kubica Poland BMW Sauber 1:49.139
12. Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber 1:49.185
13. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Toyota 1:49.611
14. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota 1:49.625
15. David Coulthard Britain Red Bull-Renault 1:49.849
16. Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Force India-Ferrari 1:49.986
17. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Ferrari 1:50.117
18. Kazuki Nakajima Japan Williams-Toyota 1:50.125
19. Jenson Button Britain Honda 1:50.464
20. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Honda 1:50.905

 

Man oh man am I glad I got up to watch!

 

I'm glad I got up early enough (9AM Eastern) to watch the last 7 laps! And who says a race is over ... until it's over! Well, so long Kimi. I think Ferrari might give you the boot after today's performance (and some of the antics pulled during the course of the season) ...

 

I'm very happy to see that twat Hamilton have his win taken away, the last couple laps seemed kind of sketchy to me...

 

Anyway, this begs the question(s):

LINK
^^ Question posed by onthepodium in the link above

 

This was an outrageous decision by the race stewards, especially in light of Massa's no-penalty in Valencia. Once again the FIA shows its complete lack of impartiality when it comes to Ferrari.

 

Even Charles Whiting opined that Hami should not be penalized for the maneuver: LINK

 

Ferrari FTW

 

To be fair, after reading a lot into the incident I still feel Hamilton gained a huge advantage cutting that chicane, so I think the punishment isn't necessarily fitting, but don't disapprove of it.

 

Let's recap:

LINK

 

I've heard he didn't brake, just let off the gas for long enough to let Raikkonen get slightly in front of him and then took off back around Raikkonen. Maybe if Hamilton hadn't received so much praise early on I wouldn't feel so negatively about him, but I truly cannot stand him so I don't see the problem here.

 

If anything, maybe you could say Hamilton should be put on probation as a deterrent to him or other drivers from deliberately cutting a chicane. Even that is tenuous at best. Stripping him of the win is nothing short of ridiculous.

 

On a personal note, I think this has more to do with Hami getting the Wendell Scott treatment from FIA.

 

Let's see what happens now.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzKMyFCaZy0

Analysis of the overtake. Interesting.

 

Good analysis.

 

I never caught the race, but that analysis appears to be spot on, I think the original result should stand.

 

I don't like McLaren or Hamilton, but someone needs to look into the race stewards' backgrounds. I'm sure they all belong to the Ferrari Fan Club. What's the point in having a race control if the FFC, err, I mean Mosley's Boys overrule them after the race.

 

I was just watching the highlight video on F1.com, and Hamilton didn't need to cut that chicane. I have watched that footage a bunch of times and it just was not necessary,....it was necessary of course to maintain the attack advantage he had though.

 

All I have to say is those were some very interesting laps to end the GP of Belgium. Rain right at the last moment.... I do have to admit I was disappointed and surprised when Raikkonen spun out when the track got wet.

 

A) I disagree with your assessment. B) How is it even relevant since Lewis let him back by in a manner that race control confirmed as satisfactory?

 

A) Disagree all you like

B) It allowed him to be inches behind Kimi later down the front straight when he let him go by instead of further back had he stayed on track and not cut the chicane,...which he could have done (which you disagree with). He was ahead coming into the corner, but didnt have the inside, and there was no way Kimi would leave the door wide open on the left hander of the chicane. Hamilton was beat in that corner but stayed on it and cut the chicane instead of lifting off. That let him be closer than he would have, and I don't think the pass later down was legit as a result.

Doesn't matter to me if everyone in here disagrees with me, that's how I see it. I have watched it a dozen times at regular speed. Hamilton would have got around Kimi later on anyway. The fact that I disagree with the race control "OK" on the legitimacy of all of that doesn't matter. It's my opinion. The FIA has its own ideas anyway.

 

I think I need to change my assessment of the chicane cutting. I was watching some in-car footage today and it appears Kimi braked a bit early and Hamilton had to avoid him to the left side and was a bit surprised perhaps. In any event, I still think he didn't fully give the spot back, and he even said himself he got into Kimi's slipstream.

 

I thought this was interesting from the press conference in Italy with a number of drivers

Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2008/9/8358.html

Q: (Dan Knutson - National Speed Sport News) Could I ask the other four drivers what they thought about that incident and Kimi, and as a follow-up, do you think you and other drivers might be afraid to fight for a position now that you might get a penalty?

GF: I have just seen pictures, so it is difficult for me to say whether what happened was right or not. For sure, maybe, he took a small advantage, that's why he had the possibility, as Felipe said, to overtake him again in braking for turn one. But obviously, a 25s penalty was quite a strong penalty. As for the second question: when we get in the car and we're fighting to overtake a car, we don't think about that. We just try to do our best. Obviously we know if we cut a chicane or we take an advantage we need to back off and give the position back.

SB: Yes, I think the rules are very clear. Maybe the penalty was a bit hard, but I think he's made the same mistake twice: he's done it in Magny-Cours and he's done it again in Spa. I don't really understand why there's been such a mess around it. There's a rule book and everybody has to obey the same thing. The penalty is really rough but in the end it's up to you to give the position back or not. Pretty straightforward.
NR: Yeah, I definitely agree, because he did get an advantage, because he wouldn't have been that close behind Kimi had he not cut the chicane. But then again, I also think the penalty was a bit harsh as that did not have such a big effect on the actual race result in the end.

JT: Well, I agree completely with my colleagues. The penalty was quite big but I'm not a steward and I cannot decide what kind of penalty should be given. But on the other hand, it was very clear that he got an advantage out of it, so that's where it is. The rules are very clear. If you cut the chicane and you get an advantage, you just have to drop back and give back the position and in Lewis's case he shouldn't have attacked straight away at the next corner; that was it. On the other hand, with this new chicane, there is a lot of run-off, it gives you more chance to attack because in the case of a mistake, you wouldn't end up in a wall or in the gravel. If it was the case of Lewis in Spa, he wouldn't have gone much further than that. We have more chances to overtake.

SB: I think it was very clear and I agree as well. You have to be responsible for what you decide to do, and in this particular case, if you do gain an advantage like I said, you just give it back and make sure that you don't expose yourself to penalties. I think it's the easiest way to handle it. In my previous experience, my previous life in the States, it was actually a common thing. The stewards would not take action if you gave the position back, so I think it's only fair.

NR: I agree and I don't think it's going to stop us from trying to attack, definitely.


Q: (Ian Parkes - The Press Association) To any one of you: although it says in the rules you give a place back, does it say in the rules how much advantage you are supposed to give back? Because Lewis was effectively second both crossing the line - the time sheets prove that - and also going into the La Source hairpin. Just for clarification because we don't know the rules like you guys do.
SB: The rules are available for everybody to read I think and they are very clear. You gain an advantage, you gain an advantage. It doesn't matter how big it is, if you end up being in a position to pass at the next corner then you gain an advantage, because at that place, as everybody said, you are never going to be in a position to pass, if you exit the chicane normally behind the guy, because it stretches out, it's normal. It's very simple, I think.

 

Appeal Hearing Date Set:

McLaren's appeal against Lewis Hamilton's 25-second penalty at the Belgian Grand Prix will be heard by the FIA International Court of Appeal on September 22. The court will have to decide whether or not McLaren has a right to appeal the decision.

 

 

Too bad McLaren doesn't use wheel covers. I'd love to see them show up in Singapore with something like this on the car.

 

McLaren does use wheel covers. Actually, I think every team on the grid has wheel covers now. However, except for Honda and Ferrari,
all the wheel covers are carbon fiber black, so it's sometimes hard to tell.

What does that pizza pie mean? McLaren orange?

 

C'mon man, think about it.

 

The % of time that McLaren gets screwed over?

 

25 seconds

 

Too post modernist for me.

 

Dont like Hamilton either