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Hamilton could be thrown out of next year's world championship

2K views 17 replies 11 participants last post by  ifari 
#1 ·
Hamilton could be thrown out of next year's world championship

Lewis Hamilton could be thrown out of next year's world championship after Formula One's rulers found evidence of Ferrari designs being used on the 2008 McLaren car.

The FIA's World Motor Sport Council had hoped to draw a line under the sport's most contentious dispute at their meeting in Monte Carlo yesterday, but instead decided to call McLaren back before them at a special hearing on February 14.

Such is the significance of the data collected during an inspection of the British team's Woking factory — a process undertaken by high-powered technical and legal experts at a cost of up to £1million — that Hamilton must endure an agonising wait to learn his fate.

Although he and former teammate Fernando Alonso were not penalised in September when McLaren were fined $100m (£49.3m) and thrown out of the constructors' championship for using Ferrari secrets, FIA president Max Mosley yesterday confirmed that Hamilton would not escape sanction if the case is proven.

He said: 'If there is any negative finding about 2008, and it is a very big if, it will apply to everybody, the drivers and the team. It would only be based on their unfair advantage.' McLaren insisted that 'no confidential information has been incorporated within the team's 2007 and 2008 cars'.

The FIA have informed McLaren boss Ron Dennis which aspects of next season's design they think could be derived from the information exchanged between sacked Ferrari mechanic Nigel Stepney and McLaren's disgraced chief designer Mike Coughlan earlier this year. If the car is found to incorporate elements based on leaked data, McLaren will have two months to remove the offending material from their prototype car. Doing so could save them from a penalty, or at least minimise it.

But tinkering with the design is a potentially huge blow to their, and Hamilton's, on-track performance.

Mosley said: 'Under the sporting code anything is possible, from no action at all, through to a reprimand, through to exclusion from the championship.'

McLaren are desperate for 'closure' after a damaging few months, yet their troubles appear endless, with a picture emerging of them as incompetent at best and deeply corrupt at worst.

Nor will the furore help Hamilton, who attended last night's FIA gala dinner here, win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award tomorrow, though there is no suggestion of wrongdoing on his part.

McLaren's supporters will claim that Mosley is merely pursuing a personal vendetta against Dennis.

He is angered by the accusation and yesterday announced that the FIA are suing ITV commentator Martin Brundle for describing their conduct as a 'witch-hunt' in his Sunday newspaper column.

Mosley and Dennis are not friends, but that should not hide the fact that McLaren have repeatedly been economical with the truth. They originally claimed that only Coughlan knew about the Ferrari dossier, only for it to be proven that the information was disseminated much wider.

And two weeks ago, in a leak to the press, they fabricated the extent of the classified McLaren information in Renault's hands in the second F1 spy row of the year, which went before the council on Thursday.

Mosley added: 'It is pure speculation whether the leak was an attempt to make the Renault affair look comparable to the Ferrari affair because the 780 alleged drawings was pure fiction. To put it bluntly, it was a barefaced lie.'

While McLaren's smearing of Renault is inexcusable, it remains bizarre that Renault were deemed guilty yet not even fined a penny.

After all, the engineer in question, Steve Mackereth, took 11 floppy disks when he left McLaren for the French manufacturers, including four drawings which were viewed by his Renault colleagues.

Admittedly, as yesterday's disclosure of the full findings showed, the espionage was not on McLaren's grand scale, but how can the FIA fail to levy any fine or dock points? For Hamilton, there may be no such reprieve.

Hamilton could be thrown out of next year's world championship | the Daily Mail
 
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#2 ·
FIA has 'good reason' for McLaren delay

FIA president Max Mosley says the sport's governing body has 'good reason' to recall McLaren for a fresh hearing early next year to examine the legality of their 2008 car.

McLaren had hoped to get the green light for their MP4-23 at last week's hearing of the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC), following an examination into the design to ensure that no Ferrari intellectual property had been used.

However, the WMSC decided to delay delivering a verdict until another scheduled meeting on February 14, 2008 - where McLaren, Ferrari and other teams will be allowed to make presentations

Although the exact reasons for the fresh hearing have not been specified, Mosley has hinted that something cropped up during the FIA's investigation of the 2008 McLaren.

Speaking in an interview with Auto Motor Und Sport, Mosley said: "It would be unfair of me to speak currently about the case. We would gladly today have liked to end this unfortunate chapter, but there was a report that makes a second hearing necessary.

"Believe me, if we let 26 people from around the world fly in, then we have good reasons for it."

Mosley said that McLaren had been made aware of the issues that will be discussed, and suggested that there was plenty of time for them to react to the matter before February.

"McLaren were informed early on about our doubts," he said. "They have sufficient time to react, should the doubt be confirmed."

And in the wake of some criticism about the varying penalties handed out to Renault and McLaren for spying charges, Mosley has once again insisted he has not been biased against McLaren and team boss Ron Dennis.

"I do not have a problem with Ron," he said. "I only want to hear the truth if we have to solve an internal problem. During the World Council meeting on July 26, I did not have the impression that he told us the truth."

autosport.com - F1 News: FIA has 'good reason' for McLaren delay
 
#4 ·
Not gonna happen! LH is too much a darling, very talented, I was a fan until I heard he cussed out RD. Someone of whom I am NOT a fan but none the less, you don't do that.
FA just signed a two year contract with his old buddy FB at Renualt, $51+ million.
 
#7 ·
While in the past I have not been a big fan of NASCAR's arbitrary and capricious rulings, at least they seem capable of addressing a problem straight forward, adjudicating the issue and moving on. Everyone knows where they stand. [note the Car of Tomorrow issue appears to be the exception but that is NASCAR vs everyone, not a team cheat]

This current F1 deal is just amateur night follies.
 
#9 ·
while i think that fernando is a cry baby...he was the reigning world champion going into the 2007 season. THAT in itself should have team support which includes a ROOKIE team mate to play the critical role in on-track/pit stop strategy.

hamilton, to me, displays zero team player behavior. yes, he is definitely a talented driver...but so is massa. to me, he is the ultimate team driver. he takes orders like he is suppose to. he doesnt 'pretend' to be a nice guy and then go subvert his team mate.

as the reigning champion, fernando showed 'some' poise throughout this very frustrating season for him. i can see why he felt that he wasnt get team support. what 'might' have been his downfall was to publicly 'question' the support crews commitment to his winning another championship...that sounded 'selfish' to me.

then as i watched the season end, with the question IF fernando was going to stay with mercedes, the commentator said that HAMILTON will not race with fernando. sorry, that is VERY disrespectful to say about the REIGNING world champion.

he may win most of the F1 world with his svelte english accent, his practiced smile and self imposed false sense of composure...but, imo, he is a fake...an incredible driver...but nonetheless, a fake. he will most likely go on to win a world championship(s) but winning without honor, to me, isnt really winning. just ask barry bonds!
 
#11 ·
Chicken Chumpion.




Sounds like you don't know what you are talking about, except for Alonso being selfish, you speak nonsense, not good sense. Falonso WAS champ, now and in '07 he was/is a competitor like ALL other drivers. No free rides! Calling LH fake. Bollocks! He is the REAL deal in case you haven't noticed! Tough times don't last, tough people do! Lewis has been a winner most of his sporting life. He demonstrated skill and talent and confidence to state to Ron Dennis that he would like to race for Macca one day and lo and behold he does it! Winners compete to win and only win, and will rule out any sandbagging so some whinging spoilsport can have an easy go! Alonso is a bitch!
Get real and maybe go and compete in something other than giving your opinion on what constitutes honorable behaviour. Where is the honor in running from a rookie who happens to be faster than you? Where is the honor in asking a team to sanction the rookie and then attempt to blackmail the team if they don't stoop as low as you? Alonso is so low, he could crawl under a snake with a top hat on! Talk about subversive behaviour! He's not just a bitch, he's a scandalous bitch! There is no honor left for THAT fake! Those were the actions of an ignoble and unhappy paper chump. When the going got tough, Falonso ran away like a chicken sh*t mofo! Team behaviour??? Oh yea, that's good teamwork. NOT! LOL
Falonso will be a footnote in the history that Lewis Hamilton will and has made as the BEST rookie EVER in the history of F1 to date! THAT is an HONOR that not even the haters can take away!

BTW...I see the phenomenal LH has also put the smack down on Schumacher and Kimi in Spain this week. Too bad for the paper chump FA. Renault was down in 7th and beyond. What a moron to have been so petulant and leave Macca when faced with REAL competition. Yea, that's the chumpion of chicken sh*t losers. An honor Falonso deserves!
 
#13 ·
Sounds like you don't know what you are talking about, except for Alonso being selfish, you speak nonsense, not good sense. Falonso WAS champ, now and in '07 he was/is a competitor like ALL other drivers. No free rides! Calling LH fake. Bollocks! He is the REAL deal in case you haven't noticed! Tough times don't last, tough people do! Lewis has been a winner most of his sporting life. He demonstrated skill and talent and confidence to state to Ron Dennis that he would like to race for Macca one day and lo and behold he does it! Winners compete to win and only win, and will rule out any sandbagging so some whinging spoilsport can have an easy go! Alonso is a bitch!
Get real and maybe go and compete in something other than giving your opinion on what constitutes honorable behaviour. Where is the honor in running from a rookie who happens to be faster than you? Where is the honor in asking a team to sanction the rookie and then attempt to blackmail the team if they don't stoop as low as you? Alonso is so low, he could crawl under a snake with a top hat on! Talk about subversive behaviour! He's not just a bitch, he's a scandalous bitch! There is no honor left for THAT fake! Those were the actions of an ignoble and unhappy paper chump. When the going got tough, Falonso ran away like a chicken sh*t mofo! Team behaviour??? Oh yea, that's good teamwork. NOT! LOL
Falonso will be a footnote in the history that Lewis Hamilton will and has made as the BEST rookie EVER in the history of F1 to date! THAT is an HONOR that not even the haters can take away!

BTW...I see the phenomenal LH has also put the smack down on Schumacher and Kimi in Spain this week. Too bad for the paper chump FA. Renault was down in 7th and beyond. What a moron to have been so petulant and leave Macca when faced with REAL competition. Yea, that's the chumpion of chicken sh*t losers. An honor Falonso deserves!


sounds like to me that you need to take a valium, prozac and some weird fish poison to calm down a little bit. it also sound like you are either ron dennis' under the 'hamiton' father spell or really just incredibly rabid about lewis (which is kind of weird).

though, there may not be much similarity...yes,i was a competitive cyclist in my younger years (did you ever compete anything on a high level btw?). as a domestique, i had definite team orders to support the leader, to give him whatever it takes to win the race. i really do not see any difference in formula 1 racing where there are two team cars. one great driver and one support driver. this is what it seems like to me.

as i can best recall the last race (perhaps), massa took great (supposed) team orders to slow down 'just' enough when coming out of the pits (and not make it so obvious to the race marshalls) to sneak behind kimi, so that kimi could get the points to win the championship. i knew it was going to happen, the commentators knew it was going to happen and the friends that i wake up at 4:30 am to watch the live feed knew it was going to happen. 'team' player. yes, i read that massa will give kimi a run for his money this year...but i am doubtful of that. massa is as incredible team player.

one thing that made me wonder about hamilton's intentions was during the press conference after qualifying (forget which race) in where alonso stopped in the pits what seemed longer than normal (hamilton in the back of him...stacking), alonso then takes off and hamiton loses pole because of the delay. when asked, alonso said he was receiving team orders to hold in the pits. hamilton made an incredibly HUGE display of leaning over to alonso to say 'yeah, what was that?' via body language. i didnt hear anything in f1 news about alonso going against team orders about that one (maybe i missed it) yet the marshalls decided to play team referee and penalize alonso. when did marshalls have jurisdiction about team strategy?

when hamilton was asked how much he lost pole by, he replied something like 'by the amount of time i was delayed in the pits'. boy, that is a guy full on board with the team. a real charmer.

where did i ever say that alonso deserves a free ride because he was the reigning world champ? no, i didnt. what was conveyed is that a world champ has earned respect as one who, well, is a world champion...esp the current one. one doesnt (i wouldnt anyway) disrespect the current world champion the way hamilton did. yes, a race is to be won by the best driver 'IN THEORY' but how many times have you seen team orders over rule the other driver for the 'team leader' to win? i dont know about you but i see almost every race.

'if' you decide to read a little about the sport you seem so passionate about...alonso is no longer with mercedes for one reason: hamilton does not want him on the team. wow, chalk another one up for those under the 'hamilton' spell. alonso is a cry baby? yeah, he is! i totally agree to that! but so is EVERY f1 driver out there. they are all prima donna's. they all complain and moan. that is what makes them great...because they love what they do.

as the 2008 season rolls out..i am going to be pretty enthus'ed on how mercedes will run when they supposedly have ridded their cars of ferrari technology.
 
#18 ·
Racing is for winners, whiners need not apply!

sounds like to me that you need to take a valium, prozac and some weird fish poison to calm down a little bit. it also sound like you are either ron dennis' under the 'hamiton' father spell or really just incredibly rabid about lewis (which is kind of weird).

though, there may not be much similarity...yes,i was a competitive cyclist in my younger years (did you ever compete anything on a high level btw?). as a domestique, i had definite team orders to support the leader, to give him whatever it takes to win the race. i really do not see any difference in formula 1 racing where there are two team cars. one great driver and one support driver. this is what it seems like to me.

as i can best recall the last race (perhaps), massa took great (supposed) team orders to slow down 'just' enough when coming out of the pits (and not make it so obvious to the race marshalls) to sneak behind kimi, so that kimi could get the points to win the championship. i knew it was going to happen, the commentators knew it was going to happen and the friends that i wake up at 4:30 am to watch the live feed knew it was going to happen. 'team' player. yes, i read that massa will give kimi a run for his money this year...but i am doubtful of that. massa is as incredible team player.

one thing that made me wonder about hamilton's intentions was during the press conference after qualifying (forget which race) in where alonso stopped in the pits what seemed longer than normal (hamilton in the back of him...stacking), alonso then takes off and hamiton loses pole because of the delay. when asked, alonso said he was receiving team orders to hold in the pits. hamilton made an incredibly HUGE display of leaning over to alonso to say 'yeah, what was that?' via body language. i didnt hear anything in f1 news about alonso going against team orders about that one (maybe i missed it) yet the marshalls decided to play team referee and penalize alonso. when did marshalls have jurisdiction about team strategy?

when hamilton was asked how much he lost pole by, he replied something like 'by the amount of time i was delayed in the pits'. boy, that is a guy full on board with the team. a real charmer.

where did i ever say that alonso deserves a free ride because he was the reigning world champ? no, i didnt. what was conveyed is that a world champ has earned respect as one who, well, is a world champion...esp the current one. one doesnt (i wouldnt anyway) disrespect the current world champion the way hamilton did. yes, a race is to be won by the best driver 'IN THEORY' but how many times have you seen team orders over rule the other driver for the 'team leader' to win? i dont know about you but i see almost every race.

'if' you decide to read a little about the sport you seem so passionate about...alonso is no longer with mercedes for one reason: hamilton does not want him on the team. wow, chalk another one up for those under the 'hamilton' spell. alonso is a cry baby? yeah, he is! i totally agree to that! but so is EVERY f1 driver out there. they are all prima donna's. they all complain and moan. that is what makes them great...because they love what they do.

as the 2008 season rolls out..i am going to be pretty enthus'ed on how mercedes will run when they supposedly have ridded their cars of ferrari technology.

You need to take something to come out of that self delusional haze that you are living in. Obviously you are not too bright, so I will leave you with this. The hotter the battle,, the sweeter the victory!
I stand firm when faced with adversity. As a sportsman, the same holds true. Why compete if not to win? Sports history is full of ppl who went up against incredible odds and adversity to stun many who could not spot REAL talent.
I fought hard and often! In the ring and out of it! I played university football and could have played professional, but things change. These are the type of competitions that demand a high level of commitment and energy. Much like driving a race car(which I have also done and it wasn't easy as I am a big man) which has huge demands on the cardiovascular system, you will only know who is in 'condition' when the going gets tough. In fierce competition, after a time the body goes on 'auto' and the mind leads, then the body follows. The mind of a weakheart says 'let's get out of here' and runs away.

No serious sportsman would EVER want less than his opponents absolute best! Anything less is an insult! The weak heart has betrayed the essence of sport and the focused rival and spectators will have been denied a WORTHY performance.

Listen carefully now....WHAT YOU RESIST, PERSISTS!!!

Alonso is not with Macca because he is a whiny bitch!
Lewis has won and Ferrari has faltered. Get used to it!
When speaking of competitive athletics or sports, you should think of boxing or MMA or football as far better examples of raw athletic prowess. If you show up to any of these or similar events and are not prepared to compete fully, you WILL have your ass handed to you! Figuratively and literally!
Many ride a bike for fun or to warm up for REAL athletic competition. Don't confuse the two! Step into the arena with that BS view of yours and you will get KTFO! It won't be personal either, just the nature of the business and if you don't like it, do like Falonso and bite it!

Now, let me return to my celebration of a true competitor and WINNER!
 
#10 ·
They'll find something if they want to.
Even if it would be some aerodynamic piece with a similar curve than the ferrari...
My guess is they are just making clear that situations as last year are definately unacceptable.
It'll be a lame season without mclaren.
 
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