[sajands]

I think the next race in Ferrari home turf, Monza will be more of a thriller as the spa gp. just cant wait to see a all charged kimi i am sure its going to be a forza kimi in monza

[SilentEngine]

Originally Posted by METISWHG

yup thats true, but in professional sport contracts can be taken care of ...and it has happened in many a sport before. last title for kimi too was on major favours by ferrari (which is fair as its a team call), i do remember massa waiting in pit lane (i think it was sao paulo). @ some stage when a driver like Alonso is avaialble and your current dude is not really doing great ... a team like ferrari would surely have brainwaves

I am not sure what you are trying to say. Ferrari favored Kimi? Ofcourse they will, he drives for them, did you expect them to favor Hamilton and hand the title in platter ? And I don't remember Massa waiting in the pits for Kimi in Sao Paulo, they pitted in different laps.

Everyone has seen what Alonso did last year. He could have easily won last year if he had played it smart instead of whining, not to forget his part in the spy scnadal. I don't think Ferrari are going to look at Alonso given that they have Massa now who has emerged as a serious WDC contendor.

And for Kimi's future, he is not the kind of driver who is going to stick around for long years like Schumacher. He will decide if he wants to continue in the sport or not. But definitely he will be driving for Ferrari in 2009. If anything, Ferrari is going to extend his contract if he doesn't retire.

[SilentEngine]

Great video, Hamilton and Kimi onboard till Kimi crashes.Dailymotion - www.FormulaMag.com - Hamilton-Kimi, a video from Budhardt. F1, Belgium, 2008, Hamilton, Бельги�

[redrage]

BMW seem to have done a lot of testing at Monza , so hopefully we can hope this weekend to be a 3 way fight. Monza has been my favorite and this race for sure will be a thriller. Hamilton will be thirsty to overthrow the Ferrari's, Kimi will be charged up to really show that he is the defending champipn and Massa .. well he would be on the limit too hopefully.

[redrage]

Originally Posted by SilentEngine

Everyone has seen what Alonso did last year. He could have easily won last year if he had played it smart instead of whining, r.

I second that. Alsonso blew it up himself last year, having ego issues with everyone in the team, he should have just stayed calm and patient. It would have done wonders for his career.

[GTO]

Ferrari are going to look at Alonso given that they have Massa now who has emerged as a serious WDC contendor.

Alonso taking up Kimi's seat in F1 will make for a cracker of a season! Ferrari would surely be eyeing him....in fact, I can't think of any team that wouldn't want Alonso (save for his tantrums!). Ross Brawn has been buttering him up too, but considering Hondas lack of pace, I don't think Fonso would consider. If he moves away from Renault, it will be for a top team only.

This is no way to run a championship. You cant overturn decisions AFTER a race, especially for that case where argueably Hamilton did try to eke out an advantage - but isnt that what racing is all about? You play by the rules, but you stretch them to your advantage.

+1 to that. The race results should have stayed as per the order of the chequered flag. Hamilton did allow Kimi to pass and clearly had the faster car. He would have easily overtaken Kimi, whatever the circumstances. Also, its not like he had an option...Kimi didn't leave him any room at all. It was either crash or chicane.

But then, you can't argue that he barely let Kimi pass before overtaking him again. The chicane cut did give him an advantage for that overtaking manouveur.

[Dippy]

Isnt it true that if you overtake by shooting over the chicane you should allow the the other to go ahead to almost the same distance as it was before the advantage ? I may be wrong but from what I saw the gap between Kimi and Hammy was much lesser after the overtaking move at the bus stop chicane than it was before . Hammy let Kimi pass but just about. It wasnt the same gap between the two as before. I think the gap before was 1.9 secs.

[anachronix]

Originally Posted by GTO

+1 to that. The race results should have stayed as per the order of the chequered flag. Hamilton did allow Kimi to pass and clearly had the faster car. He would have easily overtaken Kimi, whatever the circumstances. Also, its not like he had an option...Kimi didn't leave him any room at all. It was either crash or chicane.

But then, you can't argue that he barely let Kimi pass before overtaking him again. The chicane cut did give him an advantage for that overtaking manouveur.

Its not just about cutting the chicane. Its about how Lewis responded after cutting the chicane. Lewis had enough room to take the chicane when Kimi defended his position fair and square in the last corner. If you look at the race videos available in youtube it is more evident for a deliberate move from Hamilton to cut the chicane as he dint want to lose his pace.

After missing the chicane Lewis gave Kimi the lead by falling in to his slip stream and emerge on the right. That's hardly losing any advantage, all he did was switch from left right and went on to pass Kimi which was unfair.

If Lewis had taken the chicane he would have been atleast a 2 to 3 cars distance from Kimi in that straight. He had the pace to beat Kimi in the rest of the track as he had more traction in his Mclaren in the wet track than a Ferrari does on the Hard grooved tyres.

These are things which are normally discussed and agreed upon during the drivers meeting and this has been specifically quoted by Massa on his Monza preview. Its basically a track discipline and it shouldn't be left unpunished.

Its more or less like the same incident where Hamilton's move on Vettel in France08 and penalised with a drive through penalty! In France08 he infact passed Vettel before taking the chicane, but he had that speed advantage only because he cut that chicane. If he is not penalised then the whole sense of having a chicane is not justified in F1 racing or any Motor racing.

Now that the championship is too close I cant wait for the Monza GP. It will be head on furious fight between Ferrari & Mclaren with all these things!

[Shan2nu]

Isnt it true that if you overtake by shooting over the chicane you should allow the the other to go ahead to almost the same distance as it was before the advantage ? I may be wrong but from what I saw the gap between Kimi and Hammy was much lesser after the overtaking move at the bus stop chicane than it was before . Hammy let Kimi pass but just about. It wasnt the same gap between the two as before. I think the gap before was 1.9 secs.

I don't think the gap was 1.9 when they entered the corner. Hamilton was almost next to Kimi when he cut the corner.

YouTube - F1 @ Spa Francorchamps'08: chaotic final (Raïkonen crash)

Shan2nu

[Aditya]

Originally Posted by anachronix

Its not just about cutting the chicane. Its about how Lewis responded after cutting the chicane. Lewis had enough room to take the chicane when Kimi defended his position fair and square in the last corner. If you look at the race videos available in Youtube it is more evident for a deliberate move from Hamilton to cut the chicane as he dint want to lose his pace.

Perfect from a Ferrari fan's point of view. From mine, it looks clearly like a case of chicane or crash for Hamilton. It was clearly a case of hard racing and Kimi couldn't take the pressure. I also don't see why he didn't use a more defensive line at the end of the straight after Lewis let him pass.
Dippy, the gap certainly isn't 1.9 secs.

[anachronix]

Originally Posted by Aditya

Perfect from a Ferrari fan's point of view. From mine, it looks clearly like a case of chicane or crash for Hamilton. It was clearly a case of hard racing and Kimi couldn't take the pressure. I also don't see why he didn't use a more defensive line at the end of the straight after Lewis let him pass.
Dippy, the gap certainly isn't 1.9 secs.

This picture is more evident. You could see Kimi is half way through the Chicane and you can see Hamilton just getting through the run off area! That says it all!

[finneyp]

Good pic there Anx!

Maybe Mr.Hamilton should take a short course in F1 driving from Schumi!

[Aditya]

Maybe a side on picture will tell the full story. The video definitely does.

[Dippy]

Originally Posted by Aditya

Perfect from a Ferrari fan's point of view. From mine, it looks clearly like a case of chicane or crash for Hamilton. It was clearly a case of hard racing and Kimi couldn't take the pressure. I also don't see why he didn't use a more defensive line at the end of the straight after Lewis let him pass.
Dippy, the gap certainly isn't 1.9 secs.

You might be right, there was already so much havoc before the chicane incident. It might be less than that most probably.

[suman]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

This is no way to run a championship. You cant overturn decisions AFTER a race,

Steer, its just that there were less than 2 laps to go which is why the decision was completed & communicated after the race. The fact of the matter was that we all knew at the end of the race that the stewards were investigating. I guess if this had happened when there were 10 laps to go, we would have probably seen Hamilton get a drive through penalty - which would have effectively penalized him by 25 seconds or so and demoted him down the order in any case.

Originally Posted by Aditya

Perfect from a Ferrari fan's point of view. From mine, it looks clearly like a case of chicane or crash for Hamilton.

Aditya, I don't know about Youtube etc but it certainly didn't look that way to me when I was watching it live. It was a deliberate move by Hamilton to take that shortcut - Kimi was doing some defensive driving but well within his limits/entitlement