Lewis in India
 

Not a great start for him.
3 place grid penalty.

Which is totally, undeserved!

He won't be crashy cashy this weekend, he will win. http://www.motorsportforums.com/imag...es/biggrin.gif

a completely useless decision

I don't have the patience to fully explain all the reasons for this pathetic decision

He was reprimanded at the Spanish GP for not slowing down enough at Heikki's crash scene.

Perhaps they took that into account.

Please take some time and make us laugh while trying to explain how not slowing down during double waived yellows is not worth a penalty.

Well, first off, there was miscommunication between the marshalls and the FIA. The marshalls were waving double yellows, but the safety light was showing green, which means that on Lewis' dashboard on the steering wheel, it would have also shown green, so why would he slow down then? It's anyway easier, from the driver cockpit, to see the big honking green light than those dinky yellow flags. On top of that, the car was removed, there was no debris, not even a marshall in sight, and hence the green. This is a stupid and bogus penalty and thoroughly undeserved.

Seems to be abit of confusion going on over this. Double waved yellows is what was reported and for that I think any driver deserves a penalty, but its been suggested that the flashing warning lights around the incident were flashing green. A mix up between race control and the marshalls perhaps? it'll be interesting to see if McLaren appeal.

That's the issue...
Green flags were also being waved at the same time?


Wasn't there a moron waving green flags for a while when D'Ambrosio went off? And a minute or so after the session was "red flagged"?

I didn't watch it but would be interested if anyone can find a link.

All I read was that 2 drivers were penalised for setting their fastest times when double waved yellows were displayed, Marshalls were on track and a car was being removed. Seemed pretty open and shut to me.

However, now I hear all of this stuff and am confused about what actually happened.

I saw the practice live, and they showed a slow-mo shot of Lewis going through, seemingly full throttle, when a marshall was waving double yellows, and before and after the marshall, the safety warning light was blinking green, which means it would show green on Lewis' steering wheel as well. I'm assuming Mclaren will definitely appeal this DQ and the FIA would reconsider.

Ant Davidson, BTW, said on the 5Live commentary that Lewis did not deserve the penalty.

Strange one that.

First it was 4 drivers: LH, JB, JA and MW who got the reprimands.

Then we have the fact that the yellows were actually in a braking zone where the drivers weren't on the throttle anyway.

Martin Whitmarsh successfully argued and demonstrated that the drivers were slower around that corner but quicker in other parts of the sector which lead to the best lap time being set and therefore a penalty.

By issuing a reprimand rather than a penalty, the Stewards accepted this but according to the regs, they had to issue something http://www.motorsportforums.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

And the driver needs to wait for the FIA instead of slowing down when his eyes see double waived yellows?
What next? Driver will obey track side signals from race marshalls only after they get written confirmation from Jean Todt?
Safety is now for playing around with it.

If a drivers posts his fastest lap during a yellow or double waived yellow period than the driver didn't slow down enough in the sector where the incident happened, unless they suddenly found several seconds on other parts of the circuit, which I highly doubt.
Going a couple km/h slower is not what the rules are asking for, the drivers are supposed to really slow down in order to be able to avoid any possible danger to anyone on track or beside it.

It's possible, yet again if there were yellows waived than he should have slowed down, as the slightest issue might end in an ugly way.

Lewis doesn't have a problem with it.

Hamilton said he had no argument with the stewards' decision.

"I was engaging the DRS (overtaking device, which boosts straight-line speed) when the yellow flags were on and you're not allowed to," he said

"I went in there and put my hands up and said I accept whatever penalty I get and they gave me one.

"I don't have any feelings. It is what it is. I'm a bit frustrated with myself as it's my fault - as usual.

"I just have to do what I can from wherever I qualify tomorrow. I have less hopes of pole - but tomorrow could be a different day."

Asked why he was being so self-critical, Hamilton replied: "I have no-one else to blame do I? There's only me driving."
Does anyone get the feeling that someone has sat him down and explained that his destiny is in his hands as he's the one driving. Comes across loud and clear.

Like I said before in my post, if you had cared to read it, is it possible he didn't see the yellow flags and only saw the big honking green light?? Since whatever warning light is being flashed by the FIA on the circuit, will be the same on the driver's dashboard, this confusion was obvious. Or is it THAT hard to understand?

Anyway, Lewis accepted the penalty, so I guess life goes on. Hopefully he doesn't start too far back. The weekend is already ruined for him.

That's even worse.

I sure hope this is a sign of him getting to grips with his issues.

A penalty for Hamilton? Well, at current rate it would be surprising if he didn't get one during a race weekend.http://www.motorsportforums.com/imag...ies/tongue.gif

Why? Lots of drivers have missed or ignored yellow flags in the past, hell, even black flags until they were told by their team via radio to come in. This was a simple confusion created by the stupid warning light system, and driver error as well. Although you can exaggerate it if you want. http://www.motorsportforums.com/imag...lies/smile.gif