It Ain't Over Yet!

[NismoZ]

McLaren summoned before the WMSC to be raked over the coals again/still for their massive huge horrible lie. My conservative guess is a $100 million fine and exclusion of the team and driver from the '09 championship. Probably a Godsend, considering the happy state of affairs at the moment, then they'd have an excuse to stop spending and actually save money this season.

[emjaya]

Hamilton and the team lied to the stewards.

In horse racing if a jockey lies to the stewards and is caught, he can expect to sit out a couple of months of racing.

And if they (McLaren) sit out any races they will be fined for that as well.

[Methanolandbrats]

Good, McLaren is bunch of scumbags from top to bottom. Brawn will be the Mercedes Factory Team :D:thumbup:

[cameraman]

Given Mercedes current fiscal condition they might use this as an excuse to bail out of F1 entirely.

[Insomniac]

I'm guessing this wasn't a lie of omission then.

[Elmo T]

I'm guessing this wasn't a lie of omission then.

Doesn't look like it...

Hamilton, Ryan refused to change story (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74368)


Lewis Hamilton and McLaren's former sporting director Dave Ryan refused to change their story about having deliberately let Jarno Trulli through at the Australian Grand Prix, despite being played radio conversations and media interviews that suggested the contrary in their second stewards' hearing at Sepang.

FWIW - even my kids know lying to me is almost always worse than the original crime. :rolleyes:

[indyfan31]

Hmmm, a certain Hamilton/McLaren fanboy is awfully quite these days. ;)

[Methanolandbrats]

Hmmm, a certain Hamilton/McLaren fanboy is awfully quite these days. ;) Kinda hard to blame this one on Shumi and Ferrari. :D

[Insomniac]

Doesn't look like it...

Hamilton, Ryan refused to change story (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74368)



FWIW - even my kids know lying to me is almost always worse than the original crime. :rolleyes:

Was that the hearing before his press conference to apologize? I can see the first time after the race, but then a second hearing days later? Hard to say that it wasn't what you wanted to do.

Edit: Read Whiting's comment's, if true, yikes. Really stupid. There could've also been video footage.

[oddlycalm]

The whole thing is bizarre. Things that make you go hmmm...
Hamilton gave a conflicting account to that he had given the stewards in interviews with the press immediately after the interview with the stewards after the race. Dave Ryan, the longest serving of any team member currently traveling to races, has left the team and is taking sole responsibility. Nobody from McLaren is slated to speak at the FIA hearing unless Hamilton shows up on his own.

oc

[Insomniac]

The whole thing is bizarre. Things that make you go hmmm...
Hamilton gave a conflicting account to that he had given the stewards in interviews with the press immediately after the interview with the stewards after the race. Dave Ryan, the longest serving of any team member currently traveling to races, has left the team and is taking sole responsibility. Nobody from McLaren is slated to speak at the FIA hearing unless Hamilton shows up on his own.

oc

I hope that they just close the matter. They DQ'd Hamilton for the race. I think the message is clear to everyone.

[TrueBrit]

This has to be the biggest tempest in a teacup I can ever remember....

Why the hell McLaren didn't think the stewards would refer to the radio calls is beyond me...Sort of like a certain ex-Illinois Governer doing his Tony Soprano impressions on the phone when he KNEW they had to have been recorded...

Stupid all the way around...

[NismoZ]

Because he didn't want to get in trouble for passing a guy under yellow (even IF the guy was 4-wheels off) then didn't want to get in trouble for NOT letting the guy retake the position, but then didn't want to SAY he was told to hold position...so he wouldn't get in trouble...but got in trouble because he was TOLD he'd be in trouble if he did...or didn't?:confused: Whatever, they got him anyway. Lance Armstrong is next. Can't have him winning again either!

[oddlycalm]

Bigger picture, the worst thing to come out of this (yet again) is the fact that the the FIA's organization of the stewards is pure crap. WTF are they doing appointing criminal lawyers as races stewards? :irked: That makes exactly as much sense as hiring Charlie Whiting to argue a case at the US Supreme Court. :gomer: :shakehead

F1 claims to be the pinnacle of motor racing yet the FIA insists on running it like they are running a high end club series. There is a place for lawyers and dentist and buddies and that place is club racing. F1 needs one or more professional stewards that provide knowledgeable and consistent rulings in a rational time frame.

Beyond, that, not every racing incident requires a f'ing tribunal. It's a race, not a cotillion. :irked:

oc

[Gnam]

Can a driver/team plead the fifth? Or would they get penalized? Might have been better to say nothing.

Since all races are now decided in court, will lawyer fees count against the budget cap?

[opinionated ow]

Can a driver/team plead the fifth? Or would they get penalized? Might have been better to say nothing.

Since all races are now decided in court, will lawyer fees count against the budget cap?

Given that it'll be held under the rules of the European Union, I doubt it!

[Insomniac]

Can a driver/team plead the fifth? Or would they get penalized? Might have been better to say nothing.

Since all races are now decided in court, will lawyer fees count against the budget cap?

I don't think refusing to answer questions would help.

[Insomniac]

Well, I guess it's over. Suspended 3-race ban.


McLaren Mercedes have been hit with a suspended three-race ban after they pleaded guilty to misleading stewards at the Australian Grand Prix.

Martin Whitmarsh, the McLaren team principal, faced the FIA's World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) in Paris today, and pleaded guilty to five charges of bringing Formula One into disrepute in connection with the “Lie-gate” scandal. However, the penalty will only be enforced on the team if "further facts emerge" about this incident or if there is a "further breach" of the rules.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/formula_1/article6191382.ece

[oddlycalm]

FIA; "Ron Dennis out of F1? OK, case closed." :gomer:

oc