Formula One ( F1 )

I agree with you on Senna, if he was still alive i'm sure a lot more people would despise him in the same way they do Schumacher. Schumacher isn't at his level of ruthlessness that he was a few years back, but he's still one of the most agressive guys on the grid, you could see it in his fight with Hamilton. Once he gets to grips with the car i'm sure he'll be a joy to watch.

Granted he's only really out for himself, but so too was Senna and everyone acknowledges that he was F1's biggest shit. Personally, I reckon the most ruthless man in the history of the sport made his comeback this season.

Pedro de la Rosa? I heard he was a nice guy?

I just think Alonso is too much of a cock. Pull stunts like that with other racers, but with your team mate? No. Must have been havoc among the mechanics. He wormed out of the crashgate which I am convinced he knew about - agreeing to pit that early how could he not? He is also a brat, acted like a kid his whole time at McLaren. If he did feel like the number 2 driver... go out and win, that will get the teams attention.

I think he is a complete prick.

As many of you probably know, i'm a huge Massa fan. However I think Alonso's move was entirely fair. He saw a gap, he went for it. F1 is not a team sport, no matter what anyone says. Some, such as Massa, are team players.

As a result of this they will lose out to the more selfish racers such as Alonso. He's got a championship to win and you can see that from the way he drives. Massa lacks the agression to be a true racer, much like Vettel.

However Vettel has a great chance to win the WDC this year as he's regularly on the front row of the grid and is one of the best at driving off into the distance and leaving the pack behind when he's not under pressure. Much like Massa in the last 2 seasons.

I still hate the guy :|

Lewis is agro, but if he pulled that stunt on Button I don't think we would ever hear the end of it!

Back in Europe, Yay! Though Spain does tend to produce a dull race.

First practise on now.

the spainish race put me too sleep. I'm happy schumacher is back, but for racing i watch the btcc go go plato

The Spanish race is always dull.

This weekend it's Monaco, which is another "difficult to overtake" circuit. You tend to get a bit of excitement though, due to the proximity of the barriers.

monaco was good especially for the move schumacher pulled on alonso right at the end ha ha

wasn't that great - it cost him the points.

Unfairly too. What the stewards are trying to say is that Schumacher's move contravined rule 40.13 which states that "If the race ends whilst the safety car is deployed it will enter the pit lane at the end of the last lap and the cars will take the chequered flag as normal without overtaking."

Now, the safety car did enter the pit lane at the end of the last lap. However the race did not end under safety car conditions. There were several green flags being waved, green lights being shown, the teams were told that the safety car was coming in and that the race would be restarting. Just for comparison, here is a photo from the last time a race finished under SC conditions (Melbourne last year):

P.S. It was a great move, and let's hope that common sense prevails (something very unlikely in F1) and Schumacher gets his penalty revoked.

the rule changed this year, mac.

read the rule again - "If the race ends whilst the safety car is deployed it will enter the pit lane at the end of the last lap (that's what happened) and the cars will take the chequered flag as normal without overtaking (that's what didn't happened)."

great bit of opportunism, but it broke the rules. i think the stewards fucked up by waving the green flags and schumi should have gone back to 6th.

That's the thing, the race didn't end with the safety car deployed. I agree that the fact that the safety car would pull into the pits whether or not 40.13 was applied is confusing. But the track was cleared so the safety car was brought in (to end the safety car period, not to comply with 40.13) hence the green flags. The rule itself didn't change, only the introduction of the safety car line.

Why they brought that in I have no idea, I don't see what was wrong with having the lead car act as safety car until the start/finish line.

Given that the safety car had pulled in, they were past the safety car line when the overtake occurred, and the stewards were all waving green flags (see below quote from F1 website) , I'd say it was a fair overtake.

Green flag
All clear. The driver has passed the potential danger point and prohibitions imposed by yellow flags have been lifted.

It was the last lap.

If the race had ended under SC conditions, the safety car would've pulled into the pits, the yellow flags and SC boards would have remained and there would have been no overtaking. Have a look at how the drivers reacted at the end of the race, all of them gunned it. Alonso went too far, lost control of his car and gave Schumacher the opportunity to pass.

I think the rules are a little contradictory, whenever the safety car is out on the last lap it will always pull into the pits just before the chequered flag, and cars will always cross the SC line, so if they were to continue waving yellow flags the message would be clear. Waving green flags tells the drivers "game on". Mistake by the FIA or whoever is telling the stewards what flags to wave?

I think the rules are a little contradictory, whenever the safety car is out on the last lap it will always pull into the pits just before the chequered flag, and cars will always cross the SC line, so if they were to continue waving yellow flags the message would be clear. Waving green flags tells the drivers "game on". Mistake by the FIA or whoever is telling the stewards what flags to wave?

totally.

i am maybe starting to change mind on this.

according to the rule, the should be no possible way that there can be a race to the line on the last lap, and as such, the green flags should never come out under these conditions. the fact that they did, would then mean that this "to end the safety car period, not to comply with 40.13"(Mick) makes sense.

it is a fucked sitch. a pointless rule change has cause it. there will be no fair outcome to this fuck-up.

i also don't believe that alonso was under the impression that they weren't racing

its all a conspiracy everyone still hates schumacher tehe. It was better when the lead car controlled it to the start/finish line after the sc went in. To many stoooopid rules 'really grinds my gears'

FFS!

http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_news_item.php?fes_art_id=40859

20 sec penalty bit harsh. I guess its better than going to max moseley for his punishment.

Just finished watching Monaco on iPlayer as was at the 'Ring 24hr over the weekend and have made a big deal of not finding out the result until watching.

The Schumy overtake was wonderful to watch, such a blast-from-the-past moment from him.

Regarding the ruling I can't say anything other than the fact that the marshals will have the rule book in front of them which I don't. Unfortunately if (as it seems to be) the rules stipulate an environment of no over-taking after the SC goes in on the last lap then the decision is correct. As for the 20 second penalty I don't see that as harsh. 20 seconds is a standard penalisation for illegal overtakes. The fact that Michael was unaware of the rule does not mean that he should not be penalised. It is up to his team to be fully aware of the rules and to give him advice on that standing.

Unfortunately, and it pains me to say it, this was nothing more than a rare mistake by Mr. Brawn and his team coordinators. The fact they will not appeal the decision simply underlines the fact that they realise they made a mistake.

That aside Monaco 2010 was a race that gave the fans something really special to watch, not a moment of boredom. I couldn't even bring myself to pause it to get a drink.

Bring on Turkey

Green flags mean race restarting. Racing restarts from the SC line. Schumacher overtook between the SC line and the finish line. It was a mistake by the marshalls and/or race control. As much of an Alonso fan as I am Schumacher did not deserve that penalty.