Mmm, cutting corners, not so clear cut after all

The fall out from Hamilton's penalty continue's, the pommy fans have an internet petition which when I last noticed had 22 thousand signatures on it. McLaren have since confirmed they will appeal the decision.

There are already many more facets to the argument all being chucked around the internet at random. In the very beginning (the very, very beginning) just after Lewis had regained the lead from Raikkonen, Mclaren confirmed with race control that they were happy with Hamilton's relinquishing of the lead. Race control replied that yes they were happy with the move. The thing is F1 happens at abnormal speeds, adrenaline is pumping not only in the drivers but with everybody involved. If you've been to an F1 race you will know the sensory overload that attacks your system, your ears are fed an pulsating, screaming beautiful noise, your eyes struggle to capture what is happening in the braking zones, an emotional roller coaster of the senses, etc, etc. This affects everybody, race control, the team on the pit wall, the drivers (of course).

The rule governing passing other cars after missing a corner or chicane state that the driver must not gain an advantage and must fully relinquish the position back to the other driver. This is a common rule and is present even in karting where like in F1 it is reiterated during drivers briefing's prior to each race. At Eastern Creek (The home of the North Kart Club) there is a corner that lends itself to passing under braking into The Grandstand corner and tempts the driver into a misdemeanor over the grass to take a position of a competitor. It usually ends in tears which is partly why the rule is there. Grass roots and all.

So while Lewis' move did not get an instant reaction from anyone - remember even Ferrari did not protest the result after the race, everybody seemed quite happy. Like most fans I did not suspect anything was wrong either. However the stewards reviewed the tapes and pounced on Lewis because they deemed there was an infraction of the rules, Lewis had in fact gained an advantage and managed to pass, where had he taken the chicane normally he probably wouldn't have been able to pass. Supposing they took no action and then Ferrari had appealed after the race and then Lewis' win was taken away - the reaction would have been even more catastrophic for the sport.

Personnaly I think Lewis' inner racing driver and inexperience got the better of him, he certainly had the pace to get by the Ferrari and Kimi was driving like rookie.

No the decision wasn't black or white. It was a race, not about race. Whatever, having reviewed the footage several times and come to the assumption that Raikkonen had the line, had won the corner, Lewis could have made the chicane had he wanted to (but would have lost a second or two to Kimi) he jinked left over the chicane, slipped in front and reluctantly gave back the position. I suspect that appeal will not be successful.

Review the tape yourself and make your own decision, you may be as unconvinced as the stewards!

THERAT

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