Macca's dropped 5 places

[Craig.]

Because they blocked both Heidfeld and Alonso both mclarens are relegated 5 places down the grid.

1.  Massa         Ferrari            
2.  Raikkonen     Ferrari            
3.  Trulli        Toyota            
4.  Kubica        BMW Sauber        
5.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber        
6.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault  
7.  Alonso        Renault            
8.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes   *
9.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes   *
10.  Glock         Toyota            
11.  Button        Honda              
12.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault  
13.  Piquet        Renault            
14.  Barrichello   Honda              
15.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari
16.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota    
17.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari
18.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari
19.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda  
20.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari
21.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda  
22.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota    **


bloody typical the rare occasion I pick a mclaren in the the pool and they do that.  ::)

[ozzy72]

I'm not convinced this is an entirely fair complain but the McLaren boys have been big about it and not thrown a wobbler. Should be an exciting race tomorrow 8-)

[MWISimmer]

Should make for an interesting race tomorrow  :)

[Mictheslik]

Should be interesting.....but 2/3rd of my predictions are in that team....and now my highest placed is Kubica!

.mic

[The Ruptured Duck]

I suppose Kovalinen could have weaved across the track slowly to get of the racing line.  I'm sure that would have helped a bunch.

[C]

I'm not convinced this is an entirely fair complain but the McLaren boys have been big about it and not thrown a wobbler. Should be an exciting race tomorrow 8-)

Quite. It's not lie the McLaren's were the only two cars on that bit of track, and IIRC that lap was still Heidfeld's PB. As the final two cars to complete laps they should have expected traffic conserving fuel, the teams should have watched it if it was going to be a problem.

Sounds like a bit of pandering towards the infanto Fernando and against the nasty Woking boys...

[Craig.]

Had nowt to do with fernando. It was BMW who complained first and then officially. And yes they did block Nicks lap. they wre on the racing line. It's a basic rule of racing if your not at full speed you get off the line thats being run at full speed. Mclaren are to blame more than the drivers, they knew where the BMW and Renault were, niether Lewis or Heikki would have known till to late. But it's a fair penalty, block another drivers qualy lap, as they did and you get dropped. See Schumi at monaco 06, Alonso hungary 07 and so on. I'm tired of this because Lewis and team are british they can do no wrong. Your all as bad as us ferrari nuts. At least we accept and embrace it.

[C]

I think it's also Renault and BMW's responsibility to accept that if they start a flying lap so late, then they'll be traffic, which, to that end, they should accept and deal with.

I'm tired of this because Lewis and team are british they can do no wrong

Britain always has been right, and always will be, what what, and all that. Anyone seen my pipe? Baaaaaaaaaah!

[Craig.]

Sorry but thats not at all right. Why should they be disadvantaged for choosing to go out when they deem the track at its most optimum, you just know had it been mclaren or ferrari who'd had their laps compramised because the beemers or renault were on a slow warm up lap so early on in the session, they'd have been in the stewards office right away. They had no reason to be on the racing line running at a slow pace regardless of how late in the session it was. It was still in the time limit so its not like they were even in the final lap out of time on the clock stage. It's in the rule book, clear as day, no driver may impede another drivers qualifying run deliberatly. By staying on the racing line it was deliberate. Now had they been off the racing line but just at an unfortunate place on the track where by through a corner they had no option but to block them I can understand and no penalty would have been given, but they were on a fairly fast and straight portion of the track with ample space to stay clear. Heidfeld had to go off line then was moving back on line while breaking for a quick corner the opposite direction to the direction he was weaving, thus upsetting the cars balance and costing (impeding) his time. This is i'm afraid for Lewis fans a simple case of screw up on someones part with a fair penalty. What now needs to come from it is a clear directive as to speed requirements and where and when you can drive at that speed after a lap.

[Craig.]

I'm tired of this because Lewis and team are british they can do no wrong

Britain always has been right, and always will be, what what, and all that. Anyone seen my pipe? Baaaaaaaaaah!

LOL ok true.

[C]

With any luck, young Lewis' start will be as good as his starts were last year and he'll be back in 4th by turn 3. We all know Felipe (the only man in history to believe turn 1 at Albert Park was a hairpin) will be driving in circles in the first couple of turns anyway... Or going left...

[Craig.]

if it stays dry the worst thing for mclaren would be kimi out front with massa playing rear guard. Kimi has the sort of race car that's fueled for a fair distance but is fast enough to destroy the field if he's out front.
If it rains, who knows lol. front of the grid to back anyone could win.

[The Ruptured Duck]

If it rains, who knows lol. front of the grid to back anyone could win.

Go Bourdais!

[C]

If it rains, who knows lol. front of the grid to back anyone could win.

Go Bourdais!

And he did...


...on about turn 3... Doh.

Nice start from Lewis though. Shame about the pitstop.