scermat wrote:there's your consistency! so valencia was a track where you'd get penalised only if you get a sporting advantage.
i'm remembering so many incidents that got penalised where no sporting advantage was gained right now dating back to ages ago! like when montoya got DQ for having his pit crew leave his car a few seconds too late. cant see what possible sporting advantage that might have given him. or even this year when lewis oversteered on lap 1 over the chichane after overtaking bourdais.
Yes but before this season, there are many precedents as to what happens if you do that. Like Alonso last year (although I bet you wish he was penalized) wasn't penalized time or a stop-go for narrowly missing Honda mechanics at the Nurburgring. He was fined instead.
With pit crew on the grid, it's black and white, there are clear rules, with Pitlane, as long as nothign happened it is a) more situationally variable b) considered more minor if nothing actually resulted. If Hamilton's pitcrew (I stress pitcrew, because it is SO NOT the driver's responsibility) let him out like so in future, I would expect no penalty either, because a reprimand and a fine is penalty enough given the fact that no one was harmed/no dangerous situation occured.
That is my take on it anyway..
EDIT: I kind of missed your fundamental point, which is that more consistency and more rigid rules (as to when and how a penalty can be decided on/debated about) need to be imposed. The same group of stewards at every GP, with the same standards/ethics/neutrality which I believe you or someone else mentioned earlier, would be the way to go.
