2008 FORMULA 1 Belgian Grand Prix

[JoostLamers]

These are the last words from me about the Belgium GP:
Hamilton drove the last laps in the rain as a giant world champ, we do not see Felipe Massa doing that sorts of things, Raikkonen has done it, Alonso, Schumacher, but not Felipe. And it really is a shame that he got punished for his drive... I am really disappointed in F1...

[Tommi]

Hamilton got advantage by cutting the chicane, and also you can see from the onboard video that he had chance to drive the chicane normally (and lose time to Kimi by doing that), but he didn't do that, he choosed to cut and get advantage from that so the penalty is right decision.

Edit: Here is what Trulli said:
"In my opinion Hamilton got an advantage by cutting the chicane," Trulli told Gazzetta dello Sport. "Had he stayed on the road, he wouldn't have had the speed to overtake the Ferrari.

"In the same way at Monza someone could cut the first chicane, catch a rival's draft, and overtake him under braking at Roggia."

Massa:
"If Lewis had taken the chicane correctly, he would never have been able to pass Kimi on the very short straight that follows it."

And that's true, so don't cry about the decision.

[syncmaster]

These are the last words from me about the Belgium GP:
Hamilton drove the last laps in the rain as a giant world champ, we do not see Felipe Massa doing that sorts of things, Raikkonen has done it, Alonso, Schumacher, but not Felipe. And it really is a shame that he got punished for his drive... I am really disappointed in F1...

I dont see any reason by which Massa should dragged into this topic.Hamilton penalty is different from Massa wining at spa,U can say thats their luck

[TwistedArmco]

Doesn't prove anything, doesn't mean I am of this opinion. But this is JT's extended take on things:

"In my opinion Hamilton got an advantage by cutting the chicane. Had he stayed on the road, he wouldn't have had the speed to overtake the Ferrari. In the same way at Monza someone could cut the first chicane, catch a rival's draft, and overtake him under braking at Roggia.

When you attack on the outside, you do it at your own risk, because who's on the inside has the right to do the corner. If there isn't enough room, then you lift. Had there been a wall there, instead of the surfaced escape route, would Lewis have attacked anyway? Had there been gravel, he wouldn't have had the chance to attack when rejoining the track because of dirty tyres."

[Zack]

These are the last words from me about the Belgium GP:
Hamilton drove the last laps in the rain as a giant world champ, we do not see Felipe Massa doing that sorts of things, Raikkonen has done it, Alonso, Schumacher, but not Felipe. And it really is a shame that he got punished for his drive... I am really disappointed in F1...

I m very happy with what Massa did .. handle the situation with maturity and anyways he was on safe mode.On other hand i agree Hamilton drove very well but "giant world champ" ..should be reserved for Silverstone type of performance...don't you think so?

In Gp2 Maldonado let Zuber pass after driving straight thru chicane ..i think thats the way it should be done to avoid penalty

[Fergie1]

F1 world should accept the steward's decision.
"In the end, what they say is always fair, whether you like it or not" - Alonso

Why should we? Its down right wrong.

[Zack]

F1 world should accept the steward's decision.
"In the end, what they say is always fair, whether you like it or not" - Alonso

Why should we? Its down right wrong.

thats what Alonso had to say ...copy pasted from news site

[Ali]

Surinder Thathi, one of the three stewards of Belgium GP says:

We had a choice to mete out a time penalty or 10 grid places in the next grand prix race. We opted for the former and handed a time penalty of 25 seconds.

I know I am a very unpopular person in the United Kingdom now, but then I was doing my job and I know I acted professionally.

10 grid place penalty would be fair. I wish they handed this, instead of a time penalty. Having said that, I don't accuse FIA stewards. That's their decision but I would prefer the other way around.

[Fergie1]

Surinder Thathi, one of the three stewards of Belgium GP says:

We had a choice to mete out a time penalty or 10 grid places in the next grand prix race. We opted for the former and handed a time penalty of 25 seconds.

I know I am a very unpopular person in the United Kingdom now, but then I was doing my job and I know I acted professionally.

10 grid place penalty would be fair. I wish they handed this, instead of a time penalty. Having said that, I don't accuse FIA stewards. That's their decision but I would prefer the other way around.

Why would a 10 place grid penalty be fair? Gad damn it a 25 second peanlty wasn't fair either. They didn't HAVE to give a penalty.

[shailf1]

These are the last words from me about the Belgium GP:
Hamilton drove the last laps in the rain as a giant world champ, we do not see Felipe Massa doing that sorts of things, Raikkonen has done it, Alonso, Schumacher, but not Felipe. And it really is a shame that he got punished for his drive... I am really disappointed in F1...

I m very happy with what Massa did .. handle the situation with maturity and anyways he was on safe mode.On other hand i agree Hamilton drove very well but "giant world champ" ..should be reserved for Silverstone type of performance...don't you think so?

In Gp2 Maldonado let Zuber pass after driving straight thru chicane ..i think thats the way it should be done to avoid penalty

can you find a video for that? i would really like to see that.

[MP4/4#12]

Thanks for the 92 race video. Senna was wrong that day opting to stay on slicks but that was great to watch anyway. This Hamilton penalty discussion has become really boring, move on Hami fans !!!!!!

[iceman1]

According to ITV-F1 McLaren had submitted their telementary data to the FIA Stewards, which showed how much Lewis was braking/slowing down during the chicane. They are launching the appeal because they feel this information has been ignored in making the decision to penalise Lewis.

at this time there is 10363 people who think that penalty is wrong …

http://www.petitiononline.com/belgp08/petition.html

[Burgerlim]

agree here... its getting very boring now. i dun think its fair to hand down the penalty too but i think the whole F1 as a sport lately been really heading south in search for $. So lets enjoy it while we could..

[phil1993]

iceman, i signed it and there have been 23,750 people signed

[Fergie1]

iceman, i signed it and there have been 23,750 people signed

Can't believe its still shooting up.