Monaco GP - FIA probe McLaren's win

sand king SG

Monaco GP - FIA probe McLaren's win

Monaco GP - Formula One's governing body, FIA, is launching an investigation into Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton's 1-2 for McLaren in the Monaco Grand Prix.

The two drivers dominated Sunday's grand prix without ever fighting each other for the lead with McLaren strongly denying that the team had broken the rules by ordering Hamilton not to challenge Alonso.

In a statement F1's ruling authority confirmed: "The FIA has launched an investigation into incidents involving the McLaren Mercedes team at the 2007 Monaco Grand Prix in light of a possible breach of the International Sporting Code.

"The relevant evidence is under review and a further announcement will be made in due course."

McLaren team chief Ron Dennis insisted that McLaren did not favour defending world champion Alonso over Hamilton, the British rookie who has taken the sport by storm posting here his fourth successive second place.

Dennis faced a barrage of questions on McLaren's strategy especially in light of the fact that Alonso had begun the race around the streets of Monte Carlo in a car carrying five laps less fuel than Hamilton.

This meant that Alonso was not only in a lighter car for qualifying on Saturday, but also in a lighter, faster car for the first part of the race.

Hamilton accepted this with a long face when he said: "I am in car number two so I am the number two driver."

Dennis said he understood Hamilton's disappointment, but pointed out that he would have reacted very differently if the team strategy had played into his hands.

"I think he's understandably disappointed and frustrated," said Dennis.

"He would not have been frustrated or disappointed if a Safety Car had been deployed and he won the race.

"Time will tell, wont it? We do not favour anybody. There will be times and places when they are free to race, but this isn't one of them.

"Everybody in the pit-lane and the media would be saying, 'what an idiot the team principal from McLaren is for allowing his cars to compete, when one of them is in the barrier."

Dennis added that his decisions were not tantamount to team orders, which are banned in Formula One, but formed instead a team strategy to win the race.

"Team orders is what you bring to bear to manipulate a Grand Prix.

"And we do not, and have not, manipulated Grands Prix.

Alonso leads the drivers' title race on 38 points, the same number as Hamilton, but has the edge as he has won two races this season.

AFP

sand king SG

JYS: Nothing wrong with McLaren actions.

Sir Jackie Stewart says he feels McLaren did nothing wrong in Monte Carlo after the FIA announced it was launching an investigation of the Monaco Grand Prix.

The FIA announced on Monday that it was investigating the 1-2 finish secured by Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton 'in light of a possible breach of the International Sporting Code' - with the team being accused on employing team orders to prevent its drivers fighting for position during the race.

However, Stewart said he didn't see anything wrong with what had happened on the streets of Monte Carlo and told BBC Radio Five Live that team boss Ron Dennis had 'done the wise thing' in ensuring his drivers secured the best result possible.

"I saw nothing wrong with what occurred," JYS said. "He [Alonso] made a very good start, he took a lead that allowed him to have a good clear bit of air behind him.

"He set the fastest lap, and he won the race. It was fairly straightforward."

Team orders have been banned in Formula 1 since the 2002 season, when Ferrari were accused of making a mockery of the sport during the Austrian Grand Prix after Rubens Barrichello slowed on the line to hand victory to Michael Schumacher.

However, Stewart insisted that two incidents weren't comparable.

"The Schumacher-Barrichello case was blatant," he said. "He reduced his speed by maybe 30 or 40mph to have Schumacher pass him before the finishing line. It was a pretty blatant thing, it wasn't enjoyed by the crowd, it wasn't enjoyed by the media.

"But it's a very difficult thing to start telling team owners that if you are running first and second that you should keep driving your drivers to the absolute limit of their ability.

"I think it was a great result for Lewis Hamilton to finish second in the Monaco Grand Prix and get another podium finish. What if he had tried a little bit too hard in these last laps in Monaco and slid off the race track, hit a barrier and taken the McLaren out of the race? Valuable world championship points would have been lost by the team."

Alonso and Hamilton currently share top spot in the championship standings after five races of the season - although Alonso's two victories this season mean he has the edge of his rookie team-mate.

the Bear SG

hmmm... rules apply differently for different teams.. Laughing

it was okay when Barrichello was told to slow down for Schumacher

sand king SG

Laughing

but now not okay haha i think they can get banned if found guilty Confused

X-men SG

It's all about the team even in F1.

Who in the right frame of mind would risk 2 cars just for the fun of it.

SBS9828X SG

FIA clears McLaren over team order charges

The FIA has cleared McLaren of any wrongdoing in its handling of the Monaco Grand Prix.

After launching an investigation on Monday into whether the teams tactics breached F1s sporting regulations banning team orders, motorsports governing body concluded that its actions were entirely legitimate.

McLaren team principal Ron Dennis admitted after the race that Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton had been instructed to ease off and protect the teams second 1-2 result of the season rather than risk retirement by racing each other to the finish.

Dennis comments sparked a backlash in the British press, but in a statement issued on Wednesday afternoon the FIA said McLaren had done nothing wrong.

Having studied the radio traffic between Vodafone McLaren Mercedes and its drivers, together with the FIA observers report and data from the team, it is clear that McLarens actions during the 2007 Monaco Grand Prix were entirely legitimate and no further action is necessary, it read.

In setting out the reasoning behind its decision, the FIA focused on the fact that Alonso and Hamilton were on different fuel strategies because of the high likelihood of a safety car deployment.

It is clear from FIA measurements taken after qualifying that McLaren fuelled Hamilton for five more laps than Alonso, the statement read.

This allowed Hamilton the option of a one-stop strategy should the safety car have come out during his first stint.

The FIA said McLarens decision to pit Hamilton earlier than planned was fully justified to insure against the danger that the Briton would be caught behind the safety car.

With no safety car during Alonsos first stint, there was a small but finite risk that it would come out during the five laps before Hamilton had to refuel, the FIA said.

This would have put him behind the field and at a significant disadvantage to any car on a full (as opposed to optional) one-stop strategy.

For similar reasons Hamilton was called in early for his second pit stop, thus assuring his second place, with or without a safety car.

The FIA said the fact that McLaren was unchallenged at the front of the field allowed it to pursue a conservative strategy.

Had the car in front of Hamilton not been his team-mate, McLaren might (probably would) have decided to risk the safety car and let Hamilton run for as long as his fuel load allowed in the hope that he would come out of the pits in the lead after one of his pit stops, the statement said.

There is, however, no obligation on them to take this risk in order to overtake their own car.

Indeed it would be foolish to do so.

Finally the FIA concluded that McLaren was perfectly entitled to take measures to ensure that both its cars made it to the finish.

It is standard procedure for a team to tell its drivers to slow down when they have a substantial lead, the statement said.

This is in order to minimise the risk of technical or other problems.

It is also standard practice and entirely reasonable to ask the drivers not to put each other at risk.

McLaren were able to pursue an optimum team strategy because they had a substantial advantage over all other cars.

The FIAs judgement on McLarens actions was unambiguous: They did nothing which could be described as interfering with the race result.-itvf1