Lauda questions McLaren penalties.

Instead of the FIA having meetings about the colour of paddock pass neck straps for 2009, they need to address the issue of lack of transparency within the governance of the sport. The stewards must be totally independent to prevent these issues destroying another world championship.

I totally agree, if all those incidents were commited by a red car (Ferrari), no punishment would be given at all!
Webber himself has even said he wasnt blocked! Its a qualifying session and there are cars on the track. Everything Mclaren do they get punished and Im sure if there was another team matching Ferrari they would also get penalised to gift Ferrari championships!

I think he has a point in that while LH's penalty was correct and his excuses afterwards were completely pathetic, in all fairness Kimi should have had a black-orange for that exhaust pipe. It did come off flying, it's just luck basically that it happened at slower speed and in a place where there were no staff or audience nearby. Horrible. So much for all the safety talk.

But please, F1 fans are a bit like big babies... As soon as one decision doesn't meet our approval we start waving the conspiracy flag. "Everything McLaren do they get punished"... grow up. Do you even have any idea who makes all these decisions? Yes, of course every single person in the FIA and every marshal at every track has a personal vendetta against McLaren.

no they just favour ferrari!
Max Moselys words from last ye******

LAtely, everytime Lauda opens his mouths, he talks bs.
Hamilton s penatlty was due as so was Heikki s . But Kimi deserved one as well.
So the problem is not McLaren (Hamilton had a free ride last year all year) or Ferrari, tyhe problem is the rules are applied arbitrarily.

Again, another sign that oroves f1 has gone to ****.

How strange that once again an ex-world champion(Lauda/Stewart/Hill) is wrong in their opinions but that well known expert Chu Chu is correct! Funny that!

Yeah, funny. They should really know wtf they re talking about having been in the business for so long, shouldnt they?
I ll give u one word, dear ... BIAS

Considering that Lauda won championships with BOTH Ferrari and McLaren, I would suggest that he is better qualified to comment than most - and probably more neutral than some (the FIA comes to mind!!!!). Interesting also that this article generates instant comments, whereas the one concerning the slightly more important matter of the ongoing dispute between MM and BE had, at the time of writing, generated none. Such is life, I suppose...

I guess by your same reasoning,, Bernie and Max can never be wrong either, can they?

I don't care how light a piece is, at the speeds those cars are traveling, even a something light can be a deadly object

While taken separately, the Max affair, these penalties, etc aren't necessarily a deal breaker between F1 and the FIA, but when all combined, I'm really starting to take seriously the idea that some kind of breakaway series is not only possible, but more and more probable without some kind of huge change in the FIA

Ehhh??? That's a nonsensical comment - the situation concerning the president of the FIA, and the head of the Commercial arm of F1 is just a tad more significant than the opinions over a couple of incidents in one race - although the ramifications of the exhaust could, in different circumstances, have threatened the very existence of F1 - if for example it had come off, and flown into the face of another driver. I would suggest, sir, that you think a little before engaging digits!!

The rules & regulations at NASCAR are much more transparent & equitable than those with the FIA. Max seems hell bent in destroying the McLaren-Mercedes team. Perhaps he feels that the team was responsible for his shameful whipping-gate scandal. He's got no evidence so he working around the systems to wage his vendetta.

Andrew P - my comment was a response to "Chu Chu".

To use an old phrase from round this neck of the woods
The FIA are as bent as a nine bob note!
I don't usually subscribe to conspiracy theory's
But you can't help asking questions when
1, a driver that was allegedly blocked asks "Did someone block me?"
2, the Drive through why did the public only see the on board footage?
(even though I think that call was hard but fair)
3, why no black & orange flag for Kimi ?

I am not saying the FIA are bias to the red cars
Just they are inconsistent and or totally incompetent

Hamilton absolutely deserved a penalty for ramming into 2 parked cars ... nobody should dispute that. The pass of Vettel was a closer call, but even the McLaren team admitted when they had all the evidence that it was a bad pass, and had Hamilton given the place back it would have been no penalty. I too think Kimi maybe should have been meatballed. The blocking incendent is also questionable, but all of the drivers have been told to stay off the racing line on their in-laps so I can accept that one as well. All in all I'd say hard but fair on all 3 penalties.

Mistake made to disagree on last comment by Scott Maclean, Instead I totally agree on that. Sorry about that and I can't make changes.

I genuinely feel that both LH and HK decisions were close calls. But KR should not have been running around with the broken piece of exhaust, flapping precariously. FIA has always been notorious making inconsistent and on the fly decision. Now that they are increasing the entry fee to participate can they at least come up with better officiating team? No they won't!! and will the teams just suck up and continue? Yes They will !!

Only Michelin had courage to protest and walkout fed up with FIA and its irregularities.

The teams have their own motives to put up with this abusive relationship MONEY.
Till the viewership ratings falls the money minded nuts won't improve :(

'"The race director considered the risk to be low, as the part in question was light," an FIA spokesperson is quoted by GPWeek as having countered. '

Rifle bullets don't weigh much individually. I think you'll find the speed at which they travel and the sharpness of their ends and edges has a lot to do with it.

I wouldn't have wanted a face full of Ferrari pipe at 200mph. Of the three injuries that contributed to Sennas death, two were punctures to the helmet.

I bet that exhaust would have been much heavier and more dangerous if it had been a part of a McLaren!