How many points did McLaren lose in F1?

Re:How many points did McLaren lose in F1?

Star man Robert!! Thank you so much. I can get on with the dream team and take the stick from my "red team" rivals!!!!

Re:How many points did McLaren lose in F1?

Claudia,

the picture is of me and Helen (baggybooks) we met yesterday. Robert obviously likes our picture as he has high-jacked it for his avatar. Helen also has it as well.......

Re:How many points did McLaren lose in F1?


Don't know about anyone else, but I'm completely outraged by today's Grand Prix result. I don't think I've ever seen such a blatant fix disguised by so many so called 'technical errors'! First he was in, then he was out following his error on lap one; then he was in only to be out again through the "gearbox problem"; he got back in again a third time only to be taken out once and for all by the extraordinarily strange second and third pit-stops! Fishy or what?!

Two weeks ago, Hamilton's tyre delaminating in China was seen by just about everyone on the entire planet apart from the McLaren team. Uh oh, well I guess these things happen - they just happen more often at McLaren!

Then today, the dodgy "gearbox problem" that miraculously sorted itself out once he'd dropped down the field - later 'fixed' enough to start setting fastest laps a very short while afterwards. I don't think so! Then to cap it all, we had the incredibly mysterious short fuelled pitstop. Now, as everyone who regularly watches F1 knows, these pitstops are worked out with military precision and the timings worked out to almost split seconds so how could someone at McLaren not realise they didn't put enough fuel into Hamilton's car? Even my dear old grandma could have worked that one out and she's been in the ground for over twenty years. Hmmmmmmmm. Hamilton - the only three stopper on a two stop (at most) race.

Hamilton didn't lose the championship today - I believe he lost it way back on September 13th when McLaren, after being found guilty of espionage and thrown out of the constructors championship, secretly decided not to contest the drivers one either. After all, the McLaren car in the words of one of the Ferrari enginneers was mostly Ferrari anyway. So what Hamilton achieved since then was despite McLaren not because of them. I think you only have to look at the rock solid McLaren results up to September 13th and the weak as p**s results since - it's almost like looking at two different teams.

Ron Dennis doesn't have even an nth of my sympathy - he should be in the flipping Tower of London along with his co-conspiorators and their heads on the butchers block for committing acts of high treason!

Re:How many points did McLaren lose in F1?

bluewednesday wrote:

Believe me, no one wanted Hamilton to win more than I did

We all wanted hamilton to win Annette but I still think the first thirteen McLaren race results -pre spying scandal - compared against the last four - post spying scandal - are very odd indeed. As for the tyres, all teams had to use the soft options at some point but tellingly McLaren were the only team that chose to do it differently and have three stops in what was clearly a two stop race. Hamilton didn't lose the championship - McLaren did by snatching defeat from the gaping jaws of victory.

I agree that raising the spectre of conspiracy in sport is usually (but not always - it does happen!) a little far fetched but not so far fetched considering the quite extraordinary James Bond style happenings that have occurred in F1 this year! Collusion has long been a secret (and sometimes not so secret!) underbelly of F1 and conspiracy is only a little further down that very same road! While I don't disagree for a second that Dennis didn't want Hamilton to win I personally don't think he could reconcile himself to the fact that Hamilton's championship 'winning' car was more Ferrari than McLaren hence my theory!

Re:How many points did McLaren lose in F1?

My thoughts on the F1 season are, firstly the FIA have a "silent" E & 3R's in there somewhere. It was extremely bitchy and inconsistant but admittedly, I enjoyed all of that. I wanted to see Lewis Hamilton lift the championship trophy but only because he was a rookie doing well in his first season and he is also British. My team have improved from 5th place in the constructors last season to 2nd this season, it should have been 3rd but there you go.....!
I am totally bewildered about Lewis's car and it having so called problems, then miraclously performed perfectly, the pitstops, what was that all about??? For me, Lewis worked like a trojan yesterday and I can't agree with Annette more, he will contest all MS's records, Lewis is going to be a legend.

Re:How many points did McLaren lose in F1?

I did suspect all was not well with Lewis's drive. I would love to believe McLaren are a straight down the middle team but we are talking a £multi billion sport here and there will be "things" going on in the background, it would be naive not to think so. Alonso kicked up so much about equality, everyone was up in arms about only the constructor being docked points when the drivers should have as well. I think that was a commercial decision from the FIA based purely on the fact that interest would wane overnight if Alonso & Hamilton were also kicked out and takings would be down. Alonso was non-existant in yesterdays race and Lewis's was fraught with disaster. I just sit here and sigh and shrug my shoulders as I can't think of anything else to do. I have still got the earbending from the ferrari fan who sits by me yet, any tips on how to deal with that without punching the bloke??? :?

Re:How many points did McLaren lose in F1?

X5wrangler wrote:

I have still got the earbending from the ferrari fan who sits by me yet, any tips on how to deal with that without punching the bloke???

Nah, just punch him, but I can empathise with his smugness after McLaren's shameful end to what two months ago looked to be a great season.

Agree with you about the constructors being kicked out but the drivers strangely staying in to keep the viewers interested. I also think it was odd that Bernie Ecclestone - a supposed Brit himself - was so elated that Kimi won and not Lewis. Kimi has all the personality of a neanderthal and I feel he's done very little to promote the universal appeal of F1. Perhaps Bernie knows what really went on behind the scenes over the espionage incident and exactly what McLaren did?

Funny thing is had Hamilton taken the championship, Ferrari fans could still claim a victory of sorts by claiming it was their car - albeit in different colours - that actually won the title!

bluewednesday wrote:

FIA - Ferrari international assistance

LOL, but try as we might, I don't think we can blame Ferrari for what happened this year though the result yesterday did seem conveniently too 'perfect' for them!