The Ruptured Duck wrote on Jun 8^th, 2008 at 3:59pm:

No and no.
this has always happend with the safety car. While the train of cars, and the safety car is within the area of the pits the pit light will remain red.  Once the safety car and the remaining cars on track have cleared the area ( i believe in canada that means just as the safety car arrives at the first chicane) the light will return to green.
This is what happend to massa and fisi last year. The safety car and race cars were long clear but the light remained red. They went out and were disqualified. In this case the safety car was just passing the pit lane exit and so the light was rightly red.
I'm seriously annoyed as it's made the championship battle a 4 way thing for no reason what so ever. Lewis was so worked up about losing a couple of places in the pits that he wasn't focused on the race itself. Sucks for Kimi but I guess what comes around, as they say, although this is a differant situation entirely, at least sutil can claim justice.

All I can say is whoops. Messrs Hamilton and Rosberg were at fault and deserve their penalties.

Now, some thoughts:

1) Why on earth was there a safety car for the first Force India incident, and not the second, which was arguably more dangerous, or are the drivers not responsible enough to be trusted to slow down to a sensible speed for waved yellow flags.

2) Pit lane discipline needs to be sorted out. Kubica was out of his box and coming down the pitlane. The Ferrari lolly-pop man should not have released a car that leads to the situation of having two cars paralleling each other in the pitlane. In this case it could be seen as a mitigating circumstance as it appears to have confused LH and NR both moving to the left to follow the red car (Ferrari) which has pulled to the left to pass the stationary BMW?

Either way, the safety car is becoming too much of a player. As Mark Webber (IIRC) said. It's time to make the drivers take some responsibility for keeping their eyes open (at all times Lewis ). Charlie Whiting's decided too many races in the recent past.

Well done Kubica though. Well chuffed to see him on the top step.

Quote:


It was all a Force India plan. Sutil stops at the side of the track, and as he gets out pushes a button on the steering wheel linked to a gas lighter in the left front brake unit, forcing a fire marshal onto the track, and also the devil (aka the safety car). Meanwhile agent X and agent Y, employees of Force India take Mike Gascoyne and Vijay Mallya's gold plated plant pruners, and which the wheels are being changed, cunningly (in the fashion of a very cunning secret operative) cut the brake lines in the the McLaren and the Williams, forcing Lewis (and as a back up Nico) into the back of a helpless Kimi...

Revenge is sweet for Force India!

C wrote on Jun 8^th, 2008 at 5:41pm:


Hmm, do I sense some foul play from Force India?

Indeed Craig, Hamilton wasn't paying any attention at all, but surely he must have noticed that the two cars in front of him were stationary....how could he miss them? 

Ah but Matt,
Schumi never made a "mistake" like that 
In general his collisions were out on track at speed and he didn't really try to hide what he did Ala 97. in that case he was stripped of the title quite rightly, the monaco one cost him the title almost certainly, so he got what he deserved.

In this case Lewis cant even stand up and say it was his fault and accept the blame, best he can do is "oh, well i'm sorry if I ruined Kimi's race"
What do you mean IF, of course you did, and even then he was being arrogent, "oh we were cruising to an easy win" No you weren't Kimi was closing down Kubica at a huge rate per lap, would have jumped him in the stops and at the pace he was going would have had Lewis in the second stops.
And just to top it off to show how big of a prat he is, his comments in his talk to Ryder before the race discussing his dads car accident, "i cant undertstand how someone can crash a car at 30mph"  Bet he does now.
Yes every one has accidents, most will hold their hands up say they made a mistake and move on. However this is the second time in less than a year that Lewis has blown it in the pits because he was under a bit of pressure. China last year, there was no need to rush, all he needed was to pick up points, so what if he lost the race, those points even back in 6th would have won him the title. But "mr head strong" blew it. And now this, again he got passed in the pits, but if he was so sure and so confident that it was a cruise to victory then being in 3rd after all that shouldn't have mattered. But nope, lets hurry on down without paying attention. Even though ron had told him the light was red.
This years title is going to be won on consistency, not out and out wins. And from the way this season is going so far, Robert Kubica or Felipe Massa are the ones who come the end of the season could be fighting it out for the championship.

And a final one, Bravo as always to the ITV team on a stellar job, We could start with Martin badgering Bernie on the grid, thats going to help your chances next year, he's got the circuit owner standing 3 feet away from him, do you honestly think Bernie will bad mouth it.
Then that useful pitlane reporter Louise, great question for Lewis, "at least it is some consolation, that if nothing else you took your main title rival out with you"
Yet Schumi parks it at monaco and they hound him the rest of the year claiming he should have been banned from the championship. But they are encouraging that
Nice job by Ted I think it was, winding up an already obviously upset Alonso into swearing on live TV.
And then we come to James Allen, I think a whole new topic is needed on this idiot.
How many times did he manage to put Robert Kubica down this race.
"coming back to a place where many thought he should have been killed in his accident last year" Sure he appreciates the constant reminder
"well he's not quite brad pitt" As Kubica is standing there on the podium

from his colum
He was focused on the flow of cars moving towards the exit and didn’t see that Kimi had stopped. He missed Kubica by inches, but – luckily for him – hit his main title rival, who could not score any points as a result.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/68181

Wonder when his brain will kick in and tell him its a good idea to keep your mouth shut when you've just screwed up.

From that autosport article:
Quote:


Well everyone else did . He needs to learn to admit he is wrong sometimes

Craig. wrote on Jun 10^th, 2008 at 9:09am:



Maybe a marshal with a big red lollipop in a clown outfit would stand out for them   It works for the pit crews (except the clown outfit)

Matt