Holy shit!

[CYCLE_MONKEY]

Anyone see the last F1 race of the season yesterday? Against all odds, Kimi won his first drivers championship for Ferrari. And, after yesterday, they would have won the manufacturer's championship even if McLaren hadn't been stripped of their points for spygate. After years of bad luck and unreliability in the McLarens, he finally pulled off an amazing and well deserved come-from-behind victory, winning 6 races this year to the McLaren boy's 4 each. Good on ya mate! Forza Ferrari!:)

[konichd]

Hold on your pants Frank, Mclaren is launching an appeal. BMW and Williams 4,5,6 place were found to have cooled the petrol too much. They are allowed 10 degrees C and they were 12-14 (4-7 degrees F) below the rules.

Hamilton might be the champion afterall. And with this crazy season I wouldn't doubt a ruling in his favor.

Taken from ESPN:
SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) - Kimi Raikkonen will keep the Formula One drivers' title — for now.

McLaren confirmed Monday that it will appeal FIA's decision not to penalize four drivers investigated for fuel irregularities following the Brazilian Grand Prix.

"We will lodge an appeal," McLaren head of media communications Ellen Kolby said in an e-mail.
The ruling by the sport's governing body maintained Lewis Hamilton as the seventh-place finisher in Sunday's race, two spots less than he needed to win the title.
After the race, FIA opened an investigation into possible fuel irregularities involving BMW-Sauber and Williams, whose drivers finished fourth, fifth, sixth and 10th in the race. If at least two of the three ahead of him were punished, Hamilton would have taken the title from Raikkonen.
But in a decision more than six hours after the end of the race, FIA said there was not enough evidence to penalize the drivers or the teams.
"We were surprised at, and don't really understand, the stewards' decision," McLaren CEO Martin Whitmarsh told the British Press Association. "We feel if we had not lodged our intention to appeal we would surely have been criticized by fans and Formula One insiders alike for not supporting our drivers' best interests."
He stressed the appeal was not an attack on Ferrari.
"Our quarrel, if you can call it that, is not with Ferrari or Kimi Raikkonen," he said. "On the contrary, Kimi won the race fair and square, and Ferrari did a good job to finish first and second. Our argument is with the stewards' decision in relation to the cars of (Nico) Rosberg, (Robert) Kubica and (Nick) Heidfeld." The fuel temperatures on the cars of fourth-place Rosberg of Williams, fifth-place Kubica of BMW-Sauber, sixth-place teammate Heidfeld and Williams' Kazuki Nakajima were as much as 14 degrees Celsius (57 degrees Fahrenheit) below the air temperature, FIA said.


Raikkonen won the Brazilian GP, edging Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso of McLaren to win the drivers' championship by one point.
Hamilton, trying to become the first rookie to win the title and Formula One's youngest champion, went off the track on the first lap and couldn't recover from a subsequent gear box problem.
He needed a top-two finish at the season-ending race to guarantee the title without depending on other drivers. It wasn't the first time fuel irregularities have affected the Brazilian GP. In 1995, Williams and Benetton were docked constructors' points after failing inspections. Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard initially lost their points, too, but FIA later reviewed its decision and gave the points back.

[asp_125]

The title was all Hamilton's to lose. Two races in a row all he had to do was maintain station, but his rookie exuberance got the better of him. 'Grats to Kimi for being Mr consistency; it paid off we a well deserved championship.

Edit: protests?!! The silly season begins

[konichd]

So his transmission problem was Hamilton's mistake? He beat everybody this year on and off the track. Granted he made a few mistakes, but as highly touted as he was coming in nerves are expected.

Oh ya, fuck Nascar. :)

[merlotSV]

Well I was really hoping for a Mclaren victory this year until the whole shit hit the fan. I just cant get behind Ferrari, they have been so dominant for so many years I want to see some other people have a run. And even though he didnt win, you have to admit Hamilton has talent! GO BMW!!!

[CYCLE_MONKEY]

Well, Kimi has won more races this year, and if I remember had a couple of DNF's due to unreliability. Hamilton failed to finish in China because him, and McLaren didn't pit to replace his rear which was down to the cord. They should have been called into the pits for safety reasons by the stewards. So Kimi, if he'd had the mechanical reliability of the McLarens this year, would have won easily with more margin.

The FIA will probably fine the teams, and subtract a few or pull the constructors points from the offenders from that race, but that should not affect the drivers points. This would be consistant with the penalty given McLaren the other day for Hamilton's use of too many tires, the way McLaren was only stripped of constructor's points for spygate, and how things like this were handled in the past. And there's a very good argument that since McLaren the constructor obviously benefited from Ferrari's stolen technical data that their drivers obviously benefitted as well (especially since it was proven Alonzo and De La Rosa knew), that their drivers should have had their points taken as well. I'm sure Ferrari will argue this.....and win.

[CYCLE_MONKEY]

As if McLaren didn't give themselves a big enough black eye this year.....
http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=41174

They lucked out their drivers weren't excluded from the title for spygate, when there's no dobt in many people's minds that if the CAR had an unfair advantage, that the person driving it must have too. So, by their wanting to change the DRIVER'S points after the fuel "irregularity" by the 2 other teams not even in the championship hunt, the FIA should pull both McLaren's driver's points for the year for the "stolen-information" irregularity..... There's already precedence for the constructor's points being penalized, so do that and get it over with if proven. Don't take Kimi's well-deserved title away. Of course, this is the same group of French retards that caused the Indy tire debacle because they refused to budge on track layout and let a chicane be put in so they could race without the very valid fear of catastrophic tire failure, so who knows........:scream1:

[konichd]

You just don't like Hamilton do you Frank? :)

[CYCLE_MONKEY]

You just don't like Hamilton do you Frank? :)
Actually, I really do. He's nothing but a class act, and a real gentleman racer, unlike has been seen in F1 in a long time. He's fast, accurate, and makes few mistakes. That said, at no time in history that I can recall has a rookie racer come into such a dominant car/team in their first year. Even Schuey, Senna, Piquet, Mansel, Hakkinen, Fangio, Prost et al, all had to pay their dues in uncompetitive cars for at least a few years, sometimes for their whole F1 careers. Which for some (Zanardi, Andretti), ruined them in F1. I would expect great things from even a decent driver in a great car. Even the crybaby Villenueve did well his first season....because he got into a good (but not great) car.

I'm really impressed with Kimi, as he had very little actual car racing experience (mostly carts) before he got his superlicense and came into F1. Look what he did as soon as he got into a good car. Think what would have heppened if he'd been in the McLaren as it was this season from his debut season. He'd be multi-champ by now.:)

P.S. Maybe you should rename "Angry Marmot Racing" to "Brown Gerbil Racing"? Just a thought.....:)