http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/63994
Well, well what a surprise
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/63994
Well i think everyone involved will be very happy except ron 
I don't think Ron would have been happy to win the championship "backhandedly", Lewis certainly didn't want it that way, they were correct to appeal against cars that were, allegedly, cheating
Here is what I wrote on the Autosport Atlas F1 forum.
http://forums.autosport.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=97643&perpage=10&display=&pagenumber=232
Lets look at the background.
The FIA have for some years displayed an amazing lack of inconsistency and fairness in the application of technical regulations and the sporting code.
This problem pre-dates Mosley, the 13 mad years under Jean-Marie Balestre were almost as chaotic as the current period, if you need proof consider the
banning of the Lotus 88 or Balestre's very personal vendetta against Senna.
For the initial period of the Mosely era things were much better but since the signing of the original Concorde Agreement things have changed. Any
fair observer can see Ferrari & Schumacher deliberately ran a steam roller through the sporting code safe in the knowledge they would usually get
away with it. To me it seems clear that after Indy 2005 Ferrari felt confident enough in its relationship with the upper echelon of the FIA not only
to bend the sporting code but also the technical regulations.
Although we will never know what was really going on the Stepneygate affair brought a lot to light of the inner workings of Ferrari and McLaren.
Although the affair reveals almost nothing of what Stepney & Coughlan were really up to Stepney's leaked letter to the the FIA revealed
details of Ferrari's moving floor and more importantly he alleges Ferrari knew it to be illegal but went to great lengths disguise the mechanism.
In contrast we know Mclaren and Red Bull were using a simpler device with the same function in which all the elements including the pre-buckled struts
were exposed to the scrutineers inspection. This exposes a lot about the differing attitudes of the respective teams. Personally I think Stepney and
Coughlan actions were more to do with Stepney being edged out at Ferrari and wanting to be part of a reformed dream team at Honda.
I am sure Ross Brawn was in no way implicated in this but the rumour that Honda were interested in Brawn would surely must have been well within
Stepney's radar horizion.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of Stepneygate McLaren received a way over the top penalty especially when compared to the FIA's nothing to do
with us attitude to the more serious case of Toyota having and using much larger ammounts of Ferrari IP.
At this point the scarlet tinted Tiffosi and Schumacher fans among you may well be shouting at your screens bellowing for my blood, well actually it
may surprise you but I think in Kimi we have a very worthy WDC, Lewis isn't ready for the WDC and Alonso behaved like an idiot and threw the
championship away. Even the most hardened Alonso fans must see he behaved like a fool instead, instead of concentrating on his on track performance he
applied his variation of the Schumacher Rascasse road block tactic to his own team mate. Alonso may have viewed it as pay back but to my eyes and the
TV audience it went well beyond the pail. At this point the FIA could have either let the team handle it or penalised Alonso by putting back on the
grid (as they had penalised Schumacher at Monaco 2006) but no rather than being seen to be fair the FIA shifted the blame onto McLaren and hit the
team with a fine. In days gone bye I can think of one or two drivers who would have settled the matter with Alonso on a much more direct physical
basis.
In 2002 Max signed off on a dictat that banned team orders in Formula 1. Everyone who has followed Formula 1 is well aware it is a team sport it
always has been since the days of Alfred Neubauer and Enzo Ferrari. Perhaps Max thinks team orders don't still exist and aren't a vital part
of motor racing but everyone else does.
In view of the above bizarrely after Hungary 2007 Max appears to have tried to force McLaren to give preferential treatment to Alonso. It was obvious
to any interested observer that Alonso's troubles at McLaren were of his own making, he was clearly not given inferior equipment or personnel.
In Lewis Hamilton, Alonso was faced with a team mate who was unexpectedly as fast he was, not only fast but brave enough and skilled enough to go head
to head with any of the top drivers in Formula 1, in the end what everybody including Alonso, Max and Ron forgot was Lewis was a rookie and rookie
mistakes and muffed decisions by the McLaren pit wall cost him the championship.
Why Max chose to try and interfere in the internal running of the McLaren team I cannot know ? Others may have speculated it was do with bolstering
his waning personal support within the FIA ? but I am sure that is just unfounded rumor ? and I am sure the president of the sports governing body is
above such grubby tactics ?
That takes us up the Fridays decision on the McLaren appeal against the Brazil GP result, When McLaren decided to appeal the stewards result the FIA
were caught in a three ball rock crusher, nothing they could do would look good or fair. Had the stewards acted fairly after the race in Brazil and
given both BMW Sauber and Williams a stiffish fine on par with that given to McLaren for the tyre infringement justice would have been seen to be
done. instead the original Brazil decision not to punish a clear infringement of the technical regs was issued, in effect declaring open season on the
rule book.
Remember all the teams had been warned that fuel temperatures would be checked, BMW Sauber had previously been issued formal written warnings on fuel
temperature issues.
If the appeal had resulted in a decision that fined BMW-Sauber and Williams in either points or $ without changing the WDC or "virtual WCC"
the FIA might not look quite as bad as it does by refusing to hear the appeal.
The decision to side step hearing McLaren's appeal on very dubious grounds only digs the FIA deeper in the slippery stuff.
I am also deeply suspicious that the week day and timing of the announcement of the decision was engineered to minimise exposure in the media.
The McLaren-Renault IP case looms another poison chalice for Mosley , it will also be fudged and Max and the FIA will look even grubbier.
I take the view that our sport is best run by a decisive dictatorship , but it must be a benevolent organised dictatorship that attempts to make open
and fair decisions on a logical basis. Max cannot continue apart from all of the above because of his personal history he is not qualified to confront
the racism which has crept into the sport this year.
__________________
"The case against Clevinger was open and shut. The only thing missing was something to charge him with."
Joseph Heller Catch 22 Chapter 8, pg. 80
[Edited on 17/11/07 by britishtrident]
Couldn't have put it better myself mate!!
quote:
Originally posted by speedyxjs
Well i think everyone involved will be very happy except ron
quote:
Originally posted by britishtrident
quote:
Originally posted by speedyxjs
I strongly suspect the purpose was to make Max Mosley and his cronies look like fools.