229 replies to this topic

[Maranello99]

A cute little birdie came into my room last night, while I was fast asleep. However, she made her presence clear to my subconscience when she started tweeting about "what happened in Formula 1 in 2007".

Hm! An, interesting topic, in any case! So I woke up (something I'm notoriously hard at), turned all ears and listened carefully.

"Oh", she said, "do you remember those last races of the 2007 season?"
"Yes, I do.", I replied naively, staring at the black-bluish sky.
"Did you ever find it strange how conveniently all the events panned out in the end, how seemingly all the justice had been done and how little did it look possible to happen only 2 races from the end?"
"You mean how Hamilton lost 17 points advantage and Kimi finally got lucky after all those years of unreliability?"
"Mais oui!", twitted the birdie. "It certainly looked that way! Would you like to know what really happened?"
"Mais oui!" - I replied in awe!

"The spy scandal was by far the most serious thing ever to act as a potential threat to Formula 1's global integrity as a sport (despite such things happening regularly but without surfacing to public knowledge). Once revealed, it put all the involved parties in a very tricky position. McLaren has just taken on board the reigning world champion driver, the one who beat great Schumi for two years in a row, and they also had the most promising and best-prepared rookie ever to appear in a F1 car. They were a top team, the only real competition to the might of Ferrari. Throwing them out would be a very bad move in many aspects. Races would be boring. Two of the top four or five drivers would not be racing. The TV ratings would plummet rapidly. Money would dry up. All the wrong media (with high ratings) would pay attention for all the wrong reasons. The integrity of F1 would be seriously damaged by the fact that one of the best 2 teams of the whole F1 history deserved to be thrown out of the championship. No, that was not an option for the FIA, although they did not tell it to McLaren!

But, at the same time, the cheaters shouldn't be allowed to win! It would be another disaster that would taint equally McLaren, FIA and Formula 1 and bring the sport into a disrepute that any profesional disreputer could only ever dream of. Of course, it was a very thin line, the situation was very delicate. Different powers, different interests, many powerful egos were involved and there were many chances of everything going completely awry.

At first, the situation looked to be taking care of itself. Ferrari had 2 good drivers, one of them was even deemed possibly the fastest out there by some, and the fastest, very much the fastest car, the one that was maybe not outright dominant at every single race but was competitive everywhere and was the car to have much more often than not. Ferrari were also the victims of the Spygate so their win would be ideal. Really, the WDC title was Kimi's to lose, if his performances in the earlier years were anything to judge by (or, as it will turn out, had they been indeed judged correctly, what they obviously had not). But things got very complicated when Kimi (and Massa, to a lesser extent but also to far lesser expectations) started to underperform and to lose ground not to one but to both McLaren drivers in the standings! Bit by bit, the natural development of things started to favour the unfavourable solution and 2 races from the end the moment of truth has arrived. The politically correct solution simply had to be forced upon all! And it proved to be ultimately a "win-win" case for everyone involved, although not everybody's win merited equally.

Let's take a look: by then, McLaren weren't to be thrown out of the championship and the fine, although huge, was acceptable in comparison with other possible punishments that could have affected 2008. Losing one title was a much better option than not competing at all in 2008.
Hamilton knew he has a bright future ahead, as a very talented #1 in a top team, with their full support. Also, his first title, whenever it comes, would not be tainted as being won in a car that was a product of another team's know-how stolen by illegal espionage act.
Alonso was in so much trouble with McLaren that he merely concentrated on getting out...and probably did not mind McLaren being dealt the shortest straw. In any case, his chances did not depend solely on himself as his points deficit was already significant.
Ferrari was the great benefiter. The team title was already given to them by McLaren's disqualification from the WCC. The WDC was another huge gift, as they were aware that, in normal circumstances, they would have never won it with the drivers they had.
Massa had nothing to lose nor to gain, but a win in front of his home audience. But he already won there and there was no chance he would be the one standing in the way of a Ferrari WDC victory. He knew his role, as he openly spoke many times later.

Of course, it helped that Ferrari had an absolutely dominant car in the latter part of the season."

"Did Kimi know?", I asked, naively again, probably because I was still sleepy.

"I don't know, even if he did, he never probably told it to himself, let alone anybody else. Anyway, the stage was set, now the show had to be performed, in front of the whole world, but, as the Stratford's most famous son once said, "the whole world's a stage" and a circus like Formula 1 has always been thriving on a good controversy. Come the China GP Sunday and the rain fell. It's always a good thing because nothing ever looked too weird on rainy occasions. Come the Hamilton's pit time (way to late), it was easy to make an intentional mistake and to concede the first 10 points. Then in Brazil, all the pieces of the puzzle fitted to perfection. Ferrari had a vastly dominant car, Massa played his team player part perfectly, Kimi also had a good race, Alonso did the maximum he was allowed to (he did not hurry) and Hamilton eliminated himself exactly at the right moment when a well-executed intentionally bad strategy for the remainder of the race could have prevented him from scoring 5th place, while not arousing much suspicions. So, by default (partly called „Massa's Monza retirement“), Kimi got the title that he was never able to win fairly before or since, and Ferrari got gifted the WCC some time earlier (in fact, the WCC was NOT gifted as there's no doubt that McLaren deserved some kind of penalty). It was a WDC victory so hollow and the whole affair so dirty that the whole 2007 season should better be completly erased from the history books. It was a staged game and not motor racing. But don't expect anything to change now.

But that was only the beginning! The 2008 could have been a year of redemption. For all. For Kimi as had an opportunity to prove that he can win the title on merit. Not that the outside world knew about it, but Ferrari, who signed him as a Schumacher-type superstar dominator and who were paying him a lot of money, knew how indebted to them Kimi was. A year of redemption also for McLaren, for they paid the price for their dirty deeds and were ready to start clean anew with a cleared name. And finally, for Ferrari, to prove to themselves that they can win on merit and that their team-reorganization activities and decisions since 2005 were right.

The season started, Ferrari again built the best car, in fact the one even better than the F2007, they built a real, dominant world beater in the F2002 or F2004 mould – if only their drivers knew how to use it. The season started well for them and then Kimi fell apart beyond repair. In a desperate move to win, Ferrari backed Massa, a natural if unwilling #2 – and we know that the #2s never win, just look at Webber last year - and the PR department fabricated a nice little smokescreen story of the wrong suspension development, knowing that fans being fans, they would swallow any story that absolved their hero of guilt."

"You want to say that the suspension development did not hurt Kimi?"

"Get yourself together! He had 4 races with the new suspension and 13 with the old system and won mere 2. Did you really swallow the story? It's not a shame, my friend, many swallowed it but many also misuse it. The tyre heating excuse became so successful that Massa used it last year, so it's not completely worn down yet. It doesn't make it true, though. But the guy who invented it deserved a Nobel Prize for marketing, if such one existed."

"But why did Ferrari need that excuse? Did they fabricate it?"

"They wanted to justify their decisions. How would it look like if they publicly admitted that they were naive enough to be sold a faulty product for huge money by those Robertson guys back in 2005, when McLaren's great car was used as a marketing tool by those English virtuosos? But behind the closed doors, Kimi's fate was sealed. Ferrari knew how badly Kimi flopped in BOTH 2007 and 2008 and simply had to act quickly to get a grip on a top driver again. Enter Alonso! And of course, Santander money was by no means a surplus but don't you think even for a moment that it was a decisive factor. Santander is just a sponsor, just a replacement for all those Marlboro logos on the cars. Ferrari want results first. It's not the 1990s all over again. Alonso is just as much a pay driver as Kimi or Schumacher were when Ferrari's sponsor Philip Morris was paying their salaries. I don't remember anyone objected back then but maybe it's because I'm just a bird with a short memory!"

"Didn't the second half of 2009 help? That Spa win and the podiums...?"

"Don't be a fool! The Spa victory was as undeserved as possible in this part of Universe! What do you think, why did the FIA take special care to emphasise the first corner run-off rules (and how the run-off must not be used) before the 2010 race? Cheating put Kimi in a position where he could have used KERS to pass and KERS to protect himself from being passed. What Kimi did was already illegal in 2009 – you remember that he wasn't avoiding any accident at La Source – but his eventual win changed nothing at the top of the scoreboard. Noone had anything real to gain so nobody complained. Not even Force India. They were so overwhelmed with 2nd place and feared Ferrari's political power that they abstained from any further actions. Indeed you noticed the lukewarm welcome of the victory on Ferrari's part."

"Wasn't it so because they already decided to fire Kimi?"

"The main reason was that Ferrari honestly felt that this was not a genuine victory. It was a gift and they knew it. Anyway, Kimi's fate was sealed much earlier because no Ferrari insider was prepared to forgive him the 2008 fiasco – just as Frank Williams never forgave Damon Hill the poor 1995. The whole Kimi tenure was a disaster superficially saved by the Spygate with that silly „title“ of 2007. All in all, this is a story that overshadows the 1994 Benetton traction control affair in the same manner as the full Moon does to the Sun when they find themselves on the same azimuth. Mind you....

Just take a look at this: Kimi spent 8 full years driving for the 2 top teams of the era. During that period, only 3 years passed with those two teams not winning the WDC. Yet Kimi has only one gifted WDC to show. Can you remember any top driver with such a low striking rate?“

„Oops, you got me here! I can't remember. Maybe Coulthard? OK, he was not a creme de la creme....obviously Striling Moss, as we know he never won the title but he did not enjoy such a long spell in top teams.“

„You see? And do you know why was it so with Kimi?“

"Bad luck, ka-boom engines, usual suspects?“

„No, the reason is, as the wise man Occam once taught us, very simple: Kimi has simply never been a top-driver material. Here we deal with a very special case, a very special manipulation. For the very first time, the F1 teams were sold a marketing product under the etiquette of a top driver. Those Robertson guys really know their trade. Mind you – Kimi was a very gifted F1 driver but never, by any means, was he in the top class. But Robertsons sold him as such, then the good McLaren and Ferrari cars did the rest and when he was exposed (and they knew he would be), they played this WRC charade, while scooping all the money they could over the years – mostly because they knew that Kimi as a marketing product had quite a limited shelf life. He was never paired with a top driver (forget the Montoya jokes) and was even beaten by some pretty average guys. Also, isn't it a strange coincidence that, despite spending five years there, he was the only McLaren's no. 1 driver not to win the WDC over the past 16 years? Since 1997, McLarens looked either slowest or least reliable (or both) exactly during those five Kimi years. A coincidence?“

„But McLaren wanted him to sign for 2010?!?“

„Of course! They wanted him as a #2 driver to Hamilton. Just as Red Bull wouldn't object to Kimi supporting Vettel. Isn't it obvious? Kimi was exposed as a non-top driver but he was still good enough to be a great #2 (and I tweet it as a compliment, not as a criticism, no, not by any means!). But that would be another humiliation (and would drop the earnings) so the Robertsons simply put the price tag as high as necessary for McLaren to refuse it. They handled the whole affair very skilfully, it must be said, but we already know that they do it that way. Kimi was their business project and they extracted the maximum it could offer to their bank accounts. And before you ask me why Whitmarsh paid so much lip service to Kimi, what else but sweet lies could have he used to get his #2?

Did you notice one peculiarity? Some of Kimi's fans, a good part of them, I must say, are by far the most vocal, militant and intolerant fans you will ever encounter. Do you know why? It's simply because they know all this all too well. Attack is the best defense, my friend! Their tactics is simple: make a big noise, make up any kind of false argument, openly attack others in order to provoke the choleric reaction that would prove that all the fans are the same, that their lies could not be proven false, etc. It's a Macchiavelistic approach borne out of frustration but it cannot change the truth and that makes them even more frustrated and aggressive. It's a vicious circle. However, soon they will be left out in the cold to bow in front of their golden calf. The writing's on the wall.

You obviously noticed their peculiar kind of logic and certainly laughed at it as much as I, a humble bird, did: Massa should be believed when he says he couldn't heat the tyres but he should not be believed when he says he let Kimi win in Brazil in 2007. Alonso should be believed when he says that McLaren was the best car in 2007 (despite not driving a Ferrari) but he should not be believed when he says he knew nothing about the Singapore 2008 plan. Cross-season comparisons are OK when Domenicalli or Robertson(!) say that Kimi would have done the same as Alonso in 2010 but they are forbidden when they involve comparisons of Kimi and Alonso with Massa. Ferrari should be believed when an unnamed source allegedly says to a Finnish(!) paper that Kimi won Brazil 2007 on merit but they should not be believed when they congratulate and thank Massa for perfectly played team game after that very race. The only thing they think should never be believed is the truth, if it's incovenient. Just look how they twist the 2008 season: they blow up this silly and in the end completely insignificant „suspension affair“ so much as if Kimi had dominated with the old suspension and not won mere 2 out of 13 races with it. Expect more of the revisionist history from them these days, it's their tactics to stray the attention away from the failure of their idol. Funny folks, those Kimi fans! And before you tell me that Alonso did not win the title in his first year with Ferrari, just compare the cars. May I give you a hint? The F10 was basically a F60 without KERS but with DDD. Nothing more and with testing banned, Alonso could only do as much as possible. And he duly redefined what's possible in a way nobody was able to do since Senna in 1993 or Schumacher in 1996/1997. Anyway, I digress....“

And then, the little bird flew away to the early morning rising Sun, direction de Paris, tweeting merrily as she exited the window. Was it a dream? Surely that's pure fantasy. The very idea of the FIA manipulating the championship is just too ridiculous....The very idea of Kimi not being a top driver is just too ridiculous as well.

Tweet, tweet....

[alg7_munif]

Too long and too old, read through a few paragraph then got bored. Is there anything that you want to point out that hasn't been discussed before here?

Edited by alg7_munif, 10 February 2011 - 14:50.

[dau]

Holy ****, a talking bird!

[cilurnum]

Looks as though someone is pretty worried that Raikkonen might come back. Personally, I doubt it no matter how logical I think it is for the interested parties, but nevertheless, someone is worried.

Basically, the article tells us that Raikkonen is no good, and any races or the championship he won were down to pure luck and to the car. He did absolutely nothing. We've heard it all before.

I don't know why we get these kinds of ludicruous posts where Raikkonen is concerned. There's been a few, but this takes a few biscuits short of a full tin.

[Zava]

Looks as though someone is pretty worried that Raikkonen might come back. Personally, I doubt it no matter how logical I think it is for the interested parties, but nevertheless, someone is worried.

Basically, the article tells us that Raikkonen is no good, and any races or the championship he won were down to pure luck and to the car. He did absolutely nothing. We've heard it all before.

I don't know why we get these kinds of ludicruous posts where Raikkonen is concerned. There's been a few, but this takes a few biscuits short of a full tin.

thanks for summing up his "tl;dr" type post.
yeah, Raikkönen is typically the kind of guy who gets his wins as a gift, and not the one who has to give away them...

[Mastah]

The best part:

The F10 was basically a F60 without KERS but with DDD.

[SennaHolic]

That bird sure talks a lot, must be a talking magpie. In the end Kimi is living the life that most of us wish.

[Mekola]

Even in that case Kimi earned a superb lifestyle with this.

[metz]

Holy ****, a talking bird!

For Chrismas, my son sent us a wondeful talking bird from South America.
It was amazing, big and colourful.
Few days later, he called to see how we liked the bird.
"It was delicious" I told him.
He was shocked. "What, you ate the bird? That bird could fluently speak 5 languages."
I said "Well, then. It should have said something."

[Trust]

What a silly thread. Please lock it and save us all from going mental.

[TheNewStig]

A bird on LSD.

[BRK]

If there's a point you're trying to make surely there's a better way to get it across than an absurd monologue..?

[showtime]

And there were people who thought one thread could keep 2007's **** locked. Cute isn't it?

[brett_sequeira]

a bird that talks about kimi and ferrari

dude why are you wasting your time here you got a gold mine on your hands

[beute]

cute ;>

it would've been easier to simply maniupulate parts of the car so it doesnt make it to the finish line, or a mistake in qualyfing or or or.

so many easier and less "obvious" choices to do that kind of stunt, all the while hoping that kimi actually finishes infront of alonso twice, who compared to hamilton, had no car problems at all, but still was infront of kimi in the standings.


next you're gonna tell me abu dhabi was staged because it would've been a shame if alonso wins because of team orders...
Vettel had the exact same restrictions as kimi did.

[Baddoer]

When I spotted word "kimi" I decided that thing isn't worth reading at all

[AdamM]

If you're finished, could you return to the loony bin?

[Zava]

cute ;>

it would've been easier to simply maniupulate parts of the car so it doesnt make it to the finish line, or a mistake in qualyfing or or or.

so many easier and less "obvious" choices to do that kind of stunt, all the while hoping that kimi actually finishes infront of alonso twice, who compared to hamilton, had no car problems at all, but still was infront of kimi in the standings.


next you're gonna tell me abu dhabi was staged because it would've been a shame if alonso wins because of team orders...
Vettel had the exact same restrictions as kimi did.

this, +the japanese gp where everyone but ferrari got the instructions about wet tyres. why would they do that if they wanted them to win?

[flyer121]

More logical would be ...

... Kimi won 2007 because McLaren agreed to blow their title bid once caught - fair enough !
.... then in 2008 since Kimi got a favor last year, repaid the loan with interest to McLaren & Hami !!
.... but to make matters worse when Hami looked like he couldnt even manage to grab the "on the platter" title in 2008 , services from Piquet and Glock had to be mustered in at short notice !!

But hey - who am I to refute the lil birdie

[marcoferrari]

In world of Formula One is anything possible... Remembering the crashgate with Mr. Piquet junior involved? Who would imagine a teamchief can order his driver to crash? And it really happened as Briatore and Symonds ran lately into trouble with courts...

Edited by marcoferrari, 10 February 2011 - 15:56.

[FenderJaguar]

obvious troll is obvious, but anyway, what a beautiful plot so what have happened if Kimi had made one mistake in the last 2 races or had a mechanical failure...oops

[BillBald]

If you're finished, could you return to the loony bin?

No need. Loony bins have broadband internet so that inmates can express themselves on F1 forums.

Sorry, need to go now. Time for my medication.

[Vids21]

LOLWUT. This is like the only normal reaction I can give to this piece.

[fed up]

Too long and too old, read through a few paragraph then got bored. Is there anything that you want to point out that hasn't been discussed before here?

+1

Too long

[flyer121]

The very idea of Kimi not being a top driver is just too ridiculous as well.

Tweet, tweet....

There you said it yrself mate !

PS: Finally managed to fully read er .. glance over the drivel.

[STIGG]

3,010 words. Luckily MS word done the hard work there.

Due to it appearing that you signed up to post such a lengthy piece regarding this outdated topic I get the impression it's a rant.

I avoid such threads like the plague but with a misleading title was tricked into entering this one.

Not sure what the conditions are for the nostalgia forum, but perhaps we could fast the '07 season's entrance and rid it from RC? Although that's a nice place, so maybe we could introduce a purpose built quarantine section?!


Anyway, 3 seasons have since past and another approaches. I think it's time to move on buddy!

[Hezz]

When I spotted word "kimi" I decided that thing isn't worth reading at all

[F1ultimate]

[metz]

If I had to guess, I'd say the bird was a cuckoo....

[Garagiste]

I'll give you the same critique my old politics teacher gave a classmate: "Very long, and quite pointless".

[Sausage]

[motorhead]

Someone has too much time and nothing to do. I suggest writing a novel...

[Tufty]

Someone has too much time and nothing to do. I suggest writing a novel...

I think he just gave us the first chapter. Chapter two might be about when he starts to come to terms with his addiction to shrooms or some other hallucenegenic drug...

[WestMcLaren99]

NOBODY CARES!

TL;DR

Kimi Raikkonen drives cars. A bunch of other people do too. Others make the cars and manage the events.

[OneAndOnly]

[gm914]

Next time, keep your window closed....

[RoutariEnjinu]

A sock puppet account for a regular poster I bet. Mods could match the IP..

[2ms]

The obsession with Kimi isn't going to end until someone else at Ferrari wins a WDC. All these trolls, in my experience, are basically people who can't stand that "their" driver (Alonso, cough) isn't the greatest driver in Ferrari history (the way they were hoping they'd be able to say when he got in 2-season-developed F10 last year)).

So in lieu of being able to talk about how wonderfully their driver is doing (since they can't), they spend their time here trying to whitewash history. "Kimi wasn't actually good blah blah blah". It's not going to end until Alonso does something. You just have to learn to ignore them. *goes back into ignore mode*

[Maranello99]

IMHO, as the official results cannot be changed, it's very important to spread the truth about the 2007 season. Despite the official books, it was a null and void season and Kimi Räikkönen never won any title that year. Let's hope journalists around the world follow the lead of some of their colleagues and spread the truth that must never be forgotten.

Edited by Maranello99, 10 February 2011 - 21:41.

[gm914]

IMHO, as the official results cannot be changed, it's very important to spread the truth about the 2007 season. Despite the official books, it was a null and void season and Kimi Räikkönen never won any title that year.

tl;dr

[Vesuvius]

IMHO, as the official results cannot be changed, it's very important to spread the truth about the 2007 season. Despite the official books, it was a null and void season and Kimi Räikkönen never won any title that year.

biggest bulls*'t ever written. Kimi won that title fairly (unlike Hamilton and Alonso would have because they used dirty tricks against each other etc), Kimi was the best driver that season as he won most races from them all.Alonso and others has said that whoever has the most points after the season has ended is the a worthy champion! the truth is 2007 season was one of the best ever in history of formula 1, four drivers in two best teams fighted for the title till the end of the season and three scored more then 100 points (neverever happened before and after in formula 1).you clearly have thing or two againts Kimi.

Edited by Vesuvius, 10 February 2011 - 21:51.

[PayasYouRace]

IMHO, as the official results cannot be changed, it's very important to spread the truth about the 2007 season. Despite the official books, it was a null and void season and Kimi Räikkönen never won any title that year. Let's hope journalists around the world follow the lead of some of their colleagues and spread the truth that must never be forgotten.

If only we could all rewrite history to ignore results we don't like. Let's see...

IMHO, as the official results cannot be changed, it's very important to spread the truth about the 2010 season. Despite the official books, it was a null and void season and Sebastian Vettel never won any title that year. Let's hope journalists around the world follow the lead of some of their colleagues and spread the truth that must never be forgotten.

IMHO, as the official results cannot be changed, it's very important to spread the truth about the 2009 season. Despite the official books, it was a null and void season and Jenson Button never won any title that year. Let's hope journalists around the world follow the lead of some of their colleagues and spread the truth that must never be forgotten.

IMHO, as the official results cannot be changed, it's very important to spread the truth about the 2008 season. Despite the official books, it was a null and void season and Lewis Hamilton never won any title that year. Let's hope journalists around the world follow the lead of some of their colleagues and spread the truth that must never be forgotten.

IMHO, as the official results cannot be changed, it's very important to spread the truth about the 2005 and 2006 seasons. Despite the official books, they were null and void seasons and Fernando Alonso never won any titles those years. Let's hope journalists around the world follow the lead of some of their colleagues and spread the truth that must never be forgotten.

(Ooooh I bet that one hurt)

...

Repeat back to:

IMHO, as the official results cannot be changed, it's very important to spread the truth about the 1950 season. Despite the official books, it was a null and void season and Guiseppe Farina never won any title that year. Let's hope journalists around the world follow the lead of some of their colleagues and spread the truth that must never be forgotten.

[marcoferrari]

IMHO, as the official results cannot be changed, it's very important to spread the truth about the 2007 season. Despite the official books, it was a null and void season and Kimi Räikkönen never won any title that year. Let's hope journalists around the world follow the lead of some of their colleagues and spread the truth that must never be forgotten.

I think Räikkonen did a better job in McLaren (2003, 2005), he wasn t the same during Ferrari years... I world say a world champion in a "wrong" year... In my opinion Lewis was "tha man" in 2007...

[Maranello99]

I think Räikkonen did a better job in McLaren (2003, 2005), he wasn t the same during Ferrari years... I world say a world champion in a "wrong" year... In my opinion Lewis was "tha man" in 2007...

Yes.
In fact, nobody was the man of the 2007 but the outcome was not decided on track but by the green table.

[dau]

IMHO, as the official results cannot be changed, it's very important to spread the truth about the 2007 season. Despite the official books, it was a null and void season and Kimi Räikkönen never won any title that year. Let's hope journalists around the world follow the lead of some of their colleagues and spread the truth that must never be forgotten.

Coming up next: How the evil Lizard Men plan to enslave humanity by disguising themselves as Team Lotus engineers and how you can stop the invasion by sending 1000$ to my bank account.

[Tenmantaylor]

Havn't you heard?

Edited by Tenmantaylor, 10 February 2011 - 22:06.

[Fastcake]

I've read this post threee times today and I've finally come to accept I did not inhale the fuel I split this morning. Wow

[Johnrambo]

This is the same old nutcase with a sick obsession on KR that pops up every three months with a new nick..

[bourbon]

"The spy scandal was by far the most serious thing ever to act as a potential threat to Formula 1's global integrity as a sport (despite such things happening regularly but without surfacing to public knowledge). Once revealed, it put all the involved parties in a very tricky position. McLaren has just taken on board the reigning world champion driver, the one who beat great Schumi for two years in a row, and they also had the most promising and best-prepared rookie ever to appear in a F1 car. They were a top team, the only real competition to the might of Ferrari. Throwing them out would be a very bad move in many aspects. Races would be boring. Two of the top four or five drivers would not be racing. The TV ratings would plummet rapidly. Money would dry up. All the wrong media (with high ratings) would pay attention for all the wrong reasons. The integrity of F1 would be seriously damaged by the fact that one of the best 2 teams of the whole F1 history deserved to be thrown out of the championship. No, that was not an option for the FIA, although they did not tell it to McLaren!

They DID throw McLaren out of the WCC race for their cheating and the unfair advantage it gave the entire organization, including their drivers.

Despite the DSQ of McLaren, F1 didn't dry up and cease to happen.

The aspect that needs to be broadcast is not that some other driver won the WD championship, but that both McLaren drivers should have been disqualified and they weren't. (Very likely the poster's point). Well lots of stuff happens in F1 that shouldn't.

Next.

Edited by bourbon, 10 February 2011 - 22:29.

[Fatgadget]

Too long and too old, read through a few paragraph then got bored. Is there anything that you want to point out that hasn't been discussed before here?

2007 will be ingrained into the mindset of modern day F1 folklore that's for sure.