It might be just a routinary check, the fact is the FIA has sealed LH's engine to check it before the Hungarian GP. FYI. Conspiracy theories accepted

Page 13.
http://www.fia.com/germanygp/documents/GER...Race_Report.pdf

Regulations
http://f1.racing-live.com/f1/img/regulations/2008tech_en.pdf

Definitely a routine check, nothing to worry about I reckon.

With this and some other threads of late, I can see several morons pronouncing some words during the next few weeks... these are: Benetton, 1994, Schumacher, traction, launch, control, illegal, FIA, cheaters.

I hope not.

3 cars are being checked, as all 3 were driven by Hamilton to an undeserved victory, expect allegations of:


Fill in the blanks

1)
2)
3)
4)
5)

Where are the easter eggs?

I took a look at the prior Technical Delegate's Reports for 2008, and this is the first instance of this occurring this season.

I think this is to do with Mclaren's new very "on the limits of the regulations" four paddle system.

EDIT: Ah I see people are already discussing it in the other thread.

Officially the engine development is frozen till 2013 but still some teams have been able to further develop their aggregates through loopholes.

Only changes around the engine are allowed to be made. But if an engine manufacturer can prove he has reliability problems, if he feels he should adapt the engine to the standard electronics or in case he can and wants to produce a part more cheaply, he can go to the FIA to request a modification to be made to the internals of the engine. But the performance of the engine must remain unchanged.

The controlling body is the competition, it's up to the FIA is to give the requests their blessings. ''And that's exactly where the weakness of the system lays'', a chassis engineer explains. ''No one will lodge a veto being afraid that the same will happen to him when he comes into the position (of needing/willing to change something to the engine) himself.'' And this would have apperantly opened the floodgates: the FIA can hardly deal with all the requests. Meanwhile the cautious ones start to understand that cheekiness is the winning strategy.

Ferrari is said to have worked on the engine more than was necessary. The competitors are upset because the 056 V8 would have gained around 25 bhp. Already in 2007, before the Belgian GP, the Maranello based team enlarged the valve seat pockets by 0,3 mm with the approval of the FIA. To prevent the valves dashing against the pistons 0,1 mm would have easily done the job. In the winter the cylinder heads, the pistons as well as the oilsump were revised. Customers Scuderia Toro Rosso and Force India benefitted from this greatly.

Recently Renault and McLaren would have been making the most of the opportunity that the FIA has given the teams. Indeed, the Viry-Châtillon engine technicians had to cope with several engine blow ups. And the men from Woking-Stuttgart handed in pictures of blown up engines on the testbench which would justify them working on the internals of the engine. Sound analyses done by the competitors suggest an increase of performance.

The FIA is now willing to thoroughly inspect the engines of the teams by comparing them with an exemplary model. The first team to undergo this test is McLaren. And the scrutineers are well equipped. A new surface-scanner can even detect the smallest modifications made to the combustion chamber and the pistons.

I'm feeling the first signs of upcoming scandal here...

It seems FIA have shot themselves in the foot again by allowing some times to do complex engine modifications they've seem to have gone again against their own rules, they can't allow one team to do it then suddenly decided no other teams can.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/69428

Conspiracy! Conspiracy!

It really is beginning to look like it, and trust them to single out McLaren. If they do find anything awry with the McLaren it will make headlines, while giving others a chance to undo, or at least scale back, their own modifications.

This can only make us nervous. If the FIA find that the engine does not match the original sample engine, they approved the differences, but now as a result of the approved differences the performance has been improved, what will they do?

Bearing in mind Max is still there, and madder than ever.

And if they first adjudicate on the McLaren engine, can the others quickly revert to their original specs and so pass the inspection when their turn comes?

Orin: snap!

only a few more days to wait, they have to have it completed before hungry

It looks like the FIA holds an unconventional views on many things, one can only wonder how they understand the concept of "randomness".

Indeed might be a lot to do about nothing, can't imagine McLaren to be so stupid as to cheat again.

We will have an engine freeze, but some teams can use anti-freeze! What a nonsense. If the FIA wants to impose a technical standard, it should do so and impose it rigidly. An engine with its guts hanging out on a dyno is not evidence that an engine will let go in a race. The engine freeze was always a moving target and was questionable from the start. But if we had a situation where teams were accepting the freeze, why stir everything up by allowing teams to meddle with their engine?

Does anyone else get the impression that the FIA has the collective concentration span of a goldfish? Apologies offered to all goldfish especially if you are reading this.

No, it will be much better to take the time to do it properly, preferably to announce the disqualification just before the Brasilian GP, so that all races scored in between now and then will be null and void for the only team that ever cheated, thereby allowing the true champions, Ferrari, to claim the crown again................................

Except its not mclaren, its mercedes

That really hurt...

It's nothing about "cheating". No-one is expecting any unauthorised mods on the engine, it's whether the FIA is suddenly going to decide that the mods it authorised are now illegal, and use that to make an adjustment to the championships that Ron is in danger of winning.

If they didn't break the rules they've nothing to worry about.

The thing is no one really know the rules...........Previously approved mods could now deemed illegal......

Sorry you can't hear my sarcastic laughter. The massdampers were declared illegal - by interpretation The Ferrari-floor was declared illegal - by interpretation. I am not saying one was correct, the other wasn't. It's just that the FIA takes a lot of free space to ban things. The FIA can always say (and they have done) :'Okay, this particular item is not mentioned in the rulebook, but now we put it in - AFTERWARDS.

Maybe you should use the roll eyes smilie to convey your sarcasm.
Anyway did Renault or Ferrari receive a FIA penalty for their "illegal" interpretations, no so McLaren has nothing to worry about if they didn't cheat by doing blatantly unauthorised mods to the engine.

Is that the rule that the engine is frozen, or the rule that they can modify it?

I don't believe you really have such a simplistic view of it.

The Fia is only firing warning shots... it's ok for Lewis to win races, but they'll throw the (ever-changing) rulebook at McLaren if Lewis wins the championship.. especially now that spygate is still fresh..

If only they could manage to wake Kimi up.. the Fia wouldnt need to be that partial then.. lol ;)

You know life is really nice and simple without the alu-hats, conspiracy theories and the they-are-out-to-get-us complex

I don't think they would cheat blatantly by any means.

The only thing to worry is the clumsy way Mclaren handled last years affair. There is the risk of them doing the same kind or even less modifications than other teams but failing to declare them properly, or stuff like that.

And of course I can see Max coming down hard on them even over minor technicalities.

again you mean?

ahem, the engines are supplied by Mercedes McLaren do no mods on them

Sure, like impeding in Q3, if your car is off the line on the outside of the corner and another car is on the line inside you holding up the car behind, it'll be the other car that gets the penalty. Obviously

Nice and simple.

I like their straightforward style.

I wouldn't be surprised if they found something untoward.

Mclaren are clearly outpacing Ferrari after all and there is a risk that they will win the championship.

Random eh?

McLaren did not cheat. They stole. Just like Toyota, several years ago. Cheating implies knowing the rules, and try to hide the fact that you are circumenventing them. Like Honda with the hidden fueltank, Tyrrel with the 'waterbalast'. But lets not open that can of worms.

I don't think that the FIA will disqualify McLaren, but they can severely hurt the handling of the car by deeming something illegal 'from now on', like they did with the massdampers and Ferrari's floor. Which is fine, if I - and the other followers - can understand the reasoning. The question about the Ferrari -floor ('moveable aerodynamic device') I could understand. The question about the Renault Mass dampers.... well, that was just a mystery.

If the FIA, for instance, would find out that by that mysterious paddle in the cockpit McLaren can somehow create a kind of traction controll (just an example), then would say: 'Okay, you can defend that.'

technically that is incorrect, they never stole anything, some disgrunted ferrari employee decided to send stuff to a mclaren employee without it being asked for

Flav says



so....

who is he on about?

Toyota, BMW, Honda, Mercedes or Ferrari?

Do you expect me to spell out "Vodafone-McLaren-Mercedes"?

There you go.

Mclaren do the engineering and aero and systems

Mercedes make the engines.

I'd guess McLaren and Ferrari.

Ferrari have been top of the speedtrap figures each and every practice/qualifying and race for the vast majority of events this year, and comfortably so. That wasn't anywhere near the case last year.

McLarens recent upsurge in performance may be partly down to a more powerful engine, which would then allow them to run higher levels of downforce.

but then if FIA punish McLaren for that but turn a blind eye to Ferrari where does that leave us?

I'd say Ferrari, afterall, recall this...


Ferrari found loophole in engine freeze

yes, for a moment I thought you mean the McLaren catering business

Renault have made as many changes as anyone, including the pistons.

Doesn't matter, if McLaren are using illegal engines, they are effectively cheating. Same thing if the tyres are illegal, or the brakes or the rims, it's not Bridgestone, or Brembo or Enkei that are cheating, it would be McLaren for using illegal parts.

a conspiracy theory

Unless they're breaking the same rules everyone else is...

So one thing the FIA state is that this engine spot checking is a random event and the first engine randomly selected for checking was Lewis Hamiltons engine.

I guess there was a 1 in 20 chance of that happening. Nothing to worry about.

Funny timing, though, you know, with what else is going on...

what else is going on?

I hope they get banned for the rest of the season, just to see if the administrators can keep this board from going into nuclear meltdown.