31 replies to this topic

[Spoch]

It is the summer break and while counting down to the next gp, I have been watching old races. Having watched the 2007 season again, I seem to think there was somethings not quite right in the last two races. First, how on earth does an established F1 team make that kind of blunder in terms of strategy in a race (China) secondly has anyother driver car experienced the kind of fault/glitch that LH experienced? It is the summer break after all so I can help but wonder, did macca throw the title as part of some deal?

[STIGG]

I don't see this lasting but while it does - he hit the pit limiter. Kovalainen done the same in the next race at Melbourne. But when you lose the WDC having accidentally flipped a switch, you don't publicly admit it.

[/endmysummerbreakf1lessinspiredfanboyworthytrollism]

*he still flipped the switch

[OO7]

I don't see this lasting but while it does - he hit the pit limiter. Kovalainen done the same in the next race at Melbourne. But when you lose the WDC having accidentally flipped a switch, you don't publicly admit it.

[/endmysummerbreakf1lessinspiredfanboyworthytrollism]

*he still flipped the switch

No he didn't.

[STIGG]

No he didn't.

As mentioned above, Kovalainen had a similar 'incident' in Melbourne that allowed Alonso back passed him in the closing laps for 4th.

No so long after, McLaren moved that switch.

[TomNokoe]

Ah the old he hit the pit limiter theory! Took him 45 seconds to find it again, you know!

[P123]

As mentioned above, Kovalainen had a similar 'incident' in Melbourne that allowed Alonso back passed him in the closing laps for 4th.

No so long after, McLaren moved that switch.

In before the lock... No, he didn't hit the pit limiter- the car went into neutral.

[STIGG]

I know I'm not technically correct but I like the painful memories of the '07 season to end with a little comical moment like that for my own sanity.

[Risil]

Brazil 2007, Canada 1991... Only Lewis and Nigel know.

[STIGG]

I simply couldn't resist

[Disgrace]

It is the summer break and while counting down to the next gp, I have been watching old races. Having watched the 2007 season again, I seem to think there was somethings not quite right in the last two races. First, how on earth does an established F1 team make that kind of blunder in terms of strategy in a race (China) secondly has anyother driver car experienced the kind of fault/glitch that LH experienced? It is the summer break after all so I can help but wonder, did macca throw the title as part of some deal?

Mika Hakkinen Brazil 1999 comes to mind.

[olliek88]

I don't see this lasting but while it does - he hit the pit limiter. Kovalainen done the same in the next race at Melbourne. But when you lose the WDC having accidentally flipped a switch, you don't publicly admit it.

[/endmysummerbreakf1lessinspiredfanboyworthytrollism]

*he still flipped the switch

He did, hence he slowed down slightly for around 1-2 seconds rather than coming virtually to a complete stop. Hamilton's gearbox decided to jump into neutral mid down shift and refused to get out of it until the electronic system was reset.



You'll note he presses the neutral button after the malfunction and doesn't go near any other buttons on the steering wheel before/during the failure...

Edited by olliek88, 12 August 2013 - 18:05.

[garoidb]

This thread isn't going to last long, but if McLaren needed to throw the 2007 WDC then how did they go about making sure Alonso couldn't win it?

[DutchQuicksilver]

I guess it's just fate really, to give us an exciting end to the season. The same happened in 2010 and 2012. Alonso and Webber pitting early for some reason, leaving an intense battle in the last race with Vettel for heading the championship. And 2012, for 19 races, Vettel had no issues at the start, yet in the final race HE is the one who gets hit and has to catch up, another exciting last season race.

Edited by DutchQuicksilver, 12 August 2013 - 18:18.

[JimiKart]

Decide for yourself, to me it looks like he hit something...

[Nahnever]

Decide for yourself, to me it looks like he hit something...

Such tosh

[MikeV1987]

Decide for yourself, to me it looks like he hit something...

Looks like his left thumb touched the wrong button, who knows though.

Edited by MikeV1987, 12 August 2013 - 18:32.

[P123]

Decide for yourself, to me it looks like he hit something...

Nah, see the better quality video posted by Ollie K. You'll notice it going from 7th to a box full of neutrals. When it re-engages it does so in 7th and he has to go all the way down the gears.

[fed up]

IBTL

No way could the car be judged to be a clone of the Ferrari yet be allowed to win the WDC. LDM wouldn't have allowed that - no way!

Mclaren cheated, so Ferrari inherited the WCC and WDC by default. The rest was just for the show

[JimiKart]

IBTL

No way could the car be judged to be a clone of the Ferrari yet be allowed to win the WDC. LDM wouldn't have allowed that - no way!

Mclaren cheated, so Ferrari inherited the WCC and WDC by default. The rest was just for the show

It wouldn't surprise me in the least to find out that Max/Bernie had a deal with Ron Dennis, not only was Dennis required to leave and never mind the astro-fine, but Mac had to throw the championship as well...

[Paste]

I always felt that McLaren had been more or less warned not to win the championship after the espionage flare up.

[garoidb]

It wouldn't surprise me in the least to find out that Max/Bernie had a deal with Ron Dennis, not only was Dennis required to leave and never mind the astro-fine, but Mac had to throw the championship as well...

With two races to go, the first non-McLaren was 17 points behind. One DNF for Kimi and McLaren could not have lost the WDC. If they needed to lose, wouldn't they have allowed the championship lead to be reeled in a little earlier?

Edited by garoidb, 12 August 2013 - 20:07.

[Fatgadget]

Where is Slategray?
...He has all the answers on this one...

[velgajski1]

As mentioned above, Kovalainen had a similar 'incident' in Melbourne that allowed Alonso back passed him in the closing laps for 4th.

No so long after, McLaren moved that switch.

Switch can be flipped back in 2-3 seconds which Kovalainen did promptly. Lewis lost 45s or so.

Either Lewis Hamilton is a ****** or ppl who propose theory are

[Spillage]

I see the idea that Mclaren were solely and entirely responsible for screwing up LH's title hopes is still doing the rounds. The title was lost when Hamilton drove into the gravel trip attempting to enter the pitlane. This was a mistake that is not excused by his tyre problems.

Indeed, I've often wondered why only the team gets the stick for leaving him out there in the first place - why didn't LH himself take the lead and come in? I find it difficult to imagine Alonso or Raikkonen would have driven around lap after lap on a delaminating tyre awaiting instructions from the team.

[Tommay]

I don't get why people claim that Hamilton hit the pit limiter when it is quite obvious he didn't when watching the video. He is in new neatural before he hits the button.

I don't think we will ever know if there was a deal to throw away the championship, but the whole China tyre fiasco was a complete joke.

[OO7]

Where is Slategray?
...He has all the answers on this one...

Those where fun times!

[fed up]

I see the idea that Mclaren were solely and entirely responsible for screwing up LH's title hopes is still doing the rounds. The title was lost when Hamilton drove into the gravel trip attempting to enter the pitlane. This was a mistake that is not excused by his tyre problems.

Indeed, I've often wondered why only the team gets the stick for leaving him out there in the first place - why didn't LH himself take the lead and come in? I find it difficult to imagine Alonso or Raikkonen would have driven around lap after lap on a delaminating tyre awaiting instructions from the team.

I can see why people find it difficult accepting that a deal was brokered to throw the championship. If such a deal did exist then one could argue that the championship is not what it appears and is perhaps fixed. So most shut off to the notion, else why bother watching in the first place.

The 2007 WDC had it been won by Lewis would most likely have been challenged by Ferrari, rightly so IMHO. Convicted drug cheats are not permitted to retain their medals because their performance is deemed to have been tainted. The 2007 Mclaren was tainted, fined $100m and all WCC points scrapped from the record books - it is impossible that the same car would then be recorded as the WDC. Impossible!

If the car was deemed illegal and banned, how could said car then win the WDC?The WDC encapsulates the whole sport in the eyes of the public, so an illegal car winning could be argued to bring the whole sport into disrepute.

It makes sense - to some, but not to all

[undersquare]

I see the idea that Mclaren were solely and entirely responsible for screwing up LH's title hopes is still doing the rounds. The title was lost when Hamilton drove into the gravel trip attempting to enter the pitlane. This was a mistake that is not excused by his tyre problems.

Indeed, I've often wondered why only the team gets the stick for leaving him out there in the first place - why didn't LH himself take the lead and come in? I find it difficult to imagine Alonso or Raikkonen would have driven around lap after lap on a delaminating tyre awaiting instructions from the team.

In their rookie year? How can you have a clue about that? The tyre didn't delaminate either.

After Nurburgring where Lewis made such a bad tyre call the team obviously would have told him to gain more experience before diving into the pits on his own initiative.

Of course the mistake is excused by the state of his tyres, he was on canvas.

Lewis had 20 seconds on Alonso and the team frittered it away.

Then in Brazil they gave him the wrong cooling package, it turned out they hadn't practised a gearbox reset with him, and gave him that fail of a short stint on options without knowing how the primes were lasting.

It was Ron who blew it, probably with the stress and emotion of Stepneygate, Max and Alonso.

[PayasYouRace]

And perhaps if Alonso hadn't thrown it off the road in Japan he'd have been champion? But for some reason only Lewis' "mistakes" tend to get brought up.

[scheivlak]

I find it difficult to imagine Alonso or Raikkonen would have driven around lap after lap on a delaminating tyre awaiting instructions from the team.

Still Raikkonen lost 10 places or so in about one lap last year in China soldiering on with tyres that went off the cliff.
And Alonso was suddenly hapless continuing on shot tyres in Montreal last year....

[ElJefe]

They weren't just ordinary mistakes - my hunch is that it was a fix. Probably a deal was brokered with the FIA that McLaren would not be excluded from the '08 season after spygate, provided they didn't win the WDC in '07. The FIA probably reasoned that a WDC won in a car with dubious credentials would do significant damage to the reputation of the sport.

[MightyMoose]

Sigh... Roll on the next race.

Nice try, but there's plenty of other 2007 related threads still out there, and this just has no future.

Closed.