Long story short, Mika Salo keeps leaking stewarding decisions to the Finnish broadcaster CMore, most probably straight to the commentator Niki Juusela who Salo has been working with as a commentator himself on many occasions. Today in Sochi, Salo was the driver steward, and right as the cars got on the warm up lap, Juusela started talking about "breaking news" how Hamilton was going to get 2 x 5 second penalties, and that it would be announced "shortly". Officially these penalties were not announced until over 20 minutes later on lap 7. Juusela was also saying that Hamilton had been given 2+2 penalty points, and was pretty much confirming that he would be getting a race ban for Germany. Seemingly these were reduced to 1+1 later, which means that Salo is texting him in the middle of an ongoing negotiation, not even giving confirmed information.
This is not the first time this has happened, as most of the times when Salo is a driver steward, CMore seems to be very well informed on potential penalties well ahead of them being announced. Today was the most egregious example of this happening however, as Juusela almost couldn't contain his excitement upon getting this secret text message (I assume it's text messages). If I remember correctly, he even mentioned that he is getting information "direct from Sochi".
In my opinion this is a terrible thing for the integrity of the stewarding, and should be investigated. However, as this stuff happens in the Finnish language broadcast, probably nothing is going to happen about it. To me it is a bit scandalous, but I could be overreacting. In theory I could clip the Finnish broadcast and add subtitles, if that would be any help.
Mika Salo today with his phone on the table:
Not damning evidence in any way, but I wonder if the other stewards are wondering who he keeps messaging...
edit.
Revised timeline for the CMore video clips (Sochi times):
14:43
-The investigation into Hamilton's practice starts was broadcasted on television at 14:42, and CMore immediately announce that according to their "information from Sochi", Hamilton is about to get a penalty. They speculate that the penalty could range from 5 seconds to a drive-through. There is no mention of there being 2 separate infractions by Hamilton. What's curious about this first clip is how the presenter Mervi Kallio reacts to the announcement of Hamilton's investigation. What she says there is "Ossi, there we got some fresh information about Hamilton's situation". What situation? You cannot tell for sure, but to me it sounds like they could have already been aware about Hamilton's investigation before this moment. After the official announcement, they can now talk about it.
14:52
*no video clip*
-It is mentioned on CMore that according to "information from Russia", the latest "educated guess" is that Hamilton might get away with a monetary sanction, and no penalty will be given for the race. There is still no mention of there being 2 separate infractions by Hamilton, and the situation is not mentioned or speculated on until the next clip at 15:08.
15:08
-As the cars are readying for the formation lap, a graphic is again shown that says Hamilton is under investigation. This most likely prompts Juusela into saying that CMore has obtained information about Hamilton getting a 2 x 5 second penalty, and that his penalty points will be filled. He claims that an official confirmation will be coming "shortly", but it won't come until 20 minutes later on lap 7, after the first SC period is over. Neither Juusela or Oikarinen seem to question why there are two penalties. They only ever mention one practice start, and seem to assume that both penalties come from the same incident, or at least they don't speculate on the reasoning of the double penalty. In fact possible penalties are not talked about at all after Oikarinen's initial predictions at 14:43. No specific rules or previous cases have been mentioned.
15:24
-During the SC period, after the initial replays are done, Juusela returns to the topic of Hamilton's penalty and says they are still waiting for the "official confirmation", but they are still "assuming" that a 2 x 5 second penalty is coming, with penalty points possibly causing a race ban for Nürburging. Again, there is still no mention of there being 2 separate infractions by Hamilton, yet they are expecting a 2 x 5 second penalty.
15:30
-As the penalty is announced, Juusela is clearly expecting the 2 x 5 second penalty, and is initially confused when only the first 5 second penalty is announced. He is possibly heard clicking the FIA website on his computer as he seeks confirmation for the second penalty, which is then given. This is also the first time they mention there being two infractions.
15:32 and 16:17
-A few minutes later, for some reason Juusela claims that the stewards are confirming the 4 penalty points, and he seems convinced that Hamilton is going to get banned from the next race, as if the "source" just confirmed it. He then happens to mention how Mika Salo is a steward for the weekend. From this point on until lap 36, they are convinced about Hamilton getting the race ban. Then at 16:17 on lap 36, Juusela seemingly gets the official announcement of Hamilton getting 1+1 penalty points. I assume this is around the moment the penalty points were officially released? After that, Juusela mentions how they have been getting their information from "quite close to the stewards" during the course of the race, and this information is now getting confirmed.
That is all I can provide. To me, this is an obvious case of stewarding decisions being leaked in advance. Juusela denies that his source is Salo, but at the same time he admits there is a "source", which is obvious based on their broadcast and multiple mentions of "information from Sochi/Russia". With the covid protocols, the paddock is currently awfully sparse, so not that many sources can be speculated on. We know that CMore has no people on the paddock, so it must be someone from outside the production. A closeness to the stewarding decisions is heavily implied.
Edited by Topsu, 30 September 2020 - 01:25.
), we were always warned before hand not to discuss anything about what went on until the decision had been officially posted.
