Oliver WhiteThe 2008 Monaco Grand Prix hasn’t long finished, but already there are news stories coming out of the principality that add further light to the exciting and intriguing race that was held under changeable weather conditions. Among the most interesting quotes is McLaren F1 CEO Martin Whitmarsh admit that Lewis Hamilton’s MP4-23 finished the race with a puncture. Also, Adrian Sutil has been reprimanded for overtaking under yellow flags, taking the wind of Mike Gascoyne’s sails after he was upset with Raikkonen’s accident that saw Sutil’s retirement.
According to Autosport, Whitmarsh has spoken of a problem with Hamilton’s tyre, perhaps after running over the debris remaining from Nico Rosberg’s sizable accident. The incident that left pieces of the Williams all over the track forced the drivers to weave around the area, and it is thought that this may have resulted in Hamilton picking up a slow puncture.
We had a look, there was a bit of floor damage, we checked and when a tyre comes in flailing. We checked it and structurally it was fine. But he had a puncture on the slow down lap as well. We were lucky in that regard. It was a right rear puncture… probably from debris from Nico’s accident. Martin Whitmarsh.
McLaren are lucky the race was called to an end at the two hour mark and not allowed to continue to lap 78. Also among Whitmarsh’s explanations was one for Heikki’s apparent stall on the grid. Kovalainen’s race was essentially ruined by his failing to leave the grid on the warm-up lap, and the Finnish driver was forced to start from the pitlane in last position. However, it turns out that the stall was not Heikki’s fault.
It was a software glitch that robbed him of control of the clutch before the start, so we had to reset that, so he was very, very unlucky and did a fantastic job. Martin Whitmarsh.
And as reported just now on BlogF1, Mike Gascoyne has asked the Monaco stewards to look at the Raikkonen incident that saw the retirement of Adrian Sutil from a stunning fourth place. Had Sutil finished, it would have been his and the team’s first points and an award justly deserved after the German’s race. However, both Sutil and Gascoyne were summoned to the stewards’ office anyway, although not for what they were expecting.
Sutil had passed a string of cars on lap 13, including Rubens Barrichello, Kazuki Nakajima and Nelson Piquet Jr., all done while the circuit was covered under yellow flags.
The stewards do want to warn the driver of car no.20 as to his future behaviour in relation to appendix H, Chapter 2, Article 4.1.2b of the international sporting code. Steward’s Statement.
The stewards have issued Sutil with a warning, and undoubtedly if the German driver commits a similar infraction in the future will be more heavily reprimanded.
“McLaren are lucky the race was called to an end at the two hour mark and not allowed to continue to lap 78.”
sounds more likely that lewis picked up the puncture while waving at the crowds and not paying attention. it wouldn’t have mattered when the race finished, the problem occurred once he slowed down.
“The stewards have issued Sutil with a warning, and undoubtedly if the German driver commits a similar infraction in the future will be more heavily reprimanded.”
have you watched the replay of the incident? the descision is nonsense.
sutil had zero choice to pass the cars, kaz wasn’t even pointing in the right direction at the time!
and aren’t the stewards supposed to mention if a car is under investigation *during* the race??
Yep, I since have. I agree that the man had little choice but to pass at the time. But are you suggesting that if Sutil is hauled up before the stewards for a similar reason he won’t be reprimanded more heavily, as I stated in the post?
“But are you suggesting that if Sutil is hauled up before the stewards for a similar reason he won’t be reprimanded more heavily, as I stated in the post?”
erm, you’ve lost me sorry. all i’m saying is the stewards were wrong to issue the warning. i’m sure they will certainly act if a similar incident happens in the future, but that’s because they think it was a good decision.
watching the replay, i wonder if rosberg saw the yellows and then held back? he passes two cars during the same incident and then lifts off to let them by, sadly he then loses his nose to kovi. it does look like he was more on the ball than sutil though.
On March 17 I had written in my blogs as follows:-
“Lewis Hamilton celebrated his victory in the Australian Grand Prix on March 16.The date was lucky for Hamilton.
Lewis Hamilton was born on January 7,1985.So,number 7 is lucky for him.Date 16 adds up to 7.
It may be noted that only 7 cars finished the race.
The occult number carried by his name is 48 which adds up to 3.Interestingly enough,he was 23 years and 70 days old on march 16.The age adds up to 3.
It was reported that McLaren’s Hamilton celebrated his 23rd birth day at the launch of his team’s new car racer in Germany on January 7.The new F1 car was designated as MP4-23.The occult number of “MP4-23” is 3.”
Now,it may be noted that Hamilton won the Monaco Grand Prix On May 25(2+5=7).
I was just waiting for someone to throw up Numerology twist on the table :). I had thought of this at Oz GP. The point to be noted is that of his 6 wins 4 have been in races full of incidents and attritions. Maybe he revel on those kind of circuits and races