It’s race day! Hope you’re looking forward to the Canadian Grand Prix as much as I am. Share your thoughts in the pre-race analysis and don’t forget to join us for live comments during the race.
Here’s today’s round-up:
Links
Canadian GP conference 2 (FIA)
Christian Horner and Martin Whitmarsh appear to support having the teams’ radio broadcasts fully available during the races. They say it’s down to FOM to make it happen. Horner said: “From our point of view, all radio transmissions should be available and open.”
Scots honoured in Queen’s birthday list (BBC)
“Former Formula One racing star David Coulthard, from Twynholm, receives an MBE for services to motor racing. ”
Comment of the day
Another stewards call which drew different interpretations yesterday. Scribe reckons the stewards are putting creating good racing first:
What the FIA seem to be doing is making, with the notable exception of Schumacher however the rules were iron clad in his case, decisions in favour of improved racing and fan friendly results. Maybe they should of penalised Hamilton but this is the first non Red Bull driver on pole all season, an the prospect for the race is infinitely more fascinating with Hamilton in front of the Red Bulls.
Scribe
From the forum
F1 Fanatic readers explain their avatars here.
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Scunnyman!
On this day in F1
BMW scored its first Formula 1 win as an engine manufacturer on this day in 1982 – and it happened in circumstances that were both tragic and strange.
That year’s Canadian Grand Prix was marred by an accident at the start of the race that claimed the life of Riccardo Paletti.
When the race re-started Rene Arnoux led to begin with but was soon passed by Nelson Piquet in the Brabham-BMW. As usual the Renaults hit trouble and Riccardo Patrese arrived in second place in the second Brabham.
But Patrese’s Brabham was using the venerable Cosworth DFV engine and not the new BMW turbo. Adding to the strangeness of the situation, Piquet had failed to qualify the turbo car in the previous round at Detroit – and now he was leading the very next race.
Now Brabham faced the prospect of their new turbo car being passed by the old Cosworth car in the dying stages of the race. Or, worse, either or both drivers running out of fuel as they disputed the lead. Fortunately, neither happened – Piquet preserved his lead and led Patrese home for a Brabham one-two.
The Montreal circuit also gave BMW their first and only win as a constructor 26 years later. And this time, both the cars had BMW engines too!
Here are the final laps of the race:
f1yankee
13th June 2010, 0:55
some awesome music at the end of that video clip :D
MouseNightshirt
13th June 2010, 1:11
Epic Murray gaffe:
“He’s going slow there!!”
10 seconds later:
“He’s going slow because that was slow-motion”
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
13th June 2010, 1:26
Ah good old Murray. In fairness, slow-motion replays were probably something of an innovation in 1982.
Tom L.
13th June 2010, 12:08
Yeah, you can excuse Murray for that reason; it was more worrying hearing Legard at Malaysia last year: “And he’s gone off again!” and Martin having to point out that it was a replay, despite the fact that it clearly said so at the top of the TV feed, which *unless I’m very much mistaken*, they can see as well as we can!
Ned Flanders (@ned-flanders)
13th June 2010, 3:18
Haha! Although I was never too fond of his somewhat whiny voice, I’d love to have him back as a commentator, he’d liven up even the most boring races with his gaffes
Ps, I heard one of my favorite Murray moments on a GMIF1P on F1 Rejects the other day:
“Ukyo Katayama- undoubtedly the best Formula 1 driver that Grand Prix racing has ever produced”
Icthyes (@icthyes)
13th June 2010, 1:16
Interesting theory Scribe.
Back in 2008 I thought the best reason for not penalising Hamilton at Spa was that the driver he offended against didn’t finish the race. This weekend, it looked like Hamilton would have got pole anyway even without the estimated fuel penalty of carrying everything he needed to get back to the pits in time.
So maybe there is a shift to holistic stewarding.
US_Peter
13th June 2010, 4:11
As I’ve said in the thread concerning this issue already however, the problem is that a $10,000 fine is really nothing to a driver who earns multiple millions of dollars a year. Therefore the problem I have with it is that it doesn’t really encourage the top drivers to follow this particular rule in the future. I think the other issue is the ambiguity of the “reprimand.” The problem with “reprimands” and “warnings” is that they don’t really carry any clear weight. Does it mean that if the same infraction occurs again that it will be dealt with more harshly? The implication seems to be that it would, but there’s no clear definition of that from what I can tell. The other issue is if a warning is given to McLaren, is that a warning to all teams or just McLaren? What if Red Bull hypothetically committed the same infraction at a future race, would they be dealt with more harshly then as a warning had already been given to the teams via McLaren, or would they then receive the same pointless warning all over again? I’m just frustrated by the ambiguity of the stewards’ rulings, but I DO appreciate the common sense they seem to be applying in the sense that they’re trying not to detract from what F1 is really all about… wheel to wheel racing.
Phil
13th June 2010, 9:34
I think the team got fined, not the driver.
RedBullRacer (@redbullracer)
13th June 2010, 9:47
I agree with US_Peter. I think overall there has been much improvement this year in terms of stewards’ decisions, but there ought to be a clear procedure in the rules regarding ‘warnings’ and ‘reprimands’. It makes sense that, if one team or driver receives a warning or reprimand for a certain offence, then anyone committing that same offence later on should be penalised. But as has been pointed out, we have no idea whether this is the case. The FIA needs to clear up this ambiguity by putting it in writing.
Scribe (@scribe)
13th June 2010, 10:58
2nd COTD yay!
@USPeter I disagree. Warnings and reprimands are a good way of clarifying unclear rules, an the big hangover the current administration is dealing with from the last one is deliberatley unclear rules. For instance in this case, nothing McLaren did was against regulations, so really they can’t be punished because the regulations doesn’t say they should be, merley an FIA memo says Hamilton should have been back to the pits quicker.
I’d say the FIA warnings and reprimands are removing amiguity by telling teams who push into the grey areas whether the FIA is okay with it. If a reprimand is given it seems fairly obvious that it shouldn’t be attempted again, or harsher penalties will be handed out. I don’t think there’s any question about what will happen if people repeat offend, an that almost seems to be part of the point. Slap on the wrist if you push it, but don’t do it again or we’ll punish you.
Icthyes (@icthyes)
13th June 2010, 13:46
In 2008 Ferrari were fined for releasing Massa early in Valencia.
When they did it again in Singapore, they got a penalty.
I think it’s pretty clear that’s how reprimands are meant to work.
It’s up to the FIA to decide whether the rules need tightening or not after the incident. If they don’t tighten this one up, then it might be okay for Red Bull to do it at a future race – according it the rules, at least. But McLaren can dress this up as an accident; if Red Bull do it in the next few races, it will smack of intent, and they might get punished more heavily. Like I said, it’s up to the FIA to tighten the rules or not, and if they don’t, hopefully the stewards ruling at the time will also take into consideration the context of the offence.
GQsm (@gqsm)
13th June 2010, 1:26
Montreal Circuit on google maps. Helped me get in perspective how small the island is that the track is built on.
http://maps.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=South+Yorkshire,+United+Kingdom&ll=45.503174,-73.526709&spn=0.014197,0.018883&t=h&z=16
wasiF1
13th June 2010, 2:15
I agree with Christian Horner and Martin Whitmarsh about that the radio should be available to the fans as they can know what the drivers & the teams are thinking & other team can take advantage of what their rivals are planning.
Hamish
13th June 2010, 2:44
You get a full idea of the damage that was sustained to Palettis car when you see the damage from side on.
KNF
13th June 2010, 3:24
Did anyone follow the Le Mans 24 hours while qualifying was on? Somewhere between Q1 and Q2 I switched to Eurosport and lo and behold, an Audi R15 (driven by Kristensen) was forced into the gravel trap (and barriers)by Andy Priaulx’s BMW…
US_Peter
13th June 2010, 4:17
Not at the same time, but watched it separately. SPEED showed qualifying late. Later on the Art Car retired. Still watching Le Mans live now. Waiting for sunrise. Debating how to watch the finish. Don’t want to get up at 5:30 my time to watch it, but I’m afraid that the F1 commentators may spoil the beans if I try to wait and watch the finish after the Grand Prix. Hmmm. I have to say it’s a good problem to have. Definitely a great weekend in motorsport!
macahan
13th June 2010, 5:31
DVR? Watch the finish before the F1 race? Get up at 10am or so ;) (depending on your time zone that is.. ) Central time here. Very upset today on Speed and Fox not showing Quali anywhere close to live. Was going to find online stream but had to head out on the road for work and pleasantly XM had live radio stream. So heard the quali then later I watched it when I got back home.
US_Peter
13th June 2010, 6:53
Yeah, I think I’ll just have to get up early enough to watch the last hour or so of Le Mans on the DVR immediately prior to watching F1 live.
DavidKongkor
13th June 2010, 6:12
This is the first time in my living memory after watching F1 for the last 10 years or so I’ve seen a car stop in the middle of the tracks after Q3.
I certainly agree that the reprimand and fined is peanuts to the team and drivers as what US_Peter said apart from the ambiguity of the FIA ruling and interpretation.
I think Lewis Hamilton should be given a 5 place penalty on the starting grid as well. This is to ensure such incident does not occur in the future.
We want turbos
13th June 2010, 8:53
I’m going to be accused of british bias but I think the reprimands are the better way to go! Everyone knows now so there is no excuse next time! As for Kovi I just don’t think the mclaren suited him he’s a very good driver, very inpressive for both Renault and Lotus!
RFB
13th June 2010, 13:58
Everyone already knew it before, and drivers sometimes got a small tap on the wrist for being a couple of seconds late (which can easily happen if you have to slow down to let a car past at the end of the lap) . In this case, he was already late for SC1 when he got past S2.
Calin
13th June 2010, 9:57
It is a small fine, $10000, but they couldn’t exactly demand another $100m from the team for the offence!
matt88 (@matt88)
13th June 2010, 10:55
does anybody know the title of the song at the end of the video?
Red Andy
13th June 2010, 11:51
In other news, those of us who remember the abortion that was ITV’s F1 coverage will cringe in sympathy with last night’s gaffe that led to ITV HD viewers missing England’s goal in last night’s World Cup game due to – you guessed it – an advert break.
Although showing adverts during live sporting events is pretty routine for ITV, hopefully they will get hit with a massive fine from OFCOM for this.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/10302816.stm
Scribe (@scribe)
13th June 2010, 14:09
I only remembered about HD in the second half of the game, thank goodness.
Ads21 (@ads21)
13th June 2010, 15:37
On the topic of HD and Sport no HD coverage for F1 until 2012.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/84448
BasCB (@bascb)
13th June 2010, 12:48
This is a nice video and a fun “tradition”. Having a boat race in the olympic stretch, with crafts made from garage leftovers. I would love to have more of those events at GPs. Oh, Williams won from Lotus and everybody had fun.
http://www.attwilliams.com/news/view/1419
W154
13th June 2010, 13:26
The FIA should go through the rule book and determine-for each and every breach of the rules-a standard schedule of penalties that will be applied. In this way EVERY team and driver knows that should they breach any particular rule they will cop the standard legislated punishment aplicable to that offence-reprimand, fine, grid penalty, ban etc.
The added bonus of this system is that it would put an end to the percieved FIA driver / team bias.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
13th June 2010, 14:39
Jeebus. When the FIA penalised Schumacher in Monaco and it affected the race result, everyone was up in arms. But when the only issue a reprimand and a fine to a driver and his team instead of issuing a penalty that would have affected the qualifying result, everyone is up in arms.
Is there anything they can do to win people over!?