I agree: FOM, FIA or whatever needs to explain how two cars that far can have any kind of relation. They seem to have a sickness called in Colombia "testicular otitis": they can hear you, but they pretend they are pr*cks.
There have been comments on how Massa, at that distance, benefits from the car in front. Perhaps Alonso was using a force field, Star Trek style. Or, maybe, this was not the lap they were talking about. The only solution, if this is not the case, is to clear the field as soon as anybody else comes out.
I protest routinely about comments based on nationality. I do it again on the comment about italian stewards. Believe me, stupidity has no frontiers. I have two nationalities and I am as imbecile in Spain as I am in Colombia.
Poor Alonso!
He reminds me of an old saying: "the guy in the front has all the arrows pierced in his back"...
Alonso hardly made it to the starting line in time for another lap and Massa did not. Perhaps this is what the problem is about: might he have tried to stop Massa from doing an extra-lap?
Anyway, Pat talks and the stewards too. I found extra super hyper funny the remark about "indicators"...
Symonds furious with Alonso penalty
Autosport
By Jonathan Noble Saturday, September 9th 2006, 19:12 GMT
Formula One has become too 'politically correct' and the stewards are making inconsistent judgements, a furious Pat Symonds said this evening following the decision to penalise Fernando Alonso and demote him to 10th place on the grid.
The Spaniard had his three fastest laps of the final session in qualifying removed by the stewards, who said he had impeded Ferrari's Felipe Massa in the session today. As a result, Alonso has been demoted from fifth to 10th.
Yet Renault's director of engineering Symonds firmly believes Alonso did not impede the Brazilian, and in fact helped him gain time by getting a tow from the Renault car.
"I don't understand the penalty, because we don't feel we impeded him," Symonds said. "This is a circuit where we are always trying to get a tow - especially in qualifying. Massa was 100 metres behind Alonso, so he got a nice tow, and I don't see it as a hindrance.
"I looked at Ferrari's telemetry, and [Massa] gained time on the back straight and was quicker into Parabolica than before. He lifted in the middle of the corner. To me, it looked like a mistake but he claimed he was losing downforce."
But Symonds was particularly vocal about the influx of penalties handed out this season for blocking in qualifying, and warned that Formula One is stepping away from its core appeal as a racing series.
"It seems that we have forgotten what qualifying was like up until 2003, when half the field complained of traffic," the Briton said. "We seem to have forgotten what racing is about.
"We are so politically correct now, and I don't know what is coming next. Maybe indicators, to see whether drivers want to go left or right?"
He further criticised the stewards' inconsistency, claiming rivals Ferrari have been getting away unpunished with similar infringements.
"It's difficult to fight like this," he stated, "when you see Ferrari changing direction as many times as they wanted before the first corner in Turkey and nothing happens, and then we get penalised like this."
Symonds also stated that Alonso could well have won from fifth place tomorrow, but the penalty has vastly diminished their chances of victory, at such a crucial stage of the championship.
"We had a genuine winning strategy staring from fifth, and it will be a lot harder from 10th," Symonds said.
"Not only because it is so hard to overtake, but because we are in the middle of the pack and a lot happens there on the first lap."
The full decision by the stewards
By Jonathan Noble Saturday, September 9th 2006, 17:25 GMT
Below is the full decision by the Italian Grand Prix stewards on the matter of Renault driver Fernando Alonso:
A report was received from the race director that stated that the driver of car No. 1, Fernando Alonso, had impeded another driver during qualifying, namely Felipe Massa, car No. 6.
The stewards after hearing the explanation of both the drivers, their team managers, and having seen video evidence and data supplied by Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, find that:
1. Fernando Alonso was on his out-lap and, having been caught by Felipa Massa, did impede him;
2. To impede another driver during the qualifying practice session is an offence. (Article 116b of the 2006 Formula One Sporting Regulations);
3. Such actions may not have been deliberate.
The stewards determine that a breach of the regulations has occurred during qualifying practice and by virtue of the provisions of the 2006 Formula One Sporting Regulations Article 112 order that the best three laps set by Fernando Alonso in the third period of qualifying be deleted.
Signed by Tony Scott Andrews, Enzo Spano and Alessandro Tibiletti
