Matthew Marsh

Inconsistent F1

By Matthew Marsh (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-10-12 15:35

Inconsistent F1 After his victory in Japan on Sunday, Sebastian Vettel now trails Jenson Button by 16 points - with two races to go. Despite a 17 points deficit at the same stage in the championship Kimi Raikkonen won the 2007 drivers' crown - by one point.

In the aftermath of the final round two years ago questions were asked about the Williams and BMW teams not being penalized for using fuel which was too cold (a verdict which would have given Lewis Hamilton the title). Today some wonder how Williams' Nico Rosberg managed to retain his fifth place finish on Sunday despite breaking the rules covering pit stops during a safety car period.

When a crash leaves debris on the circuit or requires corner workers to be near the track the race director deploys an AMG Mercedes driven by Bernd Mayländer - a former professional driver - to lead the F1 cars at a controlled speed. This reduced pace means that a pit stop taken under 'SC' conditions loses less time than usual. Rules therefore prevent drivers from rushing to the pits to gain advantage. In the past regulations penalized anyone who stopped under the safety car - a problem for those unlucky enough to require fuel.

Now drivers have to reduce their speed to a pre-determined level to avoid entering the pit lane too soon. Sophisticated technology combining sat-nav style GPS systems and predictive lap timing with a cockpit display advises the drivers of their pace with a simple plus or minus sign.

The safety car on lap 45 of Sunday's race (to clear up the mess scattered by young Jaime Alguesari) fell just before Rosberg's final pit visit.

The Brawns of Button and Rubens Barrichello had already stopped as had BMW’s Nick Heidfeld. Before any of these pit visits Rosberg was seventh; after all were completed he was fifth. This prompted allegations he had been too quick on his in-lap.

The report from the race director confirmed this as fact and the data shows Rosberg's lap taking 1 minute 39 seconds - compared to Jarno Trulli and Hamilton (second and third) on 1:41 and Raikkonen and Heidfeld on 1:47. Button and Barrichello took 1:45.

However the stewards decided Rosberg had, "from a safety point of view reacted adequately to the yellow flags." Presumably this means he did slow down around the area of the accident. They also noted::"a 'low fuel' message on the driver’s display had overridden the time delta information preventing the driver from being able to accurately follow the timing information."

Curious this given how Rosberg described immediately after the race on the BBC how the time delta information is shown on the steering wheel. Watched again now his pained expression and careful choice of words suggest legal training.

The main problem is that F1 has too often shown itself to be inconsistent with penalties.

No one wants to see race results, let alone championships, decided in a courtroom. However it's hard not to wonder whether the leniency shown to Rosberg might be linked to recent actions by his Williams team.

FOTA (the teams association) - and particularly the manufacturer-owned teams at its core - proved itself a real threat to the FIA's control of F1 when its members were united earlier this year.

Recent FOTA meetings have seen Williams obstinate on technical proposals such as the abandonment of KERS and, more strangely, an increase in brake disc size for next year (with fuel stops banned from 2010 cars will be much heavier).

A weakened FOTA suits the FIA - as does teams run by people who are sympathetic to them. Earlier in the year one of the three new teams accepted for 2010 - Manor GP - was linked with Alan Donnelly (whose FIA work includes assisting the stewards). New rumours suggest the recently accepted Malaysian Lotus team might be connected with Jean Todt - the former Ferrari team principal who remains favourite to win the FIA presidential elections later this month.

Rosberg's leapfrog move on Sunday afternoon cost Brawn the one point which would have secured them the constructors' championship. With two races still to go it’s impossible to imagine them losing this crown but had Rosberg been penalised Button would have gained an extra point as well. As in 2007 that might just be critical.