Lewis and the crane

I haven't written much about Lewis and the crane but I've been doing a little research into it, as it's been pretty obvious that a lot of you are puzzled by this whole episode and many feel Lewis may have got away with something illegal.

The first thing to say is that, as far as the FIA is concerned, Lewis was completely within the rules when having himself lifted out of the gravel and back onto the track. As I mentioned in the paper, the key factors were that he kept his engine running while, at the same time, his car was in a dangerous position on the track and needed to be moved.

As Andy helpfully pointed out, the relevant section of the FIA International Sporting Code is Appendix L Chapter IV.3 which reads as follows:

"b) should a driver be compelled to stop his/her car, either
involuntarily or for any other reason, the car shall be moved
off the track as soon as possible so that its presence does not
constitute a danger or prevent the normal running of the race.
If the driver is not able to move the car out of the potentially
dangerous position, it is the duty of the marshals or other officials
to help. In that case, if the driver succeeds in re-starting the car
without any external help, and rejoins the race without committing
any breach of the regulations and without gaining any advantage
from the preceding movement of the car to a safer position, he/
she will not be excluded from the race..."

Looking at this, it all seems pretty straightforward save for the sentence "without gaining any advantage from the preceding movement of the car to a safer position." Before he was moved, Lewis was right on the inside edge of the gravel with his front wing just inches from the tyre wall. Surely, you would think, he "gained advantage" by being moved from there by the crane?

I put this to Richard Woods of the FIA and this is what he said: "We are extremely happy with what happened. He was in a dangerous spot - he kept his engine running and the quickest and easiest way, under the circumstances, to get him and the car out of the way was to get him back on the track and get him going again and, as far as we are concerned, that was fine."

Another issue here was the role the marshalls played. I have it on good authority that Lewis was at one point being told by the marshalls at Turn 1 to get out of his car and get himself to safety(see pic). Remember, he was the second guy in there after Jenson. After Lewis came Adrian Sutil, Nico, Scott Speed, Anthony Davidson(who managed to stop on the edge of the corner) and, most dangerously of all, Tonio who came flying in late to join the party.

Lewis was clearly in danger sitting in his car(you only have to see what Jenson did to appreciate that. The British Honda driver got out, then climbed over the tyre wall and then climbed onto the wire fencing and hung there, crash helmet on, trying to get above the site of the next impact). If the marshalls were telling Lewis to get out of the car, was he required to obey?

Richard Woods: "Marshalls can overrule the driver but, in this case, it is our understanding that there wasn't a dispute between the marshalls and Lewis. It seems clear that the quickest way for him to be moved out of harm's way, shall we say, was to do exactly what they did. That's what I've got from race control." Woods added that there had been no report of complaint to Charlie Whiting, the race director, from the marshalls about Lewis.

The use of the crane is unique is in this role(a far as I know). One supposes a crane driver is a "marshall". On this point the FIA say he is a "slightly different category of marshall/trackside official."

So that is the best I can do. Just a couple of extra observations:

1) The episode reminds us that McLaren(along with Ferrari) have developed systems to keep their cars running/idling for minutes on end without overheating and the driver being required to shut them down. Most of the other teams cannot do this and their drivers have no choice but to turn the car off.

2) Having said that, however, the incident at Turn 1 also underlines Lewis's competitive fervour. Even though he must have thought he only had a one per cent chance of getting back into the race or scoring a point, he was immediately aware of what he needed to do to give himself that chance. He was also prepared to take the risk of sitting there for those critical few minutes, when he could have been seriously injured, to give him that chance. According to my sources Lewis was gesturing to the marshalls to get the crane, organising people to his advantage. Here we saw the racing instinct, competitive nature and understanding of the rules of a great driver.

No surprise then that many people have remarked that the qualities Lewis showed at Turn 1 on Sunday reminded them of Michael Schumacher(the last man to get the marshalls to help him back onto the track after he had collided with Juan Pablo at the Dunlop Curve at the European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring in 2003). Michael finished fifth in that race after being pushed back on by three marshalls and a tractor driver who had come to drag his car away to retirement. On that occasion, as on this one, the key was that Michael was in a dangerous position and had kept his engine running.

Errr...that's it.

Pics by Mark Thompson/Getty Images at SPEEDtv.com via flickr   

Comments

[Jose Ramon Fernandez]

I still can't believe what I'm reading:

1) The rule above transcribed is obviouly for a car stopped ON the track, and decribe how the car shall be moved OFF the TRACK "so that its presence does not
constitute a danger or prevent the normal running of the race."
Then, "if the driver
succeeds in re-starting the car WITHOUTH ANY EXTERNAL HELP and rejoins the race...he/
she will not be excluded from the race..."
But you are still saying that all was perfecly legal, It's amazing your lack of objetivity.

2) Apart from all the legal (and safety) considerations it was very unnatural to see M. Schumacher pushed by the marsalls back to the track (taking into account that this is CAR RACING), but what we saw last Sunday with the crane was the most strange and against the spirit of F1 racing thing I've ever seen on a F1 track. Is like if a golf player at the British Open who has hit the ball off-limits takes the ball and puts it on the fairway again, don't you think?

[Fernando]

Richard Woods or Pope Benecictus XVI can make a personal reading of whatever they want but according to rules and facts the crane episode was a complete joke.

General Rule: Noboby but the driver is allowed to touch the car in other places than pit lane, team garage or grid.

Paragraph B of FIA International Sporting Code is Appendix L Chapter IV.3 is about exceptions; obviously the situation was exceptional but:

LEWIS' CAR WAS MOVED FROM THE GRAVEL TO THE TRACK. The rule says: "the car shall be MOVED OFF THE TRACK as soon as possible (on/off are terms that sound like opposite, at least in Sesame Street)

THE GAIN OF ADVANTAGE IS AN EVIDENCE and Richard Woods can still try to convince us of whatever he wants.

Was his car the one in the most dangerous position?
-No. He was the one who was putting himself in danger by staying in the car.

Let me use the expression that is so famous in this blog: "Se os va la olla" again

[Carlos]

hi Ed, i will not comment on the FIA article as it seems a bit confusing and may be prone to contradictions "if the driver succeeds in re-starting the car
without any external help".

but i will ask you though and the people on this forum about what is more dangerous, having a pilot strapped in an indestructible car cockpit (as Kubica and Hamilton can tell) or having a Crane wandering around lifting drivers with the potential for another car to skid off the track and hit the crane, or even worse, get underneath the crane at driver's head level?

what are the chances according to you guys that somebody (i'm thinking in Charlie Whiting or one of his colleagues) instructed the steward to lift Hamilton back into the track?

i can remember one ocasion in Monza 04, where Alonso was in a REAL dangerous position, half of the car in the track, half of the car in the gravel, engine turned on, and stewardesses asked him to leave the car.

Schumacher 1 year earlier, in an exactly identical position was pushed back into the track.

in my opinion, i may be wrong but this could indicate that your chances of being helped by the stewards back into the track depends on what is your name.

[Antonio]

I wholeheartedly agree with the above posts (the first three).I would also like to add the following:

Richard Woods: "It seems clear that the quickest way for him to be moved out of harm's way, shall we say, was to do exactly what they did".

Out of harm's way? How come they put him back in a more dangerous place? I saw he was clawed back to tarmac where a lot of cars slid. I thought that was not a safe place. Hamilton would have been hit badly if someone was aquaplaning through that tarmac.

[david]

totally agree with the above comments, things like what happened the other day gives the F1 a very bad smell.

Like we say in Spain we can see your feather duster! or, se os ve el plumero!

Bravo Alonso

[Mary-Ann Horley]

Does anyone who isn't Spanish comment on this blog?

[Francisco de Miguel]

Hi Mary,

Is our nationality the problem or the sound legal analysis of the FIA regulations what bothers you?. If I were English I would be worried by the biased analysis of your best writers, including this one unfortunately.

I like Lewis but one must admit that he is not yet at Fernando's level, sorry Mary-Ann, wait another year for a world championship and cross your fingers that Fernando does not leave the team (if that happens Lewis will show how good he is preparing the car, even Spyker team is looking for that moment!)

Sorry, this is Fernando's year, have a nice day!

[Mark Mugliston]

I agree with you 100% about Hamilton getting back on the track: his cool head and ability (to keep the car in one piece and keep the engine running) provided an interesting aspect to the race - the chase to get back in the points - that we would have been denied if his car had been removed. In a sport that has suffered from some fairly tedious processions, this demonstrated his commitment to "the race" - which is let us not forget - a form of sporting entertainment.

I don't care what the rules say, the lift back on the track didn't, eventually, benefit him and certainly didn't cause any disadvantage to any one else- if you enjoyed the race more, as I did, because of it, then it was the right decision.

Mark Mugliston

[Manolo Sobrino]

Indeed Mary-Ann, we're taking over The Times.

By the way, the crane issue shows that any reckless driver that waits patiently in his cockpit keeping his engine on shall eventually be brought back to the track... this is perfectly legal. Good for Lewis and McLaren.

Yet there are a few things I'm still wondering about last race,

Did Kimi really run out of petrol?
Are McLaren strategies focused only on their most likely to win driver? (I think they spoiled Hamilton chances in the same way they did with Alonso in Canada.)
Will Felipe Massa handle pressure this bland way for the rest of the season?
Shouldn't Ron Dennis and Alonso make
up some kind of PDA?
How's that Red Bull ahead of Renault?
And finally,
Why did I miss Mr Anthony Hamilton after the race?

[John Borrell]

Just one question do this F1 car have reverse if not then could Hamilton have got the car back on the track with out using reverse, if not the he did receive external help. opps disqulified.

[Augusto Baena]

Ed,

"Having said that, however, the incident at Turn 1 also underlines Lewis's competitive fervour. Even though he must have thought he only had a one per cent chance of getting back into the race or scoring a point, he was immediately aware of what he needed to do to give himself that chance. He was also prepared to take the risk of sitting there for those critical few minutes, when he could have been seriously injured, to give him that chance. According to my sources Lewis was gesturing to the marshalls to get the crane, organising people to his advantage. Here we saw the racing instinct, competitive nature and understanding of the rules of a great driver."

This is great. Hamilton disobbeyed the marshalls, and organised that a dangerous cranes manouvers all the way _towards_ the track (i.e. getting closer to the acqua-planing area) in his benefit. The rules are clear: get cars OFF the track, not ONTO the track. Exact opposites.

And you praise him for disobbeying.

I remind you that Luizzi actually hitted that crane (slowly fortunately), so the crane was favouring Hamilton while compromising the rest of the drivers' security. This is fact.

It is another of a long series of pro-Hamilton bias of current rulers of F1.

Next time, the refferee will score a goal with a header after a corner-kick in Champions League final.

Sad

[Pablo B]

As Mark Mugliston wrote:
Congratulation Lewis, you already learned first driving lesson: "to keep the car in one piece and keep the engine running", it should have been hard

Now, let me recommend you another new lesson to learn: "How to keep the car IN a wet track by your own while keeping the the car in one piece and with the engine running". It requires "cool head and ability"

Mark, you also wrote another memorable Lewis Hamilton quote: "I don't care what the rules say". Nice sporting style

[TODOS PALETOS ALONSOBOBOS]

IN SPAIN THEY ARE MORE PEOPLE THAT DOESNT SUPPORT ALONSO THAN THE PEOPLE WHO SUPPORTS LLORONSO (THIS IS THE WAY WE NAME HIM) BECAUSE IN THE SPANISH PRESS IS ALWAYS CRYING WHEN HE DOESNT WIN THE RACE OR WHEN IS OUTPACED BY HAMILTON RAIKKONEN OR ANY OTHER DRIVER!! LLORONSO