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[TheOak]

I would have liked to have seen an apology to Trulli as well in that statement.

But I can somewhat understand why he did what he did if a senior boss in the team told him to do it. Like someone said, he's been groomed to be Mclarens golden boy since childhood. If you're put in a room with the stewards right after the race and your brain is still in overdrive and one of your bosses tells the stewards a lie it wouldn't be the easiest thing to stand there next to him and say your boss is lying. Especially if he's assured you that you'll get away with it.

Edit: Just saw the rest of the transcripts and there was an apology to Truli, well sort of anyway.

[EwanM]

For those in the UK:

Row has damaged Hamilton - Brundle: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsp ... 981373.stm

Hamilton sorry for 'huge mistake': (THE PRESS CONFERENCE) http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsp ... 981273.stm

They are videos.

[scportbilly42]

That'll learn him!! Take the smug look off his face for a while and make him realise that, while we LOVE the underdog in this country and cheered him all the way last season, there's also one thing that we REALLY DETEST in sport in this country. And that's 'not playing by the rules'.. (or to put it another way.....CHEATING!!)'

Diving in football? ... CHEAT!! BOO!! Johnny foreigners do that....! (errmm ...Michael Owen anyone?)

Hamilton is going to have work REALLY HARD to keep the fans on board because at the moment he seems to have shot himself in the foot. Perhaps living in Switzerland for so long is turning him into Johnny Foreigner? CHEAT!! BOO!


The sport was becoming more discredited by the day due to the actions and odd decisions of the FIA over the last seasons. It was also becoming harder to explain to your workmates that you're a 'sports fan' and follow F1. "What?!" they say.... "fekin' Scalextric you mean?!"

Credit crunch everywhere, teams cutting back costs, Honda pulling out. A sense of realism emerging maybe?

All the more important then to kick the cheaters in the crutch and ensure that the sport maintains SOME form of integrity.

[EwanM]

Alonso: McLaren has lied before

By Pablo Elizalde Friday, April 3rd 2009, 13:26 GMT


Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso has joined the controversy over McLaren's handling of the Australian Grand Prix incident, saying it is not the first time the team has not been honest with the FIA stewards.

The Spaniard, who drove for McLaren in 2007 before leaving after his relationship with the team went sour, said this week's situation had reminded him of the 2007 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Back in qualifying for the Budapest race, Hamilton was unable to complete his final run after being forced to wait behind Alonso at their final stop for tyres.

Alonso was then waved to leave the pits, but he waited for some 10 more seconds before he got moving. Hamilton, leading the championship then, had to wait behind the Spaniard and then crossed the finish line when the time had run out.

McLaren said the incident had been triggered by Hamilton disobeying team orders to let Alonso pass at the start of the third qualifying segment.

The incident led to Alonso and Hamilton facing the stewards, and the Spaniard and the team eventually being penalised, with the stewards refusing to accept the team's explanations of the incident.

Speaking to Spanish media on Friday, just a day after controversy erupted over the team lying to the stewards in Australia, Alonso suggested McLaren had not been honest in Hungary back in 2007.

"Of course it reminded me of 2007," Alonso, now at Renault, was quoted as saying by the Spanish media. "It's not the first time they go to see the stewards. It's not the first time they lie to the stewards and, sooner or later, they had to be punished.

"Of course there I lost the championship by a point and in Hungary they played a bad trick on me.

"I read about it on Thursday in the hotel, because I was there all day. I turned the computer on and I read it. Every time there are decisions taken against other teams you don't care too much and in this case it didn't change the result for me, so it didn't affect me too much."

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74209

[McLaren Fan]

Are there are any depths to which Alonso won't sink? Posting his comments is giving them credence.

[Gilles 27]

I think he is justified in dishing the dirt on McLaren given the way they treated him. As a non-partisan Kimi fan (I didn't at all like Alonso prior to 2007), i believe that Alonso is a man of integrity and i would give his opinion more weight than some Team PR spiel, be it from McLaren or anyone else

[McLaren Fan]

I think he is justified in dishing the dirt on McLaren given the way they treated him. As a non-partisan Kimi fan (I didn't at all like Alonso prior to 2007), i believe that Alonso is a man of integrity and i would give his opinion more weight than some Team PR spiel, be it from McLaren or anyone else

So you know everything that went on at McLaren in 2007? The fact is we have only partial information at the moment, and the information we do possess certainly shows it was not all one-way traffic.

[Gilles 27]

I've made an assessment

I know McLaren have more of a history of putting drivers in that position than Alonso does of underperforming. I mean was he just supposed to lie back and take it like Heikki?

[scotty]

Are there are any depths to which Alonso won't sink?

I don't agree with some of Alonso's actions in '07 but like you said, we don't know all that goes on behind the scenes...

[bud]

I've made an assessment

I know McLaren have more of a history of putting drivers in that position than Alonso does of underperforming. I mean was he just supposed to lie back and take it like Heikki?

you got it wrong Lewis didnt lie down and take it ala his sooky outburts after Monaco 07. from there on it seemed as though McLaren treated Lewis and Fernando fairly but to Fernando this was not right as he is world champion and shouldnt be treated the same as some punk rookie. in doing so turned the McLaren team away from him and towards Lewis by season end.

[Gilles 27]

Yup i'd say that was about the head and tails of it. I would have been propper p*ssed if I was Alonso at McLaren in 2007.

You get less testing than your team mate because you are contracted to Renault for a bit.
Then your rookie team mate who is already a McLaren family member and PR dream gets the race drive because Michelin are pulling out and the Bridgestones are about the most perfect tire fro his driving style.
Then you discover that both the chassis and the new tires are not at all suited to your own driving style.
McLaren enforce their symmetrical hairdo and organised fun policy on you and don't grant you default number 1 status despite being double and reigning world champion and your rookie team mate being a rookie!
It went on and on throughout the season with Hamilton, Alonso and McLaren all behaving badly at one time or another but the whole thing could have been avoided if Lewis had gone in as a number 2 and was made to pay his dues like any other rookie!

IMO, Lewis was given every chance to win the WDC in 2007 and didn't whereas Alonso was compromised and still finished on the same points. If McLaren gave him number 1 status for the whole season, they walk away with e WDC in 2007, no question

[Hanwombat]

Alonso: McLaren has lied before

By Pablo Elizalde Friday, April 3rd 2009, 13:26 GMT


Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso has joined the controversy over McLaren's handling of the Australian Grand Prix incident, saying it is not the first time the team has not been honest with the FIA stewards.

The Spaniard, who drove for McLaren in 2007 before leaving after his relationship with the team went sour, said this week's situation had reminded him of the 2007 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Back in qualifying for the Budapest race, Hamilton was unable to complete his final run after being forced to wait behind Alonso at their final stop for tyres.

Alonso was then waved to leave the pits, but he waited for some 10 more seconds before he got moving. Hamilton, leading the championship then, had to wait behind the Spaniard and then crossed the finish line when the time had run out.

McLaren said the incident had been triggered by Hamilton disobeying team orders to let Alonso pass at the start of the third qualifying segment.

The incident led to Alonso and Hamilton facing the stewards, and the Spaniard and the team eventually being penalised, with the stewards refusing to accept the team's explanations of the incident.

Speaking to Spanish media on Friday, just a day after controversy erupted over the team lying to the stewards in Australia, Alonso suggested McLaren had not been honest in Hungary back in 2007.

"Of course it reminded me of 2007," Alonso, now at Renault, was quoted as saying by the Spanish media. "It's not the first time they go to see the stewards. It's not the first time they lie to the stewards and, sooner or later, they had to be punished.

"Of course there I lost the championship by a point and in Hungary they played a bad trick on me.

"I read about it on Thursday in the hotel, because I was there all day. I turned the computer on and I read it. Every time there are decisions taken against other teams you don't care too much and in this case it didn't change the result for me, so it didn't affect me too much."

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74209

Why does he have to but his big nose in!

[8-ball]

Alonso cannot resist having a dig at his former team over the way they treated him. Considering Mclaren's behaviour over the week I don't have any sympathy for them.

[McLaren Fan]

Perhaps all of Alonso's supporters need reminded that he was up to his neck in the spy scandal, refused to associate with anybody at the team except his father, tried to bribe all of McLaren's mechanics with £700 to work for him, and then attempted to blackmail his team boss. What a man of integrity.

[MAD MAX]

Perhaps all of Alonso's supporters need reminded that he was up to his neck in the spy scandal, refused to associate with anybody at the team except his father, tried to bribe all of McLaren's mechanics with £700 to work for him, and then attempted to blackmail his team boss. What a man of integrity.

Link please