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[kezza7]

They have to sort out this fuel saving crawl that drivers do when the time is up otherwise we get the situation we are in now.

All they need to do is stop this bloody "qualify on your race fuel" nonsense and get back to proper qualifying where drivers just go for it and drive their nuts off.

Problem solved!

SORTED!

[darwin dali]

and get back to proper qualifying where drivers just go for it and drive their nuts off.

Problem solved!

If they HAVE nuts - not sure about DC, e.g.

[7UpJordan]

and get back to proper qualifying where drivers just go for it and drive their nuts off.

Problem solved!

If they HAVE nuts - not sure about DC, e.g.

If they haven't, I'm sure Mr T would be happy to assist.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=NySN_plfiNI" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[onelapdown]

But seriously, does ANYONE think the confusion over who's running what strategy adds anything to the race?

[darwin dali]

But seriously, does ANYONE think the confusion over who's running what strategy adds anything to the race?

yes

[kezza7]

well i suppose some people (that are mathematicians or scientists or just geeks (not calling you a geek darwin_dali lol)) beleive that calculating the formula: time taken to complete a lap X by the average sped / world champinship points = laps completed before 1st pit stop is fun, seriously though i don't think anyone cares about thinking what lap a car pits, they want to see racing and battling on track not in the pits

[darwin dali]

well i suppose some people (that are mathematicians or scientists or just geeks (not calling you a geek darwin_dali lol)) beleive that calculating the formula: time taken to complete a lap X by the average sped / world champinship points = laps completed before 1st pit stop is fun, seriously though i don't think anyone cares about thinking what lap a car pits, they want to see racing and battling on track not in the pits

no

[al4x]

i like the guessing, cause the more you know and watch practices sthe more you can predict

[onelapdown]

But seriously, does ANYONE think the confusion over who's running what strategy adds anything to the race?

yes

Well maybe I'm just a little old-skool, but I still would prefer to see the cars going as fast as possible on Saturday and watch them race on Sunday. Both are different but equally captivating spectacles, and it would remove the need for a fuel-burn phase or the kind of silliness we saw yesterday. I do like the 3-phase qualifying though, as it stops backmarkers getting in the way.

And by the way, it isn't just sour grapes about the penalty - the McLaren guys were caught bang to rights

[darwin dali]

[

Well maybe I'm just a little old-skool, but I still would prefer to see the cars going as fast as possible on Saturday and watch them race on Sunday.

You get that in q2.

[al4x]

anything to shake up the grid a bit but still give faster cars an advantage is a good thing

[McLaren Fan]

From autosport.com:

Heidfeld welcomes stewards' ruling

By Jonathan Noble and Pablo Elizalde Saturday, March 22nd 2008, 12:07 GMT

Nick Heidfeld has welcomed the Malaysian Grand Prix race stewards' ruling to penalise the McLaren drivers following qualifying.

Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen were docked five places on the grid after the stewards found they had slowed down Heidfeld and Fernando Alonso when going too slowly on the racing line in the dying moments of qualifying.

BMW's Heidfeld felt the incident cost him third place, but the German only qualified in seventh. He will now start from fifth and he admitted it was a consolation for the time lost.

"Yeah, of course. I gain two position - it is better than seventh," he said.

"I felt that I was hampered on my fast lap and obviously the stewards felt the same way. I was impeded and I lost laptime, so did Fernando."

The German insisted the rules need to be looked at in order to avoid drivers going too slowly once they have crossed the finish line.

"Definitely," he told autosport.com when asked if the rules needed to be changed. "I am sure they didn't do it on purpose but unfortunately that doesn't matter.

"I think one option would be to do something similar that we have do on the laps to the grid, where we have seen dangerous things in the past. There is a minimum time there and maybe something similar can be done."

BMW boss Mario Theissen also welcomed the stewards' decision, as he reckons the McLaren drivers caused a a dangerous situation.

"For me, the decision is important because of another fact – the difference in speed between Nick and two slow cars was more than 200 km/h – which was a very dangerous situation."

First off, I should say that McLaren were fairly penalised. Hamilton and Kovalainen should not have been crawling around the track on the racing line; they and the team as a whole can have no complaints.

I agree with Heidfeld on changes to the rules. This and other incidents suggest some solid rules need laid down on this issue, and I would agree with something similar to what DD has suggested. It would need tweaks for sure, but the FIA et al. should have no problems in doing that.

I also agree with Theissen when he flags up possible safety issues. A fast car ploughing into the back of a very slow car - an unusual angle - could result in a big crash.

[kezza7]

Actually come to think of it i like guessing, especially just before the stops as usually there's nothing happening, so that gives us (some) exitement

[vegas]

Its not about maintaining a certain speed on your in-lap its about not impeding on drivers that are on a flying lap. As you can clearly see in the video Webber and Kubica were also saving fuel on the way back to pit but were not penalized. If I were a stuart I would have disqualified them from the whole race : )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3_GjtJ9SIY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[al4x]

they werent on the racing line