Quote: McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen were both demoted five places on the starting grid for Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix for obstructing other drivers during Saturday's qualifying.
The two had qualified on the second row with the Finn third fastest and the Briton fourth. Following the penalties, Kovalainen will start from the fourth row of the grid with Hamilton in the fifth row seriously compromising their chances of winning the race. The sanctions followed protests from Renault driver Fernando Alonso and BMW-Sauber's Nick Heidfeld that the two McLarens obstructed them as they attempted to drive out of the pits near the end of the final qualifying session. The International Automobile Federation ruled that Kovalainen had obstructed Alonso and that Hamilton had obstructed Heidfeld.
Toyota's Jarno Trulli and BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica will now start from the second row of the grid behind the two Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen.
I wrote up a big reply, but it dissapeared earlier.
I basically said one good thing that comes out of the penalty is webber starting ahead of them after an impressive qualifying session, and that it'll be good to see the coverage at BBC in the future instead of ITV (hopefully meaning HD broadcasts for every race).
Oh and that due to the dangerous issues at the end of qualifying (with some drivers slowing to a crawl to preserve fuel and others zipping past them at 200kph on their hot lap) we probably won't see that qualifying format ever again. Perhaps we'll see a top 10 shoot-out, something like the V8's.
PS. Channel 10's coverage of qualifying sucked arse, as per all of their F1 coverage. They cut out the first 2 minutes of each qualifying period, and then cut short the drivers conference at the end... AND it started 15 minutes late.
I should have learned by now, but no... Yet again C10 sees fit to put the F1 on at 11pm, something like an 8 hour delay. Whats so wrong with showing it live?
I rant because on my homepage (igoogle with lots of news headlines) I saw who won. This will be a lot less enjoyable for me now.
On that note, if you ever do want to watch it live, here's the live ITV stream. Via the website it's only accessible by residents of the UK, but a direct link to the feed will let anyone watch...
Quote from ResLo;341801: I should have learned by now, but no... Yet again C10 sees fit to put the F1 on at 11pm, something like an 8 hour delay. Whats so wrong with showing it live?
just a guess, but maybe complete and utter lack of interest on behalf of the majority of the television owning population?
Quote from paladin;341808: just a guess, but maybe complete and utter lack of interest on behalf of the majority of the television owning population?
The largest number of television viewers and at-track spectators for the Melbourne GP in three years would probably disagree with you.
Australian's love motorsport, which attracts the second highest number of television viewers of any sport broadcasted in the country, behind AFL.
Unfortunately, Channel 10 quite simply sucks the wang when it comes to priorities. It looks like Shannon's have pulled their broadcast sponsorship due to the way it was handled last year, but it seems nothing has changed this year.
Quote from rec;341813: The largest number of television viewers and at-track spectators for the Melbourne GP in three years would probably disagree with you.
Australian's love motorsport, which attracts the second highest number of television viewers of any sport broadcasted in the country, behind AFL.
Unfortunately, Channel 10 quite simply sucks the wang when it comes to priorities. It looks like Shannon's have pulled their broadcast sponsorship due to the way it was handled last year, but it seems nothing has changed this year.
Pfft people only watched it because V8's were on as well. :P
Channel 10 do a better job even if it is a delayed broadcasting then seven do, with the V8's Race 1 and 2 have become watching close ups of sponsor adds you barely see the cars at all.