Hamilton's special treatment

[ChopsJazz]

Why in the world was Hamilton allowed back onto the lead lap after his off in the German GP? I doubt Sato or Kubica would be given special treatment like that.

OTOH, it was pretty cool seeing Alonso get past Masa for the win.

 

[Ko-nsx]

Why in the world was Hamilton allowed back onto the lead lap after his off in the German GP? I doubt Sato or Kubica would be given special treatment like that.

OTOH, it was pretty cool seeing Alonso get past Masa for the win.

I thought it has something to do with him getting back on the track when he ran into the sand, but i'm not sure. They had an explaination i'm sure. It didn't help help though. He had some fast lap times but we was way to far back.

The last 5 laps were great.

 

[BD]

If the race has a re-start, and the car is not damage, it is allowed. Regardless who the driver is.

 

[dippy9]

No new safety car rules, states that any car that is lapped is allowed to unlap itself.

The rule was set up so that there would not be any lapped cars in between racing cars blocking the battle after the restart.

 

[92 white 0650]

Re: Lucky dog rule should not have applied to LH

The rule was set up so that there would not be any lapped cars in between racing cars blocking the battle after the restart.

Agreed. This was an application of the lucky dog rule, was it not? The rule's basis, as you stated, is to get lapped backmarkers out of the way of cars battling at the front. But that was not the case with LH, since he was already at the back and not a factor to anyone's battles, important or otherwise. And as it turned out at the end, if he had passed Heiki and scored a point, I think Renault would have had reason to protest.

I've been on the road and out of touch, so what's the buzz about this?

 

[Vytas]

I watch the ITV broadcasts for F1 and the announcers were mentioning that Hamilton kept his engine running the whole time until the crane came out to pull his car out. Made it sound like him doing this allowed him to get back on track and get himself unlapped. The other cars around him stalled so they'd have to be bump-started. That was my understanding based on what the announcers were talking about.

 

[92 white 0650]

Hamilton kept his engine running the whole time until the crane came out to pull his car out.

From what I see, the rules are quite vague on this issue. The argument for lifting his car back onto the course is that it was a judgment call by the course marshalls "for safety reasons" i.e. the quickest way to get him out of that area. The fact that he kept the engine running gave the marshalls that option, or so it can be argued. Michael S. getting a push back onto course so that he could continue a few years ago appears to be in this same category of a course marshall safety call.

I can't recall seeing a car lifted back onto the track and continue. Usually when the car is stuck in the gravel, the engine is stalled. About the only time I can engage the clutch and keep the engine running is a lazy spin in the rain.

I conclude that what we saw was a combination of LH being heads up and the marshalls using a little known vaguery of the rules.

Made it sound like him doing this allowed him to get back on track and get himself unlapped.

The unlapping thing came later and was a separate rule application; one that was not well written if you ask me.

 

[ChopsJazz]

I understand how he may have been able to re-enter the race by keeping fire in the engine, but letting him back on the lead lap seems like a gift to me. The rule seems to have been written to keep back-markers out of the way of the lead competitors, but Hamilton is by no means a back-marker!

 

[myopicpaideia]

Hamilton may not be a back-marker as far the season as a whole, but he definitely was at that time of the race. I think the Renault may have had a case for protest if indeed Hamilton had passed Kovaleinen for 8th. Hamilton was at the back of the pack already, a lap down, but was allowed to pass everyone and get on the lead lap for the restart. However, since this was the first race restart F1 has seen for several years, the rule was never on anyone's radar as one to watch for. Hence the confusion. I personally think that there was no 'favoring' and this was a rare application of a new rule that we most likely won't see in action again this year, since it only applies to actual restarts of a race, not when a safety car comes out, for example. I hope we don't have another race restart like that this year, anyway...