Now, if Georgie looked like that.............

 

I was wondering if this is what actually happened. They didn't tell him on the radio what the problem was, and Martin Whitmarsh was way too cagey on the nature of the problem. Perhaps if they'd just let him run out of fuel they would have got away with a less harsh penalty, i.e. deleting his best time which I think would have put him third. As it is it looks a little like they deliberately tried to cover it up, which was never going to work, and you can understand why the stewards would come down hard on that. After all, running with not enough fuel gives an advantage and they can't let teams get away with it.

Still, well deserved pole from Maldanado.

 

I'm puzzled at how Maldanardo got pole, when Senna was struggling down on 16+

His car looked like it was all over the shop, then he just got hacked off and pushed past the limit.

Surely setup?

 

I think Maldanado was well ahead of his teammate all weekend. He did put in a couple of scruffy laps too, but obviously managed to come good at the end, and Senna ended up being a casualty of the qualifying system.

But being the one car from the new teams to go out in Q1 when your teammate gets pole is pretty embarasssing.

 

Back of the grid for LH is tough but they can't really accept any of his laps under the circumstances. Who's to know the light fuel load lap was the only one? Stupid of Mclaren to pull him over. If they had run out of fuel they could have argued a leak on that lap, a stone hit a fuel pipe (if that can happen). But we are all wise with hindsight. But how to f*ck up a prospectively exciting race in one easy lesson from the FIA. Would this have been meted out to a Ferrari ...?

 

LH has a chance to show the world just what he is capable of(or not) from the back of the grid, bet Button is relieved.

 

I think he probably will, but I also predict some sort of team f@#k up.

Noticed they have binned the poor bloke on his left rear wheel in the pits.

 

Been and gone done it already haven't they?

 

Either that or he'll be in über-sulk mode. He seems to be becoming disillusioned with McLaren, and this certainly won't help.

I just don't buy this idea that the whole multi-billion dollar industry that is Formula One is a conspiracy. It has to be said that since Jean Todt took over, the FIA has been pretty low key, and last year and this have been a lot more cautious with penalties and not interfering with the results. Which is all good.

So Raikonnen for the win? Or maybe Grosjean. They're probably looking the best on race pace; I can't believe Maldanado or Alonso will be as strong through the race, and McLaren and Red Bull are now well down.