F1 title still up in the air? No
"It looks to me like it is a useless stress for everyone," he told Italian radio station RAI.
"The regulations say that even if some car gets disqualified, it doesn't mean that the points are automatically given to the others."
"Enough of that, let's look ahead and let's send professional stewards to the races instead of amateurs at large," he said.
"It must be said that the complexity of today's cars creates difficulties in checks and verifications, from the electronics to the fuels, aerodynamics and everything else. Everything is about hundredths of seconds."
10/21/07 McLaren Mercedes have notified the FIA of their intention to appeal the race stewards' decision not to penalize BMW Sauber and Williams. We do not expect them to win the appeal since there will be an argument as to what the precise ambient temperature was and exactly when and where it was measured. And finally what was the exact performance gain from the 3 or 4 degree colder fuel?
In the end justice was served as McLaren, like other Michelin teams that ran Bridgestones for the first time this year, would have been nowhere without the stolen Ferrari secrets. Even Renault, Champions the last two years, were lost this year on Bridgestones.
So McLaren or its drivers in no way, shape, or form deserve to win. And if McLaren wins the appeal Ferrari will immediately sue to have the McLaren drivers, as was the team, excluded from the championship for gaining an advantage from stolen Ferrari secrets.
Bank on it.
10/21/07 The FIA has decided that there will be no penalty for the Williams and BMW teams and, therefore, Kimi Raikkonen is now officially the 2007 F1 World Drivers Champion.
10/21/07 The FIA has confirmed that the fuel temperatures of the BMW Sauber and Williams cars were outside the regulations during the course of the Brazilian Grand Prix.
As the race stewards continue to investigate the matter to decide on whether or not a punishment is necessary, a statement issued by technical delegate Jo Bauer revealed the extent of the temperature variation of the cars involved.
Article 6.5.5 of the Formula One technical regulations states: "No fuel on board the car may be more than ten degrees centigrade below ambient temperature."
The statement issued by Bauer showed that Heidfeld's fuel was 13 degrees centigrade lower than ambient at his first stop and 12 degrees centigrade lower at his second stop.
Robert Kubica's fuel varied by 14 degrees, 13 degrees and 13 degrees at his three stops; Nico Rosberg's fuel was 13 degrees and 12 degrees out at his two stops and Kazuki Nakajima's was 12 degrees out at his first stop. His second stop was inside the 10-degree limit.
10/21/07 Spyker technical chief Mike Gascoyne said he believed the variation would have provided a performance advantage.
"It can be five to ten horsepower easily," he told autosport.com. "The car is producing a performance advantage during the race. If they dump fuel in that is below the [temp] limit, it is an illegal performance advantage. They should be excluded from the event, there is absolutely no doubt."
10/21/07 (GMM) A stewards inquiry following the Brazilian grand prix has put a question-mark alongside Kimi Raikkonen's world championship triumph on Sunday.
It has emerged from Interlagos that investigations are currently taking place regarding the BMW-Sauber and Williams teams, after fuel samples from the cars failed post-race scrutineering checks.
Nico Rosberg (Williams), Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld (BMW) finished the race fourth, fifth and sixth respectively, meaning that if they are disqualified, Lewis Hamilton would inherit three additional points.
If confirmed, the McLaren rookie would be crowned world champion ahead of Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso.
BMW and Williams representatives were indeed summoned to the stewards' office, according to a spokesperson for the FIA.
A BMW spokesperson confirmed that the issue relates to the temperature of the fuel sampled, and a BBC radio news item speculated that the fuel may have been too cold.