Changes to Vettel's car before race

[Dave Baker]

Well yet again I missed the actual race after going back to bed for a snooze
after breakfast but I've been reading the press coverage and James Allen's
website report.

So because Vettel was DQ'd from qually and started from the pitlane he was
allowed to make changes to the car overnight including fitting a longer 7th
gear to help with overtaking all the cars he would now be starting behind.
Surely this makes a mockery of the penalty?

It seems reasonable to allow car changes when the competitor has to start
from the pitlane for technical reasons but IMO a penalty should mean you
start the race with the qually setup you ran like everyone else has to so
you gain no further unfair advantage to mitigate the effects of the penalty.
--
Dave Baker

[David Taylor]

...but the penalty for changing the qually setup is to start in the pit lane.

Which he did, and he did. It does seem somewhat unsatisfying, though.

--
David Taylor

[WebSlave]

Dave Baker wrote:

> So because Vettel was DQ'd from qually and started from
> the pitlane he was allowed to make changes to the car
> overnight including fitting a longer 7th gear to help with
> overtaking all the cars he would now be starting behind.
> Surely this makes a mockery of the penalty?

Because of the penalty he had to start at the back of the grid.
Because of taking the car out of parc ferme for changes resulted him
starting from the pitlane.

-Webs-

[Bobster]

On 4 Nov, 19:48, "Dave Baker" <N...@null.com> wrote:
> Well yet again I missed the actual race after going back to bed for a snooze
> after breakfast but I've been reading the press coverage and James Allen's
> website report.
>
> So because Vettel was DQ'd from qually and started from the pitlane he was
> allowed to make changes to the car overnight including fitting a longer 7th
> gear to help with overtaking all the cars he would now be starting behind.
> Surely this makes a mockery of the penalty?

Well what if the rules say that if you change your car you must start
from the pit lane? Then any team has the choice of giving up a grid
spot for the chance to change their car and fit fresh tyres, for a
price of starting from the pit lane (IE only setting off when
everybody else has gone past you).

There was also an argument to be made that there was potentially a
technical problem with Vettel's car. RBR did not contest the penalty,
but insisted that the problem was that there was enough fuel in the
car but it could not be extracted. So they might argue that there was
a legitimate concern about their fuel system and so they needed to
strip the car.

Ask your mate at McLaren.

[Bobster]

On 4 Nov, 20:04, Bobster <megap...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Well what if the rules say that if you change your car you must start
> from the pit lane? Then any team has the choice of giving up a grid
> spot for the chance to change their car and fit fresh tyres, for a
> price of starting from the pit lane (IE only setting off when
> everybody else has gone past you).
>
> There was also an argument to be made that there was potentially a
> technical problem with Vettel's car. RBR did not contest the penalty,
> but insisted that the problem was that there was enough fuel in the
> car but it could not be extracted. So they might argue that there was
> a legitimate concern about their fuel system and so they needed to
> strip the car.
>
> Ask your mate at McLaren.

Or check the sporting regs
34.5 If a competitor modifies any part on the car or makes changes to
the set‐up of the suspension whilst the car is being held under parc
fermé conditions the relevant driver must start the race from the pit
lane and follow the procedures laid out in Article 38.2.

So anybody can modify their car post qualifying and pay the price.
What is the price? We have to see 38.2. The key part, for this
particular debate, of that reg is "all such cars may then join the
race once the whole field has passed the end of the pit lane for the
first time after the start."

I think there is a price to be paid if you're in an RBR that's been
sent to the back of the grid because you'd reasonably expect to have
passed an HRT or Marussia or two before drawing level with the pit
lane exit, but over a race you probably score.

[Bigbird]

Vettel was relegated from 3rd on the grid to the back. Where do you
suggest he should have been relegated to in he had been on pole or
tenth?

It is normal that similar penalties are unequal in their implementation.

Yeah, come back when you have a rule book that is fair in all
eventualities.