Nah they deserve every penny of the fine bloody cheats ….. ;-)
McLaren were thrown out of the 2007 championship, losing all points and had to have their 2008 chassis scrutinised for Ferrari IP. Schumacher was thrown out of the 1997 championship so there is enough precedent. They have been very harsh at times, lenient at times and secretive at times. In general drivers have not lost points if the team was guilty of infractions. So the penalties given to Red Bull would never have given Lewis his 8th and anyone suggesting that clearly hasn‘t looked into this. My biggest issue is the rabble rousing by the press and the other team managers over an issue which had no effect on the competitiveness of Red Bull. They got what they wanted though as now Ferrari will get 19% more wind tunnel time and Mercedes 27% more (including the “usual” staged difference for championship position. For a small financial digression that seems harsh. Normally Ferrari would have had 7% more and Mercedes 14% more. That advantage has increased significantly.
If I didn’t know you were a Lewis fan I might have even taken that seriously
McLaren were disqualified, I don’t think there was even an appeal. The interesting thing was that Alonso alerted the FIA with new evidence that re-started the investigation. He was so ****** off with Ron Dennis and McLaren although he, Lewis and de la Rosa had been interviewed by the FIA and granted immunity if they told the truth (with career ending penalties if it was subsequently found out they lied..). But spying and technical cheating in my opinion is of a different category to an argument over the allocation of $432K in a complicated accounting process. They all try to stretch the envelope as much as possible but there is a difference between intentional fraud or technical infringements like burning oil, the Ferrari engine etc. and interpretation differences. The latter are usually punished much lighter.I thought McLaren got reinstated in 2007 on appeal with the just the fine being upheld but may well be wrong.
If I am wrong the that means that again Red Bull have had special treatment like they did last year and it’s all a huge conspiracy
