Massa Penalty

[Tim Doll]

For those of you who may not yet have heard, Ferrari pulled an interesting trick at the USGP.

Massa out-qualified Alonso at Austin. Worse, Alonso - battling Vettel for the drivers championship, was going to start on the dirty side of the track.

Soooo, Ferrari simply removed the lead seal from Massa's gearbox, resulting in an automatic 5 grid spot penalty. That moved Alonso up a position (to 7th) and on to the clean side of the grid.

What do you think - legitimate team move, or dirty pool?

Tim
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Everett, Washington

[Justin Martin]

Although it is dirty, and I don't condone it, It is legal, and it is a team decision.

These teams are all about the championship. Alonso is within what, like 13 points of the championship? Massa, although might have deserved it, is not within grasp of the championship, therefore it is not worth it for the team.

I do not like it, but if it were my team I would have made the same call.

[Dan Haynes]

Ridiculous. What is this, WWE? Let the drivers and teams run the race. A big reason why I was never much of a fan of F1. In NASCAR any unapproved work results in being moved to the back of the field. Maybe F1 should change their rule. Obviously 5 spots isn't enough of a deterrent. An engine change in NASCAR has to be approved by the officials. Meaning they want to see the engine and what the issue is and whether or not it warrants a change. I think transmissions fall under this too. Even if it is approved they still must drop to the back.
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Blaise Haynes
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[Justin Martin]

Dropping to the back wouldn't have changed a thing. F1 has much more money behind it. The cars have a TON more technology....

Truthfully you cant really compare....

In F1 5 positions is HUGE... In Nascar you can run the race in last for 80% of the race, then get busy and podium... You cant argue it, I have seen it numerous times... In fact, this year I saw Danica patrick go from 13th, to 1st to WAY back (almost last) and then finished 4th!

As far as this goes, even if it put Massa in last, Ferrari still would have done it. They are not even eligible for the constructors cup, but Alonso is within reach of the championship. This being said as a team stands it is well worth it.

Its pretty sad when Tony Stewart is to out of shape to fit in an F1 car.... Kinda says something about physical shape as well....

Now sorry if that is off topic, but it just goes to show you can not compare the two.

By all means if Toyota was faced with the same circumstance (IE, a Drivers championship, is withing grasp) They would definitely toss their lesser driver to dead last....

[Justin Martin]

[Volker Krahn]

[Dan Haynes]

[Johnny Brooks]

Personally I thought it was brilliant. Massa again proves to be a team player, not to mention he fought back and finished 4th behind Alonso securing as many constructor points as possible. I'd say he has definitely earned his re-signing for 2013.

Rules is rules....how they are used by each team is what separates the front runners from the rest. How soon we forget Brawn's use of the blown diffuser rule.

Back in the day, creative interpretation of the rules is what made Nascar interesting....Smoky Yunick, the Wood brothers, etc knew how to keep the rules 'evolving'....remember the 'looonnnggg, 1" diameter fuel line snaked thru the car....tank capacity met the rules....extra gallon or 2 in the line was just good thinking. Or, how about 'acid dipping' the bodies?
Change the rule for the following year if ya don't like it.

[Jason Bane]

I thought it was pretty smart. Alonso got a great start from the clean side of the track, and Hamilton lost one place, so the results into turn 1 showed that it worked.

[TJ Koyen]

Pretty smart move. Sucks for Massa but as the saying goes, when you drive for Ferrari, you work for the team, not the other way around. Not sure how it's "dirty", they were totally open about it and not hiding anything.

They didn't bend any rules. They broke a seal and got the penalty, couldn't be much more cut and dry.

And as long as we're comparing the two incomparable sports of NASCAR and F1, why not bring up the magic debris cautions that fall out of the sky whenever something isn't up to NASCAR's standards. If you think F1 is more like WWE than NASCAR, clearly you haven't been watching one or the other.
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[Justin Martin]

Seriously.... It to me is very sad that Nascar is as big as it is.... If you listen to F1 radio talk the drivers always sound winded. Last time I watched Nascar Danica Patrick did a Q&A with like 20 questions, on top of that she sounded like she was on a lawn chair enjoying a rita!

And the politics in Nascar are ridiculous.... And now there is an outburst in (televised) pit fights?? Sounds like nothing but publicity to me...

[Dan Haynes]

NASCAR has its pitfalls too but I like the relative simplicity. Many like the technological side of F1 but I'd rather see it more in the drivers hands. Sure there are many adjustments on a stock car, but the majority are nuts and bolts type of adjustments. Not computerized. Although NASCAR may start to go that direction with EFI in place now. Too much push-button type of stuff in F1.

To each his own, I just like the excitement a NASCAR race offers, where most F1 races are too much like parades for me. Only a handful of drivers win in a season. Last year I think NASCAR had 18 different race winners. This year there were 15 different winners.
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Blaise Haynes
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[Aaron Witzke]

Yeah, but how many drivers are there in NASCAR VS. F1? Educate me as I do not follow it one but but from various clips I've seen there seem t be a ton more cars on the track racing for the win.

If you've at all followed this years F1 season, you would have to agree that it's been one of the most interesting/entertaining and unpredictable seasons in recent memory.

[Dan Haynes]

43 cars start a NASCAR Cup race. You are right...I haven't watched any complete F1 races this year. I've seen segments here and there but I also haven't really watched too many NASCAR races from beginning to end this year either. Too many other things going on.

So with this years results of 15/43 different drivers winning. that means that about 35% of the drivers have won this year. Even that number isn't exact as it isn't always the same 43 drivers as some make the race one week and miss the next, allowing another driver to make up that 43 car list. It looks like there are 24 drivers starting an F1 race? With 8 different winners this year? That is a 33% so it is higher than I thought. But still 8 winners compared to 15 is quite a difference. Fairly easy to pick a winner in F1, where it is a little more difficult to pick a winner in NASCAR. Apples and oranges, yes. But still more interesting to me. I like seeing the underdog win and it doesn't look like that happens too much in F1.
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Blaise Haynes
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[Michael Boone]

Now factor in Nascar has 36 races and f1 only 20 !
You have less chances in F1 to win then in Nascar!


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