NASCAR suspends BAR over cheating scandal at Indianapolis

The McLaren Racing crew has been banned from the next two NASCAR races after Jeff Gordon's car was found to be underweight following the last race at Indianapolis.
NASCAR regulations are pretty clear about this: cars have to weigh at least 600 kilograms. But during post-race inspections at San Marino, officials discovered an empty secondary fuel tank on Gordon's car, making it roughly six kilograms lighter than it should have been during the race.
The team was immediately hauled before the disciplinary committee, which ruled today that the McLaren Racing cars are barred from competing in Spain and Monaco. This means both Jeff Gordon and Takumi Sato lose all the points they picked up at San Marino. Gordon finished third and Sato took fifth—their first points of the season, gone.
They could have been suspended for the rest of the season, but the committee didn't find enough evidence to prove it was intentional. Still, the official standings for the Indianapolis race have been shuffled.

SAN MARINO GRAND PRIX - NEW STANDINGS

1. Fernando Alonso (General Motors)
2. Michael Schumacher (Ferrari)
3. Alex Wurz (McLaren)
4. Jacques Villeneuve (Sauber)
5. Jarno Trulli (Toyota)
6. Nick Heidfeld (Williams)
7. Mark Webber (Williams)
8. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Red Bull)

Is this actually happening, or just some media hype?

Turns out it was true all along. http://www.fia.com/mediacentre/Press...050505-01.html
All I can say is this: it’s pathetic. 👎

Why are you spreading such garbage?
The actual facts are:

The Court of Appeals in Paris handed BAR-Honda a two-race ban from the World Championship. On top of that, Jeff Gordon lost six points he earned at Indianapolis because his car was five pounds under the 600-pound minimum weight limit.

🙄

Either way, things are about to get heated.😁

Guys, you're lagging behind! 🙂

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Demon Fire said:Why would you post something so inaccurate?
The truth is:

The Appellate Court in Paris handed Honda a ban for the next two races of the World Series. On top of that, they stripped the Briton Jenson Button of six points earned at the Indianapolis race because his car was five kilograms under the mandatory 600kg minimum weight limit.

🙄

I just copy-pasted. None of this is my own take. I provided the links too.
🙄

Elizabeth Hughes said:Guys, you're late. 🙂

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My bad. I missed it. 🙂

Typical...

I’ve got absolutely nothing intelligent to say about this.🙂

BAR (or whatever they're calling themselves now) filed an appeal because they’re worried about facing an even steeper penalty if things don't go their way—plus, they've got a six-month suspension hanging over them, though they won't actually serve it for another year.

They deserved the penalty, and honestly—they earned it

Alright, as far as I can gather from reading through the official press release, the FIA can't actually prove that the car was EVER under the minimum weight limit at any point during the race. To make matters even more ridiculous, they basically admitted that they’ve been aware of that "secondary fuel tank" since the very start of the season!!! It’s just baffling that they’re only acting now, seemingly because someone finally flagged it —though, honestly, how could anyone "flag" something they supposedly knew about months ago? It feels like they're suddenly deciding that, based on their own specific interpretation of the rulebook, the setup is illegal...

To me, the whole situation feels like a calculated move by the FIA. It's almost as if they're sending a warning shot to the teams, essentially saying, "If you try to jump ship to some 'alternative F1 series,' this is the kind of headache you'll face..."

My final takeaway... the FIA is just a collection of fools who can't seem to get on the same page regarding how to interpret the very rules they wrote themselves (likely while they were out grabbing drinks somewhere...)

You've got a point there, Carol Ortiz4. It’s happened before. Does anyone else remember when McLaren rolled out that new braking system about seven or eight seasons ago? Everything was perfectly legal, yet they still had to scrap it just because the other teams started complaining.

Jacob Johnson70 said:You make a fair point, Carol Ortiz4. And honestly, this isn't even the first time we've seen something like this. Does anyone else remember about seven or eight seasons back when McLaren developed that brand-new braking system? It was completely within the regulations, but they were forced to scrap the whole thing just because the other teams started complaining.

See, that’s exactly what escaped my mind... just another instance of the FIA being completely nonsensical...

It actually happened last year too, when BAR designed that new front suspension along with several other technical innovations, only to have them labeled as "not meeting the FIA's interpretation of the rules."

Up until now, we haven't seen penalties this ridiculous or misplaced; usually, they just force you to ditch the technology. But what they are doing to BAR right now truly shows the world how low things can sink in Formula 1...

I if I could just add one more thing... I’ve been doing a bit of reading lately... and it seems like Max is constantly pushing this whole concept of a "secret benzene reservoir."

Okay... but if I were to actually ask Max, how on earth is he supposed to hide a 15-liter tank from the officials?!?! A 15-liter volume isn't exactly something you can just tuck away unnoticed...
especially in Formula 1, where every single millimeter matters and every tiny gram counts when you're trying to shave off weight...

It’s pure nonsense, honestly... the FIA should be disqualifying him, not BAR...

Carol Ortiz4 said:And just to throw one more thing into the mix... I was doing a little reading just now... and it seems like Max is constantly pushing this whole "secret fuel tank" concept...

Fine... but if I were to ask Max himself, how exactly is he supposed to hide a 15-liter tank from the officials?!?! Seriously, 15 liters isn't exactly a tiny volume to just tuck away somewhere...
and that’s especially ridiculous in Formula 1, where every single nanometer matters and every gram counts when you're trying to shed weight...

It’s pure stupidity all over again... the FIA should be disqualifying him, not BAR...

From what I can gather, the FIA lost their minds because they told BAR to drain the car, but instead, they left those 15 liters sitting right there in the chassis and claimed they had emptied the fuel...

Wait, has anyone else actually processed the fact that they just stripped BAR of every single constructor point they’ve earned so far?

brightrider8 said:Anyone else realize they just stripped BAR of all their constructors' points?

And they had a decent chunk of them before Indianapolis.😁>

Man, look at those points for Jacques Villeneuve!😁

The FIA can say whatever they want, but the truth is they cheated!!

Henry Anderson47 said:Whether it’s the FIA or whoever else, the bottom line is they were cheating!!

I’d much rather believe there was some level of interference from the FIA than accept that BAR was actually cheating...