Anyone remember Vettel at Melbourne? Dragging a wheel along with him no faster than Alonso was driving? Recieved a 10 place penalty at the next race and then people on here suggested that penalty was harsh!! Also compare that to Kimi's exhaust in France last year where sweet FA was done about it! Nice consistant decision making by the stewards (NOT!) yet AGAIN!
Whilst I agree it was dangerous, and if possible should have been avoided, I also feel that Renault would not have knowingly released Alonso from his pit stop deliberatelly with a loose wheel! I can also imagine a certain Mr Alonso fuming inside that car and no amount of 'pull over Fernando' from the team would have made the blindest bit of difference! He's a racer, wanted to get back on his way as soon as possibly and thus nursed the car back to the pits.
It has been a knee-jerk reaction after the past weeks events that have been very unfortunate indeed. However the question has to be asked now where to stop? If a driver has trailing bodywork such as a front wing should the team make the driver pull over? Do we go to extreemes such as could visor tare-offs pose a threat to drivers?
Whilst I agree there are issues of driver safety that require investigation regarding facial impact from loose objects, I also think that people should not just jump to conclusions and make decisions on the spur of the moment.
One of the best quotes I have ever heard was 'The more you know about a situation, the longer it takes you to make a decision. that is why MPs make so many decisions in such a short period of time, because they know nothing!'.
This is exactly what the officials are doing! Making rapid inconsistant decisions whilst knowing minimal facts, other than the dangers of flailing objects, which i'd have hoped they would have known all along.
Chris Adams
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