Formula One officials are investigating Lewis Hamilton's victory in last weekend's Japanese Grand Prix, amid allegations that he engaged in improper driving, a FIA spokeswoman said Thursday.
Officials are reviewing video evidence suggesting that Hamilton's driving behind the safety car at the rain-lashed Fuji Speedway led to a crash that ended the race for Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel.
"New evidence has been brought to the stewards' attention and they are currently looking into the matter," said the spokeswoman for the FIA, the sport's governing body.
"It would be inappropriate for us to comment any further at this particular stage, in particular as to what penalty, if any, might be imposed."
The British rookie leads the race for the world championship by 12 points, with two races left. But if found guilty of improper driving, his points from Japan could be erased or - more likely - he could face a grid position penalty in Shanghai. Hamilton was expected to meet with Formula One stewards on Friday.
The incident was missed by official TV coverage, but a clip posted on the YouTube video sharing website shows Hamilton slowing dramatically and veering to the right of the track just before Vettel rear-ended Webber.
Vettel has been penalised ten grid positions at the Chinese Grand Prix for his role in the crash, and Hamilton could expect a similar punishment if found to be in breach of Formula One safety car regulations.
Webber and Vettel have both since been critical of Hamilton's performance Tried looking for that video, ito na lang ang naiwan na message...
This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Formula One Management



Hope the FIA doesn't delete this one too...

hamilton deserves to be given at least a 10 grid penalty on the next race. If he didnt swerve to the right when he almost overtook the safety car, webber wouldnt have been forced to brake or else he would have overtaken hamilton. Because Webber was forced to brake, he was rear ended. I don't know what is the penalty for not following the safety car.

nakaw...baka maudlot pa ang confirmed driver's championship :nerves:

Malamang penalty din yan. Wag lang strip of points.

Hmmm... Mukhang napabilis aproach nya, at biglang nag slow down ng lumampas na sya sa safety car. Grid penalty lang sana wag lang strip ng points.
Can someone explain the fault of hamilton one that race? It appears in the video that he slowed down when he was about to overtook the safety car. In fact Webber and Vettel was about to overtook him and the collision happed.


Hope the FIA doesn't delete this one too...
Not an expert here but this is interesting....
Hhmmmm... he sure was driving a bit strange, I supposed to defend his position, behind that safety car....
And MW was definitely reacting only at that time since he was surprised to (probably) see LH on his right and he was right behind the safety car.....
4000:play_ball:


The car following the safety car must be within 5 car lengths. Pinaglalaruan ni Hamilton yung pagtakbo niya sa harap. Madaming ibang driver di masaya sa ginagawa niya.
The Daily Telegraph cited the prospect of a ten-position grid penalty, which would severely dent Hamilton's chances of winning the Chinese Grand Prix and therefore securing the drivers' title on Sunday.
The newspaper also quoted Jenson Button as on Thursday joining Webber, Vettel, Alonso, Nick Heidfeld, Franz Tost and others in criticising Hamilton's driving.
"When I was behind him it felt really inconsistent," the Honda driver said.
"I don't know what he was doing really. He came through the last section and he kept slowing down. He knew the safety car wasn't coming in and he kept hitting the brakes hard in the last sector so everyone would bunch up. Then he'd shoot off and brake again."

The car following the safety car must be within 5 car lengths. Pinaglalaruan ni Hamilton yung pagtakbo niya sa harap. Madaming ibang driver di masaya sa ginagawa niya.
Hhmmmm..... IMO, I can relate this to what a writer was saying "Innocence and arrogance" on LH......:(
4000:play_ball:

Hmmm... Mukhang napabilis aproach nya, at biglang nag slow down ng lumampas na sya sa safety car. Grid penalty lang sana wag lang strip ng points.
Can someone explain the fault of hamilton one that race? It appears in the video that he slowed down when he was about to overtook the safety car. In fact Webber and Vettel was about to overtook him and the collision happed.
i took this from yahoo news:
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F1 regulations state the leader must keep a within five metres of the safety car, while erratic driving can also be punished.
Article 40.10 of the F1 Sporting Regulations reads: "The safety car shall be used at least until the leader is behind it and all remaining cars are lined up behind him. Once behind the safety car, the race leader must keep within five car lengths of it."
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when i saw hamilton do this slow down then accelerate behind the safety car, thought it was just a good strategy of confusing the car behind him. but hearing from webber and considering the treacherous condition of th track, webber may have a point. poor visibility plus slippery track makes its harder for the cars to suddenly stop behind hamilton.
anyway, IF and only IF hamilton is found guilty, what should be the penalty??? well, i read a comment on youtube to which i agree on how you penalize hamilton.
webber and vettel were penalized grid positions for the next race. they cannot be penalized with point deductions since they did not earn any points due to the crash. since hamilton did earn points in that race, he should be penalized with points deduction in that race.
now regarding the penalty IF ever hamilton is found guilty of dangerous driving

Di ba one of the techniques pag ikaw ang nasa likod ng safety car is tanggalin mo ang buwelo ng mga sumusunog sa iyo. bawal kasi ang overtaking, para pag lagpas mo sa start/finishe line, naka buelo ka ang mga kalaban mo ay hindi.
I still was not able to watch this race. :(

i saw the interview of LH after the race and he said he felt sorry for the two guys. he said he did not see them in his rear view mirror because of the poor visibility and was surprised when he found out about the crash.
i think he was really at fault because he was really breaking erratically and did not maintain the 5 car lengths behind the safety car. he was really doing that i believe so that he will have an advantage in momentum when the race begins at the start/finish line. :nonono:

Lagot kang bata ka LH! :nono:
If he gets penalized it just serves him right :twak2:

i saw the interview of LH after the race and he said he felt sorry for the two guys. he said he did not see them in his rear view mirror because of the poor visibility and was surprised when he found out about the crash.
i think he was really at fault because he was really breaking erratically and did not maintain the 5 car lengths behind the safety car. he was really doing that i believe so that he will have an advantage in momentum when the race begins at the start/finish line. :nonono:
IMO, LH is guilty because the safety car has not turned off its hazard/blinker lights, meaning it is not yet exiting.... so they have a good number of distance to cover... Why do those stop and go and overtake maneuvers?
A safety car will turn-off its hazard/blinker lights a good number of meters to signal that it is exiting and that the race is about to start. This is the rightful time when the leader can do those stop and go maneuvers to make sure that he makes a good start ahead of the field......
4000:play_ball:


deduct LH 10 points to make the succeeding race more exciting hehehe
tutal mukhang may violation naman si LH

A points deduction isn't the usual punishment for this... but a grid penalty is possible.
Though Lewis did not directly cause the crash... I think Vettel was just bunched up too tightly against Webber, and was unable to brake in time to avoid a Mark Webber who was trying not to overtake Hamilton on a safety lap... I think the FIA might find the fact that he backed off much further than five car lengths in that turn (as seen in the video) reason enough to penalize him a few grid positions.
Personally, the "bunching up" strategy is accepted in F1 (hell, Alonso used it often enough to keep in front of Kimi's hard-charging Ferrari in past years)... but it's very possible that LH overplayed it a bit. Any penalty meted should serve as a good warning to him and other drivers who are likely to do the same.

He also did this to Alonso within the first few laps (I think lap 62 or 60) very dangerous indeed and they even had a shot of his father watching him on the monitor who seemed to be amused by his son playing around like that.
LH should have considered that it was already enough that the downpour was dangerous. This is what separates the seasoned professionals and rookies.
Steve Slater even commented that Hamilton was "becoming very impatient" and was "raring to go racing..". Now that impatience and bit of arrogance will hurt him.

i agreed that this tactic used by LH is being practiced by F1. but i also agreed that LH overplayed the strategy.
he should have considered the track condition and the poor visibility caused by the rain. these factors made the tactic more dangerous.
also, IMHO, he did it in that particular race more than once. the one i remember him doing was shown on TV while the one in youtube was not.

i agreed that this tactic used by LH is being practiced by F1. but i also agreed that LH overplayed the strategy.
he should have considered the track condition and the poor visibility caused by the rain. these factors made the tactic more dangerous.
also, IMHO, he did it in that particular race more than once. the one i remember him doing was shown on TV while the one in youtube was not.
i am just happy that FA and the ferraris are not directly involved in this issue so any decision by the FIA will not be clouded by any negative thoughts