[The HACK]

Okay, I'll admit I'm a big fan of JPM, but that penalty he received for "bumping" Michael Schumaker was bogus. At worst they should have BOTH received a penalty because it was fairly vague as to who ran into who. From what little replay I can see on SpeedVision, JPM had about 1/3 car length on MS and in perfect control when MS ran into him. If MS did not clip Montoya, the race would have been JPM first, RS second and MS third, since the Michelins and the BMW engine was clearly superior on that race.

That would mean JPM will be #1, followed by MS and RS on championship points. Next race is Brazil, and last year JPM was well on his way to winning that GP before someone ran into him (probably one of the teams running Ferrari engine). If all goes well, Ferrari would be 20 Championship points down by the third race of the season and JPM will be leading MS by 2 points.

 

[in_d_haus]

Even Michael S, at the interview afterword, said it was excessive

 

[LarryN]

I wondered the same thing. Could it be some sort of F1 governing retribution for Barricello getting taken out of the first race by Ralf in the other Williams car? I was thinking it could be a "don't make a habit out of this" type of thing. Other than that, it didn't make sense (Well, my interpretation barely holds water too...)

 

[SteveT]

That ruling was ridiculous. I can't figure out what they were watching. Juan Pablo said Michael understeered into him and I think that's generous. It looked to me like Juan left room, Michael attempted to push him wide and Juan didn't yield. A racing incident that doesn't deserve a penalty. You can go to www.f1onboard.com and hear what Juan had to say during his drive through the pits. Not pretty.