Strange decision... but at the same time, that wheel could've been a potential killer unfortunately. Seeing it bouncing on the track imediately gave me the flash back from last week.. everyone's a bit on the edge now, due to these two wierd and horor incidents..
They have a rule about that.
Renault breached it.
The get the penalty.
Simple like that.
Don't forget that there died enough people over the last 20 years from flying wheels, so the decision is hard but ok.
I bet no one would find it strange if someone (photographer, visitor,other driver, marshall) would have died from this wheel.
But many cars have lost wheels on track before and have not been penalised at all.
As Three Jump said, Alonso suspended from one of his home GPs might cause uproar, I wouldn't be suprised if Renault appealed the decision.
Perhaps this has something to do with Renault and FOTA, a personal vendetta perhaps? I wouldn't be suprised given the dishonesty and corruption of the FIA leadership.
Not harsh, the penalty is not for failing to fix the wheel to the car properly, it's for failing to take any action to alert their driver or stop the car after it happened. Allowing a car with a loose wheel to drive around the track is crazy. I couldn't believe they were so ****ing stupid, especially when we have a driver in an enduced coma in hospital and a driver was killed by a loose wheel a week ago.
Renault will race, under appeal, I am almost certain. And with any luck the powers that be will see sense and realise this is a race, not a fairytail. Anyone, either a team member, a driver, a photographer or a spectator has the option to not partake in any way if it's too dangerous for them.
So they should just let cars drive around with loose wheels because "this is racing". Bollocks, wheels fall off, bits fall off cars, but if you can avoid it and don't then you deserve to have the book thrown at you. They should have stopped Alonso leaving the pits, or told him to park the car.
Yes, thats exactly the arguement: it is racing
No driver who puts his heart into racing would stop a drivable and steerable car.
And then, what stupid kind of punishment is this? Why is the other Renault driver punished too? What sense makes that? Can't they just give them no points in the teams championship next race?
He wouldn't have carried on driving with a loose wheel. He would have tried to get back to the pits, fix the problem and continue. Just like he should be allowed to do in racing.
If you want to worry about safety to anal levels then go to a ballet class, not motorsport. Safety is important, but not when decisions like this are being made in the name of it.
no doubt after the appeal this will turn into a suspended suspension (must be a better way of saying that ) and probably a fine. it's just the officials giving the teams a little slap to wake them up about possible saftey concerns. as said before it's for them not informing alonso more than anything else.
lets face it if drivers throughout the history of F1 had not been allowed to try and get back to the pits we'd never been treated to this
Stay in the mid point between totalitarism and NASCAR (no penalties for intentional bumps) is the enough. Now, a mistake made in pits is taken as a ban? OMG...
But, anyway, dunno Alonso's side, but Piquet wouldn't score in Valencia anyways...
You're missing the point, they sent a car out knowing the wheel was not secured. It was preventable, not like Massa's accident or John Surtees, those incidents are just part of the inherent risk of going racing. Did any of you guys even read the reason for the suspension? Renault didn't even tell Alonso that there was a problem, even when he told them he had a puncture they didn't tell him the wheel was loose. Accidents happen, but this was not an accident, it was a deliberate decision that put everyone on the circuit at risk.
I'm sorry, but I'm pretty sure that a good driver (and according to some people Alsonso is one of them) can tell the difference between a loose and a damaged tire. You could even see it on the onboard footage that the tire was loose and not damaged.
They did punish him only that hard because of what has happend, not just because of the rules. Sure it's dangerous, but a suspension for the next race is just a big joke.
Edit other example:
Anyone remembering the Nurburgring Race where a mclaren suspension broke at the end of the mainstraight due not changing a heavily flatspotted tire? That was also preventable and since the tire flew away also pretty dangerous. But I can't remember any suspension...
I can see where this decision is coming from, though, especially after Surtees' accident, and now Massa's. Its now up to renault to learn from it, and make sure that never happens again.
Alonso will not move to Ferrari now, for sure, but him resiging from Renault is pretty probable.
Webber pulls out in from of Kimi in the pit lane endangering the lifes of unprotected jouno's and mechanics and gets jack all and Renault get suspened??? HHmm... He didn't continue racing, he came in, whats the big deal?
They knew the wheel was very probable to come off so the punishment is fair in my opinion.
Demanding wheels hubs to be secured by additional theters would not make sense if it's allowed to finish a lap knowing your wheel is not secured to the hub. Even without taking the recent accidents into account.