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Grosjean also fined 50,000 euros

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"Many people ask me why I always sign off Till We Meet Again, because goodbye is always so final. Goodbye Dan Wheldon." -Marty Reid

When Grosjean joined Lotus, I posted something along the lines of 'All aboard the fail boat' and a lot of people commented on that saying he was a good driver and so on. Now look who was right :-) Never liked him, and this proves why.

Narain: "Front-left nut got cross threaded at the second stop and the wheel came off at T13 of all places.. Can still feel the impact!"

I think considering the magnitude of the crash, it's fair. Safety is paramount and we must never take it for granted. I think Grosjean's history would have played a part as well.

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

Is this an argument now ?

Fair point, but does that mean race bans are purely decided on the outcome of a mistake, and not the mistake itself? If Pastor did the same thing, but through pure luck nobody hit each other, does that make it better than what Grosjean did?

Obviously the fact it was a huge accident needs to be looked at, but they should be careful on punishing the outcome of the errors rather than the errors themselves, otherwise the same mistake could lead to race bans for 1 driver, and no penalties at all for another, purely through luck on who else gets involved.

I agree ellis. That's a fair point.

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BTCC Pick Em's Champion 2010
Formula Fun Cup Champion 2013
http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk

I also understand why the FIA hasn't banned Pastor yet. He hasn't done anything as catastrophic as what Grosjean did today. But at some point all of these smaller incidents that they are penalising him for need to add up to a ban.

Obviously, otherwise it wouldn't have been in the discussion.

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Dan Wheldon ¦ 1978-2011
Marco Simoncelli ¦ 1987-2011
Jules Bianchi ¦ 1989-2015
Justin Wilson ¦ 1978-2015

Yeah, I know he's mad and I don't care. I do not care. I did not care then. I do not care now. I'm here to race him.

That's the thing.

The only other issue is whether you're judging the accident or the crime. In the past, we've seen drivers put rivals on the grass at the start. Through sheer luck, there wasn't a huge collision.

Maldonado used his car as a weapon in Monaco, and in Spa last year.

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

To be fair, Lewis also used his car as a weapon at Spa. But in the battle of who was the most stupid that day, Pastor won as he was the one who made contact. But Lewis did the same thing, just didn't happen to actually hit him. Which I guess fits with this discussion too - do you punish the crime, or the outcome?

So if you take out less important drivers for the championship, the punishment should be less severe ?

Even he is due for a race ban if you ask me.

If Pastor wipes out 4 cars, but it happens to be Force Indias and STRs, does that carry a lesser punishment?

Exactly. And the 'eliminating championship contenders' but does great.

I mean, he took out Alonso and Hamilton. But back in Valencia, Maldonado eliminated Hamilton.

It's a very questionable statement, even if I do think the ban was warranted.

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

I think they were just pointing that out rather then saying it made the penalty more severe.

A grid penalty for a false start. Come on.

I'm not defending it, I'm just pointing out that it's clear that the stewards did use it as part of their reasoning.

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Dan Wheldon ¦ 1978-2011
Marco Simoncelli ¦ 1987-2011
Jules Bianchi ¦ 1989-2015
Justin Wilson ¦ 1978-2015

Yeah, I know he's mad and I don't care. I do not care. I did not care then. I do not care now. I'm here to race him.

Probably, although I believe the ban is still pretty severe, but this way at least he'll learn to take it easy at the start.

With hindsight, it clearly madness that Maldonado is let off more lightly for deliberately ramming Perez in Monaco than Grosjean is for what was basically poor situational awareness in Spa - there was no way he was deliberately trying to run Hamilton off, as the only result of that was going to be a shunt for both of them.

I think the stewards are taking past actions into account more this season - if it had been Kobayshi who had cut across instead, would we have expected him to be banned? Just as Maldonado was punished for what was close to a 50:50 incident in Silverstone with Perez due to his past actions.

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