I have yet to see an exact quote from Nikki lauda

apparantly Nikki said this or that... about the judgement of the stewards

not, apparantly he said this or that about Kimi's driving or Lewis's overtaking, or choice for overtaking
Was Lauda at the briefing like Trulli was?? i expect it to be officials and drivers only.. as it was a drivers briefing, not , ex drivers briefing,

so he was not there when they explicitly told the drivers about the chicane, and how cutting will be dealt with...

apparantly, he commented on the penalty as a whole

Besides, Nikki is old school , from the days where they crashed per statistics.. eg a fatality a year .. they went to the funeral, and strapped themselves in for the next race...Nikki's days, there still was armco...They didn't cut on armco, which is exactly what Trulli said

Just got the crystal ball up to temperature. Bernie & the freak will side with Ferrari.

And what about KR or Alonso using the run off at La Source after the start? They both went superwide... I think they gained a lot... Alonso went from 7th to 4th and Kimi was fast enough to overtake Massa eventually...

If there had been a wall they would have not done it....

The wall argument is just wrong.

More from Autosport.com....
 

McLaren have revealed that they were told twice by FIA race officials during the Belgian Grand Prix that Lewis Hamilton had given back the race lead to Kimi Raikkonen in an 'okay' manner.

With the team confirming on Tuesday that they were pressing ahead with their appeal against Hamilton's 25-second penalty for gaining an unfair advantage, McLaren's F1 CEO Martin Whitmarsh claims that the team enquired twice with Race Control whether or not their driver had acted in a legitimate manner.

Hamilton was given the penalty after cutting across the Bus Stop chicane while attempting to pass Kimi Raikkonen for the lead with three laps to go.

Whitmarsh said: "From the pit wall, we then asked Race Control to confirm that they were comfortable that Lewis had allowed Kimi to repass, and they confirmed twice that they believed that the position had been given back in a manner that was 'okay'.

"If Race Control had instead expressed any concern regarding Lewis's actions at that time, we would have instructed Lewis to allow Kimi to repass for a second time."

Hamilton has confirmed that he definitely backed off as he exited the chicane to allow Raikkonen to retake the lead, prior to choosing to make a move at La Source hairpin.

"In the closing stages of the race I was catching Kimi consistently, lap by lap, and with three laps remaining I got close enough to attempt to overtake him on the entry to the last chicane," he said.

"I managed to get slightly ahead of him in the braking area for the first apex of the chicane. He fought back approaching the second apex - but, in doing so, he left no room for me on the inside line. The only way for me to avoid a collision was therefore to cut inside the second apex.

"I came out of the second apex in front of Kimi and so I momentarily lifted-off on the straight, to ensure that Kimi got back in front. The team also came on the radio and instructed me to allow Kimi to repass, which I had already done. As a result, Kimi crossed the start/finish line ahead of me and 6.7 km/h quicker than me.

"After allowing Kimi to completely repass, I crossed from the left side of the track to the right side of the track, passing behind Kimi in the process. I then attacked Kimi on the inside of the first corner, and successfully outbraked him."

And a word from one of the stewards...
 

...who happens to be from Kenya, a hotbed of auto racing known the world over.

(Also from Autosport.com)

Surinder Thathi, one of the three stewards who handed down the 25-second penalty to Lewis Hamilton at the Belgian Grand Prix, has denied any talk of a conspiracy against McLaren.

Hamilton was dropped from first to third after race officials deemed he had gained an advantage by cutting a chicane in his battle with then leader Kimi Raikkonen.

But the decision to strip him of victory has caused huge controversy, and led to accusations from fans and the media that there is a bias in the sport against McLaren.

However, Thathi insists that the stewards only handed the penalty down because they believed there had been a clear breach of the rules.

"There was no conspiracy against anybody, McLaren included," Thathi, who comes from Kenya, told news agency Reuters. "We acted professionally and within the FIA rules. Hamilton took a short cut inside of the corner while off the track."

He added: "We had a choice to mete out a time penalty or 10 grid places in the next grand prix race. We opted for the former and handed a time penalty of 25 seconds.

"I know I am a very unpopular person in the United Kingdom now, but then I was doing my job and I know I acted professionally."



So, they could have given Hambone a grid penalty at the next race instead.....

Hmmm....

onboard...
i don't see him even thinking about braking after his botched attempt to overtake on the outside...he just cuts to his advantage

and i don't hear him lifting after the cut... he's just accelerating, doing the switchback while accelerating and then outbrakes kimi
any lifting on the throttle he did, hell, that must have been less then a hair on the throttlevalves
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Yes Stijn, after seeing that, I just can't sympathize with McLaren in that their boy "backed off" and let Kimi by. If the stewards made the call based on that video footage, I think it was the right one.

to me that video shows him giving up position. At 3:32 he is out of the throttle on the runoff area, and by 3:40 you can see KR to the right back in the lead. With the deteriorating track conditions, it is hard to tell how much anyone is on/off the throttle. The bottom line is that LH entered the track in front of KR, and then KR was given the position back.

Love the on-board shots...

Kimi had a better launch out of the corner, so he naturally gained his position back? I'm just not convinced Lewis intended to give it back. Lewis puts alot of pressure on himself, perhaps this is just another result of that.

Anyhoo, I highly doubt the ruling will get changed, but if Lewis keeps up this pace he will for sure see the WDC trophy. Massa and Ferrari have their work cut out for them.

I believe he was told on the radio to give up the position. LH has made some dumb mistakes, but I doubt he would have tried to hold the position he knew was gained by cutting the chicane. More likely is that he looked for the best way to give up the position but set himself up for the next corner. Like a good racer would.

Looks like Kimi backed off noticeably earlier in both corners. Lewis almost hit him going into the chicane.

I really wanted Kimi to win but Lewis did a better job of driving in those conditions.

JR

Jarno Trulli on the incident:

http://www.planet-f1.com/story/0,18954,3213_4122046,00.html

nope, but nobody can say he lifted from the sound
that car was pulling strong for anybody who did not have telemetry data

which we won't get anyway

so it boils down to the stewards interpretation, who didn't have telemetry either
and who decide he wasn't showing enough lift...

and now the appeal board... who has.. we'll see

The verdict appears obvious. Stijn is a Ferrari ballwasher and will not be deterred. Or are you just down on the black guy?

Of course Hamilton let him by. That is clear. What do you expect him to do, get out of the power band and lose seconds? Watch his head as he looks to the right and waits for Kimi to get back in front. He keeps the revs up to stay in the power, but less than full throttle until Kimi is in front.

Enlighten an ignorant forner - what does ballwasher mean and what balls are we talking about here..?

Mule c'mon no need to insult or insinuate...

You might as well ask him not to breathe.

It's the guy (or girl) that cleans things up before the fluffer and after the money shot :D

Either that or the little machines next to the tee box on a golf course.