Hamilton gets his penalty from Melbourne
Hamilton gets his penalty from Melbourne
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Fire99

Original Poster:

9,865 posts

258 months

Tuesday 24th August 2010
quotequote all
After all that hoo-haa about Hamilton's little post-testing driving enthusiasm, he got £288 fine and no driving conviction of any kind.

So that's about one of his shoelaces biggrin

Rather a lot of fuss about rather not a lot.

Mazda Baiter

37,069 posts

217 months

Tuesday 24th August 2010
quotequote all
Shame it didn't get thrown out.

I have now come to the conclusion that Australia is a total nanny state which I have no desire visit. It's a shame.

Still, at least Lewis can empty the ashtray in his MP4/12 C and scrape the loose change together to pay the fine.

Porky

201 posts

284 months

Tuesday 24th August 2010
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If it had been Mark Webber rather than Lewis, would he even have been charged - I think not.

The cost of the case must hugely outweigh the fine - a completely silly piece of policing and public prosecuting. No-one was hurt, no damage was done - some miserable kill-joy has applied the law to "get one over on the Pom" - hope they are proud of themselves.

andygo

7,391 posts

284 months

Tuesday 24th August 2010
quotequote all
The fine was a bit more than the £280 or so. The Merc they impounded (allegedly worth £50k) was sold at a charity auction. What a great advert for Australia. Makes this country look good!

StevieBee

15,294 posts

284 months

Tuesday 24th August 2010
quotequote all
andygo said:
The fine was a bit more than the £280 or so. The Merc they impounded (allegedly worth £50k) was sold at a charity auction. What a great advert for Australia. Makes this country look good!
...which would have been owned by Mercedes Australia Pty, not LH!

JCW

905 posts

236 months

Tuesday 24th August 2010
quotequote all
Porky said:
If it had been Mark Webber rather than Lewis, would he even have been charged - I think not.

The cost of the case must hugely outweigh the fine - a completely silly piece of policing and public prosecuting. No-one was hurt, no damage was done - some miserable kill-joy has applied the law to "get one over on the Pom" - hope they are proud of themselves.
I doubt his nationality had anything to do with it. Remember the over zealous nature of the Police during the Rally of Wales in 2002/03? Stupid policing - yes. Xenophobia - no.

hornetrider

63,161 posts

234 months

Tuesday 24th August 2010
quotequote all
andygo said:
The fine was a bit more than the £280 or so. The Merc they impounded (allegedly worth £50k) was sold at a charity auction. What a great advert for Australia. Makes this country look good!
Really? I'm going to need a link I'm afraid. Was it a massive PR stunt?

andyps

7,819 posts

311 months

Tuesday 24th August 2010
quotequote all
hornetrider said:
andygo said:
The fine was a bit more than the £280 or so. The Merc they impounded (allegedly worth £50k) was sold at a charity auction. What a great advert for Australia. Makes this country look good!
Really? I'm going to need a link I'm afraid. Was it a massive PR stunt?
I seem to remember seeing something about it, but thought that it was Mercedes who auctioned the car rather than the state police.

Evangelion

8,621 posts

207 months

Tuesday 24th August 2010
quotequote all
No sympathy, it was a stupid thing to do on a public road and he obviously thought he would get away with it because of who he is.

andyps

7,819 posts

311 months

Tuesday 24th August 2010
quotequote all
Evangelion said:
No sympathy, it was a stupid thing to do on a public road and he obviously thought he would get away with it because of who he is.
Isn't it a bit akin to David Beckham playing a bit of football on a pavement - not a great idea but if anyone could control a ball and ensure it wouldn't hit a passing car it would be him. Similarly, if anyone could control a car whilst pleasing a crowd with a bit of wheelspin it would be Lewis (or any other F1 driver). It can be argued he shouldn't have done it, but it probably pleased many people around and did no harm.

VladD

8,195 posts

294 months

Tuesday 24th August 2010
quotequote all
Evangelion said:
No sympathy, it was a stupid thing to do on a public road and he obviously thought he would get away with it because of who he is.
I'd suggest you never go to Le Mans.

robsco

7,875 posts

205 months

Tuesday 24th August 2010
quotequote all
As said by Fire99, a lot of fuss about nothing, demonstrated by the pathetic fine.

paulrockliffe

16,563 posts

256 months

Tuesday 24th August 2010
quotequote all
It's the notion that a bit of wheelspin is automatically a danger that irks me more than anything about this. The mentality behind this is that if you chirp your tyres in front of the Police, you're more likely to drive like a loon when the Police aren't there, so we'd better do you for what we can see. It's such nonsense.

I disagree with the earlier posters point regarding the cost of the case vs the fine though; as a vehicle for making a point, setting an example, dissuading this behaviour in the population etc this case has probably been a massive success for the Police.

They're still wkers though.

andygo

7,391 posts

284 months

Tuesday 24th August 2010
quotequote all
What made me chuckle was the state governer suggesting that Hammy should make some anti hooning statewments to the local population.

Personally, If I was Hammy I'd e tempted to say what a crock of poo it all is over there. And refuse to drive anything but his F1 car whilst there just to be safe from 'attention'. But as he drives for McLaren, he can't do that,

Does my head in all this nonsense. Its like driving with a moby. Forget all the stats etc, what it really does to most people is reduce their driving ability to that of an old person, who, by and large seem immune from prosecution as they are 'old',

ferrari spider

1,107 posts

203 months

Tuesday 24th August 2010
quotequote all
VladD said:
Evangelion said:
No sympathy, it was a stupid thing to do on a public road and he obviously thought he would get away with it because of who he is.
I'd suggest you never go to Le Mans.
hehe true.
What a treat it must have been for the F1 fans about to leave the track. To see Lewis leave in his Merc wheel spinning for the crowds. I bet every one was cheering him on, what personality. Just what F1 needs. Can you imagine some moaning sissy complaining at the time, the crowds may have well shouted STFU!! hehe
Last month at the Goodwood FOS the crowds were waiting for him to preform and cheering lewis. Every one knew he was going to show boat with doughnuts, he did not let us down.

jbudgie

10,032 posts

241 months

Tuesday 24th August 2010
quotequote all
Evangelion said:
No sympathy, it was a stupid thing to do on a public road and he obviously thought he would get away with it because of who he is.
loser

andygo

7,391 posts

284 months

Tuesday 24th August 2010
quotequote all
He probably thought that no one would be bothered more like and was just showing off for a bit to the fans...

Imagine the Aussie plod seeing Gronholm driving his 3 wheel rally car on a public road..

They would have had wombats!

MonkeyHanger

9,267 posts

271 months

Tuesday 24th August 2010
quotequote all
andygo said:
He probably thought that no one would be bothered more like and was just showing off for a bit to the fans...

Imagine the Aussie plod seeing Gronholm driving his 3 wheel rally car on a public road..

They would have had wombats!
Well our Boys in Blue didn't exactly help him, did they ?

heebeegeetee

30,136 posts

277 months

Tuesday 24th August 2010
quotequote all
Evangelion said:
No sympathy, it was a stupid thing to do on a public road and he obviously thought he would get away with it because of who he is.
You're giving us MX5 owners a bad name.

Scuffers

20,887 posts

303 months

Wednesday 25th August 2010
quotequote all
Evangelion said:
No sympathy, it was a stupid thing to do on a public road and he obviously thought he would get away with it because of who he is.
Just as a point of order, what exactly did he do (and were you there to witness it?)