Allegations Are Afoot That Lewis Hamilton Is Cheating

[Frank_White]

I got the following quote from his website: -

"Saturday scrutineering following race 1, Lewis' gearbox was stripped and checked following the suspicions of others that he was running an illegal mixed gear ratio based in part on his choice of racing line and short shifting of gears which was also noticed by the scrutineers when compared to the other drivers. The gears of course, were found to be in order.

Sunday scrutineering following race 2, Lewis' engine, wiring loom and ECM unit removed and taken back to Renault, France for checking!"

Do any of the regulars here have the view that something is dodgy about Hmilton's car? I would especially like to hear the opinion of Mr. Jinnx on this one.

[Rocktracer]

Would Explain a few things, speed wise.

I thought a car is more stable when accelerating, so if hes able to short shift then his car would benifit from being able to accelerate when others are shifting!

If im talking Boll**ks then sorry.

[Rocktracer]

Did you say his engine was!??

[JR Ewing]

No way could I believe Hamilton/Manor are cheating!

[Rocktracer]

Who knows... we wait to see what happens.

[cos]

This sort of thing always comes up when a driver dominates a series - see Sato in F3 a couple of years back. People claimed that he had a special engine from Honda or something which made him seem so much better.

[Rocktracer]

he did have a special engine... just perfectly put together and using blue printed parts.

[carbontub]

I doubt it very much that Hamilton and Manor are cheating but i would suggest he would be getting selected engines from Renault for sure, money wouldnt be a problem for Uncle Ron and his contacts. I watched that thing on the weekend and the way it went up those hills isnt anything to do with driver talent, that was pure grunt.If you can get all the special bits good on him but it is destroying the formula i feel.

[bella]

i did hear about the engine, they took forever to clear the cars from scrutineering and that was the excuse.

they have to do it, don't they? otherwise they'll get criticised for letting cheating go under their noses. again.

[Rocktracer]

where are Mr Jinxx and Jenson when you need there input??

[bella]

with lives, presumably

[Tom Horley]

I don't understand why anyone that is quick and wins consistantly is always accused of cheating. Can you not accept that Lewis is just a top notch driver? Sure he is in a good car but it is no better than the cars from Fortec, Motaworld etc. He is the class of the field and i dont see why anyone should try to make excuses for why he is. He is simply the best driver.

Alex Lloyd is also another great driver in my opinion.

Jinxy do u still have that little moto crosser?

I dont mean to be harsh but i think it is bad when people accuse successful drivers of cheating just becuase they are fast.

[fantasytoca]

Rumours of Manor and dodgy engines have been doing the rounds almost as long as FR2000 has been in the UK - and they've always been found to be just that - paddock rumours.

[carbontub]

Remember the art of cheating is not getting caught.Lloyd and Sisley have more experience than Hamilton and in my opinion are as good, but they couldnt match that silver bullit on the weekend. All the other cars in the top six looked pretty much the same.

[Paul Rayner]

Lewis Hamilton. He's running away with the Formula Renault UK Championship, and some people seem surprised. At the start of the season, from his and the team's form from last year, it was generally thought that he would run away with the series. Hell, everyone seemed surprised when he went four races without winning one, I know I was!

I do think Lewis is the best driver out there, and that Manor are one of the best teams. Put those two factors together and you're going to get results. And if someone wins eight races in a row (except the one they're taken out of) they're going to be accused of cheating. That's life.

The guy managed to take pole by just 0.170 seconds at the weekend yet, when others complained about the amount of traffic around a 1.2-mile track, he managed to find enough space to put in 5 laps that would have been fast enough for pole. That sort of consistency doesn't just come from a car. (Incidentally, Alex Lloyd was the nearest driver to achieving similar consistency, doing 5 laps within double the time gap, 0.345 seconds.)

[carbontub]

My comments entirely Paul you need a special engine to do that sir.

[Tom Horley]

You dont need a special engine to be consistant. You need to be a good driver. Since when does an engine make you consistant?

[Mr Jinxx]

I'll give you my twopennyworth for what it's worth

(2p presumably):

I do not for one minute believe Manor are cheating. I believe they have found an advantage in Lewis's car (and if that advantage extends to the other Manor cars, then the other drivers must surely be poor). I have seen/heard the unusual timing of Hamilton's gear shifts, and heard the noises before Paddock bend, but all of these could be from a number of reasons, and I do not pretend to be able to understand any of them. I do not believe that this is where Manor have found the advantage, although obviously I do not believe there will be a more powerful engine on the grid than Lewis's.

I also hear reports from several drivers that flames come from the rear of Rossiter's car but not from Conway's car, although I have not seen this myself from trackside. Has anyone seen this? What could cause it? Not just on one outing, but several times I have heard the comments.

I believe that the advantage Manor have got is in the car set up. Particularly in the hairpins, where other cars do not have the same grip at the apex. I went to watch on Monday's race at Druids Hairpin and Hamilton's car was on rails - like a kart - round the hairpin. It has noticeably more grip at the apex, and as such he is able to stamp on the power a car's length before the others and the car stays stable.

I also believe that Lewis has managed to adapt his driving style eventually to get the most from this setup advantage. It may be, of course, that Manor always did have the setups right and Lewis has just taken a long time to get used to it, but either way it is working rather well now.

I do believe that Motaworld are onto it now. Brands was the first time that Alex Lloyd tried the new direction in setup that worked for Susie Stoddart at Snetterton, and it seems the right way to go. The trouble is that it needs more testing, but as far as Lloyd is concerned, it has to be encouraging on the first time out on the new setup to be qualifying at or above Sisley's time, when he was 3/10ths off last time at Brands.

As Hamilton might tell you, if you make a radical change of setup direction, the driver has to change his driving style. As Hamilton might also tell you, it may take some time to change driving style, which is why Lloyd and Susie and Motaworld are encouraged by this weekend that they may be going in the right direction

It may be too little too late as far as this year is concerned, because there are only 2 remaining meetings, and if the car set up is so different that each time the driver goes out he doesn't know what to expect, it will take some time for both driver and engineer to maximise it, but we'll see by Oulton Park if it is really going well

I am interested in race times and qualfying times. Notably that Hamilton's race laps generally seem to be quicker in comparison to the others than his qualifying performances. For example, qualifying was 1.7 tenths quicker than Lloyd, but in race trim on Monday he was nearly 6/10ths quicker, albeit that Lloyd made a change, but the wrong way on Monday. Lewis was still 3/10ths quicker than Sisley though in the race.

Paul Rayner seems to have touched on the truth - Hamilton's car is set up in race trim to get up to speed quicker than the others, but not to fade away too much at the end. Others may change setup for the race to take up to 4 laps for the tyres to come in (at Brands) in order to keep the balance until the end, by which time Hamilton is away. If the others set the car up to come on quicker, it goes off in the last 1/3rd of the race, so that is an interesting question for an engineer to look at.

I think the last couple of meetings will be interesting. Manor unquestionably have THE setup at Donington and I don't think there is anything that Lloyd will be able to do in time to match that set-up, although we'll see. However, if Hamilton does do Oulton Park - which he claims he will, but who knows - it might be a bit closer.

[Jensen]

I think the time taken in Parc Ferme over the Lewis car is not a indication that anything was wrong, I watched the fuel sample being taken and the AIM downloaded etc etc, if there was something illegal they should find it, the Downloads are especially good and Andrew (data spares guy) can overlay all the top drivers laps and look for irregular acceleration paterns, if a car was simply accelerating quicker than everyone else it would show on the data, it is easy to pick a set point on the plot, set a destination point, lets say from the exit of the last turn down the main straight and finishing on turn one, from the data you can see that the driver is at 100% throttle and compare his approach speed on the first corner to everyone else, if his car is a lot faster and he appears to be on the same wing settings and gears something must be wrong.

These guys are quite good at spotting things like this, I have been told by a renault official that 2 years ago they caught a team secretly plumbing a nitrous system into the car, this way done by way of small tube hidden within the wiring loom and that vented just below the filter. They were asked to remove it. This was discovered by an unexplained burst of acceleration showing up on the data download.

With Lewis you are looking at a class act, his head is in gear, he has the experience, and as importantly the car, I have watched that car all year and I would suggest that it has a budget all of it's own, it is without doubt the best car on the grid, very well prepared at great expense.

So I would have to say no, lewis and manor are not cheating.

jensen.

[Freddie]

I agree. Manor and Lewis are not cheating. They could not afford to. However, I heard (from a very reliable source) that the car, engine and all parts were changed after Thruxton when it went to Maclaren. Lewis' car now goes back there on a regular basis where some of their F1 experience is applied like special paint, cleaning products etc. As jenson said, it has a budget all of its own. This is also why the other drivers in Manor are not as quick.

I don't believe that Hamilton is 6/10s quicker than Lloyd, Rossiter or Conway. Put them in the same equipment and there would be 1/10th between them. Or give them all a £500,000 budget to do FRenault and the backing, experience and support of a top F1 team and they would do the same job. This is the difference between the Lewis/Maor partnership and all the other drivers in the paddock.

Maclaren/Manor/Lewis have used all their combined experience to fine a hundreth here and a hundreth there. They all add up!

Mr. Jinxx. As far as Rossiter's engine is concerned, yes it does throw out flames and this was clear going into Paddock this weekend. Rossiter's engine is very quick and he topped the speed traps at brands, and at many other circuits since he got it a Thruxton, where he won!

Renault have asked for it back on a few occasions I believe, but they took it away after the race this weekend so hopefully he won't get it back. Then we will se how quick he really is.

[ss_collins]

If a car keeps winning check its within the rules - but that doesn't mean they are cheats

[Paul Rayner]

Originally posted by Mr Jinxx
Paul Rayner seems to have touched on the truth - Hamilton's car is set up in race trim to get up to speed quicker than the others, but not to fade away too much at the end. Others may change setup for the race to take up to 4 laps for the tyres to come in (at Brands) in order to keep the balance until the end, by which time Hamilton is away.

That could be true, but the point I was trying to make was that, while other drivers complain about traffic, Lewis is one of those drivers who can, at whatever circuit, find a gap in qualifying. That can only be down to a driver. Hamilton's got the right attitude as well. So often you hear other drivers say "I lost 4 tenths being held up on my quickest lap", but Hamilton doesn't complain, he just gets on with it.

[The Zuschauer]

How would you feel if you were Lewis Hamilton and people were running around talking about you cheating? Nobody's found anything, so you can't accuse him of anything.

If you think he's cheating, put your money where your mouth is and protest him.

And if you're looking for differences which equate to a couple of tenths per lap, you won't spot it based on irregular acceleration. The speed down the straight is highly dependent on the wind, and even a small gust of wind can reduce/increase the speed over a 500m distance by 1km/h.

If they are cheating (power-wise), the 1km/h advantage is enough to make 2 tenths difference over the lap. If they're not cheating, the 1km/h difference is due to the wind. It's not a good enough basis for accusing someone of cheating - however it might be enough evidence to decide to take an engine apart...

[andy_b]

simply sounds like someone out there is jealous of Manor and Lewis' achievements.

[DSM]

What does cause the flames? Why would one engine do it and not the others, when they are all supposed to be the same, aren't they?