Tuesday, September 09, 2008 Officials rain on Hamilton’s Belgian parade By Steve Slater Special Contributor
THE headline for this was really going to be “Lewis Rains on Kimi’s Parade”, reflecting how with two laps to go, after a thrilling pursuit over the final leg of the Belgian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton hunted down race leader Kimi Raikkonen.
I should now be talking about then how fate intervened and in treacherous conditions, Hamilton’s luck held and he scored a landmark victory. Poor Kimi, meanwhile had to walk home after hitting the barriers.
The trouble is, I’m not. Nearly three hours after the chequered flag, I and several hundred journalists were still waiting on the decision of three FIA Stewards, who as Lewis was spraying the champagne, issued a statement that they were “investigating an incident involving car number 1 and car number 22.”
That is of course FIA-speak for Raikkonen and Hamilton, and it eventually turned out that as expected, they were talking about their clash at the final chicane three laps from the finish. That’s when Lewis caught Kimi under braking for the final chicane.
A “firm defense” from Kimi sent Hamilton straight across the run off and ahead of Raikkonen. But then Hamilton lifted off to let the Finn back through, before retaking the lead with a move down the inside at the La Source hairpin.
I don’t necessarily believe that the stewards understood the fury that they would cause in the press room. Journalists, particularly Belgian ones, are particularly averse to being delayed from their late evening rendezvous with the staples of Ardennes diet; steak, frites and bierre brune. As a cold damp dusk settled over Spa, one sensed a hint of revolution in the air!
Then came the bombshell. The stewards announced that they were handing a “retrospective drive-through penalty” to Hamilton after the race had ended. That would mean 25 seconds added to his finishing time.
Penalty
The win therefore goes to Felipe Massa, second in the race. The penalty dropped Hamilton to third place behind Nick Heidfeld. For local and international media alike the frites went on hold.
I’m sure that the stewards saw something we did not. I’m equally sure they were driven by the best of motives, but equally I believe that, not for the first time in Formula One history, a group of faceless officials have robbed the spectators of an honorable and deserved victory. That’s bad news for F1.
For a moment, forget Bernie Ecclestone, forget Max Moseley. The best motor racing promoter in the world was an American called Bill France.
He took Nascar racing from being the domain of “Good Ole Boys” in the southern states of the USA into being the richest and most successful motor racing series in the world. The sort of place Jacques Villeneuve and Juan Pablo Montoya look to as their retirement fund.
Bill France, no matter how outrageous the bending of rules, or driving tactics, had one simple premise. “The guy who passes the chequered flag is the winner”. He felt he owed that to the fans.
A misdemeanour would later be punished by a hefty fine or even exclusion from starting the next race. However, and I repeat it deliberately: “The guy who passes the chequered flag is the winner”. That respect for the fans is vitally important in my opinion.
I bet that I’m not the only person tonight who feels robbed. Bernie Ecclestone should take note of that. The simple fact that millions of fans like you and I feel robbed of a justified winner after one of the best races of the season is VERY bad news for F1.
Not good enough
I’m not saying this because I’m a Lewis Hamilton fan. I’m mightily impressed by his skills and personality, but clearly if there was a moral victor in the 2008 Belgian Grand Prix it wasn’t Hamilton, it wasn’t Felipe Massa, it was Kimi Raikkonen.
Kimi at least threw the race away for the right reasons. For the uncompromising Finn, second wasn’t good enough.
“I was prepared to win or lose, but unfortunately I went off,” said Raikkonen to reporters. “I only wanted to win. I slid wide on the fast left hander, and tried to come back on the circuit but I went off. I didn’t want to finish behind we would have lost points. We see what we can do.”
Compare that with Massa’s comments: “I was slower than I wanted to be because I saw many people going off, especially Kimi, and Lewis was a little bit in front and I thought I don’t want to risk eight points because eight points is eight points.” Does that sound like the moral victor?
Meanwhile one wonders whether Ron Dennis and McLaren will decide to appeal against the FIA Stewards decision. McLaren won’t need reminding that the last time they relied on a decision from an FIA tribunal, it cost them $100 million. Maybe Dennis will take it on the chin and get on with racing. Sadly I’m reminded of another old Ron Dennis quote from a few years ago. “Sometimes our cars just aren’t red enough.”
Looking positively at this, we still have a fantastic world championship battle ahead of us. Next weekend Hamilton heads into the next race at Monza with a slender two point championship lead over Massa and the McLarens are expected to have the edge over Ferrari at the super-fast Italian track.
But I feel disappointed. Not for Hamilton, not for McLaren, but for Formula One.
(Steve Slater is the expert half of the popular F1 commentary duo on STAR Sports. Slater is a veritable encyclopedia of motor racing. He has been involved in the sport at many levels, including as journalist, race organizer, radio broadcaster and now commentator.)
