One of the FIA’s three wise men in Belgium speaks out

One of the three FIA stewards who made the controversial call to penalise Lewis Hamilton at Spa has defended the decision.

Surinder Thathi, a Kenyan motorsport official, denied vehemently that an anti-McLaren agenda was the motivating factor in the decision to demote Lewis from first to third. Thathi said:

“There was no conspiracy against anybody, McLaren included. We acted professionally and within the FIA rules. Hamilton took a short cut inside of the corner while off the track. We had a choice to mete out a time penalty or ten grid places at the next grand prix, and we opted for the former and handed down a time penalty of 25 seconds. I know I am a very unpopular person in the United Kingdom now [yep], but I was doing my job and I know I acted professionally.”

According to the Nairobi-based Nation newspaper, Thathi also boasted “I can walk into any Italian restaurant - Italians love me.”

Ah, now we see the real reason why Thathi chose to penalise McLaren - who wants to be able to walk into any British restaurant and get a free fish & chips supper? Italian cuisine swung it for Ferrari.

By the way, McLaren have now lodged an appeal against the penalty. McLaren chief Martin Whitmarsh said in a statement:

 ”From the pit wall, we… asked race control to confirm that they were comfortable that Lewis had allowed Kimi to re-pass, and they confirmed twice that they believed that the position had been given back in a manner that was ‘OK’. If race control had instead expressed any concern regarding Lewis’s actions at that time, we would have instructed Lewis to allow Kimi to re-pass for a second time.”

So McLaren seem to have a strong case, even if no one seems sure if it is possible to appeal against a time penalty. The FIA court of appeal will make a call on whether the case will be heard. To McLaren/Lewis fans, don’t hold your breath - we can’t see the FIA backing down over this.