Ever wondered where Lewis Hamilton gets the pace to scythe through the Formula One field even when he has messed up in qualifying? You probably though it was because he had a quicker car than most of the other drivers, but you would be wrong. Grid Crasher can exclusively reveal that the reason for Hamilton’s speed around the track is his turbo-charged ears.
We got a rare glimpse of the turbo ears as he revved up to go into court for his appeal in Paris. Normally hidden beneath his helmet, the twin turbo were clearly glowing when Hamilton was snapped outside court yesterday.
McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton took a swipe at a Ferrari lawyer during the appeal hearing against the 25-second time penalty he received in the Belgian Grand Prix. Hamilton was under cross-examination when he decided Nigel Tozzi QC, representing Ferrari, was getting a bit too big for his Prada loafers.
“Are you a racing driver? No,” said Hamilton. “I have been a racing driver since I was eight years old and I know pretty much every single manoeuvre in the book. We are talking about a skilled driver under intense pressure making a split-second decision which no one, not unless they are in Formula One, can comprehend.”
Briton could have unlikely saviour in Vitantonio Liuzzi
Lewis Hamilton´s appeal against the 25-second time penalty he was handed after the Belgian Grand Prix has begun in Paris. Although the McLaren man was in attendance he was not required on the first day of the hearing. Instead it was left to McLaren´s barrister Mark Philips QC to prove that the appeal was admissable.
Philips argued that the appeal should be heard because an appeal about whether or not Vitantonio Liuzzi should have been handed a 25-second time penalty for passing Adrian Sutil under yellow caution flags at last season´s Japanese Grand Prix was heard. Appeals against time penalties are not normally heard.
Stunning onboard footage of the infamous chicane incident at Spa last weekend. Whatever you think of the stewards’ decision to penalise Lewis Hamilton, you have to agree this is one of the battles of the season, between two of the finest racers in recent F1 history.
What you can see from the onboard footage is that Hamilton clearly allowed Kimi to re-pass him before re-taking him at the next corner. This will run and run.
When Fernando Alonso heard about Lewis Hamilton’s penalty, he probably laughed like a cartoon villain. It’s not that the Spaniard hate Lewis - in fact, the two are friendly enough around the paddock, even if they have never been genuine buddies. It’s more to do with Nando’s belief that McLaren (Ron Dennis, to be specific) f**ked him over and set his career back by several seasons.
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.”
Cast in the role of devil’s advocate, we thought it would be interesting to post this clip of Felipe Massa’s thrilling tussle with Bobby Kubica at Fjui last season.
The stewards decided that neither Massa nor Kubica was in the wrong. A fair decision? Judged on its own merits, yes. Judge it against Lewis Hamilton’s 25-second penalty at Spa, and it’s easy to see why conspiracy theorists believe the FIA has it in for McLaren.
Felipe Massa, who inherited victory in Sunday’s Belgian GP, believes Lewis Hamilton was “maybe a bit too optimistic in thinking he could just hand back the position, albeit only partially to Kimi [Raikkonen], and then immediately try to pass him again.”
“If Lewis had taken the chicane correctly, he would never have been able to pass Kimi on the very short straight that follows it,” Massa added.
We maintain that Lewis did nothing wrong - he followed the rules to the letter - but the three wise stewards thought otherwise, and that’s what counts.
McLaren will decide today if they are to appeal against Hamilton’s 25-second penalty. It seems Ron Dennis, Martin Whitmarsh and co. are tempted to forget about Spa and look to Monza, which is a very good idea for two reasons:
a) It makes McLaren look like good sports, rather than whingers.
b) Why waste time and energy trying to overturn a decision that almost certainly won’t be overturned?
