Most drivers seem to be rooting for anyone but Lewis Hamilton to win the title this season, but at least not all of them think Lewis was fairly treated in Japan last weekend. Nick Heidfeld believes Hamilton’s drive-through penalty, handed out after the McLaren driver supposedly ran Kimi Raikkonen off the track on the opening lap, was unfair:
“In the last race I think penalties were not justified,” Heidfeld told Autosport.“I did not see the race in full, I only saw the highlights quickly afterwards, but the one on the start with Hamilton was for me not worth a penalty at all. It is just racing. What did he do (wrong)?”
Hell, if Kimi Raikkonen can’t be arsed to help his Ferrari team-mate win the title, at least Felipe Massa can rely on Nando to do whatever it takes to stop Dr Evil and Mini Me (aka Ron Dennis and Lewis) from getting their hands on the championship.
In an interview with Spain’s AS newspaper, Alsono made it very clear who he wanted to win this year’s title:
“Yes, no doubt, if I can help, I will help Massa,”the Spaniard said. Cheeky swine!
McLaren boss criticises his No.1 driver for first time
Even Ron Dennis has had enough of Lewis Hamilton’s reckless driving. After Sunday’s Japanese GP, the McLaren boss - who never slams his drivers in public - criticised his star driver, for the first time that we can remember:
“Of course, with the benefit of hindsight, it would have been nice if Lewis had been a little bit more prudent in the first corner,” Dennis said.
Typically diplomatic language from Big Ron, but the message to Lewis is clear: “Please, pretty please with a cherry on top, don’t f**k up another title for me.”
It’s painfully obvious that Lewis is his own worst enemy - his talent is unquestionable, but he hasn’t learned that you win grands prix and - more importantly - championships by not always racing on the limit. Lewis can control his car, but he won’t win the title if he can’t also control his emotions.
We thought Ron might have passed on that wisdom to his young charge, especially after last season. Apparently not; or Lewis disengages his brain once the red lights go out.
Felipe has learned much from Michael Schumacher…
We wondered what exactly Michael Schumacher had been teaching protege Felipe Massa. Now we know - this move was lifted straight from the Schumi book of “dubious moves on championship rivals”.
Bonus points to the large chap in Ferrari’s garage, who celebrated Hamilton’s spin with a roar of approval/fist pump combo. Nice sportsmanship, beardy.
Lewis loses cool, but still gets no love from FIA clowns
Lewis Hamilton blew it. After a poor start, he didn’t have to snap back at Kimi Raikkonen going into the first corner. All Hamilton had to do was 1) stay ahead of Felipe Massa, 2) stay out of trouble. He didn’t do either. An immature performance all-round by Lewis.
That said, did Hamilton really deserve a penalty for forcing Kimi off the track (with help from Heikki Kovalainen)? Kimi also braked too late, and it was the sort of first-corner incident we’ve seen hundreds of times, without any penalty ever being called. Very harsh, and yet another example of FIA inconsistency. It seemed like the stewards wanted to even things up, having - quite rightly - given Felipe Massa a drive-through penalty for turning in on Hamilton.
You can never read too much into the results of Friday practice sessions in F1, but still… Timo Glock!? Where did that come from?
Glock’s achievement is even more impressive because he’s never driven at Fuji before: “I had to learn the track this morning,” T-Glo admitted. “It didn’t take too long - two or three laps, but it’s not an easy circuit.”
Force India star gives you heads-up for Sunday’s Japanese GP
Sutil may be a back-marker but he has way more experience at Fuji than most drivers on the F1 grid, thanks to the season he spent racing in Japanese Formula 3, in 2006.
The orange car, in case you’d forgotten already, is a Spyker - remember them? Sutil claimed the now defunct team’s only point of the 2007 season here at Fuji, with an 8th-place finish. He loves the track and may be a good outside bet to again sneak into the points on Sunday.
