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.”

Shock, outrage, furious anger. Gridcrasher rounds up the reaction to one of the most controversial grands prix in F1 history

“This is the worst judgment in the history of F1, the most perverted judgment I have ever seen. It’s absolutely unacceptable when three functionaries [the race stewards] influence the championship like this.”
Niki Lauda, former F1 driver, gets off the fence

“This is motor racing and if there’s a penalty, then there’s something wrong because I was ahead going into that corner, so I didn’t gain an advantage from it. We were still able to race at the next corner and I gave him his spot back, and I think it was fair and square, so I think it would be absolutely wrong.”
Lewis Hamilton, McLaren driver, quoted before he knew about his penalty

“This is racing.”
Ferrari team chief Stefano Domenicali, when asked about the Hamilton/Raikkonen incident

Spa stewards make scandalous decision to strip Lewis Hamilton of Belgium win

We could chuckle at yet another breathtakingly blatant example of an anti-McLaren decision made by Ferrari-loving Max Mosley’s race stewards - except that joke isn’t funny anymore.

When you manipulate a sport for your own gain, it loses the very essence of what makes it sport; it then becomes a farce, and one that mocks the supporters who were on the edge of their seats - either at Spa or in front of the television - throughout a gripping grand prix.

Does the FIA think F1 fans are idiots? Lewis Hamilton gained an advantage by cutting the chicane and overtaking Kimi Raikkonen, but he immediately gave back the place, as the rules require. How that equals a 25-second penalty, only the one-eyed stewards know. We could mention all the times that Ferrari-powered drivers f**ked up this season without any punishment whatsoever - Kimi driving into the back of Sutil at Monaco, for example - but we’d be here all day.

So, Lewis was shafted, but hey, the suits at F1 suddenly have the tight title race they crave. Shameful.

Anyway, that’s our take. Watch the incident below and make up your own mind: