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Sunday, September 23, 2007

Poor Baby Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton took some time out last weekend to protest the actions of his teammate during the start of the Belgian Grand Prix. We all know the incident. Coming into the remodeled La Source hairpin, Fernando took the inside line into the turn locking up his brakes. Hamilton took the outside line. Exiting La Source, Fernando, to me at least simply took a normal exit out and in the process chopped across Hamilton, in a move that reminds me of tintop racing.

According to Fernando, the cars did not touch. But as well saw Hamilton was "forced off" across the run off grass and into the run off tarmac. Oh poor little Lewis decided to cry about it to the press. Funny though for it seemed to me that taking the "Nigel Mansell line" out of La Source, taking an extremely wide exit in excess of the white line leads to a faster exit and truth be told Hamilton was slightly ahead as the two McLarens went side by side into Eau Rouge.

Its very rich for that brat Hamilton to complain about some rough play. After all, here is the guy who is not shy to shut the door on everyone else. Indianapolis anybody? Or the often mentioned chopping across at the start line reminiscent of Michael Schumacher. Heck, at the Malaysian Grand Prix this year Hamilton was spotted weaving on the straights in his attempts to keep Massa behind.

Be that as it may, there is such a thing as lifting off and there is a device called the brake. Hamilton if he had wanted to could have deployed either as Fernando went across him. Hamilton in his press statement said that Fernando knew he was there. Yes I would suspect so but that doesn't mean he has to give way to you, Hammy boy. But I suppose after being spoon fed by Ron Dennis all through his career he expects other people to breast feed him as well.

I have heard that Fernando refuses to share his setup data with Hamilton. Well, good for Fernando I say. Lets see how the gang-starr does without it. I have been harsh in my comments about Fernando recently. But having said that I firmly believe that McLaren would not be in such a competitive position today without the double world champion. The impression you get sometimes is that having helped enormously with the development of the car, the team rallies behind their baby boy. Fernando some might say, just doesn't feel the love. But I suppose he has a right to feel like the team owes him something. I don't condone what Fernando has done in the recent case (that's not the way to get back at the team) but I can understand how he must feel.

Well lets see what happens in '08. I'm sure Fernando is leaving and I do hope he'll be off to Ferrari. Now what a pairing that would make, Fernando and Kimi. As for McLaren, lets see how far they manage without the Spaniard. But who to replace him? Well, from the way he's been driving lately and with the experiences of Williams from last year, I would imagine Nico Rosberg would be an excellent choice.

I leave with this closing thought. If anyone wants an example of hooliganism on the track, then I would point the finger at Filipe Massa. Fernando was on the inside of the left hander in Barcelona and Massa simply steers the wheel to take his normal line. There's a big difference, Fernando at that point was side by side. Massa, the git, tried it again at the Nurburgring but failed. Fernando had every right to protest at the argy bargy. However, I suppose because Hamilton wasn't involved in both cases, nobody, least of all the British press, see fit to complain.

1 comment:

Francisco said...

Excellent article!

And yes, British press sucks!

Francisco