Lewis Hamilton's Belgian GP win was short-lived
Lewis Hamilton won yesterday’s Belgian Grand Prix – but two hours after the race, the stewards took his victory away under controversial circumstances.
The penalty hinged on Hamilton’s attempt to pass Kimi Raikkonen on lap 42. Raikkonen forced Hamilton off the track, meaning Hamilton had to let Raikkonen pass. He did this, but then re-passed Raikkonen at the next corner.
Hamilton penalty meant Felipe Massa inherited the win – Raikkonen crashed out on the penultimate lap. Should Massa have won?
The McLaren team has announed it will appeal the decision against Hamilton. F1′s governing body, the FIA, will hear the appeal at a hearing of the World Motor Sports’ Council, a date for which has not yet been set.
McLaren have had several run-ins with the sports governing body in the last 12 months. Before last year’s Belgian Grand Prix they were famously excluded from the constructors’ championship and fined $100m for alleging using confidential information belonging to Ferrari.
By appealing against Hamilton’s penalty they may risk getting an even stronger punishment.
Do you think Hamilton’s penalty should be overturned? Have your say in the comments below.
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does anyone remember LH crashing into the back of raiki in the pits?, is the mercedes mac car not a ferrari?? Just thought they may have cloned it given the info STOLEN last year – have any other teams cheated to this severity recently? Just a thought, as if i’m not mistaken, if a sportsperson cheats by taking illegal performance enhancers they tend to get banned for a period, given this, merc mac were let off lightly with just a fine – one might argue a season ban would have been more appropriate?
This was so obviously a conspiracy against Mclaren racing. Having seen how Ferrari where treated in the past for similar offences this manoeuvre was a legal one. I wondered if the stewards would have taken this decision if Lewis Hamilton had not been in the hunt for the world championship. Ferrari are the richest team in motor sport so I wonder how much money played a part. It seems such a shame that a sport like formula 1 can reduce itself to a farce. I think that it’s time for the old guard, Berni if you read this, it,s time to pass the helm to some new faces and re-write the rules that apply to the sport to make the sport more competitive and truly find the most talented driver in the world and not repeat the years of Ferrari and Schumacher dominance that made the sport so predictable a few years ago. I wonder how many people agree with me. to illustrate my point today a young driver won his first grand prix in a Torro Rosso in trying conditions where was the current world champion Kimmi Raikonen? Nowhere, out of the points, he is not world champion material. the only way for the Ferrari team to win is to compromise the opposition so that is what they do. let’s see a fair season and see the best driver win.
It,s obvious they don’t want Lewis Hamilton to win. He daren’n sneeze or He gets penalised for it. But ofcoarse it,s ok for Raikkonen to drive into the back of force india and put them out of the race. A blind eye turned. But if the shoe was on the other foot a penalty would have been given.
Everybody knows Lewis won the Belgian gran prix. I like Massa and wish him the best also, but even He knows it belongs to Hamilton.
I think Lewis really deserves to win the Gran Prix 2008 as He was cheated out of it last year.
Lewis Hamilton deserves this win. It was not Lewis’s fault that Kimi spun out and hit the wall, rather Lewis was striving to conduct himself honorably and in accordance with the rules and instructions of the FIA and race control. Felipe Massa ran a wonderful race but he was not battling in contention for the checkered flag. Lewis, on the other hand, ran an heroic and professional race, he never gave up, and he demonstrated his skill and prowess in a quintessential element of Formula 1: performance in inclement weather. You cannot just have a superior car and the ability to get it around the track quickly under pristine conditions; you must have superior judgment, skill under extreme duress, and the will to give everything you’ve got to win fairly within the rules. Lewis Hamilton made a magnificent demonstration of all these qualities to win the 2008 Belgian Grand Prix. To strip him of this clear victory is a travesty and does harm to the institution of sport (sic). If the race stewards have evidence to contradict McLaren’s claims, let them make it public. If not, let the FIA overturn their decision lest people come to the conclusion that, God forbid, there is some unfair bias toward Ferrari or against athletes of color.
Well, what an interesting read it was to read all of your comments. It is disappointing though to see two people who fail to see the damage that such decision do to a sport which relies heavily on its fan base. One writer has written that upon reading their report, he understands and that we should not jump to LH defence so quickly. I am guessing he is talking about the fact that he left the track so he should be diqualified. If this rule was consistently followed througout the race, no one would have finished! FIA, you need to stand up and accept that three blokes made a poor decision. You need to make the announcement now. In my mind this is as big a cock up as when Reubens had to let Michael pass him all those years ago.
Fix it!