European Grand Prix Aftermath: Lewis Hamilton Strikes Back at Fernando Alonso
The (in)famous rivalry between former teammates at McLaren Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton has resurfaced after the Valencia GP.
Hamilton has said that Alonso is only whining on sour grapes and there is no basis to his accusations.
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, after the race at the Valencia GP, accused Hamilton of manipulating the race and showing disrespect to safety car rules.
Hamilton said that he does not know what Alonso is complaining about, as he clearly even saw a Sauber car overtake him (which he claimed was highly unlike Alonso to have allowed), which indicated that Alonso was lost in his own world. He was alluding to Kobayashi overtaking him in the 2nd last lap.
Hamilton was handed a drive through penalty when he breached the rules of the safety car, but he still managed to hold on to his 2nd place despite serving the penalty, and ended the race behind Sebastian Vettel.
When safety cars made their way on the tracks, Alonso was behind Hamilton in 3rd place, but while Vettel and Hamilton raced away, Alonso was left heading the string of cars behind the safety car.
The 2 time world champion only managed 9th place in the end, but was later promoted to 8th following a post race investigation which revealed that a number of drivers had been too fast while the yellow flag was being shown.
The race stewards took too long to determine that Hamilton had breached the rules, and it was not till further 15 laps that he was handed the penalty, and the 2008 champion continued to race and extended his lead for several more laps before finally deciding to serve the penalty.
The delay in handing him the penalty, and Hamilton taking his time before pitting in for the punishment, meant that he had taken such a big lead that he went in and out of the drive through penalty without losing his place in the race.
Alonso understandably was extremely upset with all of that. He said that it is shocking that the stewards had to wait 20 laps to determine that Hamilton was at fault, which is simply not acceptable.
And it is not just Fernando Alonso; Stefano Domenicali (Ferrari Formula One team principal), Piero Ferrari (vice president) and Luca di Montezemolo (President) have all expressed great anger and dissatisfaction over the lack of efficiency of the race stewards, at Valencia and also the behaviour of Hamilton.
The Ferrari President said that it was simply unacceptable, and the precedents set by that sequence of events means that FIA would have to take some serious notice of it and take action accordingly.
However, it remains quite unlikely that FIA will actually take any notice of what transpired at Valencia, while Alonso may also get away with his comments which directly question the actions of Charlie Whiting, who was the race director.
Hamilton went on to say that he still does not understand how his actions could be so harmful to others. He said he did what he believed was within the rules and best for him, so Alonso should be upset with himself rather than blaming others for his shortcomings.
Hamilton, making sure that he had his ends covered, went on to commend the stewards and said that FIA and the officials have been doing a splendid job this season.
Just as Ferrari team bosses came in support of Alonso, Martin Whitmarsh, the team principal at McLaren, said that what happened in Valencia was very difficult to avoid and he knows that Hamilton had no intentions of manipulating the race in any way.
Disputes like these do add spice to the whole season, but one has to be careful that this does not go on to set a bad precedent for future races. Alonso and Ferrari, meanwhile, would really have to pull up their socks if they are to offer a good challenge to Hamilton and McLaren in the rest of the season, because they are lagging behind by a good distance as of now. Having said that, there is still enough left in the 2010 season for Ferrari to make a comeback.
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