Lewis Hamilton fined for his reckless driving in Australia
Lewis Hamilton was fined AUS $500 because of his foolish behavior in Australia. The young British driver was recklessly driving outside the venue of the Australian Grand Prix earlier this March.
Hamilton was not able to travel to Australia for the hearing of his crime on Tuesday, was arrested, charged and summonsed for this dangerous act outside the Albert Park circuit during this year’s grand prix weekend. A lawyer in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court represented him on Tuesday, who pleaded guilty on the McLaren driver's behalf. Lawyer Sandip Mukerjea addressed two letters to the court on Hamilton’s behalf saying the British suffered embarrassment, humiliation and distress” over this incident because of the extensive media coverage. Lewis claimed in one letter that this incident was due to a “momentary lapse of judgment” that caused a lot of publicity that was more like a form of punishment. He insisted that he was “in control of the car at all times”.
Hamilton has been in Formula 1 racing when he joined McLaren to replace Kimi Raikkonen alongside Fernando Alonso. The 25-year-old constantly outperformed his teammate Fernando Alonso and stood on the podium in his first nine races consecutively. He scored his first win at the Canadian Grand Prix before scoring another a week later in the U.S. Grand Prix. Lewis led the Championship and it seemed that he would win the Championship in his first year, an impossible task for a driver in his debut year.
The second half of the season witnessed accidents and clashes between the two teammates in McLaren and the Championship was to be decided at the final race at Brazil. Lewis was leading Alonso and Raikkonen by four and seven points respectively. In the beginning of the race but faced a gear box problem in his car later on which caused him to lose the Championship to Kimi Raikkonen by a single point.
Fernando Alonso left the team and went back to Renault and peace returned to McLaren. The determined young British returned anxiously and won on a number of occasions, followed by some errors including a huge crash during the practice session at Bahrain. Lewis went back to the top of the standings at the Monaco Grand Prix. The Championship went to a final-race decider at Brazil once again. This time, Lewis needed to finish in the top 5 to secure the Championship. Drama was at its peak in Brazil as Massa was in the lead and Lewis was in 6th place. Massa crossed the chequered flag and Ferrari thought they had won the Championship but they did not know Lewis very well. The young British overtook Timo Glock in the final lap of the race and won the title by just a single point.
After two ideal seasons for Hamilton, the third one seemed to be a disaster for the 25-year-old as he was able to score only 9 points until the tenth round of the season. Lewis managed to score only two wins in the last half of the season and five podiums to put him in the 5th place in the drivers’ standings with just 49 points in the 2009 season.
This season has been going quite well for the British but he is just 4 points short of the Australian Mark Webber. Hamilton hopes to score some points in the coming races at Spa-Francorchamps and Monza as these tracks suite the McLaren since they have a car that is much faster on the long straights.
The driver has to travel internationally almost the whole year hence his lawyer requested that a conviction should not be recorded as it may impede Hamilton’s ability to travel. The FIA had to provide the court with a character reference. Keeping in mind the character reference and the fact that this was Lewis’ first offense, the magistrate Clive Alsop said Hamilton has escaped the conviction and added, "This is about somebody in a responsible position behaving like a hoon. It doesn't show the general application of the level of responsibility and maturity that he must use every day on the race track."
Hamilton got away with this incident but this will portray a huge impact on his image as he is one of the most well known driver in the Formula 1.
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