Lewis Hamilton lucky to win according to Christian Horner
Does everyone see eye to eye in Formula One? Hardly.
Lewis Hamilton may have won the Belgian Grand Prix, but while some have praised his efforts, others have decided not to, and have opted instead to have a go at him.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner is not one to hold a grudge, but he has said Hamilton was lucky to win the race yesterday after he went off the track and into the gravel, coming close to running into the barrier. “Sometimes you ride your luck and he's had a bit of that this year,” Horner said.
Hamilton was able to get back onto the track and maintain his lead over Red Bull’s Mark Webber in the race, with the latter finishing second after a shocking start from pole position. The win has put Hamilton three points clear of Webber in the drivers’ standings.
Hamilton himself has said he was fortunate to avoid the barrier, and Horner agrees with him.
“Definitely. If that barrier had been one metre closer he'd have been sitting watching the rest of the race from there. As I say, you have to ride your luck sometimes, but fair play to him he drove a good race,” said Horner.
Horner can be excused for having a go at McLaren, as all season they have been questioning the legality of Red Bull’s front-wing, saying they have a clever flexible design, which are banned in Formula One.
While Horner has had a pop at Hamilton, McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh has criticised Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel, who crashed into the side of Jenson Button’s McLaren when trying to overtake, forcing Button to retire from the race.
Whitmarsh knows it wasn’t done on purpose, but says Vettel is becoming very accident-prone.
“Sebastian is getting into a bad habit. He is a crash kid,” he said. “It was not what you would expect to see in Formula One. It was more reminiscent of junior formulae. I realise what happened wasn't intentional, but it was a bit of a strange mistake.
“If he was going for the inside he had about three inches to sneak down there, so God knows what he thought he was doing, but he lost it,” said Whitmarsh.
Despite having an accident, receiving a drive-through penalty, getting a puncture and not scoring any points, as expected, Horner has defended Vettel after his disastrous race. “Here was one of those races where it just did not go his way. He needs to stay calm and focused, and eventually it will come his way,” he said.
“It was difficult for him. You have to make split second decisions and I think he made one mistake when he was racing Jenson. Jenson, braking where he did, just took him completely by surprise. In trying to avoid him he got himself into a spin that ultimately collected Jenson in very, very difficult conditions,” Horner said.
It’s now time for Horner to focus on his drivers rather than McLaren’s.
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