Mon 8 Sep 2008
Niki Lauda speaks out in support of Lewis Hamilton
Posted by Craig under Formula 1 with the tags Belgian GP • F1:2008 • Felipe Massa • Formula 1 • Lewis Hamilton • Niki LaudaAs was pointed out in the comments of the last post, none other than Niki Lauda has come out in support of Lewis and his driving in Belgium.
In the interest of fairness, let’s see what he has to say for himself.
He was on the outside, and then let him (Raikkonen) by, which is the rule. Niki Lauda
Is this the rule though? This is what I’ve been considering to be the crux of the matter - it’s the general feeling that all Hamilton had to do was allow Kimi to regain the place, but from what others believe he should have basically also opened up a little gap behind Kimi as well - or at the very least waited a corner or so before attempting to pass again.
This may sound stupid, and I know plenty of people think it is, but it seems to be the basis for the penalty being handed out so I’m assuming this is the rule as it stands.
Lauda does indeed have 3 Championships under his belt, but of the two Massa is the only one who has been at drivers briefings this year and so should know what is said therein. As I hinted in the previous post, I wouldn’t normally consider Massa a hugely reliable source but at the moment it’s all I have to go on.
While I don’t necessarily agree with Lauda on his reading of the Hamilton incident, I do agree to a certain extent with how he thinks the public will have perceived things.
it’s really bad for the sport because people watching will not watch any more because of this stupid decision. Niki Lauda
Whether the penalty should have been handed out or not, it’s not done F1 any favours. Of course, if the penalty really is deserved then it’s right that it was handed out - no matter how bad it may seem for the sport any cheating or rule-breaking must be penalised.
However, if a subsequent appeal overturns the verdict and the penalty is reversed then that’s the stage for much bigger questions to be asked.
September 9th, 2008 at 10:03 am
The problem is that there is no rule. As I’ve said in the comments on my blog, the rule simply says:
During practice and the race, drivers may use only the track and must at all times observe the provisions of the Code relating to driving behaviour on circuits.
And:
The race track alone shall be used by the drivers during the race.
Going by that, every driver who ever fell off the road would get punished. Evidently that doesn’t happen. It has become a convention that a driver that overtakes someone by going off the race track should give that place back. Now it seems to me that Lewis Hamilton did that. Now other people say that the convention is that he should give the place back AND give Raikkonen a chance to build up the gap again.
The problem with this is clear. The rules are nonsensically vague and therefore everyone has their own interpretation of what is right. This usually means that the system is completely open to abuse, which is why it is so easy to speculate that this is yet another example of the FIA’s favouritism towards Ferrari.
Nowadays, barely a race goes by when I do not hear some pathetic person saying, “so and so cut the chicane, so and so caused an avoidable accident, so and so crossed the white line therefore they should all be disqualified so that my favourite driver who did absolutely nothing wrong all race can win.” It is pathetic, and it is a travesty that Formula 1 has been allowed to turn into this.
F1 faces two options. One option is that it becomes a judged sport, open to wild interpretation. The other is that we go back to deciding who wins by seeing who crosses the line first.
September 9th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Like most rules in F1 it’s all down to how it’s interpreted. And the stewards have told the drivers how they are going to interpret it. It’s their interpretation that counts.
Hamilton did not follow the interpretation as laid down by the stewards before the races.