Lewis & Penalties

[markfarrell9572]

Lewis Hamilton was before the stewards after the race today, and also had a drive through penalty.  He drove very aggressively today and I think deserves his penalties, however do other people feel that on the whole Lewis is called before the stewards more than other drivers?  Also a lot of decisions seem to go against him.  Yes I am a Hamilton and McLaren fan but I also think he is unfairly singled out a lot of the time.

[Jugirl]

Possibly he does get singled out but in my opinion he brings it on himself.
He acts so spoilt and just needs to simply hold his hands up and say "i screwed up" not blame everyone else for his mistakes.
His interview today was frankly quite embarrassing, especially mentioning his skin colour which has nothing to do with anything, it just showed him out to think he is better than everyone else. On today's showing i think he is the "stupid" driver
If he is in the right frame of mind, ie China, he is one of the best he is just too erratic and loses his cool too often which is why other drivers are better than he is.
Lewis gets paid a lot of money to do a job he loves and most people dream of doing he should shut up whinging and drive the car.

Ju

[Scott]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/91874

Good start Lewis, now how about Maldonado?

[David]

There is no doubt that Lewis is a massive talent, I love to watch him race, usually hoping he doesn't win I might add.  

However, sometimes when he is under pressure he can be unnecessarily aggressive and impatient and that leads to him making mistakes and the trouble he finds himself in. He seems now to think he is being singled out, what a load of tosh Lewis! His comment today about skin colour, (although funny at the time, I could hardly breath for laughing) was with hindsight a little embarrassing alright.

Welcome to the site Mark.  

[Jugirl]

I think you will be waiting a while for that apology Scott

Ju

[cosworth151]

I think you will be waiting a while for that apology Scott

Ju

It will be the second Tuesday of next week. 

I think Hamilton earned his penalties this week-end. The first incident was almost identical to the one that DiResta got a DT for. The second ruined an otherwise very good day for Williams and Moldonado.

Welcome aboard, Mark. Glad to have you here!

[Jericoke]

I find myself pulling for Hamilton.

He does seem to have a 'me vs the world' attitude, and does sort of stack the deck against himself.

In any sport, once a poor reputation is earned, it's very hard to lose it.  Alas, Hamilton has earned that reputation, and it's going to take some very solid citizenship to overcome it.

[Andy B]

It seems to me that after dropping Anthony Hamilton as manager he has lost his way and needs someone there who can direct him. Currently he is acting like a teenager who believed he/she has reached adulthood and knows the answer to everything, we have all been there but not at 26.
Its time for him to take stock and become the gentleman driver he used to be with added speed and race craft he now has.
Ali G is not the role model he should be using, jokingly or not!!

I am hoping that has not got his head stuck so far up his backside that he cannot listen to the people around him.

[Wats-on]

I find myself pulling for Hamilton.

He does seem to have a 'me vs the world' attitude, and does sort of stack the deck against himself.

In any sport, once a poor reputation is earned, it's very hard to lose it.  Alas, Hamilton has earned that reputation, and it's going to take some very solid citizenship to overcome it.

May be true, but then again: you have to wonder how he got that reputation... I mean, just as almost everybody seems to mention: he doesn't seem to see his own mistakes. It's always the other...

Hamilton drives fast and hard. He has an attitude I didn't like first in Monza, 2008. He almost knocked off everybody he went by.

It is not fair of him to put the color of his skin in the story, not even in combination with Ali G. If he really doesn't see that he can make a mistake too - and he has made quite a few this weekend - then somebody should re-ducate him, I suppose...

I like to see him drive, but only when he is not under pressure like last Sunday. If he got everything right in his head, he is unbeatable, but when the ball rolls around in his head, he does this stupid things.

I say he got away with it quite nice, he could have been punished heavier, like a disqualification for this and next race... espessialy after indulging the stewards of the meeting.

[PG_Gabriel]

I feel like he really needs to get his head straight. Personally I think hes still affected by his father splitting some. He also seems like the kinda person who is never happy with anything worse than first, so seeing Vettel run off with it has to be extremely frustrating.

Still no excuse for what he said/how he acted

[John S]

I think Hamilton earned his penalties this week-end. The first incident was almost identical to the one that DiResta got a DT for. The second ruined an otherwise very good day for Williams and Moldonado.

I'm in two minds about the first penalty that Lewis got, I'm sure he only got it as Di Resta had been penalised for a similar lunge which resulted in Paul gaining a position. However Lewis and Massa continued after their contact in their same positions and I'm pretty certain that the tunnel crash by Massa was not due to the earlier bump from lewis. The stewards had no option, after giving Paul a drive thru, other than penalising Lewis or they would be accused of inconsistency, in fact I said immediately to my son, when we saw the shunt on TV "that's got to be a drive thru because of the Di Resta shunt at the same place". On another occasion they may well have put it down to a racing incident as both Felipe & lewis continued on in their same positions.

The second incident is also debatable IMHO, the DRS is supposed to help drivers overtake so it's fair to assume the powers that be want more overtaking attempts, trouble is at Monaco is almost impossible to overtake unless the driver in front co-operates to some extent. However Lewis drove into Maldo so without the benefit of slo-mo and incar telemetry from both it's difficult to call it any other way, the stewards clearly thought Lewis bore some blame and awarded the penalty. I think the stewards had some sympathy for Lewis on this second incident, they awarded a penalty they knew did not change the race result, if they were really gunning for him they would have given a much harsher penalty, surely?

I also love to see Lewis on the attack it makes for really exciting viewing, him and Alonso seem to be the only ones prepared to sit right under the wing of cars in front pushing like crazy to force an error. Sitting so close to the car in front must be really hard for a driver and brings a much bigger risk of a shunt, do we want drivers to accept a lower position or do we want them to push like crazy?

Having said all of the above I still cannot find any excuse for Lewis' childlike petulant comments after the race about how stewards treat him. I feel this sort of stupid outburst will only get him more attention from the authourities, who at this race anyway seem to have been lenient with him. Growing up in the public spotlight as Lewis has done is so very hard, let's hope public reaction to his unecessay outburst act's as a wake up call.



   

[Scott]

at Monaco is almost impossible to overtake unless the driver in front co-operates to some extent. However Lewis drove into Maldo so without the benefit of slo-mo and incar telemetry from both it's difficult to call it any other way, the stewards clearly thought Lewis bore some blame and awarded the penalty.

I have less sympathy for Lewis.  I don't think he should have made an attempt there.  The only way another driver would give way there was if he was being lapped.  There simply is no way for two drivers to go through that corner together, and Lewis had not made the pass already, so he should have simply backed off.  He's lucky it didn't go the other way and end his race to points instead of Maldonado.

[John S]

at Monaco is almost impossible to overtake unless the driver in front co-operates to some extent. However Lewis drove into Maldo so without the benefit of slo-mo and incar telemetry from both it's difficult to call it any other way, the stewards clearly thought Lewis bore some blame and awarded the penalty.

I have less sympathy for Lewis.  I don't think he should have made an attempt there.  The only way another driver would give way there was if he was being lapped.  There simply is no way for two drivers to go through that corner together, and Lewis had not made the pass already, so he should have simply backed off.  He's lucky it didn't go the other way and end his race to points instead of Maldonado.

I agree that Lewis was ambitious with the move, but my point is that it's at the end of the DRS zone so some attempts at overtakes must be expected or what's the point of running DRS at all at Monaco. Without checking the telemetry it's hard to know if Maldonado did move earlier than is normal, the stewards could have given Lewis a much bigger penalty if they thought he was just playing bumper cars. After all it was his second penalty in the race so I reckon there was either some sympathy, or other facts that we are not able to take into account.

[Alianora La Canta]

The DRS zone ended at Ste. Devote, so it can hardly be blamed for people doing inadvisable moves at Loewes. Yes, passing at Monaco requires a willing partner, but if di Resta can be expected to know enough to wait for one, surely Hamilton can too?

[John S]

The DRS zone ended at Ste. Devote, so it can hardly be blamed for people doing inadvisable moves at Loewes. Yes, passing at Monaco requires a willing partner, but if di Resta can be expected to know enough to wait for one, surely Hamilton can too?

I'm pretty sure the Maldonado incident was at Ste Devote, that looks like the pit lane exit running round the edge of the track in the vid.  I agree that the Loewes incidents are totally unconnected with DRS, however there is always a certain amount of argy bargy at Monaco and I still think without the earlier Di Resta incident the stewards may well have overlooked the contact between Lewis & Felipe as just a racing incident.