The controversial decision to strip Lewis Hamilton of victory in the Belgian Grand Prix has been met with blanket bemusement in the media with Niki Lauda, the former Formula One world champion, describing it as “the worst judgement in the history of F1”.
Just two hours after one of Formula One’s classic finishes, Hamilton was denied victory by a hugely controversial retrospective punishment by the race stewards in Spa. Lauda, a former Ferrari world champion said, that not only had Hamilton driven brilliantly, but that he had not contravened the rules and deserved his victory.
“This is the worst judgement in the history of F1,” he said. “It’s absolutely unacceptable when three (stewards) influence the championship like this.”
A stewards decision after the race gave him a 25-seconds penalty for the incident, the equivalent of a drive-through penalty in the race.
It handed victory to Brazilian Felipe Massa of Ferrari who had struggled home second after his team-mate Raikkonen had spun off and crashed with one lap remaining.
The decision stunned the paddock and provoked hostile criticism of the sport’s ruling body and their stewards, many suggesting that it had brought Formula One into disrepute and destroyed faith in the sport.
The decision was the fifth time this year that Hamilton had been penalised at a Grand Prix and came a year after his McLaren team were hit with a 100 million dollars fine for allegedly spying on Ferrari.
Last night the entire paddock was bubbling with outrage after a showcase race was ruined by politics.
Even Niki Lauda, a former Ferrari world champion, weighed in on Hamilton’s side. “He did nothing wrong.
Hewas going on the outside, he let him (Raikkonen) by… and afterwards he passed him,” he said.
And Force India technical director Mike Gascoyne added: “Raikkonen was the one to blame for hitting the back of Hamilton.”
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