Gloves off as title race hots up
HAMILTON SUGGESTED RAIKKONEN’S ACTIONS AT BRITISH GP WERE DELIBERATE It’s off to Germany now for Vettel’s home race, which could be a humdinger.
What a build up to the British Grand Prix – patriotic songs, the Red Arrows aerobatic team painting the wild blue yonder with red, white and blue smoke, England beating Sweden in the Fifa World Cup to reach their first semifinal in 28 years.
And Lewis Hamilton digging deep to take pole position from Sebastian Vettel by 0.044 seconds.
So, we were set for a good race and we were not to be disappointed.
The start saw Vettel grab the lead heading into turn one, while further down the field Force India’s Sergio Perez and Marcus Ericsson’s Sauber were involved in an incident that resulted in the Mexican spinning across the pit lane exit.
By turn three it was Vettel from Valtteri Bottas, Hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen and a hard charging Max Verstappen.
Raikkonen was on the inside of Hamilton and clipped the rear wheel of the Englishman’s Mercedes, sending him into a spin.
Hamilton rejoined in last position, then put in an extremely impressive drive as he carved his way through the field.
In 17th spot he reported to his pit wall, “I think my car is broken”, but was assured everything was attached and working.
Passing Ericsson for 14th place Hamilton was on the radio again, still convinced that he had suffered damage.
“I have lost half my floor, I’m sure,” and the reply was: “Maybe, but we can’t see any damage.”
He was then told: “You’re doing a great job Lewis, we can still get some points”.
Hamilton then said: “I’m really sorry guys”, a strange statement considering his later utterances.
After an investigation, the stewards found Raikkonen had caused the first lap collision with Hamilton and handed the Finn a 10 second penalty.
Hamilton was still complaining that the rear end of his Mercedes felt loose, despite the fact that he was matching the pace of the front runners.
Raikkonen pitted, switched to medium compound tyres and served his penalty.
Rejoining in 11th place, he was immediately on a very rapid pace and set a new quickest lap.
So it certainly was not all over and we were to see a further excellent drive from Hamilton, finally ending in second position behind the Ferrari of Vettel and ahead of Raik- konen in third.
One of the better races of the year, but the finale was marred to say the least.
Parking their cars on the grid, the podium finishers were ready for the interviews with TV pundit Martin Brundle.
Unfortunately, Hamilton got out of his car and immediately left the area so it was the two Ferrari drivers who were interviewed.
But no one gets away from the intrepid Brundle.
Raikkonen admitted that the incident had been his mistake and said he had accepted his penalty.
However, Hamilton had a different view.
In the post race area he congratulated Vettel but ignored Raikkonen.
When Brundle finally caught up with the current world champion, I think many were shocked by the content of the interview.
When questioned, Hamilton answered: “The team did an amazing job this weekend, and we’ve got so much support.
“There is so much pressure obviously for us all.
“Interesting tactics, I would say, from their side, but we’ll do what we can to fight them and improve in the next races.”
Suddenly, everyone from Toto Wolff, Niki Lauder and James Allison climbed on the bandwagon, suggesting somewhat of a conspiracy situation.
Allison even went as far as to question whether Raikkonen’s moves were “deliberate or incompetence”.
Quite a statement from the ex Maranello employee.
Ferrari’s team chief Maurizio Arrivabene has retaliated, suggesting that such allegations are unfounded and unexpected from such a professional team.
It is off to Germany next for Vettel’s home Grand Prix, with the German leading the Drivers’ Championship and the Maranello team heading the Constructors’ title race. With what happened at the end of the British Grand Prix, one wonders what is on the cards for the Hockenheim circuit.
After Hamilton’s comments apologizing to his team as mentioned earlier, it is hard to understand how he so rapidly changed his view to Raikkonen being totally responsible.
It looks like the gloves are off between the two teams for the rest of this season.