What’s all the fizz about?
WORLD champion Lewis Hamilton has said he was just trying to show the fun side of Formula One when he sprayed champagne in the face of a Chinese Grand Prix podium hostess last weekend.
Sunday’s incident, captured in photographs that showed the woman flinching as the Mercedes driver aimed a stream of fizz at her, triggered condemnation from critics in Britain and Germany, as well as on Chinese social media.
The woman herself played down what happened in an interview with the Shanghai Daily newspaper, and Hamilton said he was relieved to hear that.
“Ultimately it was a great weekend, and generally my actions are through excitement,” the Briton said after arriving at the Bahrain Grand Prix yesterday.
“This is Formula One, it’s the pinnacle of motor sport and I’d just won a grand prix for the team. You should see it as a kind of fun thing.
“I would never, ever intend to disrespect or try to embarrass someone like that.”
Hamilton said it had not overshadowed his week because he had only just been briefed on the controversy, and he questioned why it had been brought up.
“This is a sport that so many people love, and the more we show character and fun, it reflects just how great this sport is, and that’s what I try to do,” said the 30-year-old championship leader.
“If she had written in and said she was really unhappy, then perhaps I would be more concerned.”
The Shanghai Daily quoted 22-year-old Liu Siying, a graduate of the Shanghai Institute of Visual Art, as saying the incident “lasted for only one or two seconds, and I didn’t think too much about it.
“I think some foreign media are more sensitive about the topic than local media,” she added.
“I was just told by my employer to stand on the podium, and that’s what I did.”
Hamilton was speaking after Britain’s Times newspaper condemned his behaviour in a leader column.
“Hamilton is a great driver, but nothing gives him the right to behave like a hooligan. Not even winning,” it said.
The practice of jubilant drivers spraying champagne on the podium has become a ritual dating back decades, even if some critics see it as uncouth while others shudder at the waste of good bubbly.
Renault say they have done their best to fix engine problems that blighted last weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix, but offered no guarantee that Sunday’s race in Bahrain would be trouble free.
“In the short time since the Chinese Grand Prix we have been checking and rechecking systems and procedures to implement fixes for the next race in Bahrain,” said Renault sport F1 managing director Cyril Abiteboul.
“Due to logistics of the back-to-back races a complete guarantee will be difficult, but we have made improvements to prevent the race stoppers we saw in China. Our motivation is as high as ever.”
Former Formula
One champions Red Bull scored just two points in Shanghai, while their sister team, Toro Rosso, drew a blank after engine-related retirements.
Daniil Kvyat’s race ended spectacularly with the Russian pulling up with smoke spewing from his Red Bull, while Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen brought out the safety car three laps from the end when his car halted on the main straight.
Renault have been under fire from Red Bull this season, after last year’s season was dominated by Mercedes, but Abiteboul said Renault had made real progress since the opening race in Australia.
“It’s frustrating that the reliability issues of Shanghai threw a cover over these,” he said. “We don’t take the issues we have seen lightly, but we have taken genuine steps forward and need to focus on our continuing programme of improvements while addressing the reliability concerns in parallel.” – Reuters