- McLaren news
Todt forgives Hamilton for outburst
ESPNF1 Staff
June 9, 2011
« Lowe not convinced by double DRS zone
| »
Lewis Hamilton apologised for his outburst on the same day © Sutton Images
Enlarge
Related Links
- News:
-
Hamilton puts Monaco behind him
- Feature:
-
Help Hamilton to help himself
- News:
-
Hamilton apologises for joke
- News:
-
Hamilton slams penalties and fellow drivers
- Profiles:
- Lewis Hamilton
- |
- Jean Todt
- Teams:
- McLaren
FIA president Jean Todt has confirmed that Lewis Hamilton will face no sanctions for his outburst after the Monaco Grand Prix.
After tangling with Felipe Massa and Pastor Maldonado during the race, Hamilton labeled the stewards' decision to penalise him as "frickin' ridiculous". He then caused a media storm by referencing the comedian Ali G in a joke about why the stewards kept picking on him.
Hamilton apologised to the stewards and the FIA soon after and went on to apologise to Maldonado and Massa. Todt said it was not worth taking any further action.
"I am trying to maintain a good harmony amongst everybody," he told the Daily Telegraph. "I have tried to avoid controversy. I could have leaked the letter but it's between him and the FIA.
"My office was next to the stewards. Every time I went to see them I avoided making any comment. For me what Lewis said was unacceptable but I didn't want to overreact. I could have asked our judicial court to address the problem but we never officially opened the case. He went to the stewards to apologise. He went with his father.
"Maybe it would have been better to put him in the court; to ban him for six grands prix. But he wrote to me and I wrote to him and the thing is over."
Hamilton will face the media for the first time since the incident on Thursday in the FIA press conference, alongside Maldonado.
© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
Feeds: ESPN Staff
Comments: 11
Products you might like at espnshop.co.uk
| Comments have now been closed for this article |
||||||
ESPN Staff
What?! You've got to be joking! No sanctions for joking?! IT WAS A JOKE! Not funny enough! A week in the box!
Posted byI think his outburst was tame. Massa turned his head, saw Hamilton on the inside and STILL kept turning. I can't absolutely see why he was frustrated. The guy is a racer... you want him to just sit happily behind a car and driver that he can beat, you shouldn't be watching Formula 1.
Posted byA ban would be absurd. Sure it was wrong for him to say something like that, but penalising him for something he apologised for with a ban is simply absurd. Maybe if he did not apologise, it could be a possibility, but take him out, and it'll be one less challenger for Vettel this year. Not that it'll make a difference for the World Champion.
Posted byI agree with Jean Marie.. By making him as an example, others can say similar things and apologize later on.
Posted byLearn what? To stay five car-lengths from every other car at all times or something? That is not racing. Cars get into each other, it happens every race -- and SHOULD happen every race. Vettel into Kubica, Vettel into Webber, Schumacher into Barrichello, and Kobayashi into everybody, just to name a few. As to his comments, they were ill-advised but certainly not deserving of harsh punishment and will be largely forgotten by this time next year.
Posted byFinally something real out of the mouths of babes here. Kudos to Todt and Hamilton. I know i'd have had 1000 fines and suspensions by now if my humour got in the way of my work place. 4 cylinder engines.... watered down boring drivers... paved runoff areas.... At least this one you got right.
Posted byA little slap on the wrist is all, just like Schumi in his days... since the FIA sanctions his actions, I won't be surprised at all to see a little more 'resistance' to his aggressive overtaking from the other drivers; I like that he tried the 'Senna' test on Maldonado, and got his answer!
Posted byyeah right ban him...make vettel champion with 12 races to go. who the hell will watch f1? it kills the show. I respect their decision not to ban him and also i wish lewis to be more cool, blowing up steam like that never helps.
Posted byAgreed he has done too many questionable things in his short time in F1. He will never learn, and quite honestly, his sloppiness on track doesn't make up for it.
Posted byAnyone who thinks Hamilton should be banned or otherwise "taught a lesson" over his comments following Monoco is obviously quite new to the sport and has no idea of the history of Formula 1. Look back just recently at the bitter fights recently between Prost and Senna. Lewis' outburst was nothing compared to their disagreements. Even if you do wish to raise this incident to a higher level, then surely we would also have to question Madsa who has been cussing out Lewis and the sport in four different languages to anyone who will listen. Lewis had his say, he apologized, it's over.