Whitmarsh unveils "Lie of the season"
Despite the tumultuous scenes in the closing stages at Interlagos, after Sebby Vettel had seemingly consigned Lewis Hamilton to another humbling choke, McLaren CEO Martin Whitmarsh insisted after the event that the target was always for Hamilton to let the Toro Rosso go, and pass the struggling Toyota of Timo Glock. "We couldn't take any risks with Vettel, he is a young charger, we were saying to Lewis just take it easy," Whitmarsh possibly lied yesterday, adding ""We knew we were racing Glock. We came here for fifth place, we could see Glock...coming back towards us. We had the conviction, that we were going to catch him...Lewis kept his cool, I'm sure he was much cooler than the rest of us on the pitwall anyway". Oh, really? Well perhaps they should have let Hamilton know the plan rather than letting him fret so. In his own words, our new champ claims that "I was shouting, 'Do I have it? Do I have it?' on the radio. It was only when I took the chequered flag and got to turn one that the team told me I was world champion". The little teases.
The 2008 Most Overblown Reaction Awards
The Guardian is already asking "Will Lewis Hamilton successfully defend his F1 title next season?"
The Times, meanwhile, asks somewhat bizarrely "Can Lewis Hamilton become the new Muhammad Ali?"
The Mail goes as far as to ask "Can Destiny's Child Lewis Hamilton become the greatest?"
If there's one thing the UK media can do well, it's keep a lid on things.
Not everyone's at it though...
Some low-key opinion, from the unlikeliest of places though, courtesy of the UK's leading "tits n gossip" paper, the Daily Star, which features an opinion piece claiming that the Brazilian race was "a dull, boring procession right up until the last two frantic laps". Now there is someone who is really hard to please.
You'll have to trust NJ on this one
Meanwhile, on BBC Radio on Sunday evening, there was much pontificating over not only Mr Hamilton, but also BBC commentator David Croft, with callers claiming that his description of the closing stages of the race should be immortalised in the same way as Kenneth Wolstenholme's famed "they think it's all over..." line from the 1966 World Cup final. Not to urinate on too many people's bonfires, not least Mr Croft's, but his comments seemed to show little more than the fact that he wasn't watching the TV pictures, as he claimed "And Felipe Massa is the World Champion.....NO! LEWIS HAMILTON IS 5TH!" as the cars crossed the line. NJ will concede that Patty commends him on his use of capitals.
You'll have to trust NJ on this one as well
Things simply got too much for the flustered people at the Guardian newspaper, who sent out their early editions of today's paper with some interesting car pictures next to the podium men in their race result section. Not only was Kimi Raikkonen credited with driving a BMW, but second place man Fernando Alonso apparently completed the race in a McLaren. Ah, if only...
Planet Hamilton, Magnanimous to the last
Ah yes, the drama, the intrigue, the sheer theatre of it all. At least we got an outcome that blew all the silly politicising and point scoring that has blighted this season into the reeds. Well almost, anyway. It wouldn't be a day ending in "y" on Planet F1's site without a largely cheery article being peppered with a snipe or two. "True enough, Lewis Hamilton is the Champion despite winning less races than Felipe Massa, but...it was Hamilton who crossed the line in first place in Belgium and it was Massa who was subsequently - and scandalously - gifted his victory on the whim of the stewards," they remind us for around the 367th time in just this last week, adding that "Hamilton is a deserved Champion and but for the meddling of the stewards - strangely and inconsistently anonymous in Brazil despite any number of unsafe pit-stop releases and Jarno Trulli shunting Sebastien Bourdais off the track in a far more obvious infringement than which Hamilton was deemed guilty of in Japan - would have won the title in China or before". NJ can't recall which unsafe releases they're talking about, but then who needs facts when you're on a bit of a rant, nor can it quite equivocate a slightly boisterous pass on lap 20 in the company of few to creaming half the pack off at the opening corner, but clearly the FIA have "got to us" as well.
It's not only McLaren fanboys that do conspiracies
Returning to the tumultuous conclusion of the championship, i.e. "that pass" on Glock, rumours took around 0.25 seconds to surface that the Toyota man had deliberately slowed down to let Hamilton through. Don't think about that too long, it makes your brain hurt. Nevertheless, they kept coming "LOOK AT THE SPLIT TIMES" they screamed, ignoring the track conditions. Never mind, here's Timo Glock himself to set everyone straight. "Six laps from the end I asked about the tyre situation and about the weather conditions, and I said every time 'I'll stay out, one more lap, one more lap' and at the end I stayed out for the whole race," he explained, adding that "I tried my best and drove my race, and in the end I can't change it". Excellent work Timo, News Junkie is certain we'll never hear anything more about those conspiracy whispers ever again.
And finally...
Something completely unconnected with Hamilton, Glock or Massa, and Honda have confirmed that Bruno Senna will get a test with them at the opening winter test at Barcelona in mid-November. Which is excellent news for everyone, apart from Rubens Barrichello.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
