Lewis Hamilton declared himself 'not happy' with his FIA penalty after shunting championship rival Kimi Raikkonen out of the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday in a bizarre pitlane crash.
Stewards ordered that pole sitter Hamilton, and also Nico Rosberg, be demoted ten places down the Magny Cours grid in two weeks, after ignoring the pitlane traffic light and ploughing into stationary cars.
"Obviously I am not happy but they can throw what they want at me, I will come back stronger," the McLaren driver said as he left Montreal.
23-year-old Hamilton, however, did not have many allies in the wake of the incident, even among the normally giddy British specialist press.
The Daily Star said the former championship leader 'looked like a learner driver' in Canada, the scene of his maiden win a year ago.
The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian described Hamilton's mistake as respectively 'silly' and 'mortifying', while Telegraph correspondent Kevin Garside admitted that it had been a 'schoolboy cock-up'.
Raikkonen insisted in Ferrari's post-race statement that he was not angry about the smash, but he was scathing in interview with Italian television.
"It was stupid," he said, denying that not seeing a red light can be compared with his crash into Adrian Sutil at Monaco two weeks ago.
The Finn dismissed Hamilton's post-race claim that he actually saw the red light before ploughing into his stationary Ferrari.
Hamilton said: "I was trying to be cautious. I looked at the red light and I looked back and they'd stopped.
"There were two cars side by side. If they'd been in a line I would have seen it a bit faster."
Raikkonen was not impressed.
"I saw a red light and chose to stop, someone else saw a red light and chose not to," he said.
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yah that right stop ur mombling and let's see how the next race turn out... im a ferrari fan, yes im also disgusted how the race turn out espacialy for ferrari but
$^#& happens! that a fact of life and that racing. but i do think the 10 grid punishment is very appropriate but in the same time beneficial to mclaren coz they give hamilton a new engine and a new gearbox for the next race so they can go all out... that the best part of lewis hamilton's punishment, id i think mclaren is stupid like lewis to not used that oppurtunity... soo see at the next grandprix!
WOW, yes it was extremely stupid. But he did apologize, weakly, he did say something. I personally am a Hamilton fan. Its his second year and like others have said the last thing you are looking for is a red light.That is not a excuse for hitting Kimi though. I had a bad feeling when I saw all the leaders dive into the pits under the safety car. I personally think Lewis is good for the sport. Yes he has had his fair share of racing mistakes. This is the main one that should NOT have happened, but you can't deny he is a great driver who is in legitimate contention for the championship at a mere 23 yrs of age. Hate him all you want. I am not denying this is dumb. I'm sure Kimi understands to some degree that Lewis did not want to take him or himself out of the race. Theres alot of pressure on these guys and @#$% happens. Get over it and lets see what happens in the next race.
congratulations to hamilton for his decision to hit raikkonen because it was a very,very stupid decision.dont forget to do it always.why not try to hit the other 19 drivers as well.oh,and dont forget to hit the safety car as well.huahh.....even kimi apologised to sutil when he caused an unavoidable accident.why couldn't hamilton say sorry after he caused an AVOIDABLE accident?does he afraid of feeling ashamed if he apologises?
Convenient he moved over to hit Kimi. Had he stayed his line and hit Kubica he would have seen his main rival for the title gone on to win the race. Swirving over to hit Kimi instead of Kubica ensured he kept Kimi behind him in the standings. :-))
The red light in pit lane is used to prevent cars from rejoining the track at the same time that the safety car is leading the field past the pit exit. It is a safety device and the drivers are expected to understand, and comply with, the race rules that they all agreed with prior to the race. Could a similar incident happen again?. It's unlikely because it requires a very high degree of stupidity to miss the fact that TWO F1 cars are stopped at what is obviously a very prominent red STOP light and fortunately, most F1 drivers, but apparently not all, are not that stupid.
I agree that it was some sort of stupid mistake to rear end someone at the red light. Lewis just need to admit that it was his mistake and get done with it and move on with life.
How in the world should anyone expect a red light in racing... so similar to red light in traffic light. Or it is just me only, does anyone else think that traffic red light in racing is a big joke? It is potentially dangerous. Good thing is nobody was hurt in this accident. Can we be sure it won't happen again and conseqences can be more serious?
FIA seriously need to review the safety car period pitstop before someone get killed.
For the past years i have watched F1, Lewis Hamilton's "mistake" is by far the most stupidest thing that ever happened. I cant seem to get this idea of him "seeing the cars faster if they were in a line". This is such a lame excuse as well as a pathetic antic coming from someone who competed strongly last season. Times like this makes me wonder what McLaren sees in Lewis. Im quite proud of how Kimi handled the situation, his really cool. Lewis should be thankful, REALLY thankful, what if he shunted Juan Pablo Montoya? Guess we all know how that would turn out...
To James: YES, he was warned by the pit crew about the red light AND, there were two very visible F1 cars stopped at a highly visible red light on pit road. To Kenneth O: I'm sure we are all grateful for your infinite pearls of wisdom but at the end of the day, this guy is an arrogant prat, one that comes with it's own travelling circus, and one that should be further penalized because of his childish and unsportsmanlike response to the 10 place penalty. Right now he's a fast rookie with a lot to learn and had he been less of an arrogant prat, he may still have had Fernando to teach him the finer points of F1 racing. But now he just has another rookie to play with in his pram and learning the ropes won't come easy.
Was he warned about the red light by his pit?
Did they know the light was red?
Have they ever warned him?
If so, why not this time?
Here's to all those who are above mistakes, to all those who reply Lewis' arrogance with hate, to all those who want respect, but won't give it, to all those who want to earn the highest wages yet resent LH for his earnings, to all those who would rather have his shine belong to their favourite driver, LH will be a better driver and man if you are yourselves
Hamilton is an idoit. How could you not see the lights, let alone the two cars that are stopped right in front of you, what a @#$%.
That was sick, Hamilton got alot to learn, But he never admits his mistakes and when i used to do that, i lost alot of marks in the class, so since he is that arrogant, he deserves more punishments... Here we go,,, It looks like Alonso he is getting the pace he always wanted as we could see in the last two races, But he is loosing too much confidence at the moment, shame, it'll be fun Hamilton driving behind Alonso, cos he has collided in Alonso back b4, so lets wait and see, I LOVE FORMULA 1.
Like father like son........first dad destroys the back end of a Porsche GT Carrera and then son rides right up someone's backside......and how much is the twit being paid? Come on Ron wake up
Blame the team for not warning about the red light. The last thing you would be looking for in a GP is traffic lights!!!!!! What next around-about or a Mucky D's drive thru???
His arrogance is mind boggling. His lame apology to Kimi was about as sincere as Clinton's support for Obama and his comments on the 10 place penalty were childish beyond belief and well deserving of a further penalty by the FIA. The whole "Hamilton Royal Family" entourage has become a farce and should be dealt with soon. The only good news is that in France, King Hamilton will start behind Fernando and he will find that Fernando will not be inclined to pull over and make way for this arrogant prat.
I was certain that Hamilton would crash out, but I didn't think he was so stupid and arrogant that he'd take out the rightful champion at the same time - in the pit lane yet. Nicholas S. makes a good observation: that disgusting, grim, arrogant Anthony face brings one down from the pleasure of watching the great spectacle. Unfortunately, his son brings the same bummer tone to the actual event. How dare he not beg for forgiveness instead of covering up. Doesn't he realize that millions of us saw it, over and over again. He's not man enough to own up to his errors... or to drive an F1 car. He'll come back alright, but into what or who will he pile up in France? Send him back to GP2 for some refresher courses.
Lewis Hamilton is simply getting too complacent and too
arrogant....spoilt brat symptom??
A "schoolboy @#$%-up " is right. Kimi should have slapped Lewis in the face with his driving glove. Nicole Sherzinger will not be impressed with her boy toy.
Not even the 'infamous specialistic' english press or uncle Bernie can save Lewis this time...Kimi was great in reacting so calmy, many other drivers would have had a different approach
lewis should just admit that what happened was a stupid rookie mistake instead of blaming the guys who were clearly following the rules. He should be thankful that all he got was a 10 places penalty, he should've gotten disqualified.
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