Hamilton stripped of Belgium GP victory

Sunday 7th September 2008

In a hugely controversial decision, Lewis Hamilton has been stripped of his victory in the Belgium GP.

After reviewing footage of his duel with Kimi Raikkonen in which he cut the chicane on the corner before he overtook the Finn's Ferrari, race stewards have added twenty-five seconds to Hamilton's race time despite the McLaren slowing to let Raikkonen retake his lead.

As a result of the stewards' punishment, Hamilton has been demoted to third from first and, with Felipe Massa handed the race victory instead, the Englishman's lead of the World Championship has been cut to just two points. Had the result stood, Hamilton's lead would have amounted to eight points.

Speaking after the race, Raikkonen pointedly refused to absolve his rival of any wrongdoing.

"There are rules about cutting chicanes and gaining an advantage and the stewards are looking it. So I don't have anything to say," the Finn said.

Hamilton himself - along with McLaren boss Ron Dennis who revealed that the team had contacted Race Director during the race to check that Hamilton had acted within the rules - was adamant that not advantage had been gained after he allowed Raikkonen to retake the lead.

"Firstly, Kimi ran me wide. To avoid an incident, I had to go up that part of the track. There was no advantage. I lifted along the straight. I clearly let him past."

McLaren and Hamilton have yet to comment on the ruling.

Find Out What The Forum Is Saying About The Decision

Your Comments

Robbie08

"Ferrari get away with way too much BS and correct me if i'm wrong but weren't Ferrari one of the teams who DIDN'T want to break away from F1 because of costs? it's funny, Hammy gets punished for wrongdoing, which IMHO is a load of BS because he gave the position back, and Timo glock gets punished too for overtaking on a yellow flag, yet KR gets off scot-free for the exact same thing, who gives a toss that KR crashed after doing that, he still should be punished for it. The FIA brought in rule changes to make the sport more competitive, yet when you get a great racer like Hammy he gets dealt a raw deal, this is the same FIA that refused the chicane for Indy a couple of years ago because the Michelin had brought the wrong tyres and resulted in a few cars running on 'em to crash, leaving only Bridgestone runners Ferrari (surprise surprise) and a couple of the smaller teams to run thus making it a shambles."

b19uks

"I dont undesrtand why people are spoiling the sport with their comments of the f1 being biased. its the fans that seem to be creating more of an issue then f1 people themselves. I agree with the fact that the penalty lewis got was harsh. but did he desrve a penalty. too right he did. rules are rules. The rule very clearly states that cutting the chicane the driver has to hand back the place and any ADVANTAGE gained by it. Lewis handed back the place but not the advantage. so he deserved to be penalised but not that harshly. this view seems to be shared by f1 drivers as well. 10 place grid penalty for monza race would have been appropriate. "