Steward Salo hits back at Hamilton accusations
Sep.28 - A well-known steward has hit back at Lewis Hamilton's accusations that officials are trying to stop his dominance of Formula 1.
Although the FIA later rescinded the two super license penalty points that brought him treacherously close to a race ban, Hamilton was given two five-second penalties at Sochi on Sunday that cost him victory.
"Bullsh**," Mika Salo, a former Ferrari and Toyota driver who was among the Sochi stewards, hit back when asked about Hamilton's accusations by the Finnish newspaper Ilta Sanomat.
"That is not true at all. The rules are the same for everybody."
Hamilton's penalties were for doing pre-race practice starts far outside of the designated area at the end of pitlane. The Mercedes driver instead did his practice starts towards the end of the actual pit exit.
"It's pretty clear," Salo insisted. "Hamilton did his starts from the side of the track. The last one was close to the white line that marks the end of the pit exit."
Interestingly, even team boss Toto Wolff admitted that it was a technical breach of the rules, even though he thinks penalties "seem to go against him (Hamilton) harshly sometimes".
Valtteri Bottas, who won the race, also backed Hamilton's penalties.
"We always have a meeting about exactly where the practice starts are done," he told the Finnish broadcaster MTV.
"The team shows us the place where it can be done, and that's where I did my practice starts. I think it's pretty simple," Hamilton's teammate added.
Bottas also claims he would have won on Sunday without Hamilton's penalties.
"When Lewis stopped and I was in the lead, I was able to make a pretty good gap so I don't think it would have changed the result too much. Maybe he would have been second," he said.
Michael Masi, F1's race director, also backed steward Salo's defence of the FIA officials.
When asked about Hamilton's accusation that the FIA is trying to halt his dominance, Masi answered: "No. From my point of view it's very simple.
"The FIA is a sports administrator, so we monitor compliance with the rules and the stewards are independent decision-makers.
"When there is a violation of the rules, it doesn't matter who broke them - whether it's Lewis Hamilton or any other driver," Masi added.
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seems kind a desperat of Hamilton to start accusing something like this, and when its his teammate it is involving.
I think Hamilton was almost sure to win in Sotji because of having Bottas down on p3.
Things are going better for Bottas at the moment and Hamilton starts to get pressured about things not going his way.
Hamilton has hade a comforable run for long now and didnt feel any pressure from no one, but when things are turning and the gap to Bottas is getting smaller , maybe he is starting to feel real pressure and that he isnt used to.
I think its going to be a interresting couple of races if Hamilton starts to feel the heat and Bottas and Verstappen starts to get the seconds at their side.
Im sure that if Hamilton havent got his penalties the race would have the same outcome, well maybe a fight between Hamilton and Verstappen about 2nd place, but Bottas was too strong for him this race for sure.
Hamilton is brilliant. There now exist an aura of dominance over the stewards and he's in their heads. So add that to the subordinate drivers that he thrashes race after race and Ham's seventh Drivers' Championship i in the bag.
C'mon, folks. HAM ignored obvious race director's rules. Nineteen other drivers did it right and HAM has no special privilege. The practice start zone is for driver safety, lights and flags included. HAM was wrong and the penalty could have/should have been a drive through. Full stop.
You are so right ! What do we have the rules for if one driver don’t have to follow them.
Of course HAM got to get a penalty.
I hope that it hasn’t got in his head that he thinks that he can bend the rules as he like because he’s a big star !!
Then he will be on a dangerous road , if he starts protesting and accusing it to be personal to penalties that is right to give him.
What a whiny b××ch. STFU&D Ham!
I am amazed the teams are still dropping the knee before each race, there should be no more of it. politics have NO PLACE IN SPORT.
Bottas drove a faultless race! He beat Hamilton by (22 seconds minus 10 seconds) = 12 seconds! No more to say...
Go VB/77
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