Ecclestone claims Hamilton should only have 6 F1 drivers' titles
Mar.2 - Lewis Hamilton should only have six world championships, according to Bernie Ecclestone.
Actually, many fans of the seven time drivers' title winner think Hamilton, 38, actually deserves eight championships - due to the highly controversial outcome of the 2021 season.
But as far as former F1 supremo Ecclestone is concerned, it is Michael Schumacher's seven titles that should clearly stand as the all-time record.
The 92-year-old says Felipe Massa should actually have won the 2008 championship.
In that season - Hamilton's official first title - Nelson Piquet jr deliberately crashed during the Singapore GP, helping his Renault teammate Fernando Alonso to win the race.
Ecclestone says he and Max Mosley knew long before the outbreak of the 'crashgate' scandal in 2009 that the deliberate crash had occurred.
"We decided not to do anything," he said. "We wanted to protect the sport and save it from a huge scandal.
Felipe Massa on the podium in Brazil (2008)
"That's why I used the tongue of an angel to persuade my former driver Nelson Piquet jr to keep quiet for the time being," Ecclestone told f1-insider.com.
But if the scandal had broken within 2008, Hamilton may ultimately have not gone on to beat Ferrari's Massa by a single point.
"Back then, there was a rule that a world championship classification was untouchable after the FIA awards ceremony at the end of the year," Ecclestone said.
"So Hamilton was presented with the cup and everything was fine."
But Ecclestone now thinks the results of the Singapore race should have been nullified by Piquet's deliberate act of sabotage - which would have given the title to Massa.
"We had enough information at the time to investigate the matter," Ecclestone admits. "According to the statutes, we should have cancelled the race in Singapore under these conditions.
"That means it would never have happened for the world championship standings. And Felipe Massa would have become world champion and not Lewis Hamilton.
"I still feel sorry for Massa today," Ecclestone continued. "He won the final at his home race in Sao Paulo and did everything right. He was cheated of the title he deserved while Hamilton had all the luck in the world and won his first championship.
"Today I would have done things differently. That's why, to me, Michael Schumacher is still the sole record world champion, even if the statistics say otherwise."
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Easy for him to say long after, but in hindsight, perhaps he should've done something when he could've rather than hide things & let time pass.
Same could be said for 2021 + budget cheat. He’s a shit stirrer.
Hey, if F1 used a spec car, like Indy does, Dame Lucille likely wouldn't have any Championships. As the old saying goes - "The car makes the driver". Only in rare cases - like Jackie Stewart and Michael Schumacher - is it the other way 'round.
I think Hamilton showed he's a great champion and one more or less F1 title doesn't really matter. He always tried to race like a gentleman and didn't go over the limit until Silverstone 2021 where he made an error at Copse. But that's only human.
Which rock have you been under for the past 15 years? There isn't a competitive driver alive today that never traded paint with their opponents. Thing is, The Dame has punted team-mates and others into gravel-traps and armco on a fairly frequent basis. Sometimes it's been a strategic tap with the rear wheel as he goes on by, other times it's been a crass dive up the inside, knowing full-well there wasn't enough room for a piece of paper, let alone a whole car. And like other sports prima donna's he never got spanked for it.
When I compare him with Schumacher, Verstappen, Vettel and Alonso (other recent champions) I think he is one of the 'nice' guys on the track. It's just since he has to fight against Verstappen, he had to level up his game and became more nasty,
Bernie, Bernie, Bernie.....shut up, you're making it very difficult for me to paint you as the best thing that ever happened to F1.
Bernie's actually spot-on on this one.
So basically Bernie to paraphrase Bernie
'We knew Piquet was a cheat, we knew Alonso was a cheat and we knew Renault were cheating but as we were also cooking the books and taking back handers left, right and center we let it go. Now, because I'm an old codger who's got burnt with the fire I played with for years I'm going to put aspersions on everything F1 now stands for and I'm going to shout and moan about everyone who were genuinely trying to do their best because I covered up the cheating b*stards that I helped create'
Nice one Bernie, classy. Cheating Massa out of a world championship then taking pot shots at the guy who beat your golden boys records because of your own greed.
Integrity? I think not.
Bernie's senility in making such statements does nothing to enhance the integrity of either himself of the F1 fraternity!
Or is he setting the stage for a Tinsel Town soap opera around F1 that is scheduled to premiere on Netflix with the Lost Vagrant race debacle?